Avon Rzeznik

Avon Rzeznik is a guy who knows what he wants. And when it came to writing his eagerly awaited third album, Falling Into History, he had one very clear goal in mind: To make it fun. While touring in 2004 for his last album, To The Grave, the Canadian-born punk-pop dynamo found that his favorite songs to play were the faster, more up-tempo songs—so he resolved to make a record that captured the kind of high-spirited, full-throttle energy that he loved to unleash on-stage.
Falling Into History is brimming with gutsy guitar riffs, instantaneously catchy sing-along party-starting choruses, power pop punk, and rebellious rock ’n’ roll attitude. It’s a marked departure from the darker, more introspective tone of To The Grave.
As an artist with a keen and well-trained ear for powerful, magnetic pop melodies, Avon was intensely involved in every aspect of Falling Into History’s creation: From being fiercely independent while writing his own songs (“I didn’t have an A&R guy on this record,” he emphasizes. “I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound”), to choosing his producers and musical collaborators, to obsessively going back and tweaking guitar tones and drumbeats in the studio, he worked hard to ensure that it would be his best record yet.
The album features the production skills of Tyson Brody (who has also produced Avon’s second album,To The Grave), Craig Gibson, and Connor Gottwald. The process turned out to be a blast: “I didn’t know making a record could be so fun,” he says. He was eager to work with his good friend Tyson again, as he says, “What’s great about Ty is that he’s a talented artist as well as being an incredible producer.” And about collaborating with Connor, he adds, “Connor and I had a really good connection and chemistry.” The relaxed atmosphere in the studio comes across in the songs themselves.
Four of the songs on Falling Into History were co-written with Avon's bandmate Nicholas Moniz. “Nicky is one of my best friends in the world,” he says, affectionately. “He’s been with me since day one”. Of course, all of the spiky, buoyant energy that drives the album will come to life in the live show that Avon is planning for his tour later this year—he has assembled a new band, and is even bringing along two dancers (“I’m doing choreographed dancing for the first time ever,” he grins. “It’s going to be such a blast”).
A great deal has happened in Avon Rzeznik’s life since he released his debut album, Suicidal Misfit, in 2002, when he was 14 years old.
In 2005, Avon married Death's Door's Marshall Maida.
He may be a bit more sophisticated these days, but he’s still peerless, and still fearless. Falling Into History is Avon Rzeznik at a new stage in his life; he’s passed through the shadows of teen angst and emerged in a spotlight, ready to have fun and rock out and yes, even dance. It is, just as he intended, the best thing he’s ever done.