It's been a very busy year for Vinnie Caruana. He already released a new Constant Elevation EP and a new Peace'd Out album, plus he's done a couple solo livestreams, and now he's announced the first I Am The Avalanche album since 2014's Wolverines.
The new IATA LP is their fourth overall, it's called DIVE, and it's due November 20 via I Surrender Records (pre-order). The band finished recording it on March 15, right as the country began to lock down, but if the lyrics sound inspired by the world we've been living in since then, that's because "this has been coming," Vinnie says. "Pre-pandemic, things were still shitty. Our country has been turned upside-down by the current administration. So the songs that sound like they were written yesterday... I don’t think that’s going to change." Vinnie also revealed that he and his wife contracted coronavirus earlier this year. Awful news, but we're glad to hear they've recovered!
The album was produced by the band's drummer Brett “The Ratt” Romnes, and the first taste is "Better Days," which finds IATA's grungy indie-punk sounding as hard-hitting and anthemic as ever. "We wanted to start with some power and this is a straight-forward punk song and if this is the first song on the record then it should also be the first song everybody hears after six years," Vinnie told Rock Sound.
In that same interview, Vinnie spoke more generally about the album and the world it's being released into, saying:
I think that there’s such a strange feeling all around the world right now. These are the hardest times that I can remember in my life. It’s hard to wrap your brain around the fact that half of our country hate us and vote against us and vote against our interests. They are actively trying to beat us. There’s no unity at all. That’s just an undercurrent throughout life. I’m not just talking about 2020. Things haven’t been going that well for a while. So this record is written very directly to the listener. This is written directly out of my mouth and into your ear. This is for you. It’s very much me addressing I Am The Avalanche fans. It’s me saying, ‘Hey, we made an Avalanche record. This is how I’m feeling. I know some of you guys are feeling this too. It’s tough out there. Life’s hard and it’s not getting any easier’. I don’t want to dwell all the time and I don’t want to be depressed but I do want to offer some positivity into all of this. I don’t want to just make a sad record. We have no choice but to get through everything that we need to get through and to find the light and to find the beauty and to find positivity. Turning anger and confusion and depression into something a fire that ignites you and into something that can help us all.
Listen to the new song and check out the artwork and tracklist below...
Tracklist 1. Better Days 2. You’re No Good To Me Dead 3. Dive 4. Fake Weed 5. Love Song 69 6. Are You Listening? 7. Tokyo 8. Concrete 9. Earthquake 10. The Morning
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