#avastera

Not so long ago, we finally heard new music from Australian band Avastera when they released the track “Oceans”, their first new song in a long time. The song release also introduced their new frontman Adrian Wilson, who has joined the band earlier this year.

With over two years without new music, guitarist Chris Hanssen recently shared with PULP Magazine that the band has taken the time to refine their new sound. With the release of another new track called “Save Me Now” featuring hip-hop/EDM artist PredZ, the band’s new sound is slowly but surely making itself known and we couldn’t be more excited for what’s in store.

“Save Me Now” is up on iTunes and Spotify. Check it out below:

PULP spoke with Chris and Adrian about their new single, their recent run on Mayday Parade’s Australian tour, plus the band’s plans in the future. Check out our exclusive interview below:

First off, can you tell us about "Save Me Now"? What is this song about, and where are you guys coming from when it comes to the song's message or theme?

Adrian: 'Save Me Now' is a song I wrote probably over a year ago, that started off with just an acoustic guitar and vocals. Shortly after joining Avastera earlier this year, I sent the track to Chris and within a day he sent me something back that blew me away-- he really brought the song to life and captured the emotion behind the song’s message. The lyrics are about a relationship on the verge of failing. When you spend so much time with one person you begin to forget how much you rely on them until they're gone and you're left to face the world on your own again. Sometimes it takes a little time apart to appreciate just how important they are to you, and how effortlessly they could ease your mind when things get tough. That's basically what the song is conveying; someone you can't imagine living your life without and you'll fight for, especially during times when your relationship might seem to be heading in a downward spiral.

Chris: From the musical perspective, I think this was the first time we finally nailed the new sound we were working on for so long. I've been wanting to incorporate more electronic, dance, and synth elements into our music for a long time, but I didn't want to completely ditch the big drums and distorted guitars. Trying to mix those two things together is a lot harder than it sounds and it took so long to get it "right". I think now we've finally got the right mix of melodic pop vocals, electronic and synth elements, but still on a backbone of big drums and loud guitars.

It's amazing working as a great songwriting team together with Adrian now. Prior to this, I wrote the music & lyrics on our first two EP's, but I really only ever enjoyed writing the instrumental side of things. That's what I've always been passionate about. So now, I can do just that!

How did the collaboration with PredZ come about?

Chris: It was quite spontaneous, actually. Our studio and rehearsal space is located inside the same building that Predz's studio is in. One day, I was in our studio working on a mix for one of our songs (it was an early version of ‘Save Me Now’), and someone begins knocking on our door. I open the door, and this guy comes in saying "Man... what is that?! What are you working on?", and we began talking.

Prior to this, we had never met before. This was the first time.

Predz is an amazing artist, but also one of the nicest people you will meet, so we got along really well. Long story short, we had this crazy spontaneous idea of working on a song together, despite the big genre differences. He sent me through a demo of his section for "Save Me Now" and literally the first demo was perfect! I loved how well it worked out and the final result was amazing!

You guys just finished the tour with Mayday Parade, can you tell us how that went?

Chris: Well we just did the west coast leg with them, which was the final part of the tour. That was amazing! The show was at The Astor Theatre in Perth, which is easily one of my favourite venues in Australia, so that was an added bonus. Those guys are super cool. I hung out with them a fair bit in the US on Warped Tour earlier this year when I was working with We The Kings, so it was good to catch up with them again.

Oh, and our very first tour was with them in 2012, for the first Bazooka Rocks festival in the amazing Philippines! Looks like we just can't get away from them, haha.

And lastly, any updates on new music aside from "Oceans" and "Save Me Now"? The last time we talked was when "Oceans" came out, and you did tell us that more new music were in the works. Are your plans more definite now, like, an album on the way or maybe touring plans?

Chris: Yes, at this stage we will be releasing another single very soon, which will highly likely be part of an EP. "Save Me Now" is the first real original single that we have released since 2014. I think I may have mentioned before - "Oceans" was an acoustic song that Adrian & Jarryd's old band that we took and re-crafted it to suit our new sound.

Definitely more touring is coming up. We have a few Australian dates coming up in December to kick-off the summer here, and then hopefully early next year we can begin confirming some overseas & international tour dates! We're hoping to come back to the Philippines in 2017! PULP

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Avastera have released a new song called “Oceans”. After a long time without new material, the band gives us our first taste of their new sound.

Guitarist Chris Hanssen tells PULP that majority of the live footage in the video was taken from their recent Australian tour with We The Kings, where they played the song in their live set for the first time, as well as on every date of the tour. “We received an amazing response from the audience about that song. That's the main reason we chose to use the live footage to accommodate the release of the song. We wanted to include those people in the video that made that tour such an amazing tour for us,” says Hanssen.

“Oceans” is Avastera’s debut track with Adrian Wilson as the band’s new vocalist. He had spent time with the band during the aforementioned tour with We The Kings and was unveiled as the new Avastera frontman earlier this year.

The song had been written by drummer Jarryd Price and Wilson before they joined Avastera. Eventually, Hanssen and Wilson talked about re-working the song and changing it from an acoustic to a full-band song with a more upbeat vibe. According to Hanssen, the best part about the song is that it was the first one where all members of Avastera had collectively contributed to the writing process, and that they couldn’t be happier with the outcome-- music for each section had been re-written, with added extra instrumentation that gave the song a different vibe, all while keeping the original lyrics and vocal melody written by Wilson. The song was entirely written, produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by the band members themselves.

At present, the Perth-based band is working on new songs. As to why they have taken over two years to release new material, Hanssen explains that Avastera spent the last year refining their sound. “We wanted to be excited again and breathe new life into the band. We began incorporating more of our outside influences/styles and we began locking-down on a sound that was really exciting to us. But most of all, we wanted to get it right. That was the part that took a while. We would have a new song, then scrap the whole thing and start again because it just wasn't sounding right to us. We know exactly what we wanted to do, but executing it in the right way to get it sounding ‘right' was not easy at the start, but we've finally got there in the end,” Hanssen tells us. During this period, the band also toured and performed in major support slots with Sleeping With Sirens and You Me At Six, aside from We The Kings.

Hanssen adds that we can expect more new Avastera songs to come out which would further showcase their new sound. The band is also gearing up to join Mayday Parade this October for the west coast leg of their Australian tour.

“Oceans” is available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and other online music platforms.

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