Avalanche City

Avalanche City
Dave Baxter of Avalanche City
Background information
Origin	Auckland, New Zealand
Genres	Indie folk
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Warner Music New Zealand
Website	avalanchecity.com
Members	Dave Baxter

Avalanche City is the moniker of folk musician Dave Baxter from Auckland, New Zealand. In 2011 Avalanche City released his debut album Our New Life Above Ground The album contained the record breaking single Love, Love, Love, which debuted at #1 in the Official NZ Music Chart and held presence in the chart for 19 straight weeks. In 2011, Dave Baxter was awarded the highly esteemed APRA Silver Scroll and nominated for three New Zealand Music Awards, including Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Avalanche City is signed to Warner Music for both New Zealand and Australia and as of 2014 partnered with Chugg Music for management.

Baxter has been actively working on Avalanche City’s sophomore album, which is slated to be released in mid-2015.

History

Early life

Dave Baxter is multi-instrumentalist who first picked up a guitar at the early age of nine and shortly after discovered a flare for composing and arrangement. In high school, Baxter started a hardcore band, One Must Fall, which (along with Baxter’s subsequent band, The Chase) made a sizable impression on the local underground hardcore scene, opening for the likes of Hatebreed, Parkway Drive and Sick of it All. Baxter also worked at a recording studio, writing music for TV documentaries, short films and adverts.

Our New Life Above Ground

In late 2009, Baxter decided to explore new musical avenues. He left his music-writing job and began recording bands in his own studio. Although an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Baxter was not a vocalist. For six months he assiduously practiced vocal exercises and scales, singing in private whenever he could. Baxter began to write songs, experimenting with vocal melodies and lyrics for the first time in his life. Inspiration came in the form of guitar and bass riffs, vocal melodies, and even mental images and narratives for which he composed a soundtrack of sorts.

Eventually, Baxter was persuaded to play his songs to various close friends, and the positive feedback he received was instrumental to the birth of Avalanche City. Taking his band name from the title of a song he’d co-written some years earlier, Baxter played some solo acoustic shows, touring with Bradley Hathaway and The Paper Kites, before deciding to record an album. He’d long believed that the old community halls that dot the New Zealand countryside would make great recording spaces, with their wooden structures, spacious interiors and high ceilings. So he holed up in Kourawhero Hall just of outside Auckland and recorded the music for Our New Life Above The Ground within a week.

Our New Life Above The Ground was initially available for free download from the Avalanche City website. Baxter wasn’t sure what to expect, but the response was overwhelming, and the album quickly reached near-platinum status from free downloads alone, despite a lack of major radio support.

Local New Zealand TV station TV2 TV2 then picked up the song ‘Love, Love, Love’ for their station promos. The song shot to number one on the New Zealand singles chart, becoming the fastest selling debut #1 for a NZ artist in the digital era, stamping itself all over the nation’s airwaves and swiftly surpassing platinum status. Subsequently released through more conventional channels, Our New Life Above The Ground debuted at #1 on the NZ iTunes album chart, reaching #4 on the national album chart and achieving gold status.

Baxter is joined by a band for live purposes. As a band they have toured both New Zealand and Australia extensively. Notably joining the Big Day Out Festival lineup in 2013 for all Australian and New Zealand shows.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

Awards and Nominations

References

External links

• Official Website