True colours

T.O.โ€™s punk rock folkie Dallas Green lives a musical double life

DALLAS GREEN IS on a bus racing through rural Germany toward a tour date in Italy. His bandmates in punk outfit Alexisonfire are scattered around him and, in typical rock star tour bus fashion, are trying hard to kill time without killing each other.

Some are reading books, others are watching DVDs, while Green is telling me about the best pad Thai he’s ever eaten. “It’s at this place near my house, in the Yonge and Eglinton area, called Sorn Thai,” he says, his cellphone occasionally cutting out thanks to a nearby mountain range and the vagaries of trans-Atlantic satellite communication. “It’s some of the most amazing Thai food I’ve ever had anywhere.”

Surprisingly, the multi-platinum-selling and Juno Award–winning singer-songwriter spends more of our interview talking about his favourite restaurants and films than he does his music. “That’s all my wife and I do in our free time — eat and go to the movies,” he says a bit sheepishly.

Green is at the top of the Canadian music scene with not one, but two very successful projects — Alexisonfire and City and Colour.

Yet the two are so jarringly different — punk vs. folk. So it’s easy to wonder how he keeps it all straight.

“I’m a big fan of all kinds of music, and I end up writing different types of songs. And sometimes I like to play my guitar loud and sometimes I like to play soft,” he says, as though it were as simple as that.

With a bit of prodding, though, Green does allow for a small elaboration.

“Obviously, Alexisonfire is very collaborative and it’s a different kind of music, so when I come up with a song that’s heavy, I know it’ll likely be something I bring to the band. If it’s gentler, more personal, maybe more introspective, then it’s for City and Colour,” he explains.

“Other than that, it’s just a matter of knowing whether or not I need to bring an acoustic guitar to the show or not.”

Somewhere in the middle of it all, he’ll get to spend some time with his wife of three years, Leah Miller, of MuchMusic fame.

Despite their growing celebrity, the frequently plaid-clad rocker says he and his wife are both pretty low-key about the whole thing. “It’s not like we’re getting recognized everywhere we go,” he says, sounding embarrassed to even be talking about his star status.

Indeed, fame and fortune don’t appear to be much of a concern to Green. He gave his gold and platinum records to his parents, and other than owning a house “in a great neighbourhood near Yonge and Eglinton” and a car, he and Miller hardly live an extravagant rock star lifestyle. “I don’t really celebrate my success. I mostly just worry about it,” he says.

Alexisonfire kick off a Canadian tour next month in support of their new album Old Crows/Young Cardinals.

 

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