On April 13th, at Subterranean in Chicago, the brothers in Avantist will take the stage to celebrate their upcoming self-titled vinyl LP. One top of that, the quartet also just released a new music video. I had the chance to get to know the guys a little better, chat about the new album, family life, and more.
Check out the video for “Red Bible” and read the interview below!
Interview
To anyone who hasn’t heard your music, how would you describe the sound?
Very sporadic. We can be loud, soft, hard, fast, somber, groovy – you name it. Our music has a variety of different styles, so there’s a little bit of something for everyone.
If you could play with one band who would they be and why?
We have so many bands we can think of off the top of our head, but I guess our main one would have to be the Mexican band Cafe Tacuba. They’re our biggest influences and to be able to play in front of them would be the greatest honor. We’d be able to die happy and possibly retire early.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
We usually like to shake up with each other onstage before we play. Fern (our singer) usually does some vocal exercises backstage while our drummer (Luis) warms up by doing rudiments. Erick used to have a routine where he would have a drink, feel buzzed, get scared about being buzzed before going on, drink a whole cup of water to even it out, then just feel the need to pee for the rest of the time he was onstage.
What kind of activities do you enjoy doing together when you’re not playing music?
We are huge movie buffs so we always try to sit down as a family to watch our favorite films. We usually play a lot of video games together as well. To be honest, we are kind of inseparable no matter where we go, like a group of Meerkats. If you see one of us, the other three are probably somewhere close by.
What are your fondest musical memories you have of your family?
Family parties where our father would sing Mariachi tracks with our extended family. Those parties usually would go late into the night so we would bug the whole neighborhood by having our whole family trade off singing these heart wrenching Spanish ballads whilst drinking.
Is there a particular show in the future that you’re really looking forward to playing?
We have our LP release show this Friday at Sub-T. This show is kind of a big deal for us, not only because of our album finally being on vinyl courtesy of No Trend Records, but also because it has been a while since we have been onstage due to David’s hernia surgery. The anticipation is pretty great for us for this one.
If you were all in a Koosh ball fight, who would win?
That would just end in a regular fist fight between all of us… and if that was the case, Fern would win. He has heavy hands.
Post a comment