Allendale
Virus: Okay, first give me a history of the band.Allendale: Oh geez. Heh heh, ok we started in the summer of 2000. Basically because the five of us were kind of tired of playing what we'd all been playing bands up until that point we wanted to play something other than the generic punk rock or emo. So we started writing and practicing that summer and by December we went to Harlow Sound Studio in Toronto to record what's known as the "Demo '01". We wanted to combine a lot of our influences to gain a more unique sound, we combine things like punk and emo with jazz and metal riffs, and we use weird time changes and signatures. We joke around and like to call it engineered rock.
Virus: How does the songwriting work in this band? Who writes melodies and lyrics?
Allendale: I write all the lyrics, as far as song writing goes it's a group process, Gary or Ahmed will come into practice with some riffs they've written and want to use and then as a group we help build on them and we all get a little bit of say as to what goes into every song.
Virus: Who are your favourite local bands to play with?
Allendale: Favourite local bands to play with? Vincent Black Shadow is by far one of my favorites to play with hands down, moneen is always great to play with because it guarantee's a good turn out which is always a nice thing, the Fullblast is always great to play with as well.
Virus: What do you think is the best thing to write songs about?
Allendale: In my case, I like to write songs about girls and sappy things like that, in my songs I like to kind of poke fun at the typical emo song, so my songs aren't always serious. That's how most of the earlier songs were written lyrical-wise. Lately our newer songs I've been writing a lot more about life experiences, they're so much easier to get the feeling and message out through your vocals if its something you know well and have felt yourself.
A young five piece out of Southern Ontario are making their way onto the scene through hard work and good songwriting. James (vocals), Jon (bass), Ahmed (guitar), Gary (guitar) and Ben (drums) are just an album or two away from knocking Canada out cold. James took time for an online interview in April 2002.