In the lead up to their newest album release ‘Wolverines’, Front man Vinnie Caruana from American indie/punk/rock outfit I Am The Avalanche took some timeout to speak with Music Editor Darren Hassan about the influence for the album, to answer some questions about the current music industry, and what he does to chill when not performing.
Leading up to the release of Wolverines, Caruana mentioned personal trials as being an influence for the album, and apart from experiencing physical pain described in ‘The Shape I’m In’, here’s what he had to say about that process:
We’ve only just begun to release records in a timely fashion, that was the biggest struggle for me as an artist. There (have been) six years in between our first and second record, and I’ll never let that happen again. Figuring out how to achieve our goals as a band and figuring out how to remain dedicated to our lives at home as well feels great. We lost a few members before we recorded the record and have just recently begun moving forward with a slightly different line up and an extremely positive attitude.
On previous visits to Australia:
Australia is one of our favorite places to travel. Our first Soundwave was my favorite experience because we were there with some of our closest friends in other bands and got to experience an amazing summer in the middle of our winter. We’ve never done a regular club tour in Australia, and we look forward to doing that next time around.
Being an Indie rock band to the core, I asked Vinnie what his thoughts on current popstars like Justin Bieber, One Direction etc and he responded quite openly with “Those types of things aren’t really in my stratosphere, and if I heard them on the radio, I couldn’t tell you who was who. My little niece used to like Beiber, but I think she’s over him. Listening to music like that may poison the well, so I stay away from it. I need to keep a level of integrity with everything that I write.
Being in a band whose schedule is constantly busy, Vinnie also spoke about what he does to unwind away from all the hustle of the music industry and the pressures of touring.
I live in a beach town, so I spend a lot of time on the sand, in the water, fishing, riding my bike, etc. I spend a lot of time with friends and family when I’m home, and I try to be as social as I can. I’m an ardent supporter of Liverpool Football Club and watch a lot of English Premier League football (which sometimes is not chill at all).
In closing, I asked Vinnie what he’d be doing if he wasn’t in a band, and if there was an alternative career he thought would be interesting.
I haven’t found anything else in life that makes me feel the way this makes me feel, and I’ve been doing this professionally for 15 years, which renders me pretty useless when it comes to anything else. I enjoy driving and operating machinery, so I’d probably learn how to drive cranes and operate other massive construction equipment.
Wolverines was released March 21 and is available at the links below. Here is Glamadelaide’s album review which gives it the thumbs up:
JB HIFI
ITUNES
DIGITAL ALBUM
Interviewed by Darren Hassan
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