

Apple Music Radio’s George Stroumboulopoulos boasts the most famous living room in downtown Toronto—since 2017, he’s been opening up his home to bands and select groups of fans for his House of Strombo concert series. But while he’s hosted numerous intimate acoustic performances from legends including Sting and John Prine, he’s just as eager to transform his home into a sweaty punk club. Such was the case when St. Catharines post-hardcore heroes Alexisonfire stopped by in 2019, during a crucial transitional moment in their career: The group had just released their first new recording in over a decade, the galloping metallic growler “Familiar Drugs”. That single kicks off a blazing six-song set that spans their 2002 screamo signature “Pulmonary Archery” and their 2009 Canadian alt-rock radio anthem “Young Cardinals”, before ending with an extended, slow-burning version of “Happiness by the Kilowatt” that incorporates passages from Prince’s “When Doves Cry” en route to its fiery finale.