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Avo gives an encore
The underdog finalists from this summer’s Dayton Band Playoffs at Canal Street Tavern were the young modest rock band, Avo. They surprised everyone by reaching the finals after only forming a few months prior to the start of the playoffs. Their gutsy and solid set in the final round turned a lot of heads that otherwise counted them out of contention.
But Avo’s success was not an accident. Like a high school football team getting ready for a long season, the band spent weeks during their playoff run practicing and writing every chance they got. They put in long hours in the garage finding their sound and tightening their set. They were so dedicated to winning that their four times a week practices often began at 6 am and went all day.
Now that the playoffs have ended, Avo is ready to begin chapter two in the band’s history. They are getting ready to enter Refraze studio this weekend to record an ep due out next year, and the band also has aspirations of playing outside of Dayton.
In the mean time, Avo is crashing the stage at Canal Street on Thursday, November 30th, for a quick show with fellow 2006 playoff finalists, The Smoky Basement Project.
I had a chance to speak with Mike Gibson (bass, keys) about life after the playoffs and the new cd.
KN - How did Avo benefit from playing the playoffs?
MG - The playoffs were great exposure for us. We were a new band and being in the playoffs helped us build a name for ourselves and meet other bands. It has opened a lot of doors for us.
KN - Your show on Thursday is with The Smoky Basement Project who were you competition in the finals, is there any bad blood between you guys?
MG - No, not at all. All the bands that made the finals are good friends. I invited both SBP and Orange Willard over to my house before the finals to get to know each other. We all get along great and support one another. If I see that they are playing somewhere I always try to go see them.
KN - When will the ep by finished?
MG - We are going into the studio this weekend and we are not going to put a time limit on the recording. We want to record 5 songs and however long it takes us to get something on tape were happy with is when it will be finished.
KN - What does A.V.O. stand for?
MG - We have dropped the periods between the letters and are now just Avo. But originally it was an abbreviation for Alester’s Vengeful Odyssey. A dictionary helped us come up with that, but because it was so long we shortened it to Avo.
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