Machete Avenue

IN 2004 ‘MACHETE AVENUE’ WAS BORN IN LONDON ONTARIO WHEN LEAD SINGER, CHAD MICHEAL SMITH, OF THE LONG STANDING CANADIAN SCREAMO BAND ‘BLUE SKIES AT WAR’ SHOCKED THE NATIONAL MUSIC SCENE AND QUIT HIS POSITION IN THE BAND. HIS REASONING WAS THAT HE WANTED TO CONTRIBUTE TO A “MORE CREATIVELY REWARDING PROJECT” AND THAT HE HAD BEEN WORKING ON SOMETHING NEW OF HIS OWN FOR QUITE SOME TIME FEATURING HIM ON ACOUSTIC GUITAR AND A SECOND MEMBER ON PIANO WITH BACKUP VOCALS. THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE ACOUSTIC/PIANO DUO ‘MACHETE AVENUE’ WHICH HAS NOW SUCCESSFULLY COME LEAPS AND BOUNDS ON THEIR OWN. THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT AND FOLLOWING THE DICTATES OF THEIR OWN HEARTS & CONSCIOUSNESS. ‘MACHETE AVENUE’ IS MUSIC FOR THE SAKE OF MUSIC.
ONCE CHAD HAD FOUND HIS CONFESSED LONG LOST MUSICAL SOUL MATE, SCOTTY PARKER, TO FILL IN THE AMBIANCE OF HIS EMOTION SCARRED VOICE AND HYPNOTIC GUITAR MELODIES, THEY SET A PACT- ‘NO SHOW TOO SMALL, NO GOAL TO HIGH’, THIS CREDO BOUND THEM FOR A YEAR OF COFFEE SHOPS, BASEMENT/HALL, AND SMOKY BAR ATMOSPHERIC APPEARANCES ALL ACROSS ONTARIO AND THE REST OF CANADA. PLAYING TO STRANGERS AND FOR GAS MONEY, THEY BARELY KNEW IF AFTER THE SHOWS THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO LIFT FOOD TO THEIR MOUTHS.
THEIR MOTIVES TO LEAVE THE SAFETY OF THE SCENE AND STYLE POINTS THEY HAD ONCE SURROUNDED THEMSELVES WITH, CAUGHT THE EARS AND HEARTS OF TORONTO PUNK ROCK INDIE LABEL ‘UNDERGROUND OPERATIONS’. AND WHAT SEEMINGLY WOULD BE AN ODD PAIRING BECAMSE A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN WHEN BOTH BAND AND LABEL SHARED THE SAME PASSIONS, DESIRES, AND APPRECIATION FOR MUSIC WITH HEART AND SOUL. IT WAS LIKE THE STORY OF THE FISH AND BIRD FALLING IN LOVE, BUT THIS TIME THE FISH LEARNED TO FLY AND THE BIRD LEARNED TO SWIM.
ONCE ‘UNDERGROUND OPERATIONS’ WAS PART OF THE TEAM, THEY RELEASED THEIR FIRST EP ‘FIRST CUTS’ IN APRIL 2006 WHICH WAS PART OF THE PLAN TO LAY THE GROUND WORK AND ACTING PRECURSOR FOR THE UPCOMING FULL LENGTH IN SUMMER/FALL 2006. UPON ITS RELEASE ‘MACHETE AVENUE’ SET ON THE ROAD WITH GOLD SELLING ‘CITY AND COLOR’ FOR A CROSS CANADA TOUR AND WITH THE HELP OF THEIR INCREDIBLE LIVE STAGESHOW, THEIR NEW LABEL, AND THE GOOD WORD ON THE STREET, ‘FIRST CUTS’ LANDED ON THE CANADA SOUNDSCAN TOP 200 THREE WEEKS IN A ROW.
MOST RECENTLY THEY PLAYED A STRING OF SHOWS IN THE HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA AREA SHOWCASING FOR INTERNATIONAL LABELS AND THEN TOURED NATIONALLY IN CANADA WITH PROTEST THE HERO TO COME HOME- ANOTHER ODD MATCHUP TURNED WELL WHEN FANS OF PTH’S AGGRESSIVE STYLE CLAIMED ‘MACHETE AVENUE’ A REFRESHING CHANGE TO THE REGULAR SHOW FORMATTING.
THE FUTURE HOLDS A NATIONAL ‘BOYS NIGHT OUT’ TOUR FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE, A NXNE SHOWCASE AND A COCA SHOWCASE IN EDMONTON. OUTSIDE OF PLAYING COUNTLESS LIVE SHOWS THEY ARE PREPARING A LIBRARY OF NEW SONGS TO CHOOSE FROM FOR THE UPCOMING FULL LENGTH. ALL THE GROUND WORK IS LAID FOR THE MONTHS AHEAD AND TO THIS DAY THEY STILL STAND BY THEIR CREDO- FORGING THROUGH AND DEFINING THEIR ART TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SHARE IN IT WITH THEM. THE MUSIC IS HONEST, AND AT THIS POINT IN HISTORY ‘MACHETE AVENUE’ ARE A BECON OF SINCERITY AMIDST A CONTRIVED SEA OF ARTIFICIALITY.