Interview with Avalanche: ‘It’s a thrill ride from start to finish, we start every set with it, that scream gets people going!’

Sydney hard-hitting rockers Avalanche have come out swinging this year, with their incendiary new single ‘Hell’s Getting Hotter With You’.

The band comprises Steven Campbell (vocals and bass) his wife, ‘V’ or Veronica (lead guitar), Arthur Divis (rhythm guitar) and Ryan Roma (drums). Veronica and Ryan know each other from jamming in high school, where they mostly played AC/DC songs. Of their band name, Steven says: ‘My dad was in a band called Avalanche in the 70’s, they released a self-titled album, they had the same manager as AC/DC, Michael Browning. And dad taught me to sing. When we were thinking of names, I suggested it and everyone liked it and we got dad’s blessing.’

Steven describes ‘Hell’s Getting Hotter With You’ as ‘about the lure of those Bonnie and Clyde-esque toxic kinda relationships, where it seems you’re just dragging each other to hell and back but you like it’. ‘It’s a thrill ride from start to finish, we start every set with it, that scream gets people going!,’ he said.

With thunderous guitars, paint-stripping vocals and some serious riffage, it’s the perfect illustration of what the band offers live, played wild and loose, leaving audiences covered in blood, sweat and beers.

‘We chucked a whole bunch of riffs in there!’

Opening with a crashing riff and drums to match and a bloodcurdling scream from Steven, it is, in their words, ‘fast and loud, no-bullshit rock ‘n’ roll for a new generation’: ‘It started with a couple of riffs I got together, we’ve been playing it live for a couple of years,’ Veronica said. ‘Originally, the song was a bit longer, we had an extra couple of riffs in it. It’s very riff and guitar based, we chucked a whole bunch of riffs in there!’ Steven nods: ‘We had the title, it tied into the toxic relationship thing, it fell into place. V loves AC/DC and blues, she’ll use a lot of open chords.’

As the track kicks off: “You spend my money. You spend my time. ‘Cos you’ve had a life of crime. I earn my keep, I earn my stride. But you just tell yourself a lie.”

However, sometimes, it is about trying to piece disparate riffs together, according to Ryan: ‘Sometimes, one of us comes up with different riffs, or we could have different sections for a song that don’t work together, so we’ll save ’em for another song, ‘cos sometimes you find that old riff you threw out works great for this new track you’re working on.’ What does work is their fantastic cover of Steve’s dad’s Avalanche’s ‘Sweet Baby Brown Eyes’ – it’s heavier, stompier, with riffs that have a bluesier undercurrent than the original. For a song that is so well-known in the Australian pub scene, Steven tells me that it was actually something of a happy accident: ‘They threw it together at the end of the album, it apparently came together quite quickly but it’s a classic rock song, my dad told me. We made it our own thing and amped it up a bit! When we did the single launch, my dad got up on stage and sung it with us, it was a very special moment for me,’ he said.

‘It was THE church for people who love rock ‘n’ roll and metal’

One of their catchiest songs is ‘Bottle of Sin’ (2002) about a wild night out that never actually was: ‘We wanted to write about going out during COVID when we couldn’t,’ Steven said. ‘We shot the video at Frankie’s Pizza (an iconic pizza and live music venue in Sydney that has since closed) at one of our gigs just after lockdowns were lifted and then following the rest of our night out basically! We miss that place, you’d walk into a little pizza bar but there was a whole band room downstairs with a major CBGB’s (a New York club) kinda vibe with room for over 400 people! The artwork for the single is a photo of Frankie’s, too.’ Ryan nods: ‘It was THE church for people who love rock ‘n’ roll and metal,’ he said. ‘I wrote the main riff in COVID.’ Veronica jumps in: ‘It’s a combo of riffs that Ryan and I were writing over Zoom,’ she said. Arthur nods enthusiastically: ‘Frankie’s had the best pizza!’

As the track goes: “Tonight’s the night that we’re gonna die. Here’s some mud in your eye. I’m your runaway sinner, I’m your blood thinner. Gonna eat you alive. Let’s go, one more, ten more. It’s war.”

Possessed by a fierce energy, this has seen them play alongside Buckcherry, Fozzy, Rose Tattoo and taken them overseas headlining their first international festival and tour in Nouméa; New Caledonia. They are now gearing up for a tour of Japan in March. Currently, they are ‘cooking a couple of new singles’, according to Veronica: ‘We just finished recording a bunch of tracks, although I feel like my favourite changes,’ she said. ‘We can’t reveal too much at this stage but you can expect lots of riffs, lots of screams, really guitar based hard-hitting rock that we know will go off live!’ Steven agrees: ‘We’ll release the most music so far this year, I’m more attracted to the newer songs,’ he said. ‘Just ‘cos they’re just that little bit more representative of where we’re at musically and what we’re going through at the moment.’

‘We did a cover of an Iron Maiden song, ‘Number Of The Beast’, we did it for a wedding’

As a band, a diverse set of inspirations have fed into their sound. Veronica is a fan of Australian bluesey hard rock bands like Rose Tattoo, Billy Thorpe and The Angels. Arthur is a self-proclaimed fan of ‘old Aussie pub rock’ and of American bands such as Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crüe, and Ryan cites Airbourne as an influence. ‘We did a cover of an Iron Maiden song, ‘Number Of The Beast’, we did it for a wedding,’ Steven said laughing. ‘The couple met each other at an Iron Maiden gig and saw us open for the US based all-female tribute act, The Iron Maidens, so they asked us to play their wedding – it was a gothic wedding! And the first wedding we ever played, it was heaps of fun!’

If he could go for a drink with anyone, Ryan picks Airbourne or Lemmy of Motorhead: ‘They’re great! And Lemmy, good ol’ Lemmy (laughs). How do you obtain the liver to drink four bottles of Jack Daniels a night?!? He used to have his own little corner in the Rainbow Bar and Grill (in LA) where he had his own poker machine, what a legend!’ Ryan would also love to go drinking with Malcolm Young: ‘I’d ask him: “How do you stay so positive and consistent?”‘ Arthur picks another legend: ‘Kurt Cobain, I don’t know what I’d say, maybe: “Where the hell did all the creativity come from?” The music had so many layers.’ Steven has other plans: ‘Dimebag from Pantera, I’d give anything to have a drink with him! To say thanks. How he plays the guitar, it pushed me to want to be a better guitarist.’ Veronica goes with Angus Young: ‘I’d talk about guitars forever!,’ she said happily. ‘Or Ruyter from Nashville Pussy, we saw them play the last ever show at Frankie’s and part of the roof actually caved in during their set! The bar staff were there with drills trying to patch it up while crowd surfing! (It was about to be demolished for a metro station). I did actually meet her, she’s very nice, we talked about guitar solos (laughs). Steven is laughing: ‘That night, people were crowd surfing and punching the ceiling!’

If they could put together a supergroup for the night, Ryan goes with AC/DC’s Phil Rudd on drums, Steven picks Lemmy on bass and vocals. ‘I’d go with Angus Young on guitar and Arthur would probably say Slash on guitar, too, so we’d have two lead guitarists,’ Veronica said. As to which one of them gets to join the supergroup for a night, Steven says: ‘Maybe Arthur should join then since they’d be in need of a rhythm guitarist!’

They’ve had some hilarious moments at gigs, as Steven recounts: ‘Most recently, I can think of when we played the infamous 1 a.m. show at Cherry Bar late last year right after we also played Cherry Fest earlier that day. And everyone was so wild and so drunk from the fest before that it was just utter chaos in the best way possible! There was a guy hanging from the rafters at one point, people were grabbing us and everyone and everything, someone made out with Ryan (laughs), and everyone was so drunk they just were losing their minds. We have a few videos on our socials showing how wild it got but I don’t even think it quite captured the madness. You had to be there!’

(Top photo from left to right: Veronica, Steven, Ryan and Arthur.)