Listen to the new EP and read a track-by-track breakdown by Avem!
We are super stoked to bring you the premiere of the new EP by Southern Ontario-based punk rockers (and avid birders) Avem just in time for Father’s Day! The EP features 6 songs written by guitarist Ernie’s dad Graham and it is named the Graham Cracker EP in his honour. We caught up with the band to hear their thoughts on each of the tracks and Brad Manners of School Damage also talked about his love of the EP. Graham Cracker EP will be out everywhere on June 17. Listen to the EP and read all about it below!
Graham Cracker EP Track-By-Track Breakdown
**Note: all these breakdowns are merely interpretations as none of us wrote the lyrics to these songs, so take from them what you will**
Flock Off
This song's about getting together with your friends and going on an adventure! If you're a bird, this is about the pull birds get to convene and form a flock to migrate.
Wood For My Woodpecker
This song's about a person who's got a resident woodpecker that just won't leave their house alone. They love having this bird around because it's beautiful and they love the sounds it makes, however they can't stand the fact that the woodpecker has decided their door is the best place to do it's pecking. They decide to buy the woodpecker a piece of wood so they stop pecking on their door.
Bird Perv
Let's face it, some pervert named a bunch of birds. There's some heavy sexual undertones to a bunch of bird names, and this song's about being obsessed with birds but all your friends thinking you're a pervert for talking about them. I mean, tits, peckers, cocks, boobies? All great birds!
Gulls
A biographical song about the life of gulls in modern society. An homage to the ring-billed gull if you will, and a reminder that although you might be annoyed by them sometimes they play an all important role in our ecology.
Dining At The Dump
Have you ever been to the Dump? Chances are if you have, you've seen a LOT of different scavenger birds there. If you like those birds, or dumps, or music then this song's for you. This is about what the birds are up to at the dump, namely gorging on all the trash there.
Martha
Written about the symbol of the threat of extinction, “Martha” is a power ballad about the plight of the passenger pigeon. Over a period of 20 years this species was eradicated from the planet due to unbridled hunting. Humans decimated a population in the billions. Martha is the name given to the last remaining Passenger Pigeon, who died in 1914. She is currently on display in the Smithsonian's "Objects of Wonder' exhibit.
Brad Manners of School Damage Reviews Graham Cracker EP
Avem have been around for half a decade and have averaged six releases in that window of time. And guess what?! This newest one is about birds. There's a theme here, where every fucking song is about birds! On every record!
I don't think any band has had such conviction with a theme since GWAR, but you know what?! They're really fucking good at it. It's subtle enough that if you didn't know shit about birds, you wouldn't care. The hooks are there. The four part harmonies are spot on and only noticeably comparable to the Beach Boys if they wore leather jackets and got into the Lillingtons. The production is crisper than a tall pint of beer after a long day of bird watching and the lyrics are pretty damn clever. I can only imagine "Bird Perv" will be a big live hit for the ornithology and human genitalia wordplay alone.
Graham Cracker EP is a shot of espresso to the nostalgic heart for you fans of the glory days of Lookout Records/Fat Wreck pop-punk. C'mon, a whole career based on songs about birds AND they've opened for T.S.O.L!? That's gotta count for something! Straight up, this EP is what you'd expect from these Bird Nerds; Straight up melodic punk perfection… about birds. Keep hatching gems, dudes.