One of the bands that I was really pumped to see perform on the Take Action Tour was Every Avenue. Now I have to admit, before they came to Toronto I had never heard of them.  How could I be excited to see a band I’d never heard of before?  Because I did my research and my ears were pleasantly surprised by what they heard. The band which formed in Michigan in 2004 consists of David Strauchman (vocals/piano), Josh Randall (guitar), Jimmie Deeghan (guitar/backup vocals), Matt Black (bass/backup vocals) and Michael Govaere (drums). They released their first full length album last year entitled Shh…Just Go With It and have been on countless tours since, including a recent trip to the UK opening for Boys Like Girls. I was lucky enough to catch up with Matt and Josh backstage after the show where we shared some fan moments and a nice CANADIAN beer.

iheartthemusic: How’s the tour going so far?

Josh: It’s been great so far, it’s only day four so we are still early in the tour, but all the other bands are really nice.  We’ve actually toured with Breathe Carolina before so it was great to see them on the bill as well.

Matt: Usually on a tour there’re like maybe five days to a week where there is this awkward period between the bands who don’t know each other and then you kind of get to know them and then you’re good after that first week. But with this tour it’s been like that from the first night, everyone was just best friends so it’s been going great.

iheartthemusic: Have you been to Toronto before this tour?

Matt: Yah, we played here a couple of months ago with All Time Low, which was awesome, and then last summer we did Warped Tour here. So this is our third time to Toronto.

iheartthemusic: Any crazy tour stories you want to share?

Josh: Nothing that we can put in print because my mom will read this.

iheartthemusic: Off the record maybe??

Josh: Let’s just say it’s been crazy…

iheartthemusic: Ok we’ll leave it to our imaginations! So explain how Every Avenue came together.

Josh: That’s an interesting question. We’ve been around since maybe 2004, but we’ve had a few reincarnations of the band over the years.

Matt: Josh and I were in a band in the summer of 2004 and Every Avenue was kind of just starting. At the time it only consisted of two people:  Mike and Dave. They were playing shows around the same area where we were and so we started playing shows with them and when our band broke up they grabbed Josh up and it went off from there.

iheartthemusic: Has touring helped introduce you to some new bands?

Josh: Pretty much every tour we end up being pretty impressed with a lot of bands that we are out with. You learn to appreciate all different kinds of music as well. Like Breathe Carolina is a band that is kind of different from the stuff that I normally listen to but I love them now.

iheartthemusic: Any particular musical influences?

Josh: We each have our own personal influences but as a band I would say The Police, The Cars, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Eat World.

Matt: Its kind of weird because I feel the five of us have artists that we listen to that are similar but for the most part we kind of branch out into different musical genres. Like, what I would sit down and listen to is probably completely different than say what Jimmie would sit down and listen to.

Josh: Matt is like the rap guy, I’m like the folk guy. We’re all over the place, but we appreciate everything.

iheartthemusic: Being on all these tours you  have to at leat have one crazy fan moment that you can share with us?

Matt: Not really from this tour, I mean sure, give it some time and something crazy will happen. Although in the past we have had some people give us some weird gifts and we were just like, “what is this?” Like last Valentine’s Day we were in Philly and these girls, who honestly couldn’t have been over like 14, made us these very sexually explicit Valentine’s cards. One for each person in the band!

Josh: They wrote things that made even me blush! I’m not offended easily and I was even just like, “this is awkward!” Another kind of weird fan moment  is when people know so much about you and you’ve never met them. Like at Bamboozle last year, I had just broken up with my girlfriend at the time and so many people were asking “what’s going on with you and Ashley?”

iheartthemusic: Well that’s what happens when you are famous, I guess! Speaking of fame, has there been a defining moment where you felt like you had made it?

Matt: I’ve had a few moments when I’ve been like, “wow we are at a place we’ve never been before where people know our songs.” I think for me I kind of got the “whoa” feeling when we went to Japan and just walking down the street people knew our name and would come up and talk to us and know stuff about us. My thinking was, “how does anybody in this country know who we are?” To me we are still this tiny band…I don’t get it.

Josh: I think personally there are a lot of small steps to fame and it’s so gradual but when you look back you really appreciate it. We look back and appreciate everything. Like we can’t even believe we are in Toronto and playing to this many people! Our mentality is like “we are just a band from Michigan and write songs in a garage.” We still appreciate everything and can’t believe we’ve come even this far.

iheartthemusic: So then what would that next step be for you guys?

Josh: In a year I’d like to see Elvis Costello and The Police opening up for us. I’d like to be more along the lines of Elton John and Sean Connery and be knighted [laughs].

Matt: Yah, I’d like to be knighted and be Sir Matt.

Josh: We have a new album that will be coming out this year. We’re just in the process of writing that right now and so far we have, like, 14 songs done so it should be out by this summer. We’re really excited about that.

Matt: In the next year I’d like to see us have a successful headlining tour. I think that that would confirm a lot to me. I mean every tour we’ve done we’ve always been the opening band. Even if a lot of people are actually singing the songs, you don’t know if they are coming to the show to see you or if they came to see the headliner and just happen to know a couple of your songs. So that for me would be something that I would hope we could get to.

iheartthemusic: Anything you want to tell your Canadian fans out there that they might not know about you?

Josh: I snore pretty bad sometimes.

Matt: In like the last week people keep saying, “you were snoring pretty loud last night” and I never snore! So my advice to our Canadian fans would be don’t drink and then sleep on your back because apparently that is what causes you to snore. It’s a recipe for disaster!

Josh: I want to say to our Canadian fans honestly thank you so much. That’s all I can really say. I can’t believe I’m playing in Toronto and a lot of people in the crowd know our songs. Songs that we wrote in my basement! It’s surreal that anyone knows our songs. Kids come out to shows and buy our merch and that’s just awesome!

iheartthemusic: If you want more of Every Avenue then be sure to check them out on their MySpace:

www.myspace.com/everyavenue

photography provided by Matt Vardy, www.mattvardy.com