AVO
Brooklyn, New York, United States | SELF
Music
Press
For Immediate Release August 27, 2013
For more information, contact:
Michelle Martelle
avotheband@gmail.com
August 27, 2013 (Brooklyn, NY)-- The digital release of Hocus Pocus, the debut album by Brooklyn, NY’s up and coming pop/punk/funk outfit AVO, is now available to stream or purchase at the band’s website (www.avotheband.bandcamp.com).
Every now and then, a rock trio comes along and proves that with just a guitar, bass, and drums, you can reimagine the form...and make it something refreshingly new again. The breadth of styles, influences, and vision present throughout the 15 songs and 24 minutes of AVO’s debut LP, Hocus Pocus, make it a remarkable achievement and artistic statement for a band that crystallized only a year ago, and one that as yet remains relatively unknown. Hocus Pocus is the stuff dance parties are made of, hooking you in from the first note. The album’s opening track, “The Hook,” begins with just a simple guitar loop, kick drum, and hi-hat. Within seconds a tight groove drops in providing the spine…one that tingles with immediacy, propulsion, and soul.
After the band’s 2012 lo-fi AVO EP, Ronnie DF, Mr. B, and Raj began writing songs that both reflect and embody their myriad influences and musical styles; the Sly meets Bee Gees soul of “Rely On Carothers;” the postpunk wiriness, atypical structure, and “econo” intensity of The Minutemen on “Hamburger Helpers;” the acid funk of “Chunk Love” with it’s a la “A Day In the Life” B section bubbling to a violent, yet controlled explosion of renegade guitars, spoken word, and scattershot drums; the melodic abandon and lyrical abstractions of early Talking Heads on “Love Ghost;” the brevity of Guided By Voices and Wire on “Elisita LSD”; and the sun-soaked, R.E.M.-drenched wistfulness of “Savior Tooth.”
The songwriting duo of Ronnie DF and Mr. B (Fell/Betancourt) is stylistically divergent yet compatible, with Ronnie’s saccharine, soulful tenor lending a provocative contrast to Mr. B’s smoky, dynamic baritone. Their lyrics are colorful and cerebral. DF's are a mix of the cryptic and direct, offering both a couch for the listener's thoughts to crash on and a slice of "the universe according to Ronnie,” as evident on “You Are What You Are.” Mr. B writes discerning, elliptical reflections on modern life, from the subtle politics of “Gun Parade” to the urban fable, “Pear The Bear.” Behind the eclectic songwriting is Raj’s precise drumming, commanding a style that’s both punchy and angular.
AVO was born in 2010, and originally conceived as an experimental pop project. Ronnie DF and Mr. B recorded that year’s New Concepts In Food using a drum machine. After a series of starts and stops, AVO was fully realized as a band in 2012 when Raj Maddela joined on drums, encouraging the band to move in new, rhythmically diverse directions. “AVO is a return to my roots, getting back to the music, namely rock, funk, and drum n’ bass, that I played when I first started out as a drummer,” says Raj. AVO’s 8-song eponymous EP, a self-produced collection of concise, kinetic nuggets, was released in late 2012. The band has since played a string of energetic, well-received shows in New York City, Philadelphia, and Vermont. A fan at a recent show remarked, “They’re tight, smart, contagiously infectious, unique, and in a word, FUN. AVO is fun.”
For more information, promo requests, or to set up an interview, please contact Michelle Martelle at avotheband@gmail.com.
###
- Press Release for Hocus Pocus LP
For Immediate Release August 27, 2013
For more information, contact:
Michelle Martelle
avotheband@gmail.com
August 27, 2013 (Brooklyn, NY)-- The digital release of Hocus Pocus, the debut album by Brooklyn, NY’s up and coming pop/punk/funk outfit AVO, is now available to stream or purchase at the band’s website (www.avotheband.bandcamp.com).
Every now and then, a rock trio comes along and proves that with just a guitar, bass, and drums, you can reimagine the form...and make it something refreshingly new again. The breadth of styles, influences, and vision present throughout the 15 songs and 24 minutes of AVO’s debut LP, Hocus Pocus, make it a remarkable achievement and artistic statement for a band that crystallized only a year ago, and one that as yet remains relatively unknown. Hocus Pocus is the stuff dance parties are made of, hooking you in from the first note. The album’s opening track, “The Hook,” begins with just a simple guitar loop, kick drum, and hi-hat. Within seconds a tight groove drops in providing the spine…one that tingles with immediacy, propulsion, and soul.
After the band’s 2012 lo-fi AVO EP, Ronnie DF, Mr. B, and Raj began writing songs that both reflect and embody their myriad influences and musical styles; the Sly meets Bee Gees soul of “Rely On Carothers;” the postpunk wiriness, atypical structure, and “econo” intensity of The Minutemen on “Hamburger Helpers;” the acid funk of “Chunk Love” with it’s a la “A Day In the Life” B section bubbling to a violent, yet controlled explosion of renegade guitars, spoken word, and scattershot drums; the melodic abandon and lyrical abstractions of early Talking Heads on “Love Ghost;” the brevity of Guided By Voices and Wire on “Elisita LSD”; and the sun-soaked, R.E.M.-drenched wistfulness of “Savior Tooth.”
The songwriting duo of Ronnie DF and Mr. B (Fell/Betancourt) is stylistically divergent yet compatible, with Ronnie’s saccharine, soulful tenor lending a provocative contrast to Mr. B’s smoky, dynamic baritone. Their lyrics are colorful and cerebral. DF's are a mix of the cryptic and direct, offering both a couch for the listener's thoughts to crash on and a slice of "the universe according to Ronnie,” as evident on “You Are What You Are.” Mr. B writes discerning, elliptical reflections on modern life, from the subtle politics of “Gun Parade” to the urban fable, “Pear The Bear.” Behind the eclectic songwriting is Raj’s precise drumming, commanding a style that’s both punchy and angular.
AVO was born in 2010, and originally conceived as an experimental pop project. Ronnie DF and Mr. B recorded that year’s New Concepts In Food using a drum machine. After a series of starts and stops, AVO was fully realized as a band in 2012 when Raj Maddela joined on drums, encouraging the band to move in new, rhythmically diverse directions. “AVO is a return to my roots, getting back to the music, namely rock, funk, and drum n’ bass, that I played when I first started out as a drummer,” says Raj. AVO’s 8-song eponymous EP, a self-produced collection of concise, kinetic nuggets, was released in late 2012. The band has since played a string of energetic, well-received shows in New York City, Philadelphia, and Vermont. A fan at a recent show remarked, “They’re tight, smart, contagiously infectious, unique, and in a word, FUN. AVO is fun.”
For more information, promo requests, or to set up an interview, please contact Michelle Martelle at avotheband@gmail.com.
###
- Press Release for Hocus Pocus LP
Discography
Hocus Pocus LP (Sept, 2013)
AVO EP (2012)
New Concepts In Food (2010)
Photos
Bio
FALL/WINTER 2003/4: Fell and Mr. B meet while working at a cafe fronting as an antique furniture store. Over tea and GBV, and in the company of like-minded hooligans, Fell and Mr. B struck up a friendship forged in the fires of cheap beer, cheap laughs, and thus, kaboom rock was born.
EARLY 2005: Fell and Mr. B are reunited after brief forays into supposed greener pastures and metaphysical military service. With Fell and Mr. B sharing guitar and bass duty and with various species of recording device strewn about, they began the begin, ripping out such instant classics as Lady Auxiliary and some song rhyming bibliotheque with discotheque.
2006: With Fell on guitar and Mr. B on bass, and with countless song nuggets in the bucket, Package Thief is born. Beat alchemist and all around good guy Raj was soon added to the mix, an old pal of Mr. B's who had been blowing minds for years with his soulful rhythms. The trio played a show or 2, before calling it a day.
2007: Fell gathers a tribe of collaborators including Mr. B to churn out an album's worth of homegrown kaboom rockers. They named it Package Thief, dressed it up in blue, and left it with the babysitter.
2008-9: Both Fell and Mr. B inaugurate their solo projects, Nice Like Us and Colonial Radio respectively. A creatively resurgent period for both.
2009: Mr. B moves to S. America to engage in guerilla warfare while Fell embarks on an international tour of goodwill, camera in hand.
2010: Reunited, and it feels so good, Fell and Mr. B realize they have more songs than they know what to do with. Originally conceived as an experimental project, they ditched such pretenses to full embrace a new, emboldened skelterpop sound and dubbed it, Avo (in honor of avocado).
FEB. 2010: Avo's first record, New Concepts In Food, is recorded in a 2-week frenzied fit of writing and bathroom smoke breaks. With Fell on bass/vox/keys and Mr. B on guitar/vox/keys, and timeless songs such as I Like Lunch, Classic Danger, and Colonel Corduroy, NCIF delivers the goods.
SUMMER 2010: Sessions for the followup album, Hocus Pocus, begin in earnest. With Fell feeling the funk, the duo begins to move in a more groove-oriented direction. Fell takes a year-long stroll about America, always returning to Brooklyn to lay down new tunes. Within that year, demos are made for roughly 18,945 new songs.
SUMMER/FALL 2011: Avo becomes a band with the Ozmaster Ozzie on drums. Setting their sights on Bruar's Falls in Williamsburg, BK, they attack with full force, leaving no ass unshaken. Some say they played another show down in Red Hook, and that soon thereafter, decided to punk out while they were still on top.
WINTER 2011: Hocus Pocus sessions resume after a momentary bout of collective amnesia. Fell and Mr. B realize that they need to record the songs with a live drummer.
SPRING 2012: Avo hacks aways at the ever-growing beast that is Hocus Pocus, eventually trimming it down to 17 songs.
SUMMER 2012: With Raj back on board (lucky us!) for the recording, they record 8 songs live in an old jalopy in Red Hook.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2012: After trimming it down to an 8-song EP, ditching the Hocus Pocus title, and clocking in at 13 min 7 sec, Avo unleashes "Avo EP" on the internet. Raj officially joins the AVO.
JAN - AUG, 2013: AVO razes the earth with a string of blistering sets, sewing their seed in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Vermont as part of a Vermont tour of Brooklyn bands.
SUMMER 2013: After laying down 16 tracks at Manhattan's New World Stages with engineer extraordinaire Zane, the group nurtures HOCUS POCUS LP all summer, preparing it for mass consumption. Stay tuned....
Band Members
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