Five Firsts: Peter Aaron of Avondale Airforce

NAME: Peter Aaron
BAND AFFILIATION: Avondale Airforce
INSTRUMENT: Guitar, vocals

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … I bought a few around the same time and can’t remember which was first. How about the first album I ever owned? My dad brought home the Monkees’ first album for me not long after it came out. Of course, Peter Tork was my fave Monkee, since we both had blonde hair and the same first name. Davey Jones, RIP.

2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … The Banana Splits at the Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey, 1968. I was four years old, and my mom brought me and my first-ever friend. I didn’t see another concert at the Capitol until I saw the B-52’s there in 1980.

3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … Not counting toy harmonicas or school recorders, I guess the first was a trumpet I took lessons on in third grade, though that was a rented instrument. I hated practicing and never learned to play a note. The first instrument I actually owned was a $75 Montaya copy of a Fender Precision bass on which I took about seven lessons but, again, never practiced the stuff the teacher gave me to learn. By then, however, I was in my first band and was learning on the job, as it were.

4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS … I remember playing “Wild Thing” and Devo’s “Mongoloid” on my bass for the neighbor kid. Beyond that, it would’ve been the originals my first band was writing or maybe a Ramones song.

5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … Sand in the Face, one of New Jersey’s very first hardcore bands. I was in the band from 1980 to 1982. NJHC forever!

Peter Aaron and fellow guitarist-vocalist Stanton Warren team up as the psychedelic-improvisational-experimental rock duo Avondale Airforce to celebrate the release of their self-titled debut CD at Club Helsinki in Hudson at 9pm on Friday (March 23). Sharing the bill will be guitarist Alexander Turnquist and DJ Lunar Moss. Tix are $8 in advance; $10 at the door.