Remember 1994? Remember Avail? Remember when they dropped "Dixie"?! While I don't really remember 1994 as a whole, I certainly do remember this album. Avail is one of those bands that all your punk friends listened to and loved at some point in their lives. There's good reason for this. Mainly, because Avail was fucking awesome. The band was probably the only good thing to ever come out of Richmond, Virginia besides the Powhatan Indians. And you know that the Powhatan didn't rock nearly as hard as Avail did.
One of my first punk shows was Avail, and I can still remember how the crowd went ballistic whenever anything was played off Dixie. I'd put money on the assumption that this was pretty much everyone's favorite Avail record. It was the perfect mix of melody, politics, and good old hardcore. I like to call this mix of elements "The Trifecta," even though it has nothing to do with horse betting. (If you don't get that joke, stop using the word.) But seriously, songs like "Clone" and "On the Nod" were instant classics. To this day, when I hear them, I get giddy like a schoolgirl after her first makeout/fingerbang combo. And that's pretty fucking giddy.
So even though I've been giving Tim Barry's solo stuff a lot of airplay, I still love to go back and listen to him yell out the vocals for Avail. I also like the rest of the band; don't get offended guys.
Go back and listen to this. Or die. (Alright, you probably won't die.)
Here's Avail live doing "Clone." The audio sucks, but it captures the energy. I did my best.
