Avalanche City is the stage name of indie folk musician Dave Baxter from
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand. He is best known for his 2011 New Zealand No. 1 single "
Love, Love, Love" and his 2015 single
Inside Out, which also charted at No. 1. In 2011, Dave Baxter was awarded the
APRA Silver Scroll
The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members. APRA hold the annual Silver ...
and nominated for three
New Zealand Music Awards
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...
, including ''Breakthrough Artist of the Year'', ''Song of the Year'' and ''Album of the Year''.
History
Early life
Baxter began playing guitar at age nine and during his teens he performed in the bands One Must Fall and The Chase. He studied at
Waikato Institute of Technology
The Waikato Institute of Technology, also known as Wintec, is an institute of technology based in New Zealand's Waikato region. Wintec offers over 130 degrees, diplomas and certificates. Wintec specialises in applied tertiary training for nurses ...
in Hamilton, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Media Arts (Commercial Music).
''2011–2014 Our New Life Above the Ground''
In late 2009 Baxter left his job as a music writer and began recording bands in his own studio. He also began to write songs, practice singing, and create his own melodies. After performing his songs for friends, Baxter started Avalanche City and began touring with other musicians. He eventually decided to record the album ''Our New Life Above the Ground'' at Kourawhero Hall and offered it as a free download from Avalanche City's official website. Initial response to the album was extremely positive and the song "Love, Love, Love" was picked up by the local New Zealand TV station TV2
TV2 for their station promos. After this point the song placed on the
New Zealand singles chart
The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...
.
The album ''Our New Life Above the Ground'' was then re-released and sold well, placing number 4 on the official national albums chart and achieving
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
status.
''2015–Present We are for the Wild Places''
After 4 years since the release of the Baxter's record breaking debut single
Love Love Love, he released his highly anticipated new album, We are for the Wild Places in July 2015. The album's first single
Inside Out was very popular and quickly reached number one on the
Official New Zealand Music Chart
The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Musi ...
and was certified Platinum. The album itself was placed no 3 on the Official Top 40 Albums Chart. The second official single from the album, Keep Finding A Way has been released to radio late August.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Notes
Music videos
Awards and nominations
References
{{Authority control
APRA Award winners
New Zealand pop music groups