The Red Chord Love Canada, But Hate Border Guards

While currently on tour in the U.S., Boston's The Red Chord will cross the border this week to headline shows in Toronto and Montreal.

"Canada has always been really good to us," says vocalist Guy Kozowyk. "It seems as soon as you get up to Canada, kids are really excited for you to play — not to say that kids aren't excited in general, but in Canada the kids seem even more stoked than the kids in the States."

That's because, according to Kozowyk, a lot of American bands don't want to go through border hassles to enter Canada. Hopefully all of the groups on the current tour — Through The Eyes Of The Dead, All Shall Perish and Montreal's Despised Icon — will make it across smoothly, something Kozowyk says doesn't always happen.

"It's really a pain to get over a lot of times and a lot of bands don't want to deal with it. We've had pretty good luck every time we've gone over. It's always been worth it, even though sometimes we've been detained for hours on end while they're pulling our stuff apart, counting out our T-shirts and stuff like that, taxing us out."

Basically, it all comes down to money.

"They just want to squeeze the tax money out of you for your merchandise and stuff," says Kozowyk. "You can give them a sheet and you can count it yourself, but if they don't believe you they're gonna sit there and count through every shirt.

"If there is any discrepancy, you're going to get bagged. I mean, they're going to tax you per item, which we had happen to us during Sounds Of The Underground. We just did a quick count and the count was inaccurate, I guess, and we ended up getting fined like $2,000 at the border just to get in. I mean the shows were great, but financially it wasn't worth it because we got killed at the border and at that point it wouldn't have mattered if we had just turned around or not, we were going to get taxed no matter what."

Kozowyk, however, doesn't believe border guards discriminate against long-haired, tatted-up metal-looking dudes. He says it's just an everyday occurrence for all kinds of musicians.

"I think it's universal for any band going up. Honestly, when we go to other countries in Europe, you don't need work permits or anything, except for the U.K. I just think that the Canadian border takes itself very seriously — maybe too seriously — and I don't know why exactly, but it's just so strict. But on the other side, I hear it's equally as bad if not worse for Canadian bands getting into the States. It's the strictest border probably in the world, anywhere that we've gone to."

Check out The Red Chord here:

June 27 Toronto, ON @ The Reverb w/Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Despised Icon, All Shall Perish and See You Next Tuesday
June 28 Montreal, QC @ Le Studio w/Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Despised Icon, All Shall Perish and See You Next Tuesday