Evan Taubenfeld
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| Evan Taubenfeld | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Evan David Taubenfeld |
| Born | June 27, 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Rock, Alternative Rock, Post-grunge, Punk-pop, Pop Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter, Executive Music Director, Producer |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, drums |
| Years active | 2002 - Present |
| Label(s) | Sire/Warner Bros. |
| Associated acts | Avril Lavigne The Black List Club Spinfire Ditch Ruxton |
| Website | http://www.blacklistclub.com/ |
Evan David Taubenfeld (born June 27, 1983) is an American rock guitarist and lead singer of The Black List Club. He is best known for being Avril Lavigne's lead guitarist from spring 2002 to September 2004.
Taubenfeld was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Mark and Ami Taubenfeld, who ran a kosher catering business.[1] He is Jewish.[2]. He developed a great interest in music at a very young age, he got his first Sesame Street drum set before the age 4 – then later received a full kit thanks to his grandparents who bought it. Later on, at age 15, he learned to play the guitar. He started by teaching himself he also studied guitar by learning to play "Come As You Are" by Nirvana. Taubenfeld began his musical career playing drums in a local band, The Suburbanites, while in the seventh grade. He graduated from McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland in June 2001, and was awarded with 'Most Improved Student at Graduation'. However, he realized how much he loved music and wanted to be devoted to it. So he joined his first local band, The Suburbanites, in the seventh grade as their drummer. After 3 years, he founded Spinfire with his friend Matt Halpern and was the lead singer and guitarist.
He then intended to study at the Berklee College of Music, but just two weeks later his life changed thanks to a phone call from Josh Sarubin. Sarubin was the Vice President of Artista and Repertoire for Arista Records and had previously worked with Spinfire. Sarubin was looking for people to audition in NYC with a young Canadian singer named Avril Lavigne. Evan received a 5 songs demo CD of Avril and was told to learn it in only 3 days. At the New York auditions, the lead guitarist had already been selected, so Evan auditioned for a position as the drummer and the bass guitarist. His auditions were not going very well, so he borrowed someone else’s guitar, and after playing few riffs, the management wanted to sign a contract with him as the lead guitarist and the backup singer.
In June 2003, while on the road with Lavigne, he formed another band — a side project called Ditch Ruxton. Their first show took place at a Baltimore night club called Fletcher's. The band split after less than a year and never performed a second show.
In May 2004, Lavigne released her second album, Under My Skin. Her first single, Don't Tell Me, was co-written by Taubenfeld. He also co-wrote the songs Freak Out and Take Me Away, and was in the studio with Lavigne to record backing vocals, guitars, and drums on two of the tracks (he did not work on Take Me Away). Shortly afterwards, Taubenfeld signed as a staff writer with EMI Music Publishing, and left Lavigne's band in September 2004 to pursue his own projects. In October 2004, Taubenfeld signed to Sire/Warner Bros. records.
In June 2006, Taubenfeld founded Big Evil Corp. The company primarily operates as an extension of Taubenfeld's publishing and production businesses.
In February 2007, when Avril Lavigne's music video for her new single "Girlfriend" premiered, Taubenfeld was featured in it as a guitarist. Taubenfeld was also featured in Lavigne's video for "The Best Damn Thing" playing the drums, along with Devin Bronson, also a former Lavigne band member and The Black List Club's lead guitarist, playing the guitar.
Rumors have been set around that Taubenfeld will be Executive Music Director for upcoming MTV show "Kaya". Also that he will be writing and producing Kaya's record and on set for musical supervision & direction. On The Black List Club's website's forums, Taubenfeld confirmed that he was working with MTV. In a recent post on his band's Q&A, Evan said, "Oh shit, I forgot that I can actually talk about that now. Yes. I’m the executive music director (or some fancy bullshit title) for "KAYA". Basically it’s a scripted drama about a girl and her band that gets signed and moves to Hollywood where the drama and craziness unfolds etc. It’s really well written and I’d actually watch it (which says a lot)!! I produced the record so its kinda like an unofficial BLC record (Devin, Isaac, Mike and I played everything & I wrote or co-wrote most of it). I think the record came out amazing and I hope that they release it soon!! I’ll keep you posted! Oh shit, I’m in episode 8 btw, that’ll be cool. I’m playing some asshole named Evan."
Taubenfeld co-wrote four songs with Avril Lavigne for her third album The Best Damn Thing. The tracks include 'Hot', 'Innocence', 'One of Those Girls', and 'Contagious'. Taubenfeld mentioned in a recent Q&A on his bands website that 'Hot' and 'Innocence' were his favourites. [3]
Taubenfeld recently mentioned that sometime in 2007, his first solo album will be released on iTunes. He also mentioned that The Black List Club will be starting to record their debut album in January 2008, and he is hopeful that it will be released in the summer.
In 2008, Taubenfeld produced various track's for Tyga's LP. Also, he produced the rumored second single "First Timers" of the album No Introduction.
