Alexisonfire dropped a new song “Familiar Drugs,” which is the band’s first new piece of music in nearly a decade.
Co-vocalist Geroge Pettit says of the song,
“‘Familiar Drugs’ is about recognizing you need to make a change in your life, being presented with the opportunity to make that change, and then choosing to do the same thing you always do.” He continues “Most people have something in their lives they can’t quit, substances, unhealthy relationships, lethargy, self righteousness, a job they hate. ‘Familiar Drugs’ is about choosing comfort over self betterment.”
Said co-vocalist Dallas Green in an interview with Consequence of Sound,
“The main riff and the chorus, I’ve been playing that on my guitar for over a decade,” he explained. “It was just something that we never got around to sort of just try and see if we can turn it into an Alexis song.”
Alexisonfire released their last EP of new music, Dog’s Blood, in 2010. The band had plans to release a fifth studio album in 2011, but disbanded before anything materialized. In 2015, they reunited for some live shows and have been back together ever since.
Green explained:
“Obviously, we’ve been playing again the last couple years, but we never really had time to sit and work on new songs. But last summer, I moved from Nashville back to Toronto full time, so that’s when we tried to schedule regular band practices. [‘Familiar Drugs’] came together relatively quickly, because there was pretty much a blueprint for it already, from all those years ago.”
“Familiar Drugs” was produced by the band and friend Karl Bareham and mixed by Jacquire King. The track is being released on digital, as well as a single-sided 7” single. While most of the vinyl records will be the standard black color, a limited quantity of glow-in-the-dark will be randomly distributed among them.
Alexisonfire will also be playing select live shows in June. Shows will take place in London (6/1), New York (6/8), Los Angeles (6/13) and Toronto (6/15). Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday (22nd) with a pre-sale going live for mailing list members tomorrow (19th). $1 from each ticket sold will be going to Indspire, which aids in building “a brighter future for Indigenous students.”
Check out the track below:
