A younger, more foolish me was flipping through the vinyl in a Headingley charity shop many years ago. I came across several colorful and complex covers by a band called The Rose Of Avalanche. I’d never heard of them, and kept on flipping – looking back, of course, I curse my shortsightedness!

Formed in Leeds in 1984, The Rose Of Avalanche catapulted into the charts with “L.A. Rain”, a shimmering slice of dark rock and roll that even caught John Peel’s fancy. Clad in leather with long hair and heavy aviator shades, the band seemed a clear-cut goth-rock success story but like many contemporaries, they didn’t fit neatly into that particular black box, a streak of independent creativity running right through them.Still, they found a warm welcome supporting The Mission as they played on their World Crusade Tour in 1987, and the full first album in 1989. A number of line-up changes followed that, and a tumultuous relationship with their record label that lead to wrangling and a split by 1993.Since then, I’ve heard their name spoken of approvingly when people talked about the fine music made in Leeds in the Eighties. So I wasn’t completely surprised when Kirstin, the incredibly hardworking heart and soul behind Absinthe Promotions, told me she’d been chatting with an Eighties outfit and had encouraged them to consider reforming…Now, it’s my delight to be conversing over email with founder guitarist Paul James Berry, bassist Alan Davis and guitarist Glenn Schultz, as they announce the return of The Rose Of Avalanche at the leading UK alternative festival, Tomorrow’s Ghosts…

TBG: First off, what’s prompted the reformation? I see that you’ve been performing as a solo musician Paul, so what prompted you to get the band back together?
Paul: It’s a total nostalgia trip! I’ve been doing a moody solo singer-songwriter journey for many years – with no plans to stop. I’ve supported some interesting chaps from Frank Black to the late Vic Chestnutt and still get a kick out of the intimacy a solo show provides…But whilst I was on tour in Germany earlier this year, driving across the Black Forest and I received a message from the promoter of the Tomorrow’s Ghost Festival asking if I would consider reforming The Rose Of Avalanche. Now I’ve been asked before – and I’ve always said fuck off!
However, when I eventually stopped the car I noticed that the promoter’s company was called Absinthe – and I had just stopped outside Pontarlier in western France, which is renowned for Absinthe. I took this as a good omen and burst out laughing! Then I responded to the message saying I’d look into it when I got home….Which I did and found that the boys were mustard to take the beast on again!*
Alan: The band has had a number of offers to reform, but it’s never been the right time for all five of us… until now, that is. A lot of our peers have reformed over recent years, with more popping up every day, so that showed us that there is a growing interest in alternative music from the 1980s.We’ve also all had sufficient time to mentally recover from the trials and tribulations that dogged the band from (almost) the beginning e.g. line up changes, legal battles with record and publishing companies, poor management choices…Finally, we all want this second opportunity to put the record straight and to show what we can really do without the constraints of the issues described above. The three original band members moved from learning new instruments to having a John Peel session and Festive 50 entry in less than 18 months.
The follow up singles all charted high in the Indie Charts, before things started to slip. This is the perfect opportunity to right a few wrongs!*
Glen: The reformation has been suggested once or twice before but there was always some hitch. This time things just came together – the planets must have been aligned correctly or something!

TBG: Allan pointed out that there’s still an audience out there for Eighties alternative music. Have you got any theories for what keeps goths, grebos, punks, rockers and the rest of the crowd in black coming back for more?!
Glenn: I think that there are only two sorts of music – good and bad – The Rose material is good. It stands up remarkably well, and in a strange way it articulated a feeling that was common at the time.During the 80’s we were deluged with completely disposable, plastic music – I’d been turned onto music in a previous era when bands wrote songs about real events or ongoing human drives so for me the 80’s were a kind of hell on earth and the utter dross that I was subjected to didn’t reflect my reality at all.
The 80’s were Thatcher’s Britain and the everyday reality that I saw was poverty and deprivation. None of the shiny, happy people on TOTP mentioned any of that. Everyone I knew was in the same boat so bands and music that acknowledged that reality resonated with me and presumably with all the other people in a similar situation.Any hint of ‘darkness’ was carefully expunged from mainstream media so music that contained ‘angst’ or any of the darker emotions spoke to me. Looking back I feel that we were the reality. I have a great deal of affection for the music of bands like The Sisters of Mercy and others, because they helped me through some of the worst times of my life and I presume that lots of other people have similar feelings – that’s why the demand for those bands is as high as it is.

TBG: You were singled out early by John Peel, which I imagine did you some favours! These days, it’s all about getting your music on YouTube and all over social media. Have we advanced, or are we missing a keen musical prophet like John?
Paul: Oh, I’m sure there are music maniacs out there like Peely that simply want to wave a flag for the underdog and give it a voice, but the jam is spread much too thinly these days.

In the 80’s the media outlets were not so plenty, apart from fanzines. I loved fanzines – every body I knew was interested in the underground scene and read the same music mags, and yes we all sat up late recording onto cassettes what JP was playing on the radio. With the social media sites these days, it brings a much larger scope, but not as mischievous…!

TBG: You had some superb support slots, especially with legendary rockers The Mission on their World Crusade tour in 1987 – any really stand-out memories or anecdotes… or is it all a blur?!
Paul: Partly a blur, but I have been blessed and cursed to remember even when totally out of it.I remember staying as long as possible every night in the backstage of The Mission’s dressing room and getting as drunk as inhumanly possible, not because it was fascination, although it could be, but more because we had no hotel and slept in a fucking converted horse box! It was a harsh winter and the toilet bucket thing at the back was alway frozen…I have a million stories from that tour but we don’t have time now… It was a fantastic experience that we were not ready for!

TBG: How does it feel to be playing together again? Can you give any hints as to what fans can expect when you play Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival in 2020?
Glen: I found it surprisingly easy. I expected a period of awkwardness but it felt like we’d never been away. In fact it feels better than the first time round because we’ve been laughing a lot – I don’t remember an awful lot of laughter back in the day.We’re trying to have a good time and enjoy it as well as getting it right. What we’re going to do is go out and play some songs as well as we possibly can
Alan: We’re much more professional and organised. We’re also ensuring that we have total control over what we do and how we do it… we took some big knocks the first time around and have learned from those mistakes.
When you play Too Many Castles together for the first time in 30 years, it’s really not meant to sound THAT good – it’s really good!
Alan: I can assure you that we will be giving everything that we have in order to ensure that we put on the best live show ever played by The Rose of Avalanche. We have an amazing set and big ideas for the live show. We can’t wait.

TBG: It’ll be great to see you at Tomorrow’s Ghosts, it’s a massive beacon of quality alternative music right here in the North. Are there any plans to play elsewhere in the UK or even abroad?
Paul: Too early to say! It’s funny being in a band, you have to suggest and negotiate what the moves are. New territory for me! The goal for the moment is this festival, but I think there are other things on the horizon if we want them, step by step stone by stone….
Alan: We won’t be committing to anything just yet. Let’s see how it goes, what the fans think and how we feel. We’re looking into a couple of support slots as warm ups for Whitby and there is the possibility of us appearing at big festivals in Europe…
Glenn: Hm’m – that’s a toughie! We’ve all got other things that we’re doing so it would depend on what happens and how we could fit things in.Originally the idea for me was to walk on stage stone cold sober and play the songs properly so that I could walk off at the end of the gig and say ‘that’s it – that’s what I should have done 30 years ago’. That would exorcise some demons and give me a bit of closure. If that was the end of it I wouldn’t really mind but we’ll have to see…

TBG: Do you have a message for the fans who’ve been waiting more than twenty years for this news?
Glenn: Sorry! My alarm didn’t go off and I overslept!

You can follow The Rose Of Avalance across social media: on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and Soundcloud. They’re one of the earliest announcements for Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival, April 2020. Continue following The Blogging Goth for more news on this and other key events in the alternative calendar!

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