The gap between Audio of Being and Avalanche

[foats]

I was listening to AOB the other day and something dawned on me. The time from that album and tour to the release of Avalanche wasn't really that long. It makes me wonder if Matt had already written some of the songs during the MGB days or if they were all done while on his 2002 tour.  For the life of me I can't remember him ever coming out in an interview and describing the process. 

[Sly Botts]

I don't think Matt really toured Audio of Being once the band broke up so I think he probably spent time he would have been touring, on Avalanche instead.   I could be wrong though but I think that's how it went down.

[foats]

He did some shows in 2002 and played a few AOB songs, not a full on album tour by any means though.  He also played a couple Loser Anthem songs on the tour.  We had a few of the 2002 shows up in the + section or whatever it's called on here for download though. 

[Guest Idioteque]

This interview describes a little bit of what you're looking for.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/from-bad-to-good/article1333990/

 

Quote

The songs were written during that meltdown phase, between November and April. While writing, he spent a lot of time listening to three albums: Magical Mystery Tour by the Beatles; Empty Glass by Pete Townshend; and Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk.

I do remember reading about him spending a few weeks in Whistler working on AOB songs, if he had a back-pocket song like "Weapon" or "Avalanche" I bet it would have made the album.
If anyone can correct me I also think the AOB tour never happened because of 9/11, they planned a U.S tour but could never leave Canada due to all flights being grounded, thus causing them to breakup. That's leaving 1 year for Matt to create Rabbits (in the article) and use the politics & everything happening in the news as a muse to forge together Avalanche. It's impressive considering some of that time would have even been spent in the studio in 2002 (Weapon was released as a single in October 2002). PLUS a year after he releases White Light Rock & Roll Review in 2004.

Side note: Near Fantastica was apparently written in '96 & A Long Way Down was the last song written on the album, from the words of wiki.
Nonetheless for any artist to pull off those type of in-depth albums in such a short span of time win my vote.

Edited October 13, 2020 by Idioteque

[Outtahere]

Matt didn't tour the record. He did do some shows in 2002 indeed with his new band but there was no tour as such. 

In this 2002 interview he says he started writing it in October 2001 and finished in February 2002 and the recording was planned for June/July.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dedSkvsGZr8

 

[RickDalton]

There was a story about how the entire album being written and Matt had undergrown throat surgery meaning he couldn't sing. All the songs were recorder and Matt sang the songs in his head once he recovered he recorder the audio with lyrics. Im not sure if this was the AoB or Avalanche but there is a noticeable difference in his level of singing. If I'm not mistaken Jen had convinced his to take vocal lessons. There is a lot more to the story but that's all I can remember for now... 

[Outtahere]

On 10/14/2020 at 5:16 PM, RickDalton said:

There was a story about how the entire album being written and Matt had undergrown throat surgery meaning he couldn't sing. All the songs were recorder and Matt sang the songs in his head once he recovered he recorder the audio with lyrics. Im not sure if this was the AoB or Avalanche but there is a noticeable difference in his level of singing. If I'm not mistaken Jen had convinced his to take vocal lessons. There is a lot more to the story but that's all I can remember for now... 

It was for AOB. He had throat surgery to remove nodules on his vocal cords and couldn't speak/sing for a while. The first song he wrote for the record was Tripoli which he had to sing in his head because until he could sing again.

I don't think the singing lessons were an idea of his then girlfriend. I remember him saying he had to re-learn how to sing after that and since his nodules were cause by the way he sang before, he had to learn to sing correctly. He recorded AOB with this new singing method which is why there's no hard screaming on it like on previous records.

[Scott Rodgerson]

Yeah, that was for AOB. He spent the better part of a weekend on the primary fan message board under the handle "JF Sebastian" after he had the surgery. I distinctly recall being called "fucknut"-- and deserving it.

[foats]

this year would be 20 yrs since the album release and breakup of MGB.  Would love to see either a reunion tour covering this whole album and a few of the bands other cuts if Covid allows for it. 

[Millstone]

I'm afraid a reunion will never happen

[foats]

4 minutes ago, Millstone said:

I'm afraid a reunion will never happen

Matt was commenting on some of Dave's IG posts and vise versa.  I know Geoff and Rich are sadly no longer with us but we can still have Matt, Ian, and Dave. 

[Millstone]

On 2/2/2021 at 7:06 PM, foats said:

Matt was commenting on some of Dave's IG posts and vise versa.  I know Geoff and Rich are sadly no longer with us but we can still have Matt, Ian, and Dave. 

Sounds bizzare that Matt and Dave are interacting.

[Moonlight_Graham]

On 2/5/2021 at 10:03 PM, Millstone said:

Sounds bizzare that Matt and Dave are interacting.

It has been almost 20 years.  They probably forget half the things they even fought over, and I'm sure minds change over time.

[i_the_throwaway]

Weapon was likely one of the first songs written, as I still remember the chills I got hearing it for the first time at the Western Fair in 2002. I bought a MGB T-shirt at that show that advertised the "hard liquor & handguns revolution 2001" so I don't think there was any updated merch for that regrouping tour.