Much of the hullabaloo surrounding the release of Avon‘s Heavy Psych Sounds debut and second full-length overall, Dave’s Dungeon, has been about the trio’s connections to Californian desert rock. And fair enough. That’s Alfredo Frickin’ Hernandez they’ve got playing drums back there, whose pedigree not only includes stints in Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age but also Yawning Man and Brant Bjork‘s Ché trio as well. So, you know, fair enough as regards desert cred, even before you get to bassist Charles Pasarell having been in Waxy. They could pretty much play anything and an entire contingency of their audience would tag it as desert rock — and that’s not something the band necessarily shies away from.

To wit, the track “Red Barn” is about a venue in Palm Desert, CA, and album tracks like “On Fire,” “Mace Face” and even the semi-title-track “Dungeon Dave” hit that mark stylistically as well. But there’s a dichotomy in what Avon do stylistically that comes in no small part from UK expat guitarist/vocalist James Childs, who isn’t without a desert CV of his own, including time in Vic du Monte’s Persona Non Grata with Hernandez, but who nonetheless brings a classic psych rock sensibility to “Hero with a Gun” and “Space Native,” while delving into garage rock vibing on “P51.” It’s true that from opener “Yello” through the finale of the six-minute “Was ist Los?,” Avon have their hook-driven, desert rocking impulses present and accounted for, but that’s hardly all that’s going on with Dave’s Dungeon, and it’s that sense of variety that ultimately distinguishes the album from the slew of Kyuss-family-tree groups looking to establish them in the supposedly lifeless span of a landscape that at least for the last two decades has only gotten increasingly crowded.

So what happens at the Red Barn — the cartoon video does the facade of the place justice if the pictures I found online — that’s worth writing a song about? Well, there’s a pool tournament, live music of course, booze being served, and it looks like the usual round of bar/venue this-and-that. What makes the place special? Honestly, I don’t know, as I’ve never been fortunate enough to go there, but it looks like a pretty hip spot — there’s somebody named JJ quoted on the site; it’s not me — and bands have written songs for decades about rooms that hold special memories, so I bet if you asked the members of Avon what it is in particular that inspired “Red Barn,” they might have an answer for you. Let’s try it:

Hey Avon, why “Red Barn?”

We’ll see if they answer and if they do, I’ll update the post. In the meantime, enjoy the video below, which is also a pretty good time.

Dig it:

Avon, “Red Barn” official video premiere

Avon Desert Rock launch into 2018 with a new LP called “Dave’s Dungeon’ and present a fun stop coarse animation video for Red Barn using sketches from tour to piece together a story from the California Desert scene and its key venues during the mid 2000s.

AVON is heavy rock trio formed in California by Alfredo Hernández (former Kyuss, QOTSA), James Childs (Airbus, Little Villains) and Charles Pasarell (Waxy). Their heavy desert rock is psychedelic, raw, melodic and meaningful. Their musical bond comes from years of playing in their respective bands often together in California’s desert cities, Los Angeles and on many European tours.

AVON are:
James Childs – Vocals/Guitar
Charles Pasarell – Bass
Alfredo Hernandez – Drums

Avon website

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Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Tags: Avon, Avon Dave's Dungeon, California, Dave's Dungeon, Heavy Psych Sounds

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2018 at 3:10 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.