Cartel drop

Burlington’s Saint Alvia shorten their
name and expand their influences

OUTSIDE THE LINES: Saint Alvia

By ERIK LEIJON

Burlington, Ontario punkish merrymakers Saint Alvia are quickly becoming known for doing things differently amidst a sea of Southern Ontario hardcore and punk bands. A year removed from their Juno-nominated eponymous debut and on the heels of their horn-inflected, anything goes sophomore release, Between the Lines, Saint Alvia committed the ultimate marketing faux pas (outside of Prince) and changed their band name, dropping the Cartel. The Mirror spoke to drummer Matt Richmond about the group’s new album and moniker.

Mirror: So why the band name change from Saint Alvia Cartel to simply Saint Alvia?

Matt Richmond: It was kind of a weird band name to start with and it just seemed like people were having a hard time getting it right. The most important part was always the Saint Alvia [taken from Canadian WWII veteran Ernest Alvia “Smoky” Smith], so we thought we’d put the most emphasis there. There’s also a band called the Cartel already, and a lot of people would shorten it and just reference the Cartel when talking about us. The truth is, we’ve talked about doing it so many times, even in the beginning, so we felt now was the right time to do it.

M: The members of Saint Alvia come largely from punk and hardcore backgrounds [singer/guitarists Rob Pasalic was in Boys’ Night Out and Greg Taylor was in Grade]. Are you surprised by how vastly different sounding Saint Alvia is to those bands?

MR: Not really, because we all love so many different styles of music. We might all come from punk and hardcore backgrounds but, with Saint Alvia, we really wanted to break new ground and try something new.

M: I guess one of those influences you mention was latter-day Clash?

MR: Everyone’s a huge Clash fan, especially Greg [Taylor]. He wants to embody everything Joe Strummer is about. Musically, they were amazing, but they had a strong message at the same time and we find that endearing—you don’t see the passion that they had in music today. One song on the new album, “Mornings in Feng Tu,” Greg thinks it’s the kind of song the Clash could have had on Sandinista!

M: I also detect some Motown on “Roll With It” and “Decadencia de Civilizacion”?

MR: Yeah, big time. Those two had the working titles “Motown 1” and “Motown 2.” We didn’t intentionally try to write something in the style of Motown, but we’re all such huge fans and thought it would be fun to try and incorporate those influences.

M: Burlington, Ontario still seems to be more geared towards punk and harcdore bands. Was it difficult for Saint Alvia to move away from that?

MR: When Greg [Taylor] was in Jersey and Rob was in Ruins, they were doing more ska-oriented stuff. With their later bands, they were definitely doing something that would seem different but we’ve always carried the same influences and I think a lot of people locally knew that. If anything, Burlington might have been a little surprised at the style they started writing together. With bands like Silverstein and [post-Pasalic] Boys’ Night Out, they’ve grown into this new style of hardcore, while [Taylor and Pasalic] helped kickstart the movement in our town and are now reaching back and doing rock n’ roll.

SAINT ALVIA OPENS FOR AGAINST ME!
W/ JAPANTHER AT CLUB SODA
TONIGHT, THURSDAY, SEPT. 4,
8 P.M., $20, ALL AGES