I Am the Avalanche

Even when Vinny Caruana was fronting the hardcore-tinged punk band the Movielife, he never really considered himself a singer or a songwriter. But after the group dissolved in 2003 and he was left to his own devices, he discovered that he actually had a lot to say. And so he resurrected himself as the frontman of I Am the Avalanche, a pop-inflected punk outfit he put together with some friends from around New York City. As it turns out, Caruana's songwriting has more in common with the work of his lyrical heroes -- Aaron Stauffer, Blake Schwarzenbach, Pete Doherty -- than with what most listeners have come to expect from today's cotton-candy punk. Considering that Caruana's old bandmate Brandon Reilly recently reinvented himself as the singer/guitarist of NYC dance-rockers Nightmare of You, this should be an exciting summer for fans who still remember what the Movielife once was.