Battle Ave is a band from Woodstock (Upstate) New York. Their sound is a bit like Pavement and other early 90′s indie rock guitar groups. I spoke with them about their origins as a group and their influences.
How did you guys come together as a band?
I was living in Montreal and becoming real bored with playing solo music, and a friend asked me to play a show. I decided I wanted to put together a rock band again, with all new songs, specifically focused around the gritty, sloppy music of Pavement. I asked my friend Samantha to play drums, and we made a makeshift set, many of the songs having been tossed since that train wreck of a first show. Our original guitarist moved to Florida, and our long time bassist decided to go to college in Massachusetts, which is how we came to our current lineup of Jesse (gtr, voc), Samantha (drums), Adam (gtr), and Max (bass).
What were some albums you guys loved as you were growing up?
Jesse: Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen. Wowee Zowee by Pavement. Incesticide & In Utero by Nirvana. S/T Blue by Weezer. Static Age by Misfits.Samantha: Revolver & Abbey Road by The Beatles. Who’s Next by The Who. S/T by The Velvet Underground. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco. And pretty much anything by The Smiths.Adam: Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles. There Is Nothing Left To Lose by the Foo Fighters. Pinkerton by Weezer.Max: Dookie by Green Day. Enema Of The State by Blink 182. Is This It? by The Strokes. Turn On The Bright Lights by Interpol.
What artists do you guys all agree on as influences?
Not all of us love all these artists, but I think it’s safe to say we agree that Pavement, Television, and contemporary acts such as Frog Eyes or earlier Arcade Fire inform our music a lot. And there’s always the comparison of Samantha to Keith Moon.
What makes you gravitate towards that raw indie rock guitar sound?
Guitar is certainly the most flexible instrument, other than voice, and allows for more manipulation than most others. And it’s a lot of fun. Listening to guitar heavy bands our whole lives, and now listening a lot to bands that center around guitars working together (Thin Lizzy) even when not in sync with each other (Rolling Stones) it’s even more justification to keep doing what we’ve been doing. The raw sound is great because it imparts something personal that’s in the songs and the lyrics, and shows a band playing together.
I love the raw momentum of “Puke Lust” was the song always so aggressive or did it evolve from something else?
Puke Lust is the oldest song we play. It was written around 2004/2005 for my high school band, and it was relatively the same song, but lacking all of the aggression. It came about pretty much at random while recording “War Paint” that we needed a song with a lot of up tempo aggressive energy, so I resurrected it and we pushed it out as loud as we could. An evolution of sorts…
What are you most looking forward to on your upcoming “Just Married Tour” in March?
Two nights in Nashville… Driving through Tennessee, arguably the most beautiful state I’ve seen yet, and Arkansas… Athens, GA… Austin during SXSW… House shows with big crowds… Cheap liquor and cigarettes down South… Soul food.. And of course the shows.
