[highlight]A little titbit for all AVA fanatics out there; ENJOY THE MUNCH![/highlight]
[size=+1]PART I[/size]
Let's start off with some obligatory interview questioning – Where?
Rudi: Where? I can’t account for the rest of the band but I believe I got a call from Matt one day, when I was filling in for the then-Cheapthrills. Basically, he told me he wanted to form an outfit and asked if I was game. I was at home during the conversation.
Why did this start?
Matt: Why? The five of us are very passionate about music. We just wanted to write originals and play music. We also wanted to start taking things more seriously. Shen, Daryl (my previous drummer) and I decided to have some changes made to the line up. We replaced the two guitarists we had with Josh and Rudi. That was when my drummer announced he had other commitments to attend to and we respected that. So Hafiz offered to play drums for us. That was in early 2004.
Josh: Has it only been a couple of years ago? Thought I have known you guys since forever!
Matt: Why we formed AVA all boils down to passion. As a singer, I had things I wanted to write and talk about so we concentrated on writing originals. Through AVA, I have an outlet to speak about things that affect me, what I think about certain things and what I see around me. We hope the music we create influences youth in a good way. Music is not merely an enjoyable sound. There is communication within as well. Some in the audience who have watched us have become our good friends.
Next – How?
Shen: How did we get to where we are?
Joshua: How AVA managed to pull through the years, through so much to be where we are, generally comes from our perspectives in our music, in our friendship. We are always friends first before musicians. That’s the value we adhere most to. It’s the most important value that has seen us through all these years. Musically, we have grown and that has helped us relate to the audience group better. The more we play, the better the youths are able to relate to us. It is quite meaningful that way. Some people say whenever we play, it feels like we play to an audience of one with our hearts out, our song lines are meaningful to them. This is also why we started the band; to inspire and relate with people. And that really plays a big part, to getting where we are today.
Matt: We’re not saying we’re perfect, or that we’re role models, because we’re not; through music we want to communicate with people. We don’t think we are better than everyone else.
Joshua: The moment you put yourself on the pedestal you fail to relate. I guess that’s how we got there; being real.
Shen: We got to where we are today also because, in the beginning, we tried our best to play at all kinds of shows whether big or small even though most of us had several commitments to handle. At one point, we had to get people to fill in regularly for gigs as some of us would be held back in camp at the last minute, during national service. We managed to get through that phase and we are now a post NS band! All of us have our pink I/Cs and that’s awesome.
Matt: Time and time again, I constantly review us as a band. Sometimes I doubt myself, I have doubts about the band. Do people truly understand or appreciate what we’re doing? Is this going anywhere? One of the gigs we had (Rock For Wayne), Jude from West Grand Boulevard said to me upon leaving the stage after their sound check - “Good luck, you guys are the only hardcore band in the line up today.” The line up had bands like Electrico, Force Vomit, The Fire Fight and other indie bands. And it is true. We were the only post-hardcore “RAH RAH!” outfit that day. But the moment we took the stage to play, the crowd was chanting our band name. I was really shocked! In fact, we were the only band that received that kind of reception when we took the stage that night. Then it went on for many gigs after, like Baybeats 2007, Lime Sonic Bang, et cetera. It’s really overwhelming and touching.
Joshua: We only realised during that year, our worth in the music industry in Singapore. It was in 2007. People knew who we were, they knew our songs and our hearts and spirits behind them. When you see a big group of people massively coming together to enjoy our music, no doubt they mosh, it doesn’t seem like they are pleasantly enjoying, but to an extent there is a certain form of unity. You have minor disputes occasionally in the pit but what really touches us when we’re on stage is when we see people coming together.
Matt: During the Lime Sonic Bang gig, our set was delayed and we only started playing a while before midnight at Sentosa. I would have gone home! But there were still a lot of kids who stayed for us. I guess we do have a special kind of a connection with our crowd.
Lastly - What?
Hafiz: Each of us has different influences. What makes AVA so interesting to me is exactly that. I like a mix of everything. Josh is an indie rock kind of guy. Shen is pop punk. Matt has the Finch and Funeral For a Friend thing going on. Rudi is very Hundred Reasons and Glassjaw.
Joshua: Rojak lah!
Hafiz: And Aaron our ex-guitarist was very metal, with influences like Arch Enemy and Machine Head.
Rudi: I was looking forward to joining the band also because of the fact that; finally I have come across a vocalist who can hold his pitch, a guitarist who can riff solidly, a drummer that could pretty much play the entire Deftones White pony album… and a bassist who has a fascinating taste in his choice of colour.
It’s been close to 5 years now, since the birth of the band. How do you think the band as a whole, or yourself as a person has progressed through the experiences that you have gone through these years?
Rudi: I personally started going for local gigs at 14, 15… and those were the days that I’d stand and stare in awe as these great bands; One Man Down, My Squared Circle, Meza Virs, the entire old gun of nu-metal coming on and just tearing up the stage. You can’t help but imagine how kids these days feel when they watch a band on stage – some of them just space out, not only just enjoying the band but also visualise themselves up there. Everybody goes to gigs doing that kind of thing. This has pushed out a bit beyond my fantasy; not that I am playing in a full time rock and roll band but I get to get out some weekends… rock out with my friends, no bad vibes, see people attempting to do funny things in the mosh pits and tell them HEY STOP IT…
Shen: Sometimes get free pizza.
Rudi: I find that this is really really good as we are in some sense passing on a tradition because it goes in a cycle; I see bands rocking out, I get influenced by them and then somehow I form a band. And I start rocking out and other kids see us, they watch the band and want to rock out too, viewing themselves as possible clones of us in the future, that whole idea just amazes me. So I believe I progress as a person from being just a day dreamer to being an active rocker type. Which is really cool.
Joshua: Rock Idol.
Rudi: And I’ve went through an entire check list of all the rockisms-to-do and I can say I have done all the rockisms…
Shen: Guitar swing?
Rudi: Well I haven’t done a guitar swing but I think I can live without a guitar swing.
The licking too?
Rudi: The licking is not necessary because I don’t think it is very hygienic and I think when others do that they probably treat their guitars a lot more hygienically than I do… I put lemon oil on my guitar so it probably has acid residue and that will cause me a tummy ache. And that will be bad. Tummy aches are brutal.
Joshua: Anyway I think you have the highest frequency of diarrhoea among us all.
Hafiz: He likes to put funny things in his mouth.
Joshua: Everything.
[size=+1]PART I[/size]
Let's start off with some obligatory interview questioning – Where?
Rudi: Where? I can’t account for the rest of the band but I believe I got a call from Matt one day, when I was filling in for the then-Cheapthrills. Basically, he told me he wanted to form an outfit and asked if I was game. I was at home during the conversation.
Why did this start?
Matt: Why? The five of us are very passionate about music. We just wanted to write originals and play music. We also wanted to start taking things more seriously. Shen, Daryl (my previous drummer) and I decided to have some changes made to the line up. We replaced the two guitarists we had with Josh and Rudi. That was when my drummer announced he had other commitments to attend to and we respected that. So Hafiz offered to play drums for us. That was in early 2004.
Josh: Has it only been a couple of years ago? Thought I have known you guys since forever!
Matt: Why we formed AVA all boils down to passion. As a singer, I had things I wanted to write and talk about so we concentrated on writing originals. Through AVA, I have an outlet to speak about things that affect me, what I think about certain things and what I see around me. We hope the music we create influences youth in a good way. Music is not merely an enjoyable sound. There is communication within as well. Some in the audience who have watched us have become our good friends.
Next – How?
Shen: How did we get to where we are?
Joshua: How AVA managed to pull through the years, through so much to be where we are, generally comes from our perspectives in our music, in our friendship. We are always friends first before musicians. That’s the value we adhere most to. It’s the most important value that has seen us through all these years. Musically, we have grown and that has helped us relate to the audience group better. The more we play, the better the youths are able to relate to us. It is quite meaningful that way. Some people say whenever we play, it feels like we play to an audience of one with our hearts out, our song lines are meaningful to them. This is also why we started the band; to inspire and relate with people. And that really plays a big part, to getting where we are today.
Matt: We’re not saying we’re perfect, or that we’re role models, because we’re not; through music we want to communicate with people. We don’t think we are better than everyone else.
Joshua: The moment you put yourself on the pedestal you fail to relate. I guess that’s how we got there; being real.
Shen: We got to where we are today also because, in the beginning, we tried our best to play at all kinds of shows whether big or small even though most of us had several commitments to handle. At one point, we had to get people to fill in regularly for gigs as some of us would be held back in camp at the last minute, during national service. We managed to get through that phase and we are now a post NS band! All of us have our pink I/Cs and that’s awesome.
Matt: Time and time again, I constantly review us as a band. Sometimes I doubt myself, I have doubts about the band. Do people truly understand or appreciate what we’re doing? Is this going anywhere? One of the gigs we had (Rock For Wayne), Jude from West Grand Boulevard said to me upon leaving the stage after their sound check - “Good luck, you guys are the only hardcore band in the line up today.” The line up had bands like Electrico, Force Vomit, The Fire Fight and other indie bands. And it is true. We were the only post-hardcore “RAH RAH!” outfit that day. But the moment we took the stage to play, the crowd was chanting our band name. I was really shocked! In fact, we were the only band that received that kind of reception when we took the stage that night. Then it went on for many gigs after, like Baybeats 2007, Lime Sonic Bang, et cetera. It’s really overwhelming and touching.
Joshua: We only realised during that year, our worth in the music industry in Singapore. It was in 2007. People knew who we were, they knew our songs and our hearts and spirits behind them. When you see a big group of people massively coming together to enjoy our music, no doubt they mosh, it doesn’t seem like they are pleasantly enjoying, but to an extent there is a certain form of unity. You have minor disputes occasionally in the pit but what really touches us when we’re on stage is when we see people coming together.
Matt: During the Lime Sonic Bang gig, our set was delayed and we only started playing a while before midnight at Sentosa. I would have gone home! But there were still a lot of kids who stayed for us. I guess we do have a special kind of a connection with our crowd.
Lastly - What?
Hafiz: Each of us has different influences. What makes AVA so interesting to me is exactly that. I like a mix of everything. Josh is an indie rock kind of guy. Shen is pop punk. Matt has the Finch and Funeral For a Friend thing going on. Rudi is very Hundred Reasons and Glassjaw.
Joshua: Rojak lah!
Hafiz: And Aaron our ex-guitarist was very metal, with influences like Arch Enemy and Machine Head.
Rudi: I was looking forward to joining the band also because of the fact that; finally I have come across a vocalist who can hold his pitch, a guitarist who can riff solidly, a drummer that could pretty much play the entire Deftones White pony album… and a bassist who has a fascinating taste in his choice of colour.
It’s been close to 5 years now, since the birth of the band. How do you think the band as a whole, or yourself as a person has progressed through the experiences that you have gone through these years?
Rudi: I personally started going for local gigs at 14, 15… and those were the days that I’d stand and stare in awe as these great bands; One Man Down, My Squared Circle, Meza Virs, the entire old gun of nu-metal coming on and just tearing up the stage. You can’t help but imagine how kids these days feel when they watch a band on stage – some of them just space out, not only just enjoying the band but also visualise themselves up there. Everybody goes to gigs doing that kind of thing. This has pushed out a bit beyond my fantasy; not that I am playing in a full time rock and roll band but I get to get out some weekends… rock out with my friends, no bad vibes, see people attempting to do funny things in the mosh pits and tell them HEY STOP IT…
Shen: Sometimes get free pizza.
Rudi: I find that this is really really good as we are in some sense passing on a tradition because it goes in a cycle; I see bands rocking out, I get influenced by them and then somehow I form a band. And I start rocking out and other kids see us, they watch the band and want to rock out too, viewing themselves as possible clones of us in the future, that whole idea just amazes me. So I believe I progress as a person from being just a day dreamer to being an active rocker type. Which is really cool.
Joshua: Rock Idol.
Rudi: And I’ve went through an entire check list of all the rockisms-to-do and I can say I have done all the rockisms…
Shen: Guitar swing?
Rudi: Well I haven’t done a guitar swing but I think I can live without a guitar swing.
The licking too?
Rudi: The licking is not necessary because I don’t think it is very hygienic and I think when others do that they probably treat their guitars a lot more hygienically than I do… I put lemon oil on my guitar so it probably has acid residue and that will cause me a tummy ache. And that will be bad. Tummy aches are brutal.
Joshua: Anyway I think you have the highest frequency of diarrhoea among us all.
Hafiz: He likes to put funny things in his mouth.
Joshua: Everything.
