I Am The Avalanche played their first ever shows in the UK back in 2004 before the release of their debut self-titled album in 2005. Now, finally, they are back in England promoting their second album Avalanche United, which was released in October this year.
Shortly before their show at Moho Live, Manchester, I caught up with the band’s vocalist and founder Vinnie Caruana.
Q: So how has the tour been so far?
It’s been amazing man – it’s been really fun.
Q: Any highlights?
Liverpool was the highlight so far. The show was moved coz the venue got shutdown a week before the show, so we went to this tiny little room and it got packed out, and everyone was freaking out. It felt good, and we caught our groove.
Q: How do the crowds compare from the US to the UK?
Um, at the moment we do have more support in the United States, but that’s because we’ve been there for a while. But the UK is…I’m impressed with everybody, you know?
The fact that there’s anybody coming to see us is really cool, coz we’ve neglected them. And I think it’s a testament to the reception of the new record – people are really enjoying it, and the reviews have been great, and we’re really thankful.
Next time we come here we’ll be supporting a bigger band, and we’ll continue to build on what we’re doing.
Q: Which band?
Yeah, we’re playing with a band called Brand New, and they do quite well…
Q: So how come it took so long for you to release your second album?
We toured for about three years after the release of that record and um…we wanted to go home and just live life at home for a bit, so we slowly wrote the record and slowly recorded the record, and then it was time – it was time to get back to business, you know?
But yeah, we kinda took a little break and enjoyed our families and our friends…
We have a lot of work to do, you know? We have a very small fan base in the UK, but they’re dedicated and they’re loyal, and it’s growing. That’s what we’re doing over here – just playing for them.
Q: You played your first show over here, right?
First show ever, yeah, in Kingston. Err, an offer came though, “Yeah do you wanna come over to the UK?”, and [I said], “Yeah, let’s make that our first show.”
So I put a band together, and then we went to the UK. (We didn’t have a band. I recorded everything by myself – all the demos and all that stuff.) I thought it might be a cool thing to do and it was. It was really cool.
Q: How are you finding Manchester?
It’s amazing – Manchester’s great, man. This is a good city – it’s got a lot of character. I’m also glad – sometimes when we show up to a city it’s like “Oh great, I can’t wait to see that city”, and we’re like on the outer limits of the city – it’s nice to be right in the middle of Manchester.
We got to walk around today, and I’m gonna walk around and see some sights.
I Am The Avalanche have just completed their tour of the UK with support from Apologies, I Have None and Hostage Calm. They will be back in February next year supporting Brand New on their sell out tour.
I Am The Avalanche – Brooklyn Dodgers (Official Video)
