In the beginning there was…the freezing cold. In high school, some kids do sports, or theater; the harsh winters of Ketchikan, AK kept the three future members of Anavan indoors, staying warm by playing along to their favorite records. Molly Williams (keyboards/vocals) favored AM Top 40 hits, Aaron Buckley (drums/vocals) pounded away to the incessant heavy metal metronome, and Bret Berg (bass) fed himself a steady intravenous diet of Rush, Yes and the Ramones. Seeking mental escape from Alaska’s Inside Passage, the three bonded while all working in a local pawn shop, where, on the side, fisherman would trade them neglected musical instruments for booze money. The trio soon collected enough ancient squeezeboxes and banjos to sell on eBay, and secured enough coin to buy a rusty blue Dodge Family Wagon. Before they decided in which direction to take off, a Navy man visited the pawn shop and told them of a shore leave post-punk bender in Los Angeles. His advice: “Y’all should git down there and play your hearts out at venues like The Smell and Il Corral!” He pawned onto the trio his last box of LPs, leaving their ears ringing with the sweet sounds of King Crimson, The Fall, and The Bee Gees. Rehearsing material like mad and jumping into the van, the trio christened themselves Anavan, burrowed their way into the L.A. scene and played shows with the likes of Outhud, Chromatics, Polysics, and Veronica Lipgloss and the Evil Eyes. A SXSW showcaseappearance followed, and Anavan have now found themselves a cozy new home at GSL, with their self-titled full length due out in July ’06.

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