Friday, February 4, 2011

The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist



Origins

The Avalanches began in 1994 as Alarm 115, a noise-punk outfit inspired by The Animals of Steel, Drive Like Jehu, The Fall, and Ultra Bidet.[2] The band (Darren Seltmann, Robbie Chater, Tony Diblasi and Manabu Etoh) bought all their instruments at junk shops, where they also discovered piles of old records. When Etoh was deported and Alarm 115 ended, those records became the core of a new project. Chater was a film student at RMIT, and had access to a recording studio there, which he and Seltmann used to turn said vinyl into a 30-song demo tape labeled Pan Amateurs.[2] In 1997, A new lineup (Seltmann, Chater, Diblasi, and Gordon McQuilten) was assembled to play the tunes live, debuting in July under the name Swinging Monkey Cocks.[2] Their first four shows were played under four different names.

[edit]Early releases

They officially became The Avalanches at their fifth gig - a support slot for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - and rose to prominence quickly. Their name comes from one of the group's favorite records, "Ski Surfing With The Avalanches", by an American surf band from the Fifties.[3]

Trifekta Records released the debut 7" Rock City in spring 1997. This was followed in December by the El Producto EP on Steve Pavlovic's Wondergram Records. Around this time DJ Dexter officially joined the band on turntables.[2] Based on the EP's success, Pavlovic signed The Avalanches to his new Modular Recordings label in May 1998. Months later, Leo Silvermann signed them to his Rex Records for the exclusive UK 10" "Undersea Community".[4]

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