It’s in this latter category that Pass Away fall. What started life as a side project for members of I Am the Avalanche and Crime in Stereo now feels like a fully realised band, creating the kind of cathartic and emotional punk rock will appeal to fans of The Menzingers, The Flatliners or Iron Chic.

‘Thirty Nine’ is the band’s second album and, while their debut was a short and scrappy affair, this time things feel fuller and more considered; the production far cleaner than that of its predecessor.

For the most part, the songs feel more memorable too. Opening acoustic number ‘Chic’s Beach’ is an odd way to kick things off, though it does do a good job of establishing the heartfelt honesty of the lyricism. Second track and lead single ‘Halloween’ does a far better job at establishing the record’s tone; harbouring a similar energy to bands like Gnarwolves, there’s a welcome sense of familiarity, as well self-deprecation, which would have been a far more fitting way to open proceedings.

Elsewhere, ‘Bartender’s Lament’ provides a slice of Menzinger’s style nostalgia and the most memorable chorus on the record. ‘Bushwick’ is another acoustic offering, though this time feeling far more fitting than the aforementioned opener. Coming at the half-way point it provides some brief respite from the record’s driving punk rock, if not from its angst.

‘Coffin Hands’ and ‘Brooklyn Psychotherapy’ round things off in perfect fashion and are definite highlights. The former a cathartic and rousing number that proves to be the strongest track on the album, the latter a slackery conclusion to the record; the piss and vinegar so often previously masked by inherent self-deprecation now finally erupting in the form of erratic guitars and a snotty vocal delivery.

Packing buckets of promise, ‘Thirty Nine’ is the sound of a band coming into their own, yet it doesn’t quite reach its full potential. While the album highlights are excellent, there are too many moments that feel like filler in comparison. That said, it’s by no means a bad record either. What it is, is an album of plaid shirt punk rock for the craft beer generation. And if, like me, that ticks your boxes, you could do far worse than spending some time with it.

DAVE BEECH

Stalwarts of the post-hardcore scene, I Am The Avalanche return after a six-year absence with their fourth studio album, crafted amid the creeping backdrop of a pandemic. With recording wrapped up in early-March, just as the new existence was taking hold of the US, ‘Dive’ is an apt commentary on the absolute car crash of the past 18 months.

In true I Am The Avalanche style, this record is a defiant assault of post-hardcore with a strong message of community, togetherness and self-belief, all of which comes with Caruana’s signature guttural growls, huge blasts from drummer Brett “The Ratt” Romnes, and powerful, melodic riffs of Brandon Swanson.

Opener ‘Better Days’ blows the doors off ‘Dive’. Stylistically it picks up where 2014’s ‘Wolverines’ left off but takes the intensity factor up a notch. The riffs are much heavier, the vocals more feverish and the tone is much darker. Followed swiftly by the straight-up punk track ‘You’re No Good to Me Dead’, it’s a ferocious start to I Am The Avalanche’s comeback.

“Don’t you want to see the day where your enemies suffer?”, Caruana spews during the visceral ‘Earthquake Weather’, and like drinking towards better days it can be a sentiment that resonates in a pandemic-fatigued audience. This anger never falters, not even taking a chance to subside momentarily in the subtly tender ‘Love Song 69’.

‘Dive’ culminates in the show-stopping closer of ‘The Morning’, a tour de force of I Am The Avalanche’s nuancesl; an anthemic track in which Caruana cries “If I’m still alive come the morning, if I somehow make it through, you’ll be the reason I still breathe”. It’s a beautiful message of hope, a call to keep your friends close, all layered over sumptuous soaring riffs.

Yes, we’d like to drink to a better day, and maybe just once we’d like to see some of the worst people on earth be held to account. The return of I Am The Avalanche provides the most succinct soundtrack – a platform we need to lean in to these hopes and desires. 

TOM WALSH

Hey Vinnie! How’s it going?

Yeah, it’s going well. Just finishing The Movielife’s European Domination tour. Four whole shows.

How are your four whole shows going?

They’ve been great and it’s the most shows we’ve played in a row since 2003. It’s felt like a tour because we usually just do a weekend trip, but we’ve been here for half a week.

I’m excited because the last time I saw The Movielife play was at Bamboozle Festival in 2008 when you played with Set Your Goals, and the last time I saw you as a full band was in 2001.

No way! Yeah, me too. That’s great.

What can I expect, seeing as I haven’t seen you play for so long?

Most of us haven’t aged poorly. Haha. No, we’re doing our best to play a solid set of tunes and not let anyone down in any way. There won’t be any backflips or pyrotechnics or anything, it’s just really what everyone expects from The Movielife: lots of energy and a really fun time.

And then obviously you’re doing the solo shows immediately after this.

Yes, this coming Friday. I have a little vacation in Brighton the next two days. I’m staying at the seaside and unwinding and then I’ll jump back into the solo shows.

How are you feeling about the shows?

Great. I get to play the new tunes I’ve never played before, and I’ll play some old tunes. I’m really staying over to help promote the new record that’s coming out here. We really wanted to take advantage of the fact I was here, and kind of put the word out about the record.

So the new record comes out on May 27th. How are you feeling about it?

I feel amazing about it. I wish it was tomorrow. I’m really proud of it, I’m really happy with it, and I just can’t wait for everyone to hear it.

How would you say it compares to your work with I Am The Avalanche and The Movielife?

It’s definitely a bit of a different sound. I think a lot of people who are used to a full band with me are used to really big guitars, which does exist on the record, and it’s still me doing what I do but I think it shows a lot more range. There’s some stuff that’s more punk-influenced like you might expect, and there’s some stuff where my voice is showing a little bit more range, which I’m really happy about. There’s some progression there, and it’s like everything from “Woah, is this an indie song?” to “Oh, that’s a punk song”, so I don’t know, I’m just kind of opening up the range a bit. It’s not just ten aggressive songs, it’s more peaks and troughs.

So it’s more what you want to do?

It’s exactly what I want to do.

How do you find playing The Movielife, and then playing by yourself?

I’ve actually never done it. This is the first time I’ll do The Movielife and be in that mindset, and then switch gears and do solo shows, so I don’t know. I’ll have a few days to switch gears and chill. I’ve been working so hard on this Movielife stuff and getting the record together I haven’t really had the chance to go over things, so those two days are gonna be a bit of a rehearsal as well, to kind of remember how to play everything and put the pieces back together.

I had a quick listen to the album and I love it. What would you say are the themes you explore on there?

I think there’s a very fatalistic thing going on. I don’t know why it always comes to that for me lately, but it’s mainly fear of death, fear of not making the most of life. There’s a few love songs on there, which is very new for me, but yeah. I’d say death is the main theme, me trying to come to terms with that and me also trying to be happy with my life and taking advantage of what I have and what’s in front of me, because obviously we take everything for granted. We’re sitting here right now and taking it for granted. So that’s really where I’m at right now. Full steam ahead on everything in life, because everything could change instantly. That’s my whole thing. Full steam ahead, positive attitude, working hard.

Oh yeah, you don’t know when anything will go away. A boy I know, a 20 year old, died last week, and you just have to make the most of life, because you don’t know when it will end.

Exactly. It’s trying to touch on that without being all doom and gloom about it.

It doesn’t come across like doom and gloom at all.

Well that’s what I was hoping. I would sit back and listen to the record and make sure it’s being presented the way it should be.  I mean, I don’t listen to it too much because I don’t wanna get sick of myself, but recording and doing all the mixes, you listen to yourself a lot. It’s exactly the way I wanted it to be. I’m saying what I need to say. It’s what I set out to do.

How was it recording this album compared to when you made the I Am The Avalanche or The Movielife records?

It’s more nervewracking, because you’re not looking at a bunch of guys like “Alright!”, because it’s your song. I think I paid a lot more attention in the studio, because I played most of it. I was basically alone with The Ratt [Brett Romnes of I Am The Avalanche] who produced it for the entire time, aside from the day Kellen [Robson of I Am The Avalanche] came in and played bass.

Did you do the rest?!

Steve Choi [Rx Bandits] came and played keyboards and some lead guitar but he tracked in California and I wasn’t there, so he was sending me tracks and I was making notes and sending them back. That’s the hard thing about making a solo record.

I guess it’s scary. If you do a record with a band, you can blame things you don’t like on other people, but if it’s just your record, it’s all on you.

Exactly. So you have to be on top of it. I used to be a total pothead. I stopped smoking the day before we started recording. That’s my new thing. I need to get so much stuff done this year, I need to sing so much and play so many shows, that I’m trying a new chapter and not being stoned all the time. I get more done. I’m not just constantly figuring out what to snack on while I’m sitting on the couch. It’s a good way to be.

With the solo shows, will you be playing much of the new album or will you be holding off?

I think I’ll be playing a bit of it, but not too much. I’ll be playing some old songs, some Avalanche songs, some Movielife songs, some older solo material, and then a handful of the new songs. When I come back and the record’s out and everyone’s got it fresh in their minds and learnt the words, that’s when we’ll play a lot more.

It must be exciting to have some new stuff to play.

It is. It’s really exciting. Making a setlist is gonna be so much easier now that I have more songs.

Did I see you’ve got a new video on the way?

Yes! We filmed the video in California. We went out to this crazy desert that nobody knew about. Some local guys brought me there, and we didn’t see anybody all day, and there were the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. I was like, “How does nobody know about this thing?!” And they said, “Oh, you know, everyone goes to Joshua Tree or this or that”. So we filmed in this desert state park and we didn’t run into anyone all day, and we went through all these orange groves, and I have friends who own a ranch down there, and then we went out to Malibu and we filmed out by the coastline, and basically California should give me the key to the state, because it’s basically an amazing commercial for California. It came out really good and I’m gonna see a rough cut next week. I’m not sure when we’re releasing it, but soon enough, because the record’s out in three weeks.

So after these solo shows and after you’ve released the album, what have you got coming up?

In June and July we have five weeks in the US touring with a full band backing me, and then after that I’m still trying to figure out when I’m coming back here for a full tour, more comprehensive than this one, and then a fall tour in the US supporting somebody I can’t say yet. Very busy, lots of touring, lots of shows, some time at home.

Do you anything else you want to cover?

Honestly, right now, it’s just these shows in the UK, and the album’s out on the 27th, so it’s building up to that. As soon as the last chord is struck tonight, my whole mindset’s gonna switch to the task at hand. These shows will be awesome, just me and an acoustic guitar, and I’ll be coming back to the UK later in the year with a band backing me. It’s gonna be an exciting year.

You can catch Vinnie Caruana at his remaining UK solo dates:

MAY
07 BRISTOL Deadpunk Festival
08 NOTTINGHAM Bodega
10 LIVERPOOL Shipping Forecast
11 LEEDS Key Club

LAIS MW

Modern Baseball have announced a handful of tour dates in early September with I Am The Avalanche and our new favs Beach Slang. You can check out the dates below:

Sun Sept 7, 2014—Syracuse, NY—Lost Horizon
Mon Sept 8, 2014—Montreal, QC—Petit Olympia
Tue Sept 9, 2014—Toronto, ON—Hard Luck
Thur Sept 11, 2014—Detroit, MI—The Shelter

Tickets go on sale at NOON tomorrow. Go go go!

Team Punktastic was on hand when I Am The Avalanche played at Johnny Cupcakes London recently. Check out the interview and footage from the show below!

Interview:

In-Store

Johnny Cupcakes: http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/

I Am The Avalanche have announced they will be going on a US tour this summer. Support on the entire run will be provided by the awesome Somos and Rust Belt Lights.

Information on tickets can be found on I Am The Avalanche’s official website, http://www.iamtheavalanchenyc.com.

Check out dates below:

JULY
18 – Brooklyn, NY – St. Vitus *
19 – Atlantic City, NJ – The Boneyard *
20 – Virginia Beach, VA – Shaka’s *
22 – Charlotte, NC – Milestone Club *
23 – Orlando, FL – Backbooth *
24 – Tampa, FL – Epic Problem *
25 – Lake Worth, FL – Propaganda *
26 – Jacksonville, FL – 1904 Music Hall *
27 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade *
29 – Richmond, VA – The Camel *
30 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery *
31 – Hamden, CT – The Space *

AUGUST
01 – Providence, RI – The Met *
02 – Amityville, NY – Revolution *

* = Somos and Rust Belt Lights supporting

The in-store will take place from 4pm.

https://www.facebook.com/events/603774389718593/

The festival takes place at the East Village Arts club in Liverpool. Tickets are £15 in advance.

This week has been another great week for announcements, and yesterday we all also launched our new curated gigs section here at Punktastic. It’s been all go! Check out our picks of this week’s announcements/on sales and news about our shows below too…

Punktastic

We’ve added British Teeth to our first monthly Club Night at The Old Blue Last, who join Home Advantage in a pairing of doomed bands! Over in Cardiff, we’ve announced an I Am The Avalanche show at Undertone with our friends at Millionaires. Support is VERY exciting, and we’ll get that out there ASAP!

All

As a warmup for their Groezrock slot at the beginning of May, All play an exclusive UK show at the O2 Academy in Islington in London. We’re gonna be there with bells on.

APRIL
28 LONDON Islington Academy

Chiodos

Promoting their new record, “Devil’, Chiodos have announced a headline show at the minature Water Rats in London. Don’t miss this one!

MARCH
07 LONDON Water Rats

The Menzingers

This sold out in a flash, but it’s one of the biggest news bits of the week as The Menzingers announced a teeny show at London’s Old Blue Last around the release of their new album.

30 LONDON Old Blue Last

Dropkick Murphys

Dropkick Murphys have announced a string of shows around this year’s Sonisphere Festival.

JULY
06 KNEBWORTH Sonisphere Festival
07 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy
08 LIVERPOOL O2 Academy
09 BRISTOL O2 Academy

MXPX

MXPX announced a headline show in the UK this May. They will be supported by Bodyjar and The Muderburgers, which means it’s shaping up to be a great show!

10 LONDON Camden Underworld (with Bodyjar and The Murgerburgers)

Camden Rocks

Camden Rocks have posted their first lineup announcement online, and you can expect Apologies I Have None, Colt 45, Menshevik and Crazy Arm to be at the event at the end of May.

MAY
31 LONDON Camde Rocks Festival

2000 Trees additions

2000 trees have added a bunch of new bands this week, including Itch, Blitz Kids and Hawk Eyes.

JULY
10-12 CHELTENHAM Upcote Farm

*phew*

I Am The Avalanche release their new album, ‘Wolverines’ next month. We’re fucking stoked on this tour, and you should be too!

MAY
09 LONDON Macbeth
10 LIVERPOOL East Village Arts Club (Fury Fest)
12 DUBLIN Fibber Macgees
13 MANCHESTER Sound Control Basement
14 MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms
15 NOTTINGHAM Rock City Basement
16 GLASGOW Audio
17 SHEFFIELD Corporation
18 KINGSTON Peel
23 SOUTHAMPTON Joiners

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