Today we’d like to introduce you to Joan Avant.
Joan, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I grew up wanting to be a classical violinist. I went to music school and got two degrees in music. I went the academic route getting degrees in music history or “musicology.” Naturally, I played the violin at school as a concentration, and I performed with the symphony, chamber groups, opera and even baroque violin in a baroque orchestra. But I also wasn’t completely “satisfied” by classical music. I always loved rock, pop, electronic, and metal. It was usually what I listened too. I ended up in various bands through college playing drums, guitar, or even violin sometimes.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I’m a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter. My style of music is Victorian Gothic Symphonic Rock. What makes my music “symphonic” is the use of classical piano and orchestrations infused in the songs. The vocals also go in and out of “operatic” and “rock” styles. What makes my songs “rock” are naturally the use of drums, bass, guitar arranged in a pop/rock song form. I have many musical inspirations, but what you will notice is that I am at war with myself musically. I take a lot of inspiration from metal, rock, pop and electronic music however I think like a classical musician. I can’t shake my background in it. At the end of the day, though I want to create music that I want to hear. I try to squeeze in all of my favorite aspects of all of my favorite styles of music into my songs.
Many of the themes I chose to write about are history, art, poetry, and classic literature from the Victorian period. If you like bands such as Within Temptation, Nightwish, and Epica, you might like me. Just as if you like modern classical composers such as Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, and Clint Mansell, you might like my music.
My debut album is titled, “Drown Ophelia.” The title comes from one of my songs on the album. The inspiration comes from the Pre-raphaelite muse Lizzie Siddal who modeled as “Ophelia” for John Millais’ famous painting. I am a self-produced musician. So all of the songs were written, performed, recorded, and mixed by me. I use a mixture of real and virtual instruments. For example, I really play drums, but it’s through an electronic kit, and I am really playing the violin and bass. Luckily through the miracle of technology, I can be a one-woman band. I had a great artist, Visnja Pokorni from Serbia do the Art Nouveau style album art and the excellent photographer Jamie Maldonado from East Texas take photos.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
I think success is creating something true and unique that appeals to a certain group of people. It is not going to appeal to everyone. But if I can find my niche audience and in turn, they can find me, I think that is success. Likewise, I think creating great content, and having a unique vision is essential to standing out. I think being able to attract a cult following would be an astounding success.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Sure. I have an online shop at www.redmasquerecords.com Right now my store has the physical and digital version of “Drown Ophelia” available.
Also, there is my website www.joanavant.com.
And I invite you to interact with me and the community of my Facebook page: facebook.com/Joan_Avant_Music/.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joanavant.com
- Email: info@joanavant.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Joan_Avant_Music/
- Facebook: facebook.com/joanavantmusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/avantjoan
Image Credit:
Album Art Visnja Pokorni Photography Jamie Maldonado
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