Avalanche started in early 1993 as a reunion idea from an earlier band Alliance. When that didn't come to fruition Walter Borgan & Jon "Stunn" Magnuson began auditioning drummers for an all together new project. After several failures Erin Ryan ( formerly of the band "Impaler") was added to the group. After another month or two of bass tryouts Walter decided to enlist the talents of his brother Jeff. A primary unit was now formed & a second guitar player was needed. In came Wayne Enns, former guitarist for Alliance. When all was said & done the band Avalanche consisted of 4 of 5 members from Alliance. Serious writing & practicing paid off. In four months time Avalanche was opening for one of the biggest local bands of that day, "The Regime". After just two shows they were headlining. The response to this new group was overwhelming & soon Avalanche became a niche for other local metal bands to play out, being that Avalanche was the only 100% metal band playing weekends in local clubs. They began opening for major international acts like "Overkill". Just before the Overkill show Wayne decided to exit the band for personal reasons. Avalanche carried on & recruited Michael J. Soderstrom (Deathrider). After the recording of the first 5 song EP in early 95 Michael decided to follow through with career opportunities leaving us short 1 guitar again. This also came at a bad time after just releasing original drummer Erin Ryan for all out lack of dedication. Dave Johnson from the band "The Regime" was hired to fill in for the rest of the slotted shows. Dave also was the 5th member of Alliance. After the existing quota of shows were done Dave decided to continue on with AVALANCHE & they recorded their first CD. "Scratching At the Surface" was released Christmas of "96" & soon began an all out assault on the underground. Sending discs all over the world. Paris radio stations & Suriname (South America) radio stations alike were playing songs on a regular basis. Avalanche struck a distribution deal with Cisco Records out of LA to get there CD's sold in Japan & were also featured in different magazines like Metal Edge & a Japanese publication called "Burrn". Around this time Wayne Enns was asked to rejoin the group in essence reforming the band Alliance. After riding on the minimal success of "Scratching At the Surface" Avalanche went into the studio to record a follow up album tentatively titled, "Irate". Mid-way through the recording of this album a falling out has occurred & drummer Dave Johnson has been ousted. Avalanche at this time is on hiatus till a suitable replacement can be found. Until then an album of unreleased material will be mixed, pressed, & released to appease any & all who still wish to share in our vision.



Source : http://www.geocities.com/avalancheband/history.html