Avant Garde: Difference between revisions

==Biography==

One year after [[Fury]]'s formation, Rivers wanted to play a heavier metal and his friend Justin agreed.  The two began writing as members drifted in and out.  At the time, Rivers was writing his own guitar parts as well as covering Metallica and Fate's Warning.  Eventually, Rivers and Justin would call the band "Avant Garde".  Rivers has sense said, "We were anything but."  In 1986, [[Kevin Ridel]] was cast as the lead singer.  Kevin first met Justin and Rivers at a local Battle of the Bands.  Kevin's brother Eric also joined the band as rhythm guitarist.  Rivers' and Justin's friend from high school Bryn Mutch was cast as the drummer.  Even today, Justin considers Bryn "an amazing drummer".

Avant Garde was very devoted to the music they were playing and worked meticulously.  The band would typically practice four times a week for several hours at a time.  Anyone who the band considered to not take the music seriously was kicked out.  Eric, being a partier, was the first member to go.  Even Justin Fisher was confronted by Rivers about his one night of partying.  In a ''[[Rivers' Edge]]'' interview, Justin said, "We didn't really drink, smoke, or do most of the things that people usually associate with rock music.  We were really focused on being musicians and the people that we saw drinking or getting high back then didn't seem to be as 'serious' as we wanted to be.  One night, I'm hanging out with our friend Jim Emino and a couple of girls -- ooh! -- and I try schnapps, pot and cigarettes all for the first time -- double ooh!  Needless to say, I didn't score very well with the ladies, and when I went to Rivers' house the next day I got the third degree from Rivers, Eric and Leaves.  They were all sitting around the Kitchen table -- we were practicing in Rivers' bedroom -- and saying, 'We heard what you were doing last night -- smoking pot -- and we need to know if you are going to want to do it again.'  The underlying message being, 'We're not really into having a pot smoker in the band.'"

Kevin Ridel, looking back believes the band "sucked", striving more for technical prowess and focusing less on songwriting craft.

During Rivers and Justin's junior year, Avant Garde released a demo tape consisting of "Tongue of Fire", "I Must Be Dreaming" and "Black Rose."  The tape was called "The Blue Demo", the name evolved from the light blue label stickers on the cassette tapes.

Avant Garde was extremely impressed with Michael's devotion to move to Connecticut.  After his arrival, the band re-entered the studio in July of 1988 to record a third demo they called ''Somethin' Different''.  The new demo had the song "Renaissance" (redone), "Judge and Jury", "Bite the Bullet", "21st Century Shogun", "You Were Just Using Me", and "Never Forget".  For the most part, the songs were collaborations between Cuomo and Ridel  exclusively.  Although, Stanton did contribute to some parts of "21st Century Shogun" and some lyrics to "Judge and Jury".  Despite all the rehearsals, only one show was booked for the band in the winter of 1988.  On the day of the show, the club was no longer open (it had gone out of business).  At least, that's Stanton's account.  According to Justin, a snow storm blew in that day and closed the club (despite the storm not hitting the club until later).  After this, the band decided to move to L.A.

===Avant Garde in Los Angeles===

While in LA, the band had an extremely difficult time making it.  The band settled into Cherokee Avenue (as Cuomo would later sing in "[[Troublemaker]]".  In LA, Avant Garde was only getting 'Pay for Play' shows, which made it difficult to make rent and perform and record.  Their young age attracted many young girls to their shows.  Avant Garde decided they would have to redo their image as 1989 came to a close.  After eliminating the names 'Prong' and 'Power Chicken', the band finally settled on the new name, 'Zoom'.