His hit song 'Love, Love, Love' is the infectious theme tune for TV2 and Avalanche City has come a long way after starting as Dave Baxter's solo project. Carly Gibbs talks to Dave:
Right, Dave, first things first. When and how was Avalanche City formed?
Avalanche City is kinda just me. It was formed when I started learning how to sing and write lyrics, which was about 2 years ago. I now have a band that plays with me live and they're the Avalanche City band.
You were born in the UK, then moved to Tauranga, where you spent the first 10 years of your life and consider it "home". What is it about Tauranga that makes it home?
My parents live there, I love going back there. It's a great place.
How often do you come back here to see your parents? What are their names?
My mum Jenni lives with my stepdad Gavin in Tauranga. My Dad Clive, and my step mum Margaret, lived in Tauranga until recently, when they moved to Brisbane.
Students from Tauranga will remember you as the kid that ...
Used to hoon around the neighbourhood on go-karts and was always shooting things with slingshots.
Finish this sentence: When I'm in the Bay, I can't leave without ...
Going for a sail on my parents' little two-man hobie cat sailboat.
Which secondary school did you go to and what's your best (printable) memory from seventh form?
I went to Boys' High in Hamilton and my best memory of seventh form was never doing it. I left after sixth, to go study music at Wintec. Best decision ever.
I hear you taught yourself how to sing. How did you do that?
Singing scales every day and writing melodies and lyrics. Eventually I started recording them and listening back. That gave me a perspective on what I sounded like and what I needed to do to improve.
If you get nervous before performing, what's the one thing you always do to calm yourself down?
There's nothing I can do that calms me down. Ha ha. But I only sometimes get nervous. It's either at really big shows or really small ones.
You're now signed to Warner Music and your album, Our New Life Above The Ground, is in 20 countries. Have you rubbed shoulders with any international stars? And what advice did they give you?
I played some shows in Japan with K T Tunstall, which was so much fun. She was really nice. She didn't sit me down and say, "Now, Dave, I have to give you some advice", though.
You picked up the guitar and begun re-arranging classic school sing-alongs such as She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain into expressive original works at the age of 9. When you think of that song now and how far you've come, what do you think?
Oh, that was just me having fun and making the songs more interesting to me. Like more interesting strumming patterns, etc. I don't know whether I'd call it more expressive. Ha ha. I feel like my whole life has been a musical journey and this is just another part of that.
You're up for a few Tui awards. Tell me about that ...
Well, I was nominated for them and managed to get into the final five. I'm up against some pretty tough competition, so I'll be pretty lucky to win. I mean, everyone in the top five deserves to win, it would be a hard job to choose the winner. I'm really not a competition person, hence the song The Silence. But it's really nice to get recognition.
Baxter was a finalist in the categories of: Russian Standard Vodka Album of the Year, Vodafone Single of the Year for Love Love Love, Pacific Blue Breakthrough Artist of the Year.
If you win, how will you celebrate?
I have to fly to America the next day, but that's not really celebrating. I'm not sure, I'm trying not to think about it. Ha ha.
When your album was released online, it hit 10,000 downloads within four weeks. The first single, Love Love Love, debuted at No1 on the NZ Singles Charts and went platinum in a week. What was that like?
It actually hit 10,000 in four months and I'm pretty sure it didn't go platinum in a week. Ha ha. But your version sounds way more impressive.
You gave away your album as a free download from your website to 10,000 fans. Why did you do this?
It was something I'd had on my mind for a long time. I wanted to record an album for cheap and give it away and see what happened, kind of like an experiment. I had a theory that I'd make more money by giving it away for free and have more of a fun ride than if I tried to sell it.
What motivates you?
I think artists everywhere are motivated by the same thing, just a need to create art. It's in our humanity. Scientists have probably tried to analyse it but I think that we just like beautiful things and we like to create beautiful things.
We often hear how Kiwi artists struggle financially in New Zealand. Your thoughts?
Yep, Kiwi artists do struggle. It's hard to be an artist living off your own art. What I think is interesting to note is that artists 300 years ago didn't live off just their art. Leonardo da Vinci lived off painting portraits, at one point he even designed war machines to make a living. So I've never actually tried very hard to live just off my own art. At the moment I am and it's great.
If you could perform with any artist in the world, who would it be and why?
Maybe Charlie Parr, he's great. I reckon he'd have some great stories to tell.
The catchiest song right now (apart from your own) is ...
Times Fly by Georgia Fair, a band we're touring with right now, we're both supporting The Panics.
The song you're most likely to sing in the shower is ...
Probably a song from a band we're touring with because you just hear them so much. At the moment it's something from The Panics or Georgia Fair.
You have been quoted as saying sometimes you'll hear someone say a word and that will start the process of song-writing, other times, it's an image that you focus on. What's been the most random thing that's led you to a song. Explain.
Maybe one song on the album, I won't tell you which one, but I heard a word in a My Chemical Romance song that started my brain ticking and ended up writing a song around that one word. Crazy, I know.
The one instrument you can't play but would like to is ...
The violin
Where would you like to be and what would you like to be doing this time next year?
I'd like to be on a yacht in the middle of the Pacific Islands.
The last thing that made me think "wow" was ...
Playing at Kiwi Day Out in the Auckland Domain. Beforehand, we went to the All Blacks parade, which was also a big wow. When it was over we got stuck in traffic and couldn't even get out of the parking building. We parked the car again and just ran, all of us, all the way to the Domain and got there puffing just before we were due on stage. I snuck a look at the crowd while Evermore were playing and it was absolutely 'ginormous'; one of the biggest I've ever seen, let alone played to. That was a massive wow, and an amazing show.
Your guilty pleasure is ...
Galaxy On Fire 2 Full HD
The best advice you have ever received was ...
Don't pick the icecream tub from the top of the pile, the ones on the bottom are colder and stay frozen until you get home.
Your first memory is ...
Probably being on the back of my mum's push bike. Or watching the original Batman on TV, it was an episode where the Joker got flushed down the toilet.
You would like to be an international star because ...
One day maybe I'll get to meet Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.
The one life lesson you've learned that you can pass on is ...
Download Worms on your iPhone, the game you used to play on your PC 14 years ago. It's the best.
The hardest thing about making a name in music is ...
Breakfast radio, or worse, breakfast TV, because with that you actually have to look awake, as well as sound awake.
What are you passionate about apart from music?
I'm about to get passionate about beer brewing. At the moment it's woodworking, although I have no time to make anything because I'm never at home and that's still just starting. Music used to be my hobby, now it's my full-time job so I'm finding new hobbies.
You have quite an impressive beard. How long have you had it and what's the best and worst thing about having a beard?
I have had it for such a long time that it's a scary thought for me to not have it. The best part is beards are just awesome. The worst part is eating icecream or soup or anything with a lot of mayonnaise.
I hear you not only wrote and played every instrument on your debut album, you also sang, produced and recorded it. What else have you done that shows your Kiwi ingenuity?
I have fixed my accordion multiple times, as the accordion has been broken multiple times by airport baggage handlers.
And, finally, when can we expect another performance in Tauranga?
We are touring with the Classic Hits Winery Tour this summer, which is in Tauranga on Friday, February 10, at Wharepai Domain.
Photo: Richard Robinson