Avion (band)

Avion is a Los Angeles-based alternative rock band consisting of Steve Bertrand on lead vocals and guitar, Josh Dunahoo on guitar, Joey Clement on bass, Ben Hazlett on guitar and keyboards, and Jamie Wollam on drums. Avion's front man, Steve Bertrand was formerly lead singer of the pop group The TAcos, who disbanded in 2002. Avion's music is primarily composed by Bertrand, who typically writes the songs initially on acoustic guitar, and then brings in his bandmates to complete and fill out the sound. Avion's self-titled debut album was released by Sony's Columbia Records division on November 2nd 2004. However, the real success of this band is their ability to work hard and get the job done without major label support. Before being signed to Columbia, Avion's single "Seven Days Without You" had already begun to climb the Billboard charts.

Avion was also the name of a 1980s rock band based in Sydney, Australia. Randall Waller was the lead singer and lead guitarist. Previous names for the band were Lionheart, and The Randall Waller band. As of 1998, Randall Waller was playing guitar for Shania Twain's band (http://www.randallwaller.com/article.htm) . The first self titled Album from Avion was released in 1983 through RCA records Australia. Despite being mixed by the famous Bob Clearmountain at the Power Station (now called Avatar Studios) in NYC, and being a reasonably high quality example of classic 80's Australian Rock, the album was not a success. A lack of airplay didn't help. Surprisingly, Bob Clearmountain does not list Avion on his Discography page, but it was indeed a good example of his fine engineering skills. RCA did not renew their contract after the first album, despite recording a whole new album with the label that was not released. The band signed a deal with EMI in 1986 and the follow up album in 1987 was called White Noise, which also lacked airplay, and was not a success. A car accident in September 1987, where a vehicle driven by some members of the band was T boned by a drunk driver, ended the life of the keyboard player Evan Murray and the band essentially disbanded.

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/avion Avion at MySpace]
* [http://www.avionmusic.com Avion at Columbia Records]
* [http://www.avionband.com New Official Avion Website (under construction)]
* [http://www.randallwaller.com Homepage for the lead singer of the 1980s Australian Band 'Avion'.]
* [http://www.theshyguys.com.au homepage of the Mo' award winning band of which John Waller, Avion's drummer and Randall's brother, is a member.