Avion: Avion

Truth and Consequences Edition

I know the singer. Steve Bertrand lives in LA. He has had enough success to really taste it, but maybe not enough to fill him up. I haven't talked to him in years. Here's maybe why:

When I was in Rookie Card, Steve finished with his first band, The Tories, and started Avion. I naively asked him if we could share shows: He'd do one with us in San Diego, while we'd then do one with him in LA. It all went south. Steve agreed to do it, but wasn't really excited about it, getting the idea pretty quickly that we wouldn't draw the kind of crowd they were used to in LA. Which is true. We wouldn't, and didn't, due in part to very shitty promotion of the show on our behalf. No one in the band save me had any interest in Avion.

The night of the show, Avion came down in a bus(!) and hung out in it pretty much the whole night, except when it was time to play. I saw Steve that evening for maybe two minutes. He didn't stick around to watch our set. I guess he felt upset about the lack of turnout and the long drive. Too bad. He called me a few days later, upholding his end of the deal. I told him we'd opt out if we had to presell tickets, which he acknowledged we would have to, and mentioned that he figured as much; "No hard feelings". That was the last time I talked to the dude.

Which is fine, but kinda lame. We originally met under different conditions, before the Tories' first album came out, when he was traveling with some Christian friends from LA, including Billy Zabka (Daniel-san's Johnny!) and the as yet unknown Doug Jones (Abe Sapien from Hellboy; Pan’s Labyrinth), ministering at churches, talking about Christianity in Hollywood. After we met, I used to make a point to go see the Tories whenever they came to SD.

Steve, if you ever read this, I apologize. I've harbored some pretty bad feelings towards you for a while now, and that's wrong and useless. Let's have a cup of coffee and meet back at God, instead of at the alter of rock-&-roll, which is no god at all.

Also, I don't really like the Avion CD. Who cares?