BIOGRAPHY
Damion Page (vocals), Shane O’Keefe (guitar/backing vocals), Ryan Kennedy (bass),
and Shane ‘Holmesy’ Holmes (drums) came together in early 2005 under the guise
of Avalon Drive. Since then the Brisbane based four-piece have built an impressive
fan base, and playing high energy live shows and festivals carving their place
in the Australian rock scene.
The band independantly released their self-titled
debut EP in August 2005 spawning the singles ‘This Simple Life’ and radio favourite,
‘Outside Alone’. In March 2006, Avalon Drive were invited to join US rockers,
Yellowcard, on their Australian tour playing their first ever performance in Sydney
at Luna Park’s Big Top to a sold out crowd of 3000 people. The response to Avalon
Drive so crazy that the band had to cut short their set due to the crowd barrier
breaking. “You rocked out so hard for the opening band you broke the barrier,”
said Yellowcard frontman, Ryan Key to the thousands of fans.
With the
release of their second EP in July 2006, the band went on to perform on Rove Live
(Network Ten) and Toasted TV (Network Ten) ahead of their own national tour in
support of ‘Get Up’, the first single from ‘The City Of Burnt Out Lights’ EP.
In August 2006 the band toured nationally with The Veronicas (AUS) for thirteen
arena shows; The All American Rejects (US) for four shows nationally, and one
show with INXS (AUS) at Brisbane’s Riverstage.
The band takes influence
from rock and roll, but emphasize the value of good songwriting. It has been a
long time coming for a melodically driven alternative sound to come out of Brisbane.
The wait for a band that is as good live as in the studio and on the record is
over. After three national headlining tours, and supporting three of the biggest
names in the country in 2006, it doesn’t stop there.
In February 2007,
Avalon Drive were invited to support Californian rockers, Hoobastank on their
one and only Brisbane show at the Tivoli and in March, Avalon Drive continue to
bag high profile tour supports, touring nationally with Fall Out Boy.
In
May, Avalon Drive released their highly anticipated new single – a taste form
the band’s forthcoming album – ‘Make Your Move’ which was instantly added to Nova
airplay nationally and one of the most requested songs. The video clip which features
high energy live performance shots, shot by Pixel Frame (Tina Cousins) in Brisbane
has also been aired nationally on ABC and Channel V.
And it doesn’t stop
there. In 2008, the band signed a recording deal with SonyBMG which will see the
release of the band’s third EP titled “The View From Afar”, and it will be released
on 4 October 2008. “The View From Afar” was recorded with Matt Bartlem (The Butterfly
Effect) and mixed by Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Mammal). The first single from
the EP is the infectious ‘Last One Standing’, which hits radio on the 20th of
September 2008.
|
