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From Airlie Beach to Japan: Avalanche’s Electrifying Rock Journey | Pario Magazine
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Oct 13, 2024
Avalanche is set to rock the Airlie Beach Festival with their high-energy performance! Fresh off their international tour in Japan, Steve and Veronica Campbell share the band's incredible journey and what fans can expect next. FOLLOW AVALANCHE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: - Website: https://www.avalanchebandrock.com/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/avalanchebandrock - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avalanchebandrock - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@avalanchebandrock - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wF07k0n3MbeOnbLVMXG6X - Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/au/artist/avalanche/1440045697 - YouTube: @avalanchebandrock PURCHASE A PRINT EDITION OF PARIO MAGAZINE HERE: https://pariomagazine.com.au/store Check out more great content from Pario Magazine on our website: https://pariomagazine.com.au/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORT PARIO MAGAZINE & THE COMMENTARY BOOTH - PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/jamieappsmedia - AMAZON PRIME VIDEO AFFILIATE: https://amzn.to/3vOzqQm
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0:00
Welcome to Pario Magazine where I chat with individuals who have a desire to create
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Today I'm joined by two members of Avalanche, a Sydney-based band that is keeping classic
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Aussie rock alive. Welcome back to Pario magazine Stephen Campbell and Veronica Campbell
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Hey, thank you for having us. Yeah, we really appreciate it. Thanks for having the time. My pleasure. So we last spoke to you in 2021, sort of as you geared up to get back into live shows following the pandemic shutdown
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Thankfully, it's a much nicer time to perform now. Yeah. What has it been like
0:46
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's been awesome. We just released our new single, Up to the Deep and we just wrapped up the tour for that
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So we've been all around Australia and that tour went really well. And just before that, we did a headline tour of
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Japan as well. So that was our second ever international tour, first time in Japan
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Yeah, we definitely been playing the most this year, I think probably out of any of the years
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that we've been planned to before. Yeah, just every weekend we've got a show. Awesome. Good to see things are back into the full swing of live shows and getting out there
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and seeing new audiences. Yeah, for sure. So then before we dive into what's been happening
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over the last year or so and what's coming up in the near future, do you want to give our audience a little
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intro as to who Steve and Veronica are? Yeah, sure thing. So, yeah, we're part of Avalanche
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We're a hard rock band from Western Sydney. We've been around since around 2018, 2019
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And yeah, like this year we've really been recording a lot of songs and we're releasing
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a lot of songs and really hitting the touring circuit pretty hard and trying to get
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ourselves out there into the Australian scene, which has been pretty cool. And, yeah, we're just starting to start
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hit the international scene now as well, which is starting to, you know, get a bit of waves
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and a bit of momentum going. And, yeah, we're just a straight up hard rock band. We love to play
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high energetic sort of shows. We've got no, no sort of frills, no ballads. And yeah, just straight
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up Aussie rock and roll, man. Very nice. What has it been like sort of expanding out and going
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internationally, given the sort of Aussie rock sound that you guys have? Did you ever sort of expect
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to hit those international markets? I guess initially probably not. Like, you know, obviously when we first started, we're all pretty young
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We just wanted to play music and that. But I think, yeah, over the past year or two
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we have started to really try and get serious about it and make it like more of a sort of career move, I guess
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And yeah, the international stuff has worked out really well for us. I think the Japan shows went really well
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and the crowds there seem to really like us. and we seem to get a lot of fans streaming our music from other countries
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Yeah, like when we went to Japan, we were really surprised to see them wearing, like, airborne t-shirts
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and Amort on the Snippers and Hard On's T-shirts and stuff, so they really like the Aussie Rock over there
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We've been to New Caledonia and New Meera as well, and they're like a predominantly French-speaking country
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or Ireland, I don't know, exactly, but they knew all the words, like our songs
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We chucked a few like ACDC covered in that in. They knew all the words to that
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They love that stuff. So I guess Ozzy Rock has loved worldwide, or at least to the place that we've been so far
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Awesome to hear. What else has been happening since 2021? I know I personally got to witness you perform live at a pro- Wrestling Australia show since our last interview
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How was that experience? Yeah, that was really interesting. Yeah, we got through like a friend who like does wrestling and stuff
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That was interesting. And yeah, it was really fun show. I think that it was like sold out
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Like we didn't know wrestling was that big of the thing like in Sydney. Yeah, it's awesome
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It was cool to sort of be able to play that. I think we played a cover of one of the motorhead sons that they did for Triple H
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And yeah, that was a heaps of fun to be able to do that. I never really thought it get a chance to play something like that Yeah I thought when they were doing that there for a little while bringing in sort of bands I thought it was a great way to sort of mix audiences like you guys got to perform in front of
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all new people and get new eyes on you, and then maybe like some of your fans see clips of that
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and go, oh, wow, there's actually wrestling in Australia, let's go do that. And yeah, especially with like rock and metal, like they seem to sort of go in and that sort of stuff
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as well because there's always intro songs and that being recorded and then for um wrestlers
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that are generally held rock and metal so and then how much nicer is it to be back to full
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live touring and uh shows without restrictions yeah definitely i mean it was obviously really hard
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playing to you know like a seated audience or only half what you know is allowed in the venue
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usually um you know rock music especially like you want people to like dance and wash and get up to
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and stuff so yeah it was a bit difficult sitting down it's not as fun i guess and not as easy to kind
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to kind of make that connection and stuff when you're playing so it feels a bit empty in a way i guess
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yeah yeah definitely a lot more fun and then in doing my research i saw that you competed in and won
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australia's biggest original band competition the passport to airly can you sort of tell me about
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that experience yeah i mean yeah that was like one of our biggest like career highlights i think
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today which was pretty cool we just randomly entered this like band comp didn't think anything
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of at the time we played a couple heats and we kept getting through and we're like oh all right
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we played the grand finals and then we got into like the um well we played like the local finals kind
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of thing and then we got into like the final finals which was at early beach festival of music
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which was up in like north queensland so we drove like 23 hours to get there with all our
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amps and stuff we had to bring all the goos yeah we always like to plan our own amps kind of thing so
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And yeah, we played it and we won. And yeah, we literally didn't think anything of it
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But it was such a good experience. They gave us like VIP tickets. So we got to like hang the VIP to and get like free food and drinks
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And we played a really huge stage. Probably the biggest stage we've played on so far, I think
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And just, yeah. And now we get to play again this year as like winning part of winning that
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So they go up and do it all again. And is it in November? Yeah, November will be returning
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And they've got a really good lineup. They've got like the sweet and roast tattoo. Thirsty Mark
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Steve Meg, Jebedire and all that. So, yeah, I can't wait. That was such a fun
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We played for like four days straight. It was just such a fun experience. It's really hot, but really fun
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Yep. Do you think that by going into that competition sort of with no expectations
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no sort of, we really need, we really want to win this? Do you think that helped
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Well, to be perfectly honest, when we first got the message that it was a comp
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like, we were a little bit like, oh, I don't even know if we should do this, because we've done competitions before and if things ever really happened
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Or it's always been a bit like rigged in a way like whoever buys the most drinks gets the most votes
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So, you know, a band would get the most money would just buy all the dreams and they'd win. So we've never really been that big of a fan of cons to be honest
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And I remember we had the conversation and like some of us were even like maybe we shouldn't do this
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Luckily we ended up actually doing it. We thought like, we'll just do it
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At least we get to play a show to some people, maybe sell some merch, get some new fans. So why not
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And then yeah, we just kept getting through the heats and we're like plug. sorry i don't know if we're gonna that's again but yeah it was it was a fun experience yeah i guess
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it helped that we didn't really like plan to win or we just wanted to like play a show so i guess
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that definitely would have helped yeah and i remember even when we found out that we were going at
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early because i meant they told us only like two weeks before the event actually happened so we had to
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like plan to like get flights and like get time of work and i'm pretty sure you you couldn't even
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really get the time of work so you were working in between sort of like
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sort of like the drive up and like, like, yeah, yeah, it was just really funny
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Yeah, I think that, I just think that idea of going into something with no sort of personal
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pressure on it of, we really want to win this, you're just going in there and just having
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fun and that obviously translated with the judges and the audience. Yeah for sure Yeah Well I guess that is the thing about music you know sometimes it you know when you take it too seriously it kind of emanates that sort of sense But you know if you not taking it too seriously it can be like really playful and fun I guess
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Yep. And you mentioned that you get to sort of go back in a listed headliner slot this year
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's playing alongside Rose Tattoo. Who else is on the lineup
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The suite from the UK. We can't reveal exactly where we are yet, but we should be between two really big bands, so should be
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Yeah, should be really good, really good palm, slot, yeah. And yeah, we've got some really cool playing for it
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How does that feel to be on a line up with sort of some of those bands that I imagine really influenced your early years
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Yeah, definitely. It was amazing. Even last year when we played like people like, people like
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people like Ian Moss and Ross Wilson and all those people that we like Dragon
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played as well. So even then just being able to watch all those guys and play the same stage
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that they did was just unbelievable and really like it felt good, you know, kind of like we've finally
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got a little bit further than kind of what we wanted with this band like to play alongside all those people
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and to do it again now in the event, but it's just always awesome we can't wait. And just possibly
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you know, get a chance to chat to some of them would be really cool and see what they have to say and some of their stories
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and that would be, you know, crazy to think. Has that sort of experience given you a lot more confidence going into these sort of international tours as well
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Yeah, I think so for sure. I think so, yeah. Yeah, I think it's just a good feeling to see that like what you're doing is working
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Like people are liking these opportunities are kind of coming your way after, you know, all that hard work
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It seems like, you know, sometimes that, oh, nothing's happening or we're working so hard. And so it's good to, you know, that while we didn't expect to win, it's good that it happened because it kind of
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kind of was like validating in a way like what we're doing is good or actually getting somewhere
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so yeah definitely it was interesting playing on a much bigger stage i think because that was such a
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big step the biggest stage where we've played on so far so there was like a few things we had to
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learn along that way as well which which probably gave us a bit more confidence as well yeah like we
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played a few like DIY festival than that but nothing to that scale so that was just a really good
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experience in general as well yep uh so then looking ahead to the the the
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festival this year, what can people expect from the avalanche set? We've got a really, really cool, really cool set planned and like a few
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few surprises in store. Like, uh, I think we're really, really knuckling down like the
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like almost every sort of part of this set, making it like as big and, and it's like, it's spectacular as we could ever possibly do
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Like, I think we were going to try maybe at one point, um, I think still in talks, but we're going to try and maybe get it recorded and, um
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see if we could maybe do a live sort of thing. but I don't know, it's still on talks now, so it hasn't really confirmed it
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But it would be cool. I think that would be really, really cool if like a few months down the track we could say
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release like an avalanche live and early or something like that. But yeah, we've got some really cool plans in store for it
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It's probably going to be the biggest show we've probably played so far, I think. Okay
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How long has sort of planning been going on for that show? Pretty much since like last year
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We actually managed to get our first manager for. from early last year as well
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So we've been working with them and we've got a new booking agent as well with premier artists
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So yeah, we've been working with our whole team just trying to make this the biggest show we can
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And we're not going to be driving this year. Yeah, we're going to be flying. Much more energy when you get to the festival this year
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Yeah, we're very zumbified when we got there last time. We literally arrived at like seven
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I think it was like eight o'clock in the morning. We need to go and get our tickets straight away
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So we didn't even have a chance to sleep when we got that. Rough. Yeah
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That's okay. And you mentioned sort of the new singles and stuff coming up and having just released some as well
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Do you want to give us a little bit of info on the inspiration behind the new music
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And will we see those songs at the festival? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we'll definitely be playing a lot of new songs
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And I playing to release at least another single by then to and eventually work our way to our first full length album I done a few EPs before but not like full album so that kind of something we always wanted to do and yeah we spent a fair bit of time in the studio sort of late last year and with a sort of producer and like work with like
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one that we've never you know like to the extent that we've never really done before so um yeah like
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we've got like probably an album's worth of material sort of in the bank and yeah just you know slowly
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releasing them and gonna try and really get something to something really
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sort of pumping by the time we sort of either get there or sort of towards early next year i think
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we'll have a really really good timeline of a release and in terms of like influences it's um
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Aussie rock i'd say you know like people like acedacettoe the angel cold chisel um
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steves dabbling band called avalanche um so all those guys from the 70s dragon billy thorpe just all that
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kind of influences and a lot of other people too like you know chuck berry motorhead led zappelin
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Black Savage was all the guys we like, all the influences are in there. Okay, cool
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Yeah, it sounds like since that competition win, it's kick-started you guys into a much more sort of professional
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taking this really serious mode for Avalanche. Like, obviously you were taking it seriously before
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but now it's 100% a career. Let's really push hard for this
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Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think it definitely sort of made all of us turn and sort of think
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well, you know, we could really push this. We're going to see how far we go
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And, um, yeah, it's like the first time you've got to manage and work with a booking agent
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So that's always been like something we've worked towards and that ended up happening for the festival
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So yeah, we're really grateful for that. And yeah, just keen to see how we all go. And just everyone being on the same page, it's been good
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Yeah, having people there to help you like a team behind you has been really good
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So it takes a little bit of the pressure off on us when you know, we're the ones who usually do everything
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So yeah. Yeah, yeah, I was going to ask, has it been a beneficial for the, the creative
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process as well because you're not focusing on all of the admin and booking and all of that
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sort of stuff as well as trying to write new music yeah absolutely yeah i guess that's the hard part of it
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you're always you know doing like a million other things you know like social media admin as you say
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all that stuff behind the scene just to you know get before you even get a chance to like pick up the
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guitar you got to do all that stuff so yeah it's definitely a bit better it's still like sort of early
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days and baby steps so hopefully it'll only get more and more pressure off us as time goes on but it has
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definitely helped so far great and then the last question looking beyond the festival what else is on
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the horizon for avalanche yeah so we're hoping you get the full-length album out there next year
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and we'll hopefully do some international touring for that we're really looking at europe we are
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working on that at the moment so hopefully we can go to uk europe we definitely want to return to japan again
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and New Caledonia. So that's also in the works and just more Australian touring
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There's still a few places in Oz. We haven't got to yet. We haven't been to Tasmania or Western Australia yet
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So definitely working on that as well. But yeah, just working on stop trying to go anywhere we can, really
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Yeah, just try to get really like a really good routine or some sort of touring schedule together
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and just stick to it and push. Awesome. All right. So finally, where is the best place for people to support you and track this creative
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journey moving forward. So our social handle is avalanche band Rock. So you can go on any social media and search that up and find us
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So like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, all the good ones. But we've also got a website, so it's www. www.avalanchebandrock.com
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That was all our link. So that's probably the place to go find anything else and subscribe to our newsletter
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and stuff there. And, yeah, keep up to be. Perfect. All righty
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Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. Good luck with the festival and creating all of the new music and hopefully venturing off to the other side of the world
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Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks for having us
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