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Billy Talent: Biography Time
Billy Talent has been called many things good and bad since they broke out in 2003 after 10 years of hard work, but probably
the most popular has to be "punk revivalists".
After the four met at a high school in Streetsville Ontario (1993) they
had one thing in mind: Make great music. But before that would happen, Vocalist Ben Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D'Sa, bassist
Jon Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk would go through a lot. They started out naming their new band Pezz, and continued
playing as Pezz for several years, releasing independant cassettes and even released their first cd entitled "Watoosh!". After
about 8 years, the band was warned by another band of the same name, that if they didn't change their name, they would be
sued. So, the boys broke off from their dreams as Pezz, and continued dreams by firstly re-naming their band Billy Talent,
derived from a fictional character from Michael Turner's 1993 novel 'Hardcore Logo', "Who wants to be named after a candy
anyway" D'Sa added after the ordeal.
As the new and improved Billy Talent, the boys went on to bigger and better things.In
the year of 2001, Jen Hirst noticed the boys playing live. Later on, after being hired by Warner Music Canada, she passed
on the good word, which helped Billy Talent attain a producer, lawyer, and a demo deal, things were looking good. In Setember
of 2001, they released a 4 track cd entitled "Try Honesty". They were signed with label, Atlantic Records, and work with producer
Gavin Brown at EMI Music Canada, and manager Scott Welch.
To listen to their debut-self-titled-album Billy Talent is one
thing with the powerful lyrics, off the wall vocals, loud bass, veteran guitar and hard drummin', but to see them live is
another. Ben Kowalewicz, one of the nicest people you could ever meet, turns into a whole different person on stage. Shirt
coming off before the end of the first song, the dumping of the water all over himself as he hurtles the half empty bottle
into the sky, the glaring eyes, the blistering red face, the muscles flexing, the 'in your face' attitude, just adds to the
presence the band in its entirety gives off. All that bundled up into one of the nicest rock bands to hit the stage in the
opposite way (Well, they don't hit or scream AT anyone, but you know, what im saying....JERK).
It was Chad Kroeger of
Nickleback who once said that the 'screamo' music would never make it big in the industry, but he couldn't have been further
off the mark...stupid bastard.
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