Audiovent

Audiovent live the sort of lifestyle soundtracked by the songs of Brian Wilson. Sun, Surfing and rock & roll was the order of the day but they had to turn their backs on the former two to follow their rock & roll destiny. Forming in the early 90s the bands nucleus of Jason Boyd and Ben Einziger rehearsed in a disused garage and watch their siblings Brandon Boyd and Mike Einziger go all the way with Incubus. Enthused by their brother success they set about touring the States and earning their own success rather than cashing in on their famous relatives and in 2002 their major label debut "Dirty Sexy Knights In Paris" is being hailed as one of the classic rock albums of the year.

Q: You guys lived the Californian dream. Sunshine, surfing and rock & roll. Is it hard forming a band in such luxurious surroundings?
Ben: That's part of being in a band. You've got to lock yourself away in a little hot room for years on end. When it came round to rehearsal we'd spend most of the time at our drummers house and we'd jump in the pool to cool ourselves down and then run into the rehearsal room and risk getting electrocuted - it really was the only way we could do it at the time as we had the walls covered with old mattresses to soundproof it. The heat was just unbearable but we were always really turned on by music and that became our main motivation.
 

Q: So it's like 10 years now since you guys got together. You've had the highs and the lows before you've even made it in the eyes of the world. What kept you going all this time?
Jason: I think most bands know how to play their instruments when they start...

Ben:...yeah, we'd only been playing a couple of months before we started jamming together. And when I started jamming with Jason I'd been playing for a week and I came in with a couple of Metallica and Nirvana songs i'd worked out. I think the fact that we built the band on friendship is what has kept us together
 

Q: As you were just saying, it's the friendship that kept you together and this was helped by the pre-band counselling you went through. It's a unusual concept over here, but I believe even still in America it's a relatively new concept. Tell us about this form of pre-band counselling you all went through in the early days?
Jason: We had some group coaching therapy while we were recording the "Dirty Sexy Knights In Paris" album and it was really to help us with communication. It was about talking to each other in a more productive way and talking to each other as friends. It's become a real trend in America right now, but we were the first band to do it at the time.

Ben: I'd recommend it any band because you go on the road with 3 or 4 other guys and you have to be able to communicate with them otherwise you'll just break up. So many great bands have just broke up over stupid stuff and we figured we didn't want to deal with that stuff - so we took care of it. Love will keep us together.

Jason: I think it's an intelligent way of going about dealing with trivial communication problems. Most bands don't take the time to deal with it because they don't think it's rock & roll. I don't give a f**k what rock & roll is - keeping this band together and having that longevity is what we care about!!!

Q: Going back to the early sound of the band it was far removed from what were hearing now. 9 Minute songs were the order of the day. What were you on at the time?
Ben: We had long songs like Pink Floyd, but just not good. There were a bunch of parts that we just jammed together and I think a lot of bands go through this process where you try and be as original as you can. We felt that writing 9 minute songs with incongruous parts was unique - it turned out it was shit!!! Our influences when we first started out were metal and we got into more melodic bands like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and every day were just inspired to create new kinds of songs.
 

Q: So after 10 years of playing house parties, jamming 9 minutes songs together and then finally finding your feet with the "Dirty Sexy Knights In Paris" album. After seeing your brothers success with Incubus how does it feel to be taking it to the next level internationally as Audiovent?
Jason: There's no brotherly rivalry. Why would there be? Were not twelve years old and there's no brotherly rivalry. We love our brother and they love us. It really is just a case of their our brother and they're in a band. We don't actually see them that often because they're on the road and so are we, but I think there is just that real mutual admiration.

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"Dirty Sexy Knights In Paris" is out now on Atlantic Records
For more info
www.audioventmusic.com
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