Interview – Avalon Landing | Kryptonite Music Magazine

Avalon Landing is a rising pop/rock band from Vegas that formed in late 2011. They released a record titled Reside in 2013 with the help of New York based producer Bryan Russell. They’re currently establishing themselves in the southwest by scoring gigs at local venues such as the House of Blues and Hard Rock Hotel. Since the 2013 release, they’ve torn through the local music scene and even won the Las Vegas Hard Rock Rising competition this past spring. Avalon Landing just released their latest single “The Cure” with the help of Artist Direct so I caught up with them and asked them to fill in the blanks.

The meaning behind our name Avalon Landing is….the fictional book in the film Finding Forrester.

We are….I’m Mike Vargovich and I play guitar and sing, Josh Rabenold plays keyboard and sings, Clayton Cobb plays guitar and sings, John Lloyd plays drums and Corey Surratt plays bass and sings.

The pickiest eater in the band is….Mike. Picky isn’t quite the best word but he’s the most unwilling to try new foods.

The most OCD member is….also Mike. (“Im offended by these answers” -Mike)

For fun we like to….we all do different things. Some of us like to read, we are big comedy fans, and sports fans (Buffalo Bills & Sabres) and go for walks. Obviously, we also like music.

We’re currently listening to….all different things. Josh is listening to Hans Zimmer. Clayton is listening to Manchester Orchestra’s new album Cope. Mike is listening to the “Smiley Smile” album from The Beach Boys. John and Corey aren’t here right now so I don’t know what they are listening to.

The member(s) who does most of our writing is….Josh has the most output. We are all writers, and what’s exciting is we keep tapping into more and more of our writing potential.

We find inspiration from….everything. We really do.

The first song we wrote together was…. “Erie County Welcomes You Back.” Josh had a lot of it already written and then we worked on it, even before the band started.

One thing we want you to remember while listening to our music is….we could have purchased a small car with the money we spent on the record.

Our craziest or most memorable gig was….playing with Imagine Dragons for the release of their record Night Visions. It was right when they were blowing up and was great to see and also great to play to that crowd.

Something that we’ve learned since releasing Reside is….people’s interpretation of the music varies so much. It’s often interesting to learn what people hear.

Our new release, “The Cure,” is different from our older stuff because….it has a lot of clapping and people seem to really like that. Perhaps we should add claps to every song.

Our last meals would be….Clayton would have a full rack of ribs from Kentucky Gregs. Mike would have spaghetti from anywhere.

In the next six months you should expect….more music. We have been writing more and the sessions have been going really well. The best yet, as a matter of fact. I don’t know how they will manifest themselves on record and when that will actually be, but I’m excited about it.