2. Early years
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Before the band was called Billy Talent they started out as “Pezz”. They started in 1993 and
remained as “Pezz” until 1999. the band members originated from
Meadowvale, Mississauga, Ontario Canada. Soon after starting the band the started to gain
attention in Toronto where the indie rock scene was larger.
There first release was a small 4 track demo which they called Demoluca. After have some
issues with recording there first demo they tried again in 1995, after re recording two songs
from there first demo and adding 4 new ones they had there demo “Dudebox” which was a
huge hit in there home town of Mississauga as result of this there popularity continued to
spread.
Jobs and education: one of the bands singers D’sa studied animation at Sheridan college and
went on to work as an animator for Angela Anaconda which was a children's comedy show in
Canada. Gallant almost finished a business degree, Kowalewicz was working many different
jobs one of those being at 102.1 the edge and Solowoniuk worked at Chrysler Canada. But all
of them were still able to record songs and in 1999 they released there first full length album
called Watoosh! Which they independently released. This was mainly popular with the indie
scene in Toronto but never broke into the mainstream market.
3. Name change
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In 1999 Pezz was involved in a lawsuit with after the American pop punk band Pezz
found out about them and requested thousands of dollars from the Canadian band
all because they had held the name pezz since 1989. because the Canadian band
had no legal right to the name they decided to go with the name Billy Talent which
was inspired from Michael turners novel hard core logo.
4. success
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Whilst working at 102.1 the edge Kowalewicz ran into Jen Hurst who had seen the
band perform, Kowalewicz then asked for her to go to see the band perform at a
local club. This was a huge pay of because Hirst was then hired at Warner bros
Canada and was able to get the band their producer Gavin Brown who help them
create there first demo as Billy Talent.
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In 2002 the band ended up signing a co-venture agreement with Atlantic
Records and Warner Music Canada. In the fall of 2003, the band released their fulllength self-titled album, Billy Talent. This then lead to the band selling out shows in
Canada, USA and in Europe. The band then went triple platinum in Canada.
5. hardships
• In 1999 the bands drummer Aaron
Solowoniuk revealed that he had multiple
sclerosis, this was the bases for the song “this
is how it goes”. The medication allowed him to
continue drumming with the band, as it
eliminated his symptoms, and he stated that
"this changes nothing about my band or me."
6. Billy talent II
• In 2006 there second album released and was
instantly top of the Canadian and German
album charts. By June 2007 the album had
sold 700,000 units making it double platinum.
• There song red flag has also been successful in
other forms of media being used in games
such as Burnout: Revenge, SSX on tour, and
NHL 06.
7. Billy talent III
• With there new album set to release the band
toured heavily from 2008-2011 they toured in
Australia, north America, UK and south Africa.
• The band played at two high profile festival in
2009 and 2010 the first was download festival
and the second was reading and Leeds
festival.
8. awards
• Billy Talent has received a significant amount of
recognition in Canada, winning 10 awards from 32
nominations at the MuchMusic Video Awards and 7
awards from 20 nominations at the Juno Awards. The
band has also been nominated at the MuchMusic
Video Awards every year since 2004. Overall, Billy
Talent has received 21 awards from 56 nominations in
Canada. The band also had the number 1 rock song of
2009 "Devil on My Shoulder" on Much Music's holiday
wrap, along with the number five song "Fallen Leaves"
for much music's 99 best music videos. They are also
the most nominated band in Much Music Video Award
history.
