Alloyed: Canadian Band Goes From French-English Brawls to NoHo to the Whiskey A Go-Go

Meet Alloyed, a band from Canada that gave up everything they had to drive to Los Angeles in a mini-van.

Like thousands of bands before them, they have come to L.A. with big dreams but little money. Upon arriving, the group spent their first week here sleeping in their van in the WalMart parking lot. They now share a studio in NoHo.

"I'm still trying to get used to the palm trees," said drummer Luis Riel, the band's drummer.

But the their perseverance is beginning to pay off, as Alloyed now has their second gig at the in West Hollywood on Friday, a club that has been the launching pad for many a bands that ended up making it big.

"(Led) Zeppelin, Motley Crue, Metallica, they all played there. I'm lost for words," said Riel.

Their transition from the Canadian countryside to the San Fernando Valley hasn't been without its hiccups.

When the group crossed the American/Canadian border the border, guards searched their van, rifling through their self published CD's and asking if they were planning on selling them before jokingly admitting they illegally downloaded MP3's themselves.

"The border guards didn't think we'd make it past Ohio," said bassist Fred Barrett-Simard.

The day they left Canada, Simard worked a double shift while his band mates got drunk at the local bar. When they came to pick him up the van had a flat, which they changed and then drove on the full size spare until they got to Colorado where they were forced to stop for an emergency brake job.

But Lady Luck rewarded them for their troubles not too long after they arrived in L.A. They got their first gig at the Whiskey almost by accident after visiting the Web site SonicBiz.com and saw that the Whiskey was auditioning bands. 

They headed down to the "Whiskey" and got a spot opening the night.

The group spends most of their time in a small, smoke-filled performing studio in NoHo furnished only with a couch, microwave and mini-fridge, aside from their guitars and drums. Food is stacked in a pile to the guitar cases. They're proud and happy because they just rescued some new shelves from the trash.

The band comes from a place far removed from the melting pot of L.A., a place where the French-speaking population was always at odds with the English-speaking population. 

A few years ago, according to the band, when they started closing the bars in the English speaking provinces early, the bar patrons would cross the provincial border and head to the French -speaking bar, where fights would break out because of language barriers.

In order to play in the French provinces the band had to speak French, which they didn't.

But they won't have that problem Friday night at the Whiskey.