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IAN D’SA: Back when we were Pezz we were starting the band in high school, so we were experimenting and finding our sound. I think Billy Talent is more focused, the music sounds more like us in a focused manner now.

JON GALLANT: I don’t know if there was any significance aside from the fact that it was the coolest name. I mean, we couldn’t call the band Joe Dick.

IAN D’SA: We just thought it was funny. Kind of arrogant, but in a funny way.

IAN D’SA: Yeah, I think when we were changing our name from Pezz to Billy Talent a lot of us were going through different changes in our lives. At that time it seemed like the band wasn’t going to be around anymore, but I think we just all knew that we loved doing this for fun and if we could translate that into doing this for a living, then eventually we’d be able to quit our day jobs to do this–and now we have.

JON GALLANT: I think we always thought the band had potential to do it, but I think our main priority was to have fun.

JON GALLANT: It’s amazing. You know, touring is a lot of fun and at the beginning, too, when we were starting to see different countries it was just awesome. After a while, you start missing home and missing the regular things in life, but the shows are always amazing and it’s so fun to be on the road.

IAN D’SA: I think how long you tour is dictated by how successful that record is. We were touring for almost two years and you get really tired and stuff, but at the same time you look at the bright side: the reason youre touring is because you’re becoming successful in a new country.

JON GALLANT: Yeah, it’s pretty awesome and not every band gets to do that. To play as much as we got to play in the last five years is pretty rare.

JON GALLANT: I like touring Europe.

IAN D’SA: Yeah, I think Germany. The biggest show we ever played, probably ever, was a festival called Rock-am-Ring in Germany. It was a really memorable experience, that many people–there were almost 80,000 people.

JON GALLANT: With me, I didn’t really know how to handle it because I didn’t really know anything about the disease. I felt terrible for him, but we’ve always done what he’s wanted us to do, which is treat him normal and not really think about it. So, he started his benefits and things like that, and we’ve tried to contribute to the Multiple Sclerosis Society as a band and everything like that, but we treat Aaron the same as we’ve always treated him.

IAN D’SA: We were really worried about him and his health, so we didn’t know if he’d want to keep playing drums. But he really just loves playing drums and he trucked through it and he’s been living with it for almost ten years now. The past ten years have been amazing; we’ve never really had any problems playing live, and he’s a trooper for it.

JON GALLANT: There’s been a lot of good ones.

IAN D’SA: We’ve done a lot of great tours. Right now I think the best tour we’ve ever done is the US run with My Chemical Romance. They’re such great guys, and such a great band. They treat us really, really nicely.

JON GALLANT: I think my favorite tour was definitely our last Canadian tour. We did our tour across Canada with Rise Against, Anti-Flag, and Moneen. The venues were awesome and the crowds were great, it was a lot of fun.

IAN D’SA: That’s a tough question.

JON GALLANT: How about before 1995?

IAN D’SA: Oh yeah, okay. Before 1995! Literally between 90 and 95 a lot of great records came out, but I wouldn’t want to dismiss the 70s because that’s when some of the best music came out.

JON GALLANT: We’re working hard on a new record.

IAN D’SA: Look for it early next year sometime!