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I Am The Avalanche<\/strong> have gone beyond being Vinnie\u2019s new project, and are now a thoroughly respected band and a regular fixture on all the best festival line-ups. They\u2019re touring the UK in support of their superb new full length \u2018Wolverines\u2019<\/em>, an album which the band feel represents their strength and determination.<\/p>\n We caught up with vocalist Vinnie Caruana and drummer Brett \u201cThe Ratt\u201d Romnes before their show at Nottingham Rock City to talk overcoming their worst fears, playing shows with their heroes and breaking into new musical territory. Just don\u2019t mention The Movielife!<\/p>\n Already Heard: You\u2019ve been on tour for a few shows already. How\u2019s it gone so far? Rat: Everyone was vibing out really hard there!<\/em><\/p>\n Vinnie: The vibes were super-positive. It felt like a family vibe.<\/em><\/p>\n Rat: We also came from Europe and did the Groezrock festival.<\/em><\/p>\n Vinnie: Groezrock was insane. We got to play with Descendants and NOFX. It was like a day after we flew in, so the first show; we just had to go right at it. <\/em><\/p>\n AH: Your new album is called ‘Wolverines<\/em>’. Where did the name come from? AH: Has it been tough to keep the band going? AH: You\u2019ve been announced to play Riot F<\/strong>est which you must be stoked about\u2026 Rat: It\u2019s pretty flattering actually. We saw a direct result of our hard work. It\u2019s not like, \u201cOhh my booking agent knows this guy so he\u2019s going to get us onto the show\u201d. Riot Fest came to our Chicago show and were like, \u201clet\u2019s see what you got\u201d. We played and then we got the call up to the big leagues! We\u2019re really pumped about it.<\/em><\/p>\n AH: That\u2019s the kind of impression you get about the guys who organise Riot Fest. Already Heard: Your new album isn\u2019t as easy to pigeon-hole as say, The Movielife. Do you feel like being in this band gives you more flexibility to play shows outside of a certain genre? Rat: We did play with Madball the other day.<\/em><\/p>\n Vinnie: We played straight after them in Munich. The stages were staggered, so it was one straight after the other. They went off all, \u201cOK GUYS WE\u2019RE MADBALL, SEE YA LATER\u201d, the sickest hardcore band out of New York\u2026and then boom: I Am The Avalanche! \u201cWe\u2019re also from New York \u2013we\u2019re nothing like those guys!\u201d That show actually put some hair on our chest and some perspective into our band. We can get involved in a lot of different kinds of tours and festivals and appeal to a lot of different kinds of people. We\u2019re one of those bands that can transcend a few of those boundaries.<\/em><\/p>\n Rat: I wouldn\u2019t say we\u2019re just a punk band or just a rock band. It\u2019s somewhere in the swirly world between them. <\/em><\/p>\n AH: Vinnie, you wrote the album during a serious back injury \u2013 a dark time in your life. But the record as a whole actually seems pretty upbeat. Which way would you say it leans? AH: It must be great to look back on an album as something that actually got you through a dark period. AH: Do you feel like you\u2019ve got past the stage where you\u2019ve shaken the Movielife tag and you\u2019re not constantly associated with them anymore? Rat: It\u2019s more like hecking, or just coming out and being a dick.<\/em><\/p>\n AH: What are the best things about coming to the UK for you guys? Rat: There\u2019s a lot of bands from the UK that we all grew up on. It\u2019s a big part of our musical history.<\/em><\/p>\n Vinnie: You could definitely call me an Anglophile. I sweat English culture and English music. Aside from my family and friends\u2026and my girl\u2026Liverpool Football Club is number one for me.<\/em><\/p>\n Already Heard: We have to ask you about that obviously! What did you think of the end of Liverpool\u2019s season? AH: You posted something on Twitter today about Travelodge UK \u2013 what happened there? Vinnie: We\u2019d been staying in Travelodges every day, which sometimes is OK depending on who\u2019s running it and how new it is. Last night we had the worst experience. We turned up at an empty Travelodge with rooms we booked three months ago, and they said they had nothing available. Sleep is so crucial to us on these types of tours! They relocated us into two different hotels on opposite sides of town from each other, splitting up the whole group. In our hotel, the shower didn\u2019t work. The room smelt like someone had taken a shit in a dentist\u2019s office. The comforts of home were not there.<\/em><\/p>\n AH: Can you tell us a bit about the tour support bands? Already Heard: Thanks very much for your time guys, and best of luck with the rest of the tour.<\/strong><\/p>\n ‘Wolverines’<\/em> by I Am the Avalanche <\/strong>is out now on I Surrender Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I Am the Avalanche<\/strong> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: They\u2019ve all been good! I\u2019d say London was the craziest. And Milton Keynes was really spirited.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: A wolverine is an animal that perseveres and has a lot of heart. It\u2019s the kind of animal that will chew its own leg off if it\u2019s stuck in a trap and attack you with a bleeding nub. It\u2019s something I admire and that I can equate to this band still existing. The guys that are still in the band from the very beginning are wolverines.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: The band\u2019s gone in so many waves throughout the years. We\u2019ve done three full length records, which isn\u2019t enough in my opinion. We\u2019ve had breaks where we didn\u2019t know if we were going to make another record. It\u2019s never easy for any band, successful or not, to keep it going. We might not tour for 18 months in a row, but it\u2019s a really important part of our lives.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: Groezrock was the sickest line-up I\u2019d ever seen \u2013 and now this beats it. As far as festivals we\u2019ve ever been a part of, this is NUTS. We\u2019re talking about some of my favourite bands ever, and not just punk bands. There\u2019s like ten bands at that festival that are in my top twenty of all time.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Rat: Those guys are very hands-on. They hand-pick all those bands.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie : Absolutely, one hundred percent. Especially with a new record. Now we have three so there\u2019s more of a spectrum. I think we\u2019re able to thrive at a hardcore show \u2013 depending on the kind of hardcore you\u2019re talking about.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: It was written in a dark part of my life, but the overall theme is rise above this and overcome. When the doctor told me what was wrong I got in the car and burst into tears. I thought I wasn\u2019t going to able to be in a band, and I was going to have to get a new job where I sit at a desk. That would be death for me. I fell apart at first and then maybe a week into it I thought, \u201cHow do I combat this? How do I make things better?\u201d I couldn\u2019t get out of bed without the use of hard drugs which I can\u2019t stand. Those aren\u2019t my kind of drugs. I like my beer and my whiskey and the occasional spliff! I was trying to clear my mind so I could write lyrics, and when that was happening I was in extreme pain. The pain was a driving force and inspiration to make it. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Rat: Music is cathartic for everyone. A sad song is supposed to make you feel happy, just like a Shakespearean sonnet. It makes you feel like your life isn\u2019t as bad as it was or could be.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: It always seems to be attached to us. Even now I\u2019ll read a magazine and in the lead paragraph you\u2019ll see “Movielife”. I\u2019m not going to fight that: I\u2019m proud of those days and that band is special to a lot of people. But it\u2019s also very romanticised. On the last Movielife tour there were probably about 200-300 people at the shows, which is great for any band. When we reformed we had 2000 people at the shows! If someone yells a Movielife song at us on-stage, it\u2019s not cool and I\u2019ll let it be known that it\u2019s not cool. That person could easily be removed from the venue. It\u2019s usually that guy who didn\u2019t get enough attention from his parents.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: The reception our music gets here is great. They seem to understand the moving progression that our records have. I think they connect with my lyrical approach. It never gets boring, coming over to a foreign land and having people support you. We\u2019ve always had a deep connection which started with The Movielife, and now three records in with The Avalanche, we\u2019ve been here on countless tours and I come over here playing solo shows without the band. I don\u2019t want there to ever be a day where we can\u2019t come here because no one will come to see us. We\u2019re playing small clubs, but we\u2019re loving it.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: None of us expected to win the league. We would have been happy with fourth. We wanted Champions League football back in Liverpool and that\u2019s what we got. About a month left in the season we got a taste of what could have been. I\u2019m sad for Stevie as I think he deserves the title. I hope he gets one before he retires, but I think he\u2019s only got a few years left in him. I\u2019ll be back next year to watch a match for sure.<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Rat: Fuck that place!<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Vinnie: We wanted to have a band from the UK on the tour. Our manager presented me with five different bands. Moose Blood was the first band I listened to and I put on their song \u2018Boston\u2019. Halfway through I called her up and said \u201cMoose Blood \u2013 let\u2019s go\u201d. Turnover is a band from Virginia Beach. They\u2019re on Run For Cover Records, a well admired label who I\u2019ve worked with on my solo material. They\u2019re a young band making really smart tunes, and that was an easy choice. Major League were recommended to us \u2013 I\u2019d played a few shows with them when playing solo gigs and we wanted to share the stage with them. I watched all the bands last night in Milton Keynes, and looking around, I noticed everyone knew the songs to all these bands.<\/em><\/p>\n