Billy Talent: Friends Helping Friends

Talking to Billy Talent about their forthcoming album and collaborating with Sum 41.

Billy Talent is a rare breed of band. Besides having nearly two decades of musical experience, they have maintained the same four-member lineup since their formation. In the cutthroat music industry, few bands have been able to maintain their sanity as successfully as Billy Talent has.


Such an achievement has put the Ontario rock band in a position of leadership, and they don’t intend to waste the opportunity. I sat down with Ian D’Sa (guitarist, songwriter) and Jon Gallant (bassist) before their band’s benefit concert for pediatric cancer with Sum 41 to discuss their upcoming record and their charity work.

YT: Ben has said of your forthcoming album that the songs are unlike anything you’ve ever done before, yet it still seems to capture the urgency of your first record. What do you believe sets the album apart?

ID: I think it’s just that every album you write, you’re in a different headspace. You’ve had more experiences over the years so when you write stuff, those experiences translate through the songs [you] write and these songs are way different than anything we’ve done before. We’re definitely moving into new territory and maturing a little bit with our sound and it still seems to capture the energy we had on the first album.


YT: How is it playing shows with Sum 41, whom you’ve known since your beginnings as Billy Talent? 

JG: Sum 41 is one of the hugest reasons why we’re here. One of our first cross-Canada tours was supporting Sum 41, and they put us in front of a lot of kids and so when our first album came out shortly after that, it really gave us a kick-start. That was a total eye-opening experience for us.

ID: Yeah, we’ve known them for a long time and they’ve ended up becoming good friends of ours and they’re great guys, and we’re really happy to be doing this benefit concert with them.


YT: What has inspired you guys to be so involved with charities throughout the years, more specifically tonight’s cause, which is to raise funds for your friend’s son Xavier who is fighting cancer? 

ID: I think being in the position of where you’ve become successful and people listen to your music, you’re in a position where you can really help. So I think it’s a bit of a responsibility for us to do that, and if we feel very strongly about something, we’re going to raise awareness about it. And tonight’s cause is one of them – it’s a close friend of ours, and one of the guys that has worked with us over the last five or six years, so we’re happy we can help him with his family.


YT: With all the knowledge and experience you have gained over the years, what is one thing about the music industry you know now that you wish you knew when you first started out as a band?

ID: That people don’t always deliver on their promises, and that someone can promise you the world and it may not happen. You have to do it yourself and you have to keep trying. A lot of people get dismayed at the fact that their record didn’t do well and try to blame others. In the end, you’ve just got to get past it and keep going, because that’s the quickest way for a band to break up. So just don’t ever believe in everyone – everyone’s going to promise you stuff, don’t always believe them. Just work hard and you’ll get there yourself.


YT: What advice would you give to bands starting out who hope to someday make it to the 17-year milestone you’ve achieved without a single lineup change? 

ID: I guess just try to be on the same page with everyone and be honest right from the start. What are your intentions with this band? Do you really want to do this as a career? Because that’s all the questions you start getting later on. You know, people might want to go to college, or people might want to move away and have a family and not tour and things like that, so that’s all the stuff you’ve got to get out of the way if you plan on doing this professionally ever.


YT: What legacy would you like Billy Talent to leave in the music industry?

JG: We want to be known as a good rock band that threw good shows, because that’s what we cared about the most is having great songs and being a band by the definition of the term. When I think of bands, I think of Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Green Day. I’d love to fall into that kind of category as a legacy.