Addavoy

Addavoy: points for originality
By Jennifer Dietrich

If you’re into the local band scene, maybe you’ve noticed a trend that’s been occurring during the past year: the growing popularity of original music. Hometown musicians have been gaining more fans and tour dates while releasing high quality CDs. One such “local band” is Addavoy.

The modern rock band from Gonzales consists of lead vocalist Justin McCoy, vocalist and guitarist Dane Carmouche, lead guitarist Dustin White, bassist Stephen Black, and drummer Lane Spiers. Although the guys share a passion for the music they’ve created, their individual influences are quite diverse, ranging from Dave Matthews and Better Than Ezra to Tool and Marilyn Manson.

The original members were each playing in separate music projects until the end of the summer of 2003, when they decided to join together to form “Attaboy,” the band’s initial name. After discovering that “Attaboy” was already copywrited, the original members quickly altered the name to the present title, Addavoy.

Becoming successful in any field takes a certain amount of self-dedication, but McCoy explained that in order to thrive as a band, “You have to make it your life; you can’t do anything else.”

Carmouche and Black compared being in a band to being in a marriage, elaborating that in order to be successful, everyone must be able to figure out and work with each other’s personality.

Over the past year, Addavoy’s loyal fan base has expanded and the band has played at many impressive venues, such as the House of Blues in New Orleans and the Swamp in Fort Walton.

When asked what spurred this attention, McCoy replied, “People can relate to the music. All of it.”

Pick up a copy of their self-titled debut CD and you can see for yourself. Whether you’re ending your first relationship or your fiftieth, you could swear your own experience was the inspiration behind the ballad, “So Far Away.” And you don’t have to have the “up yours” attitude of the ’90s Alanis Morisette to appreciate the love-scorned message in “Breaking Silence.” The meanings in Addavoy’s songs are universal, so anyone can connect with them, but the catchy rock beat and incendiary guitar sounds are what keep the music in your head the next day.

So why has original music from local bands such as Addavoy become so popular? Black said, “The [original] music scene used to suck and now it doesn’t.” He offered the split theory that “50 percent of it was because [Baton Rouge] is a college town and everybody wanted to go out and hear songs they could sing along to and 50 percent was because 98 percent of the original bands in Baton Rouge were horrible.”

Black further explained, “You’d have people who wanted to hear covers, but they’d say ‘Alright, I’ll give original bands a shot.’ They would have a 98 percent chance of seeing an original band that sucked and then they wouldn’t want to [give original music a chance] again.” He denoted that although there were a few talented original bands at the time, such as Liquid Sand and Spank the Monkey, they were hard to find.

The members of Addavoy have detected the public movement from cover bands to original music; they credit the present abundance of talented original musicians for this shift. Spiers described how, “Now, there are a lot of original bands that play just originals and they can pack a bar.”

Carmouche elaborated, “It’s come a long way. A lot of the cover bands are slowly fading away, so I think original bands are starting to take over Baton Rouge.”


Need any proof of Addavoy’s popularity? Just ask them about their happiest moment as a band, when they headlined the main stage at New Orleans’ House of Blues. If that doesn’t satisfy you, go to one of their shows and witness the majority of their audience screaming every lyric to their songs.

Although Addavoy’s popularity has escalated, the members stay focused and humble. When asked for a final comment, Spiers replied, “We’d like to thank all the fans for getting us this far.”

With a full calendar of tour dates and a new CD set to be released this summer, there’s no doubt Addavoy will go even further.

For more information about Addavoy and to see their tour schedule, check out their website www.addavoy.com.

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This article was originally posted on March 09, 2005

- By: Jennifer Dietrich

Reviews - 07.26.2005


Artist - Addavoy
Album - Wishing and Waiting EP
Label - Independent

01. Statis Radio
02. When Cars Collide
03. Slow Motion Passerby
04. Obvious
05. Wishing and Waiting


www.addavoy.com
Addavoy - Wishing and Waiting (EP)

There's a young, vibrant and well-received 4 piece alternative / rock band making some noise in the Southeast US. Addavoy is composed of Justin McCoy(Vocals), Dustin White(Guitar), Dane Carmouche(Guitar/Vocals) and Lane Spiers(Drums).

After a successful journey with their nine track self-titled debut CD in 2004, the band began to make some changes and create some new music. Addavoy's new EP "Wishing and Waiting" features 5 songs produced by Jeremy Parker (engineered projects for Grammy Award winners Evanescence and Puddle of Mudd) and Pat Quave (former drummer of Wind-Up recording artist 12 Stones). The EP was recorded at Balance Studios in Mandeville, LA and completed on April 9th, 2005.

"Wishing and Waiting" packs an awesome amount of energy for its 20-minute duration. The band possesses an impenetrable mana of energy with talent that constantly pushes the borderline between modern rock and punk rock. Thus giving them a new, fresh, young, and appealing overall sound. The EP starts things up with the upbeat 'Static Radio'. This lead track features some delightful guitar work and some excellent vocal harmonies. 'When Cars Collide' is a strong punk influenced song, with great musical and vocal breakdowns. I really like the last half of the song, when the band picks up the energy and speed, giving it an overall powerful delivery. 'Slow Motion Passerby' bares a strong resemblance to the previous 'When Cars Collide'. The band once again graces us with hook-driven, harmonic vocal choruses that would make anybody want to sing along. 'Obvious' is a slower and more serious love song. Justin's vocal talents don't cease to amaze as he hits the nail right on the head with this song. I am always impressed when bands are able to take a step back and record a slower song, and have it still sound as good, if not better than the other tracks on the record. The EP comes to a close with the title track 'Wishing and Waiting'. This track's high point would definitely be the nice guitar lines and instrumentation.

Addavoy has become one of the most popular college/modern rock acts to come from Baton Rouge since Better Than Ezra. The band has successfully launched it's own style of music in Baton Rouge nightclubs, and has since become a powerful draw in Texas, Florida, and Arkansas. Backed by their new EP 'Wishing and Waiting', they have landed their first East Coast tour in 2005. Major cities on the bill include Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Chicago. Several major record labels are showing interest including Lava, Geffen, Capital, RCA, Warner Brothers, Atlantic, Epic, Island and Interscope. It is with no doubt that Addavoy has captured the attention of the music industry and with "Wishing and Waiting" as their current resume, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they land a major deal.


Rating: 5/5

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brian@breakingcustom.com



Band Name: Addavoy
Website: http://www.addavoy.com/
Record Label:
PureVolume site: http://www.purevolume.com/addavoy

Addavoy combines today's unique style of rock with real life experiences. The band performs an average of 10 shows a month throughout the Southeast US.

LABELS ARE HOT FOR THIS BAND (May 9th, 2005 @ 5:47pm)
Addavoy has been generating quite a buzz with some major labels. If you want to check out some of their music, head to PureVolume. If you are a fan of pop/rock, you'll love these guys.







- www.breakingcustom.com