So it’s 1998 and all eyes are on Washington as Monica Lewinsky was becoming the most famed intern while involved in the most entertaining presidential scandal in U.S. history. Meanwhile in Boston, there’s this kid who starts writing these songs and playing them around his school. People start listening, making requests and telling some others about this kid that sings, plays guitar and has “like a demo or something of songs he wrote.” Word travels fast around a campus. A drummer hears about “this kid” and asks him to bring the demo by. And he did. Chad and Matt met after hearing a little about each other through that “traveling word.” Chad passed along the demo and Matt gave it a listen while driving down the freeway, before quickly transforming the handy audio tape into a road rage projectile and beaming it off the back of some bothersome Dodge Stratus (the historical recording can be found somewhere underneath the guardrail halfway down Route 95). O.K., maybe that didn’t really happen (and not because Matt only has a “T” pass to his name). But there really was a demo. And it was quite good. Matt brought the favorable feedback about the recording and the kid behind it to Mike, interrupting one of his six-hour cartoon marathons. Without much deliberation, Mike and Matt decided they’d drop the funk band they had goin’ and start getting into some new music with Chad and the batch of tunes he had. The three and then bassist Mike Sanders wrote some more tunes together, naturally got excited and tried to play their tunes wherever they could not an unheard of scenario. They did some recording with three tunes, got the ball rolling. Then, played some more shows and got involved in another recording (five tunes) a little more meaningful this time around (At Wits End, 2000) New directions were building. One bass player out, another in. The level of seriousness steps up a notchor three. Chris Tilden came into the Averi picture in early 2001. His solid playing and serious low end theory were elements Averi needed to take the next necessary step. So, along with the newly acquired Tilden, they stepped. A bunch more shows came along, and rocked, followed by some more, while some new songs started taking shape. Some of these “drawing board” tunes made their way to producer Mike Denneen (Howie Day, Morphine, Aimee Mann, Letters to Cleo). He excitedly came aboard the project and the foursome plus Denneen headed to Q Division (Somerville, MA) to make a record. And after two months of recording with the team of Denneen and engineer Matthew Ellard, some fine axe work by guitarist Mike Eisenstein (Our Lady Peace, Letters to Cleo), plenty of insane moments of creativity and spontaneity from the band and team and let’s not forget the frequent cleaning out of the 50 cent brews in Q’s vending machine Direction of Motion surfaced and was released in February 2002. With the new record and bigger sound came the need to fill some sonic voids with an additional guitarist. Lucky for Averi, Stu Berk had just wrapped up with another band and was on the hunt for a project. He came in, rocked it and started kicking his rootsy flavor to audiences alongside the rest of the band, solidifying the unit to a fortified fivesome. Now, Averi loves Boston like “Frank the Tank” loves funnels, but they’ve been spending much of their time over the past year trying to get down and all around with their music, visiting as many other cities as they can manage to get to. Their travels have included swinging down the east coast for the fine southern folk as well as stopping through “the city that never sleeps” on the regular, and of course plenty of New England rockers, sharing bills with artists such as Sting, Guster, Barenaked Ladies, The Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox 20, Gavin DeGraw, Pat McGee Band and Michael Tolcher. But Boston has helped fuel Averi from the get-go and will always be the place they call home. And it doesn’t hurt that they’ve been recognized as 2004’s “Best Local Band” in Boston, according to the Boston Phoenix, and the Boston Globe has sited them as “One of the Ten Bands to Watch in 2005.” Averi’s latest release, Drawn to Revolving Doors, produced by Scott Riebling (Letters to Cleo, American Hi-Fi) and released Feb. 8th, 2005, captures the band’s uniqueness and diverse artistic range. From quiet storm, acoustic-laden ballads to hook-filled rock anthems, “DTRD” is undoubtedly Averi’s most accomplished work to date. Where Direction of Motion hinted and tested the waters, “DTRD” plunges head-first into fresh territory for the band with unabashed aggressiveness and confidence while incorporating the spontaneity, quirks and inspirations that surfaced during the six-month-plus recording process. The future is always an unknown, so Averi just plans to do what they love and do best write tunes, rock shows (wherever, whenever) and see where the new doors lead.