The Billy Club Finland

Billy Talent’s version of regular life started when Kowalewicz, D’Sa, Jon Gallant (bass) and Aaron Solowoniuk (drums) began playing together in high school forging their own creative vision through a common love of punk rock. Bands like The Clash, Rage Against the Machine and Jane’s Addiction provided the foundation for what would become the foursome’s own unique sound. The band, then called Pezz, put out a few independently released cassettes and recorded a full-length indie CD called Watoosh. By 1999, Pezz was traded in for a new moniker, lifted from a character in the film Hard Core Logo based on the book by Michael Turner.

With all four guys working full-time jobs – autoworker, financial planner, radio producer, animator – they released their 2001 EP Try Honesty. It was then Billy Talent planted the seeds that would take them from Toronto-rock club obscurity to a North American major label record deal, sharing stages with heroes the Buzzcocks and Jane’s Addiction, touring with Lollapalooza, the Warped Tour and a gaggle of European showcase stops including the U.K.’s infamous Reading and Leeds festivals.

Their self-titled major label debut came out swinging, establishing the band as a melodic tsunami of fist-in-the-air rock n’ roll that garnered the guys accolades from Best New Group, Group of the Year and Album of the Year Junos trophies to Best Video and Best Rock Video MuchMusic awards, as well as a passionate following of fans at home and abroad.

For the follow-up, Billy Talent maintains the elements that makes them who they are – hard-hitting, hook-filled, tight arrangements with an edge – but with a more refined sense of purpose.

“The first record was very angst-fueled,” says D’Sa. “We had spent 11 years as a band together and hadn’t really gotten anywhere so the result was an angst-filled album. This record is a lot about trust and trust issues, and a little more of a personal and emotional record. That said, it’s still Billy Talent. There’s a good balance of simple hard songs and more complex songs, but no 10-minute prog jams.”

The 2nd album Billy Talent II seamlessly weaves such the issue-based songs with more personal tales, from friends falling victim to drug addiction in “Fallen Leaves,” to hipster snobbery in “Where is the Line?” to dealing with people who don’t stand by their convictions in “Covered in Cowardice” – the music sets the scene while the words tell the vivid stories.

“I think this record is more focused for us as writers and people telling stories that are a bit more personal and revealing the side of us that we were more hesitant to reveal on the first record,” says D’Sa.

Like getting to know a good friend better over time, their lyrics and sound are familiar but delve deeper into who Billy Talent is and where they stand. The first 13 years of their career established them as an authentic, honest and direct force of energy and these next 13 songs add to that legacy.

In 2009, the band is ready to release their 3rd album, called - surprise - Billy Talent III.

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