Art of Dying rocking Canada and the U.S.

Canadian rockers Art of Dying will showcase their major-label debut, "Vices and Virtues," as part of the Uproar Festival lineup when the tour makes a stop at Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach today.

The band is lyricist and vocalist Jonny Hetherington, guitarists Greg Bradley and Tavis Stanley, bassist Cale Gontier, and drummer Jeff Brown.

"I was playing my acoustic guitar on the street here in Vancouver, trying to sing and play at the same time," said Hetherington, calling from his home in the Canadian city. "Greg and a few friends were walking down the street and heard my voice.... They asked if I wanted to come jam with them the next day. We did, and Greg and I have been making music together ever since."

Hetherington and Bradley met Ontario musician Brown, who introduced the duo to Gontier and Stanley about four years ago. They made friends over a few beers and decided to take to the stage.

"The moment we started singing and playing onstage, we all just looked at each other, and there was this overwhelming sense of connection," he said.

"Vices and Virtues," released in March, features the lead single "Die Trying."

Hetherington answered our questions:

How would you describe the album?

We're very proud of "Vices and Virtues." A lot of our songs have a theme of hope to them. I think the time we're living in right now is very challenging on a personal level for a lot of people. So it seems to work within the themes of what's going on in the world.

You have a personal connection to the song "Get Thru This"...

I was at my day job selling futons back in the day, and I got a call - and it's the call you never want to get - that my dad was diagnosed with cancer. I just shut down. I was in shock. I just locked the front door and flipped over the "back in five minutes" sign and sat with my thoughts. Luckily, I had my guitar with me at work and just grabbed it. "Get Thru This" just flowed out over the next couple of hours. It's a huge celebration when I play the song now, because my dad fought the cancer and has survived it.

What are your thoughts on playing the Uproar Festival?

It's basically heaven! We are so excited. Our first big festival tour was called Avalanche over the previous spring, and it was our first glimpse into that circus of a world where you are just traveling and playing every day. Uproar is bigger, better and has bands that we are extreme fans of on the tour. Our bass player, Cale, his cousin is the singer from Three Days Grace, Adam Gontier, who appeared on our record on the song "Raining."... It's just going to be a thrill to be out with those guys.

What's the craziest thing that has ever happened to the band while on tour?

We were playing in England at this festival called Download. They didn't have enough dressing rooms for all the bands, so we were sharing the room with these stilt walkers. They were chicks dressed in lingerie walking around the festival all day. So, jokingly, I said to them, "Hey, you guys should come up onstage." And they were like, "Yeah, whatever." And then on our last song, I didn't even know, but they were already onstage on these stilts towering over the top of us.... It must have looked like we had this massive budget to have these stilt walkers hired for our tour and that we're just this crazy circus band.

Patty Jenkins, (757) 446-2298, patty.jenkins@pilotonline.com