Amory Avenue

Amory Avenue is a crossroads of many Phoenix music-scene thoroughfares... its history as varied as the individuals who comprise the collective. Originally the brainchild of singer/songwriter Shane Hunt, the band consists of members from two previous Phoenix-based groups- Scott 'Scooter' Ruggles and Hunt formerly comprising the rock/metal acoustic duo Would-Be Savior?, while Hunt and Dustin Cleary were members of Glendale-based indie-rock band The Latter. With a chemistry that is easy to spot ...

Amory Avenue is a crossroads of many Phoenix music-scene thoroughfares... its history as varied as the individuals who comprise the collective. Originally the brainchild of singer/songwriter Shane Hunt, the band consists of members from two previous Phoenix-based groups- Scott 'Scooter' Ruggles and Hunt formerly comprising the rock/metal acoustic duo Would-Be Savior?, while Hunt and Dustin Cleary were members of Glendale-based indie-rock band The Latter. With a chemistry that is easy to spot and impossible to deny, the trio is preparing to make an impact on the Phoenix music scene in a bid to cage and mollify their collective inner beasts by bringing their angsty and energetic rock roots to bear on the eager ears of the public... Hunt, a self-taught musician/singer/songwriter originally from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, performs with an array of instruments including the guitar, mandolin, harmonica, banjo and bass. He broke into performing by taking up a resident position as the weekly artist at various coffee shops, often playing 3-hour sets every week for a year (frequently playing entirely different material at each performance). Based on this rigorous schedule Hunt established himself as one of Havasu's premiere performers before relocating to Phoenix in 2003. He has released three albums of solo material to date: 2000's Silhouette Room, 2001's Transcendence and 2010's Another Awkward Silence Between Friends. In 2004, Hunt circulated a collection of songs under the working title of An Awkward Silence Between Friends, but those songs were never actually released as an established work. Scott 'Scooter' Ruggles was a devoted guitar player from his early teens on and has always yearned to be part of a working band. He dabbled with various instruments including synthesizers, guitars and drums until filling the role as the bassist in Amory Avenue. Hailing from Akron, Ohio, he followed the Cleveland music scene for a number of years without finding the right combination of people with the passion to form a group. It wasn't until he left his home in suburban Ohio and moved to Phoenix that he was able to put his skills to work in a group setting. Ruggles and Hunt met and founded Would-Be Savior? in 2003 while working at Tower Records together, quickly discovering they shared not only an intense obsession with music but also a vast array of similar influences. Love of groups such as Alice in Chains, 8stops7, Finger Eleven and Stabbing Westward drew the two into a collaborative songwriting relationship that is flourishing with their involvement with Cleary in Amory Avenue. As Would-Be Savior?, Hunt and Ruggles recorded an album’s worth of full-band material (never officially released, but entitled Save Yourself upon initial dispersal), as well as a live disc and several acoustic cuts. The duo began performing publicly at the Desert Ridge marketplace fountain stage and later at the Real Bar's monthly "Brew Sippin’ Wednesdays" showcase at the behest of Authority Zero’s Bill Marks in late 2005, where they played the bulk of their shows from then on. Hunt next met singer/songwriter Lauren Zalevsky while performing with Would-Be Savior? and approached her with the idea of forming a group. When the question of a percussionist arose, she instantly recommended Dustin Cleary, a friend and studio technician at Zoe Music who was performing with local songwriter Matthew Reveles. Cleary had traveled the local and national music scene many times during his years as a performer- beginning in 1995 with the group Maple. This was followed by a long-stint with Something Left to Learn From while temping with Victims of Defective Fajitas. He began working with Zoe Music in 2000 where he specialized in digital editing and live sound while performing with Matt Reveles. In addition to performing with periphery groups like Lauren Z (later renamed The Latter), Cleary continued to record and perform with the group Veranda. He recorded percussion on various tracks for Reveles' 2008 album We'll Meet Halfway while also beginning to write, record and perform his own material under the title of JuJu the Beast- (which he is currently producing with Hunt and others in addition to his work with Amory Avenue). The band Lauren Z went through various incarnations, all with Cleary as percussionist while Hunt cycled through positions, beginning as a bassist and eventually becoming the band’s lead guitarist and primary composer/ co-lyricist. As a rhythm section, Cleary and Hunt were always in sync and could often intuit one another's actions, making composing almost effortless. In 2007 Cleary left the band to start a family, the remaining duo of Hunt and Zalevsky electing to change the name of the group to The Latter in light of the material amassed by the two songwriters. They recorded and released their first full-band EP entitled The Hindsight EP, in May of that year. Cleary would later return as The Latter's percussionist for a radio performance on ASU's "The Basement" in 2008, planting the seed for what would later become Amory Avenue. While Hunt was cutting demos for a solo EP in 2008 another confluence of events introduced singer/songwriter Sydney Sprague into his life. The Latter had been slated to perform with Sydney for several functions and afterward she and Hunt began practicing and performing together. The two released an acoustic EP entitled Do You Hear Me? in 2009. Hunt further provided guitar, bass and vocal tracks for Sprague's Paper Crane EP, recorded with acclaimed producer Craig Schumacher in 2010. Following his work with other artists, Hunt finally crafted his first solo effort in ten years- an acoustic EP containing songs spanning a decade's worth of material recorded with producer Otto D'Agnolo (Soulfly, Alice Cooper, Waylon Jennings, DMX, Kenny Rogers). Entitled Another Awkward Silence Between Friends, the 5-song EP was released early in 2010. Soon after it's release Hunt began culling his material to serve as the foundation for forming a new band, contacting his good friends and former collaborators Cleary and Ruggles with the prospect of re-envisioning his acoustic material to craft a more rock-oriented catalog. The resultant mood for Amory Avenue is an entirely different animal than Hunts' introspective folk-rock fare- morphing the material into ear-ensnaring alt-rock anthems reminiscent of modern indie standbys Death Cab for Cutie, Anberlin, the Format and Jimmy Eat World. Look for the band to begin taking the stage at venues valley-wide in late 2010. Until then, enjoy their documented practice escapades through their blog postings and YouTube videos.