Cherylween V: Christmas

AVAN LAVA began as a conversation between Producers/Musicians Le Chev and Ian Pai during an overnight bus ride after performing at the Sao Paulo Bienal with Fischerspooner, a band with which both still work and perform. That night in the fall of 2008, en route to Rio de Janeiro, Le Chev and Ian shared their love of Prince, Daft Punk, electronic beats, R & B, and Indie music and contemplated how those things could all be melded into one sound, one band. A few months later, back in NYC, while at a reading of “The Last Goodbye” (a musical adaptation of Romeo & Juliet set to the music of Jeff Buckley), they discovered vocalist Tom “TC” Hennes. They knew that they had found the perfect vocalist for their project the moment he sung the first words of "Corpus Christi Carol."


AVAN LAVA became official in early 2009, when Le Chev began working with TC while Ian went on tour with Fischerspooner (Drums/DJ/Performer) and Blue Man Group (Drums/Music Direction). In the following months Le Chev and TC completed AVAN LAVA’s first EP, “Vapors”, which was released on Faux Pyre Records in March 2010. The Village Voice wrote “AVAN LAVA is lush, sparkling,” and Big Stereo added “…at times chill, other times experimental and lush. And then there is this pop moment, “The Easy Way,” which leans on Prince a bit but is also deeply rooted in electronic sounds.” In 2011 they went back into the studio.

They self-released their sophomore EP titled “Flex Fantasy” on February 21 2012 which was produced and mixed by AVAN LAVA and mastered by Tom Coyne (Robyn, Beyonce, Jay-Z, D'Angelo) at Sterling Sound. Warren Fischer (Fischerspooner, Bunker) produced their first music video for “It’s Never Over,” which premiered as a feature on YouTube Music. They also released an official music video for their song “Sisters” which was shot on location in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It became an instant “Staff Pick” on Vimeo with over 120K views and counting. They have also worked as Producers, Composers and Mixers for recorded works and live performances with bands such as Cold Cave, Fischerspooner, Cat Power, CSS, Casey Spooner, Frankie Rose, SSION, Lemonade, Lia Ices, Matthew Barney and The New York Philharmonic. They have also made remixes for R.E.M., Passion Pit and New Villager among others. Warner Bros. released their most recent remix (made with Casey Spooner) of R.E.M.’s “Blue (with Patti Smith)” from R.E.M.’s final release “Collapse Into Now”, in early 2012. They also compose original music for world-renowned photographers Inez & Vinoodh, collaborating on fashion campaigns such as Nina Ricci, Mango, Donna Karan, Givenchy, Juicy Couture, Dior, Viktor & Rolf, and more.

Every show in 2012 was sold out. AVAN LAVA played Mercury Lounge, Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg, The Brooklyn Museum, DC9, The W Hotel Singapore Opening with Mark Ronson (they released a cover of Mark Ronson & Boy George’s “Somebody To Love Me”, which premiered on VIBE), and Club Deus in Bali, Indonesia. For live performances, they add vocalist, percussionist and theatrical technician Andrew Schneider (The Wooster Group, Fischerspooner) and musicians/vocalists/dancers Drew Citron and Jo Lampert. They are currently in the studio recording their debut full-length album slated to drop in 2013.