Aviso’Hara

THE RETURN OF THE CONSPIRACY

By Jim Testa

Ralph Nicastro – Vocals, guitar
Walter Greene – guitar, vocals
Dave Urbano – bass, vocals
Brian Stoor – drums

If you asked me to name my favorite local bands over the last twentysomething years that I’ve published Jersey Beat, Aviso’ Hara would be somewhere near the top of the list. So let’s just forget about objectivity here. I saw this band relentlessly, slept over at their houses, and partied till dawn with them at several different W.E. Fest’s. I was even present at the infamous Plum Street Pub Incident, which I’m not going to discuss here (but talk to me in person and I’ll give you all the gory details.) I was crushed when I heard they were breaking up, and thrilled when news that they were getting back together started to leak out.

If you’re new to the Jersey scene, or were just asleep through the second half of the Nineties, I’m not sure you’ll ever understand what it felt like to be crushed beneath Aviso’Hara’s avalanche of sonic inspiration, drums and guitars and vocals and bass all speeding toward certain doom at breakneck speed. You always half-expected the wheels to fly off the tracks and for this magnificent rock machine to crash and burn in some hideous disaster, but they always managed to pull it back together before armageddon. And that was the thrill of it. And now - if I can paraphrase a line from Wire - here it is, again, Aviso’Hara.

1. Everyone in Aviso has other projects - Slow Wire, Sparks Fly, etc. So what inspired the idea to get back together?

Ralph: I had borrowed a copy of Our Lady Of The Highway from a friend because I didn't own a copy. I was out having a few drinks and it hit me. I made a druken phone call to Walt to get his opinion, he thought it would be cool, but didn't think Dave would do it and knew that Benny couldn't do. Walter convinced Dave to do it, but Dave couldn't give all that much effort to it. That changed and I called Brian and he was in no doubt.

Walt: Personally, besides playing for a bit in Benny's band, Clydesdale, I had not played out since Aviso broke up. Probably, in our last year together, I was the biggest proponent for ending it and it wasn't until we made the decision that I started to think we could go somewhere else with it. But, by that time, the other guys already had other plans and truthfully I was looking forward to not spending
my weekends in smoky rock clubs. But then a couple years go by and I find myself one morning, standing in my kitchen listening to Our Lady of The Highway all the way through. And I realized that I really enjoyed it and missed playing these songs, so when Ralph brought it up, I knew I was in.

Brian: Ralph called me to play. I said okay.

Dave: I think it's all about timing. I missed making noise with these guys and because Brian used to make us laugh a ton in the van; so when he said yes, I was in.


2. With no disrespect to the other drummers who played with Aviso, by bringing back Brian Stoor you've reunited what most fans consider to have been the strongest Aviso lineup. What was it like getting together again and rehearsing for the first time with this group of people?

Ralph: Brian and I were like smoke and fire back in Goodnight Sweetheart days. Where there was one, the other would surely be. In our opinion, Brian prematurely quit and that hurt, but we would see one another around all the time and we both knew what the 4 of us had. Once I found out Benny couldn't do it, Brian was a no-brainer. He had quit the Milwaukees and wasn't all that busy. I called him and we were both a little drunk and we fell in love again.

Walt: Even though we did have so many drummers, Brian Stoor and Benny Rodriguez were definitely the 2 drummers that defined the band. It was a little weird at first, especially the part of trying to relearn songs that you wrote within the past ten or so years, but the weirdest thing was playing the later stuff with Brian. That was the first time we played any of the OLOTH material with anyone other than Benny. But it worked, a little different spin.

Dave: ...totally fun, a little sloppy, but fun.

Brian: It was like we had practiced the week prior.

3. Looking back at the late Nineties, when Aviso' was in its prime, I often tell people that I consider those days to be a sort of Golden Age of NJ indie rock, with bands like Prosolar Mechanics, Bob Fields, Footstone, Boss Jims, Bionic Rhoda, Cropduster, Angry Monsters, Evelyn Forever; the IMF festivals; so many NJ bands going to WE Fest and bonding there; and so on. Am I just being nostalgic or was there something going on back then that's missing from the local band scene today? Discuss.

Ralph: A. Dave U was the unofficial leader of that scene along with Jim Testa. At that point we had the Melody, The Court, The Plum St. Pub, The Dead End was starting up, The Bowl-o-Drome was ending. You could invite an out of town band in and trade shows, you could put amazing local shows. People had fanzines, Gimp and Powerbunny. Buzzkill was big, 3 to 6 inches was still together, Dewey Defeated was starting up, John Thumb was on the scene, and hardcore-ish music was still in the basement. People just seemed to be open to different styles of music. Now the clubs are limited and we all got old and moved away. I really don't remember Evelyn Forever. Was that a girl band?

Dave: I think the ‘00's are missing a Golden age in general. It's a topic I wrote about in the Slow Wire’s recent EP, “The Golden Age Of Treason” and what I was poking fun at when I sent out a mass email to announce the return Aviso show that was addressed to the skinny kids. I don't think anybody got it. It was more of an inside joke for myself but the problem is that it's not funny. I do think for every time there is musical momemtum people gravitate towards places that cater to their likes. Like at one time people traded tapes across the country. Now people find like-minded people in places like MySpace. Which is the modern adaptation of a fanzine. Gives people that split chance to check something out except with audio to stand behind the claims of greatness. Nothing I don't think will ever replace the experience of seeing live bands (at least I hope not) or for a whole week, like happenings like WEFest or IMF or Mac Fest. There will be a new torch. Like The Big Art Show is starting to take off and in its 7th or 8th one.

Walt: I loved it and miss it, but the 90s were my late teens and 20s, so that's where my VH1 styled nostalgia will always be focused I guess.

Brian: It seemed like more bands in that time had been together longer, and were playing for the enjoyment of writing music and playing shows, and there were more small venues to perform at. I can remember a lot of nights when Ralph and I could see three or four different bands that we liked in three different places.

4. Looking back at Aviso's career, what memories come to mind as the best moments of being in the band?

Walt: My favorite was playing the IMF in Hoboken (don't remember the year). But we played some little bar (don't remember the name either, damn) , no stage, right on the floor, the place was packed. I just remember everyone drinking and singing along and it one of the coolest moments to be in this little indie and have a room full of people who know your words and want to sing them along with you, that was the best. Also that night, the Plugspark guys gave us a black cardboard baby coffin that we carried our merch in for a while till it fell apart.

Ralph: We-Fest, The Plum St. incident, putting out our 1st 7", The recording of OLOTH. Benny puking on the stage at the local 506 in Chapel Hill, a crazy night in Rhode Island, Benny of the highway, IMF, leaving Jay Reynolds in Wilmington N.C., breaking down in Wilmington DE on our way to WE Fest, Caged Heat from Boston just because, The night B.Stoor and Bubs tried to mug someone in Boston for beer money. Drunken tattoo appointments made and broken, The filming of the Bradley video, Jay Reynolds drum part in the middle of Conspiracy Au-Go-Go, Walt's guitar part for that same song. Hearing "Red 5" for the 1st time, hearing "Drop The Mids" for the 1st time, hearing "Bradley Wake Up" for the 1st time. Me and Gobo helping Dave write the lyrics for “Better Living Through Chemistry," Fred Savage, Randy Savage, “I'm drunk and flirting with you" - brilliant!

Dave: Certain things just stay in the van. WE Fest though is on the top of my list when Alex Saville from Prosolar Mechanics jumped on stage to sing the chorus on “Bradley Wake-Up” at Bessies. That was awesome.

Brian: My favorite memory of the band was the last time we played at Plum Street. Ask someone.

5. And conversely, what do you remember as the worst?

Ralph: The fear I lived in after the Plum St. incident. Brian quitting, The Melody closing, easy access to drugs, my daughter watching people spit beer on me during our last Brighton Bar show. We were doing "Shout At The Devil". A crazy night in Rhode island, Walter falling asleep and crashing the van. The whole Hit Factory thing, Brian and I lived like we got signed. That whole evil crippled thing down at WE Fest. The family I adopted at our first WE Fest. Walt and Dave know about that one. Never owning my own equipment, losing my jacket everywhere we went. Passing out that night we played with Caged Heat.

Walt: When I fell asleep at the wheel and crashed the van in Connecticut

Brian: My worst memory of the band was the last time we played at Plum Street. Ask someone

Dave: The one time when after a nite of being a rowdy band Walt ran the van off the road on 95 at 5 in the morning.

6. Are you just playing "the hits" at these reunion shows or will we be hearing any new material? And are you talking about extending this into a permanent reunion, and perhaps recording or playing out regularly again?

Walt: Well, first show was a warm up, and yes, just the hits. But, if we're gonna play out more than once or twice, I say that new songs and recording will definitely happen. Realistically, playing out regularly will not be what it once was, but I think we can be a bit selective and hit a few towns.

Ralph: We are recording a live record over the course of our summer shows. We are writing songs and just taking it easy. One show at a time, one step at a time. Like recovering alcoholics.

Brian: I have no idea what's going on, I'm just a drummer.

Dave: The plan so far is to record as many shows as we can for a live release and make them as good as Aviso is able too. We're just now going to feel out some new material. So for now we're sticking to the hits until a hit reveals itself.

7. Since Aviso'Hara's heyday, New Brunswick has lost the Bowl-A-Drome, the Melody Bar, and a few other downtown venues, with really nothing coming along to take their place. Today there's just the Court Tavern and basement shows. Does New Brunswick have any future as a rock n' roll town?

Ralph: As long as 35,000 kids roll into this town every year there will be rock-n-roll. The basement is the future of rock in this town.

Walt: I've been out of the loop, so I'll leave this one to the other guys

Dave: I'm a grand believer that rock will always resurface somewhere else when forced out of a town. Loft shows, alt spaces like galleries. People like to be entertained

Brian: Basement shows are rock. The future....Healthcare City.

8. There's been some chatter on local music boards and whatnot that the success of bands like Thursday, Senses Fail, My Chemical Romance, Val Emmich and others augurs well for New Jersey bands - that, at least, the music industry is starting to pay attention to what's happening here for perhaps the first time since the early days of the Hoboken pop scene. Do you agree? Why or why not? And ultimately, does
any of that matter?

Ralph: F the music industry. NJ will always produce quality acts. As long there is a traffic problem people will be frustrated and inspired enough to write good songs. The availability of music on the Internet will make it easy for everyone to listen to quality bands. We as musicians should never have to rely on people who have very limited vision (record execs, A&R, etc...). It is totally up to the musician now. You can get your point across without dropping your pants. Superchunk are one of the most influential groups of my generation, and I have never heard them on K-Rock. If Kurt Cobain never liked Sonic Youth, do you think they would be as popular as they are? They are a defining band. It's a real shame that we missed out on some amazing groups, but everyone knows where they were when Britney Spears turned slutty.

Dave: I don't think it matters. It's still a combination of luck and hard work in my opinion. You get what you put into things. Montreal is another place that bands are getting picked up from. I think the Wrens are still better then all the aformentioned bands. I think Walt will agree. Even though I do like Val's songs. I think you left out Midtown. People like trends that are easy to follow. I was also a little upset when that film Garden State came out and there wasn't one NJ band on the soundtrack. Talk about a robbery!

Walt: I have to plead ignorance, although I liked the stuff I've heard from Thursday and I think the My Chemical Romance song is catchy as hell. It may matter, it may not, but it surely doesn't matter as far as we're concerned, that's not our demographic, I guess. I'm much more interested in how a band like the Wrens can seemingly disappear for years and then come out of nowhere with their best record ever. That's exciting to me.

Brian: It doesn't matter until a band you’re in really decides they’re gonna be the next big deal and starts taking advice from people that are not "the band itself". In other words listening to outside advice on how to "make it" , how to have a "sound that sells" and the band you liked being in becomes a second job and loses the goodness that caught the original fans ears to begin with. That's how bands that have "made it" on an indie scene and became huge suck shit now. If being picked up by a major and getting noticed and selling records and making it are good then we wouldn't be reading jersey beat or listening to college radio or anything. KROCK would be the best shit ever. McDonalds would have the best food ever. Creed and Nickleback and Linkin Park would be enough. If you support major label records or eat meat or vote Republican or believe in god or smoke pot or drive an SUV or breathe too much, you are a sell out. I am completely serious. If you sell your CD's or t-shirts instead of giving them away, you might as well go join the Catholic church or the NRA or Greenpeace or ENRON or work for a union or sell crack to school children or make a video or deliver pizzas or kill small animals or drink Pepsi or get abortions or protest wood or read a book or look at the sky, stupid face.

9. What's your favorite Aviso'Hara song, and what song do you really never want to play again? And if you could cover a song by any other NJ artist, what would it be?

Ralph: Favorite: "Red 5 Standing By". Cover: "She gets All Her Pets High" by The Stuntcocks.

Walt: Favorite – “Born to Drive.” Never want to play again – “Friday Night's For Dancing.” The cover I'd do would be “New Friend” by Plug Spark Sanjay.

Brian: 3rd part answer: "Brandy" by Looking Glass.

Dave: "Goodnight Sweetheart" is one of my faves. I would like to leave just about everything on the “Made From Scratch” CD in the past. Which I believe is out of print. Mainly because Jeff Scavone from Powerbunny 4x4 Records disappeared.

10. Tell people where to find information about Aviso' Hara and how to contact the band.

ALL: The internet: www.myspace.com/avisohara

AVISO'HARA will be appearing at Maxwell's in Hoboken on Saturday, May 14, with High Speed Chase, Cecil, and Crewman #6.