Billy Talent is a popular punk rock band from Canada. The group included four musicians. In addition to creative moments, the members of the group are also connected by friendship.
The change of quiet and loud vocals is a characteristic feature of Billy Talent's compositions. The quartet began its existence in the early 2000s. Currently, the band's tracks have not lost their relevance.
The history of the creation and composition of the group Billy Talent
Billy Talent is a quartet. The team has an international composition. Bassist Jonathan Gallant is of Indian descent, the rest of the soloists are first-generation Canadians.
The parents of guitarist Ian D'Saye are from India, former drummer (now vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz) from Poland, and drummer Aaron Solonovyuk from Ukraine.
By the way, there is not a single Billy among the participants. The name of the group can be explained by the history of formation. First, young people from Toronto met at a competition for young talents. The guys brought the love of music. Soon they united in the Pezz team. The new group started writing tracks, even performing at local events.
Already in 1999, the musicians presented their debut album Watoosh!. Soon the first trouble awaited the musicians. The fact is that in the United States of America there already existed a group called Pezz. The musicians of the American group were threatened with a lawsuit for the illegal use of a registered name.
After that, the musicians began to think about a new name. Soon Kovalevich proposed to rename the band in honor of the hero of Michael Turner's novel Hard Core Logo ("Hardcore Emblem") - guitarist Billy Talent. Thus, a new star Billy Talent "lit up" in the music world.
With the release of their debut album, the musicians paved the way for the heavy music scene. The band Billy Talent has its own audience of fans. The guys organized the first solo concerts.
The creative path and music of Billy Talent
The musical compositions of Red Flag, Try Honesty, Rusted From The Rain, River Below and Nothing to Lose were very popular with Canadian music lovers.
Fans noted that with each new track, the amount of profanity in the texts decreased. Meanwhile, the musicians touched upon topical issues in their works. The compositions became more restrained and "adult".
The band Billy Talent gained even more popularity. In 2001, the musicians presented a new single, Try Honesty. The song was noticed not only by fans of heavy music, but also by cool Canadian labels.
Soon the team signed a contract with Atlantic Records and Warner Music. In 2003, the group's discography was replenished with another disc. We are talking about an album with a "modest" title Billy Talent.
After the presentation of the collection, the musicians went on tour. As part of the tour, the team visited the United States of America, Canada and Europe. In 2006, the aforementioned Billy Talent album was certified triple platinum in Canada. Despite this, the record was not successful in the US.
The video clips of the group deserve considerable attention - rich, bright, with a well-thought-out plot. It is enough to watch the Surprise, Surprise clip to confirm the words about the high quality of the clips. In the video, the group appeared as pilots.
And for the sake of the Saint Veronika video clip, the musicians had to work hard. The video shoot took almost half a day. It was filmed in a dam. The musicians filmed in light T-shirts, so they were very cold.
In 2006, the musicians presented the album Billy Talent II to fans. The album was liked by music lovers. During the first week, about 50 thousand copies of the collection were sold. Twice he received the status of "platinum".
The "decoration" of the collection was the musical compositions Devil in a Midnight Mass and Red Flag. The collection has philosophical ideas, as well as a unique sound that combines powerful elements of hardcore and incendiary pop-punk tracks.
A year later, the musicians went on a tour of Australia. In 2008, the team went to Russia. The guys performed in the Moscow club "Tochka".
In 2009, Billy Talent toured North America. On the same stage, the musicians performed with the bands Rise Against and Rancid. In the same year, the band's discography was replenished with the third studio album Billy Talent III.
Recording a new album
In 2010, the musicians announced that they were preparing a new album, Dead Silence, which was released in 2011. The collection contains 14 tracks in total. Compositions deserve considerable attention: Lonely Road to Absolution, Viking Death March, Surprise Surprise, Runnin' Across the Tracks, Man Alive!, Dead Silence.
The single Viking Death March, which was included in the new album, took 3rd position on the Canadian rock music chart. “Decent backing vocals, small pauses, bright accents - this is what helped Viking Death March take third place in the music chart,” music critics noted.
In 2012, the musicians went on a big tour. As part of the tour, the group visited Moscow and St. Petersburg. In addition, the musicians visited Kyiv, pleased Ukrainian fans with high-quality punk.
In 2015, it became known about the preparation of a new collection. The musicians said that the album will be released no earlier than 2016. The team, as promised, started recording the album in 2016. Work on the new album took all summer.
A year later, Aaron Solonovyuk contacted his fans. The musician posted a video message on the official YouTube channel of Billy Talent. He shared with the audience that he was suffering from multiple sclerosis, and therefore took a forced break.
While Solonovyuk went through therapy, Jordan Hastings of the Alexisonfire team took his place. It was during the illness of the main drummer that Jordan created a new compilation with the rest of Billy Talent.
Soon fans were enjoying the tracks of the new record. The collection was called Afraid of Heights. In the same year, Billy Talent performed as a "warm-up" for the legendary band Guns N' Roses.
In 2017, Aaron joined the group. After a long break, the musician took the stage at the Air Canada Center in Toronto and performed several tracks for the audience.
In addition, Jeremy Wiederman from the Monster Truck group joined the band, with whom Billy Talent performed a cover version of The Tragically Hip's Nautical Disaster track. The musicians dedicated the performance of the musical composition to Gordon Downey.
Interesting facts about the band Billy Talent
- The musicians have been together for almost 20 years. During this time, they traveled thousands of kilometers in vans, buses and planes.
- On the shelf of achievements - a lot of prestigious awards. For example, Much Music Awards, Juno Awards, MTV Awards. In addition, the group has the German Echo Awards.
- In the early 2000s, Aaron was injured in an incident. He received multiple injuries. The team wanted to cancel the concerts, but Aaron did everything to prevent this. He went on stage and played a number of concerts.
- Initially, Benjamin Kovalevich and Jonathan Gallant were members of To Each His Own from Mississauga.
Billy Talent today
In 2018, the musicians presented the album More Than You Can Give Us, which was released on August 24, 2018. The disc contains 10 tracks. The musicians recorded the collection at the Records DK recording studio.
In support of the record, the musicians went on a big tour. Between performances, the soloists did not waste time, but wrote new tracks. Thus, in 2019, the Playlist: Rock collection appeared. The disc contained the best hits of the past years.
The fact that fans will be waiting for a new collection in 2020 became clear after the presentation of the Reckless Paradise teaser. The last album of the group was presented in 2016.
During this time, the team managed to release a number of worthy video clips. Video clips of musicians are still thoughtful and bright. The artistry of the group members can be envied.
