There are three things you should know right off the bat about Dallas Green. He has the voice of an angel, he’s hilarious, and he is an incredibly nice and humble guy. That may come as a surprise to those who know Dallas only from the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, where his vocals are matched up with the screaming of co-vocalist George Petit. The softer side of Dallas Green is evident with his solo project “City & Colour”. Dallas chose the name, derived from his own (the city Dallas and colour green) as he didn’t feel comfortable just releasing material under his name. His second album, Bring Me Your Love is now available in stores.
I sat down with Dallas before his May 25th show at the Jack Singer Concert Hall (which had sold out in minutes) for his first interview with a Gay media outlet. “I appreciate this. This is awesome, I am stoked,” he said.
Growing up in St. Catherines, Ontario, Green always knew he wanted to play music. He picked up a guitar when he was 8 years old and started writing songs in his teens. He took advantage of living close to Toronto and Buffalo, NY to grow his love of music through watching bands.
“In our group of friends there were only a couple of us that listened to a lot of music at the time. I remember going to see the Melvins play when I was in grade 9 and we had to get one of our older brothers to drive us to Toronto because we were too young to drive. I always tried to play in bands and went to shows,” he recalled. “There was a club called The Hideaway where Mother Earth and Our Lady Peace, all those bands breaking out way back then would come play, and I would try and go see those shows because I wanted to get into music.”
In 2002, Green and band mates George Pettit, Wade MacNeil and Jordan Hastings released their self-titled debut album (they would later be joined by current drummer Chris Steele). They quickly achieved critical acclaim and a young fanbase thanks in part to their high energy shows.
”It has always just been about energy. George is not screaming because he is angry, it’s because of the energy. We’ve always said that if we can get everybody to have as much fun as we are having on stage, it will be a great show and you don’t need smoke and mirrors.” The energy output is exhausting. “We are really tired by the end of a set, especially after we start a tour. It makes you feel good afterward if you are completely drained after a show.”
Green ‘s album Sometimes was released in 2005, lead by the single Save Your Scissors. Green admits that he had no idea that his solo work would explode the way it has.
“I didn’t think it would. I released a record of a bunch of acoustic songs, a lot of them I had written as a teenager, and I was so far past those songs I didn’t think about it. I thought some of the people that liked Alexis would get into them and that would be it. Then it turned into a big thing,” he said humbly. “I am not a horn tooter, I really don’t think I am that special, I just try and write songs that make me happy and I feel good about playing, that’s it. My goal is that someone gets what I am going for, listens to it and can relate to it. When I was younger I didn’t want to be famous or a rock star, I just wanted to play music. I wanted to make people feel like I did when I heard a song that really made my chest tight, and the fact that I am able to do that is fantastic. Canada especially has embraced me with such open arms. People identify with what we are doing, but we are just a bunch of kids from a small town in Canada that just wanted to make records.”
Playing as City & Colour also opens up a whole different group of supporters for Green.
”Lately now I am noticing a more diverse line up. I am not seeing only the kids that like Alexis, but their Mom and even their grandparents are coming to the show. It’s a different style of music because obviously George screaming his head off is not for everyone. I am playing the singer-songwriter type thing which I guess is a little more accessible than Alexisonfire.”
Green returns to Calgary June 22nd as part of the Virgin Festival at Fort Calgary. He isn’t a stranger to festivals, having played Folk Fest last year.
“I am stoked! The Tragically Hip, Attack in Black, and the Constantines are playing. I don’t think that I would go to a festival as a fan anymore, maybe that is because I have played so many now. When I was younger I went to Lollapalooza and Summersault. It was really wicked that I was asked to play the Calgary Folk Festival and some other Folk Festivals last year. A lot of people look at me like ‘who’s that tattooed guy?’ but then they learn I can sing.”
Green’s playing at the Edmonton Folk Fest lead to Edmonton Sun writer, Mike Ross, publishing a scathing criticism of Green’s refusal to play the hit Save Your Scissors. The song is back in the setlist now, but Green, amused by the article, gave further explanation.
“That article is hilarious. He talked about Bon Jovi and Hillary Duff. How can you compare what they are doing to what I am doing? Jon Bon Jovi has to play the hits because all of his songs were hits, and he is playing four nights at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Those people are coming to hear those hits. He is a rock star. My view on it is I won’t play a song if I am not in love with it, and at that point I wasn’t in love with Save your Scissors. It had been overplayed and wasn’t mine anymore, it had been turned into something else. I remember after that show a kid came up to me and asked why I hadn’t played it and I explained to him that I wasn’t in love with it and didn’t feel like playing it and he said that was cool. I wish that reporter had been there for that moment.”
“We just play the song that we want to play. There are songs we will never play again from the first Alexis record because you look back at the place you were in when you wrote it and you have no idea how to identify with it anymore,” he continued. ”As much as there are kids in the audience that it may be their favorite song, for us it is all about honesty. If we play a song just because you want to hear it, not because we want to hear it we aren’t giving you the best performance we can give. We are just gonna go through it because they want to hear it. I think kids have come to know that we are about being honest and doing what we want, that is our thing.”
Something that amuses Dallas greatly is his status as unlikely sex symbol. Sporting full sleeve tattoos as well as several on his body, glasses, and a preference for plaid shirts, it’s a mystery to him why he is considered sexy by so many fans.
“I think it’s pretty funny, really, because I would never look at myself like that. I always try to make a point if someone says something like that at the stage ‘your shirt is great’ or ‘you’re hot’, that is great but I hope they like the music that is what you are here for. I could really care less about that other stuff. I think people especially nowadays, you are on TV, sell records and in magazines and have tattoos, people automatically just call you that based on the fact that you are in the media. But I would never call myself that or look at myself that way, I would rather just be known as an honest musician,” he said before telling us about his body art. “I was 17 and always wanted to get one and I did, and kept getting them and here we are. I guess they are a part of me now, but I don’t really know what made me want to do it. I always wanted to have sleeves, to cover my arms in colour. Some days I look at them like ‘Why did I do this?’ but other times I think it’s great.”
He is off the market, living with long time girlfriend and MuchMusic personality Leah Miller. Unlike in the US, it is easy for the high profile couple to keep their relationship fairly private.
“Thankfully we are from Canada, so nobody really cares that much about paparazzi and that. It’s not like we are out partying every night and being crazy celebrities. She works and I work and we meet at our house, lay on the couch and watch The Bachelor and America’s Next Top Model and that’s it.”
Alexisonfire played in San Francisco last September, coinciding with the Folsom Street Fair, the annual Leather & Fetish street fair. They checked out the event, which Dallas described as fun and interesting.
“We walked around and I was excited to see if I would get any attention, then I will see if I am actually a good looking guy. I didn’t really get any but George got lots of it and has been rubbing it in my face,” he said. It wasn’t a culture shock as Green has always been supportive of the LGBT community. “I used to work for my dad and we would sell all natural fruit Popsicles at festivals and such and we worked the Toronto Gay Pride festival, back when being gay wasn’t nearly as ok. I was 15 and got a lesson there. I am with it because my family has always been accepting. I was raised that way, to treat everyone equally. Some of my friends from growing up are gay; some of their older brothers and stuff were gay. It was always around. If you are a nice person I am going to like you, it doesn’t matter if you are gay or black or white, and if you are an idiot I am probably not going to like you. I really think that is how people should judge other people, based on the way they are as a person as opposed to how they choose to live their life.”
Judging by the audience at the Jack Singer, Green has developed a solid gay fan base for his solo work. Green closed the interview with a message directed to the readers of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine.
“Tell your readers thank you very much and I hope I keep making records that they enjoy. I appreciate them as much as I do anyone else who listens to the records. I don’t write songs for a particular group of people, I write songs and hope that someone, girl, guy, whatever, can relate to what I am doing.”
Dallas Green
www.cityandcolour.ca
www.theonlybandever.com
