AVALON USA

AVALON USA

started in 1989, when Jeff Kalmar and Joel Pirard agreed to start a new band together. After having played in ORION, (with John Curtin) they had a good idea of what they could come up with. "We scouted around searching for the people that would eventually make up the band." Ultimately, Bruce Henninger, was recruited from an advertisement in a musicians' journal, and the search for a bassist continued. For a short time that spot was filled but the demands of the music soon brought about more change. John Curtin had been sitting in from time to time and eventually came aboard as bassist/lead guitarist, soon followed by Dan Bonadeo. Thus the birth of the band.

AVALON USA even devoted time to a YES tribute set, all the while writing new powerful material, and re-doing a number of ORION songs.

AVALON USA disbanded in 1992, In 2001 a CD was recorded , featuring JEFF KALMAR, JOEL PIRARD, BRUCE HENNINGER, and of course, DAN BONADEO. JOHN CURTIN has been consulted on the project, but due to other commitments was not available for the reunion, with the noteable exception that he did play on his own song, "Once Stood A Man" with the band, and contributed a bonus track. "It was now or never", it was said recently, We didn't want to proceed for the longest time WITHOUT all the members, but eventually it became apparent that the only way it was going to happen was to be proactive and MAKE it happen".

Joel Pirard has said "I had broached the idea to the guys of a resumption of working together, at least to finish some unfinished music, and record them for posterity. At first everyone seemed into it, but time commitments being what they are, things dragged on. Eventually Dan took over the reins of this, to the extent of engineering it and scheduling sessions, etc. It soon became obvious that John couldn't be an active participant, although he is there in spirit".

John Curtin eventually appeared on several tracks, notably playing lead guitar on Once Stood A Man and with his composition Exploring the Deep, with former ORion drummer Roger Schnur, as well as the live track archives,

AVALON USA's CDs, ONCE STOOD A BAND and ALTERNATE TUNES ares available on Bandcamp.

John and Jeff are cousins, Joel hooked up with them in ORION, then when AVALON was formed, Joel and Jeff hooked up with Bruce, then Dan, then John joined with the proviso that he could do some lead guitar work from time to time, and Jeff played bass accordingly.

32 years ago we were one of the premier live bands in the New York tristate area....

YES, ELP, GENESIS, KANSAS, PINK FLOYD, THE WHO, BACH, MOZART, BEETHOVEN, THE BEATLES, PROCUL HARUM, FOCUS, CAMEL, MOODY BLUES, FLASH, STRAWBS, JOURNEY, SANTANA

JOHN, BRUCE AND JOEL recorded THE ARCHWAY under the moniker of JESTER'S PROMENADE (also here on Soundclick)