This is just a backup of the original interview. You should check the original one here.

Interview

By Bobby Gorman @ The Punk Site
With the whole band
On March 15th, 2006

I've been a fan of I Am The Avalanche ever since I had first heard them on that split with The Early November, so when I heard they were coming to Edmonton, I was incredibly excited, so getting to sit down and talk to them was great too. After we hung out for a bit, waiting for Versus The World to finish the soundcheck, we sat and did the interview, which went pretty well. While it didnt go as smoothly as I had hoped, I'm still happy with how it turned out, and yes, I realize I'm an idiot for not guessing that Mike was Pedro. My excuse is that I was tired and it was dark. Thanks a lot to Anna and Mo for setting it, and to the band for taking the time to do it with me.

Okay, you guys have been on tour with Punchline, Versus The World and No Use For A Name for quite a while, how's that going so far?
Vinnie: It's sick. It's like great bands, great friends, everything. I feel like I've said that a bunch of times this year, but it seems like every tour we do is really awesome.
Brandon: The cool thing about this tour too is that we've toured all over the states. Like it started out in Texas and went all the way up the east coast, into Canada a little bit and then we came back out and through the mid-west, and then north back into Canada and now we go all in the way over west and then down to California and stuff like that. It's like a huge jaunt.
V: A solid six-week North American little jaunt.
Ratt: We never toured Canada either, so it's cool. It's cold as shit though.

Has there been any really memorable moments from it so far?
V: Yes, I'd say watching No Use For A Name perform in Montreal was the most memorable.
Mike: It was one of the most memorable moments I've had all year. It was amazing. Over a thousand kids just screaming the words, it was really inspiring. I thought that was one of the most memorable parts of this tour.

Last year you guys released your Self-Titled debut to great praise and it ended up in a lot of top ten lists, did you guys ever think that would happen with your first CD?
R: I thought so.
V: Yeah, we were pretty confident about what we did and we put a lot of thought into it. When we put out our first record, I feel like it wasn't like "alright, this is our first record, it's gonna be a few go arounds before we write... until we get it." We're all experienced playing music and writing songs so... It definitely was our first record, but it definitely was not my first record, and the other guys can say the same thing. So this is just our first record together, I think we knew it was a special thing and I don't know, it just kind of shows all the work that went into it.

It was also rumoured to be a thirteenth song called "Summertime" which was supposed to be on the UK version of the album but never was. So is there a song called "Summertime" and will we ever see it?
M: That's not the full name of it, what was it?
V: The name of the song is "Summertime Rivington Vibe." We call it "Summertime" so someone else got that info and put it out. We were gonna have it as a B-side, but we decided that it wasn't ready; so it's on the operating table right now, getting parts cut off that you don't need, like the spleen and appendix and things like that.
Kellen: Amazon.com advertised it as being on the UK album I'm pretty sure, but it wasn't.
V: It might surface one day, but I think we have to work on it again.

Do you guys think you'll release a single from that CD or make a video?
V: Yeah, in the next few months.

Any idea what song?
V: We want to do "I Took A Beating," but we have to come to an agreement with that on label and talk about it. We have some really cool ideas, so I think the idea for the video that we have is going to convince people to let us do it, and we'll do it for that. It's gonna be really cool once we get it done.

Before you guys released that album, you guys released a split, 4-song EP with label-mates The Early November, why did you decide to introduce yourselves to the world through that?
V: I think Drive-Thru wanted us to do it and they said The Early November had said they wanted to do it with us, so we said "alright".
M: Yeah, we had some demo songs that Vinnie had recorded way before we had even formed the band as it is now, and I think it was a way to officially release them. They'd been leaked on the internet for a long time, and even though a lot of people probably had them already, it's nice to actually officially release a couple of them. So if you couldn't find the stuff on the internet, you could find it that way.

On that EP, you guys had "I Took A Beating" done acoustically, do you ever play it acoustically live?
V: No, not yet. Maybe one day. It's cool to have that option though. Now we can do the other version whenever we choose.

Have any of you guys ever taken a beating where your eyes swelled up and spilled out blood?
V: *Chuckles* yes, I have.
M: I can't say I have. I've gotten in fights before though, but I've never...
V: You fucking won them all! You don't get hit!

I was reading your blog on Myspace last week from when you had your day off in Cleveland, and you guys said that Vinnie was in the back recording some acoustic stuff, what was the acoustic stuff and will we ever see it?
V: Yeah, you will, we're gonna put it up on our Myspace. But our friend, Jackie Papers, who engineered the song, he put it on a data disc for us to load onto our computer, after we left Cleveland we realized there was nothing on it.
M: Pauper.
K: Pauper.
V: Yeah, Jackie Pauper as we call him. We're gonna put that up in a few days, whenever he e-mails it to us. It's the first song that I ever wrote for Avalanche and we never really did anything with it because it's more of a full-key acoustic song. So yeah, you guys will hear it soon.

You guys have all been in bands for a few years now, how do you think sites like Myspace and Purevolume have changed the music scene? Especially the independent scene?
M: I would never have imagined it would be like this, five, six years ago. It's crazy.
K: I think it's giving the opportunity to a lot of bands that don't have major label support, or any label support, to get their record out there and heard by a mass amount of people. It doesn't really take getting reviews in magazines, you can do it online, you can do it on Myspace and link it right up to their music. So its easier to access it that way.
R: I never imagined there would be so many bands out there, I didn't realize it.
V: I think Myspace is the reason for the amount of bands that are being produced right now. People are just starting bands left and right going like "I'm gonna make it!" and we don't really share that sentiment as far as... I mean, we are down with Myspace and that's great. But we're a touring band and we like to instruct people with our live show and use Myspace has a secondary tool.

Still talking about Myspace, on your profile you all have nicknames. Brett is obviously Ratt, but can you tell us who is Al Bobson, Schnappster, Agro Bry, and Pedro?
*They all laugh*
V: That's a really good question. We all have a lot of nicknames.
M: Let's see, can you guess who Pedro is?

*Takes a wild guess and points at Kellen* I don't know.
M: *Laughing* Maybe there aren't a lot of Mexicans in Canada.
V: *Pointing at Mike* He's Pedro.
B: Well, he's El Sanchez now.
V: Yeah, we should change that. Mike's name's Pedro, AKA El Sanchez. Kellen's name is Al Bobson.
M: Jay-Jay.
V: Big Al, Jay-Jay, umm... Stewart.
R: Stewart, Stuey.
V: Shitty Stu.
M: Agro Kellen.
R: He's Agro Kellen.
V: Brandon's Agro Bry, that's his only alias.
R: Shitty Bry.
V: *laughs* Shitty Bry.
K: Shot Taker.
V: Brett is the Ratt, or Bart.
B: Or Jennifer Aniston, Life After Brad.
V: Yeah, Jennifer Aniston. And I'm the Schnappster.

I love going to concerts, over the next couple months I have a dozen or so that I plan on going to. Of course, each show always stands out for some reason. I know tonight is going to be memorable for me because it's my fiftieth concert.
V: Nice. Cool.
R: Cool.

Thinking back to when you were teenagers, what are some concerts that you guys really remember?
M: When I was 18, I saw Kid Dynamite play their last show ever, their official last show, and seeing that was like the coolest thing ever. I'd say that was my most memorable show from when I was a teenager.

Anyone else?
K: Mine was probably the first time I saw Green Day when I probably 13. That was great.
B: I saw Botch, this like crazy metal band play in a basement which was like totally packed. And then they put on a light show and they kept shorting out the place, but whenever they were playing it was amazing. They shorted out the place like three times and that was probably one of the most memorable ones.
R: The first time I saw Pantera when I was really young. It kind of changed me.
V: I think any of Mike Patton's bands have always been the ones that I walked away from being like "wow that was one of the best shows I've ever seen." I've seen Tomahawk and Lovage, which I think was one of the ones where I was blown away. Of course, Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. I don't know, I think everything Mike Patton's done is amazing and I've never seen him come through New York and not impress everyone in the club with his insane ability.

Okay, if you guys could pick any person or band, dead or alive, still going or broken up, who would you pick to tour with and why?
M: I guess I'll go first on that one. I'd say Jawbreaker, absolutely. They're my favourite band of all time and if they got back together I would love for that to happen.
K: I can't go next.
B: I guess if the Murder City Devils ever got back together, it would be pretty sweet to go on tour with them.
R: Are we talking about bands that used to exist?

Or bands that are still going.
R: Just one or a whole tour?

Doesn't matter.
K: I'd want to go on tour with Nada Surf, The Pixies and the Foo Fighters all on one tour.
R: Normally I would go with Nada Surf, but since we can choose bands that are broken up I would say Texas Is The Reason. I think that they are an amazing band that were totally underrated. I think it would be cool to tour with them.
V: My turn? Seaweed, Naked Dagger. Yeah, Seaweed and Naked Dagger... and the Beach Boys.

Now onto a bit more unusual questions that I just like to ask at all interviews just to keep it interesting. First off, if you guys were stranded on a desert island, no food and nothing to eat, which one of the band members would you eat to survive and why?
*Everyone laughs*
B: I think it would be the first one to die right?
V: Recently, this one girl asked us a similar question to that and that was the last question of the interview because we hated it so much. But it's different when you ask it, because you've asked so many questions that are intelligent, and I guess it just bothers me when people don't know anything about our band and then just ask us all questions like that, so that's why we laughed when you said it. We were like "Oh crap!" umm... what do we say? Who do we eat?
M: I would eat Kellen, because he doesn't eat any red mean. He's pretty healthy other than the cigarette smoking and he only eats chicken and fish; so I'd say he's the healthiest member of our band as far as eating goes, so I'd like to eat his cock.
*Everyone laughs*
V: That's probably the most unhealthy part of his body.
B: I would probably sacrifice myself and give myself to you.
V: Yeah, I think I'd bite into your soft skin. I'd feel like I'm eating baby flesh though if I ate you.
K: No! Let's eat Mo!
All: Oh yeah!! *Starts lughing*
V: He's our tour manger.
M: He's the creamiest, fucking sexiest...
K: He's like eating Cuban goods.
V: He doesn't smoke cigarettes either; he has a very low toxin level in his blood. He rarely drinks. So yeah, let's fucking eat Mo.

Okay, if you could have one thing at this moment, anything at all, what would you have and why?
V: What would I own?

Or like nicer weather, anything.
V: I don't know... A weird spaceship that zips us around the world and that travels like 500 miles per hour above the street.
M: I'd like to own a trailer park, a big ass trailer park with really sweet trailers for all my friends and family. We'd have like a trailer park compound and we'd have a nice grill set up and swimming pool, that's what.
V: I need a spaceship for touring.
K: I want to be a polygamist. *Everyone laughs* I think I'd like to own a polygamist compound. *They keep laughing* Nah, no I wouldn't, I lie. I'd want Ratt to own one so I could come over and chill.
B: I want Ratt's moustache to be so long that it drags on the floor when he's walking.

I guess that's about it, thanks a lot for doing it. Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to add?
R: Thanks for everything man.
V: Check our Myspace, we're up on that all the time, talking to people and posting music, like we will be soon – like we mentioned about that other song. Keep in touch with us people. We'll be on tour forever and go to our website and support all our friends' bands.

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