Alexisonfire Finishing Young Cardinals

03/17/09 2:19pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Alexisonfire have returned to Hamilton, Ont. from British Columbia and are putting the finishing touches on their upcoming fourth album, Young Cardinals.

The St. Catharines, Ont. quintet are capping the record at Hamilton's Silo Studio, the same place where they recorded 2004's Watch Out! and the vocals for 2006's Crisis.

"It feels good to be back putting the finishing touches on this record," guitarist/singer Wade MacNeil wrote in an entry on their studio blog on Thursday. "It's dark, small and comfortable and it's always been a great place to make music and be creative. Whether that is Dallas kicking a box full of bells and tambourines or yesterday when I was playing slide guitar with a lighter because we couldn't find the slide it seems like something new is always happening."

Alexisonfire spent the early part of March and some of February working on most of Young Cardinals in Vancouver with producer Nick Blagona (April Wine, Cat Stevens).

MacNeil also said New Zealand punks The Bleeders are now his neighbours, which he discovered when he returned home.

"As I leered out of my front window at the tattooed weirdoes sitting outside smoking and enjoying a cup of tea on their porch my first thought was, well there goes the neighborhood, but my second thought was that they looked strangely familiar. After a closer look I realized why they looked so familiar.

"It was the Bleeders! The very same Bleeders that we played with on our first trip to New Zealand. They are a great punk band from Auckland and I'm sure we will be playing some shows together very soon."

Young Cardinals should be out sometime this year.

You can see Alexisonfire play songs from the albume at Edgefest on June 20 at Toronto's Downsview Park.