Members

• Ben Kowalewicz - vocals
• Ian D'Sa - guitar, vocals
• Jon Gallant - bass, vocals
• Aaron Solowoniuk - drums

History

Origins as Pezz

The band originated in Meadowvale, part of the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, Ontario. In 1990, Ben Kowalewicz and Jon Gallant were part of a band called "To Each His Own", where Gallant played bass, and Kowalewicz was on drums. Kowalewicz moved to vocals, and Aaron Solowoniuk was recruited in his place. They then met Ian D'Sa backstage at their high school talent show. The trio would then go on to merge with D'Sa's current band which was breaking up at the time, "Dragon Flower", which was a mix of grunge, Rage Against The Machine, and hip-hop. Their merging would bring on the name "The Other One" for a short time, and eventually Pezz.

Billy Talent and mainstream success

In 1999, Pezz ran into some legal trouble over their name. A punk band from Memphis, Tennessee used the same name, and indeed had released their first album under that name in 1990. At first, the Canadian Pezz's management threatened a lawsuit and demanded $5,000 from BYO Records, the Los Angeles-based record company, at the time, for the American Pezz. In time, the band relented, and soon renamed themselves Billy Talent in 2001. The name was inspired by "Billy Tallent", the name of a guitarist in Hard Core Logo, the novel by Michael Turner and its film adaptation by Bruce McDonald.

Billy Talent II

In the fall of 2005, a demo of an unreleased song entitled, "Red Flag", was circulating across the Internet; "Red Flag" also appears on the soundtracks to Burnout Revenge, Burnout Legends, SSX On Tour and EA Sports' NHL 2006, and on the Atlantic Records compilation Black by Popular Demand. Another song, "Devil In A Midnight Mass," was available for download on their website exclusively on Christmas Day, 2005. "Surrender" was offered for download exclusively on Valentine's Day, 2006. Both "Devil In A Midnight Mass" and "Surrender" appeared on the band's newest album, Billy Talent II, released on June 27, 2006. On April 20th the final version of "Devil In A Midnight Mass" was made available online through the band's Myspace, it is now also played on some Canadian radio stations owned by Corus Entertainment, such as FM96, 102.1 the Edge, 99.3 The Fox, 106.1 The Goat and Y108. The video for "Devil In A Midnight Mass" is now being played on MuchMusic. Clips of all the new songs can be found at the Warner Music website.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Awards

• 2003 Casby Awards: Won Favorite New Single (for "Try Honesty")
• 2004 Juno Awards: Won Best New Group Of The Year, Nominated for Rock Album Of The Year, Single Of The Year (for "Try Honesty")
• 2004 MuchMusic Video Awards: Won Best Rock Video (for "Try Honesty")
• 2004 Casby Awards: Won Favorite New Single (for "River Below"), Favorite New Album
• 2005 Juno Awards: Won Group Of The Year, Best Album Of The Year (for "Billy Talent"), Nominated for Single Of The Year (for "River Below")
• 2005 MuchMusic Video Awards: Won Best Video (for "River Below"), Best Rock Video (for "River Below")
• 2006 MuchMusic Video Awards: Nominated Best Video (for "Devil in a Midnight Mass"), Best Director - Sean Michael Turrell (for "Devil in a Midnight Mass"), Best Post-Production (for "Devil in a Midnight Mass"), Best Cinematography (for "Devil in a Midnight Mass"), Best Rock Video (for "Devil in a Midnight Mass")

1. ^ The Ongoing History of New Music. '"Before They Were Famous" Original Broadcast date: 13-11-05 on CFNY.