Good
times rolling on new album and in pop-punker's personal
life
Avril Lavigne says she just wanted to have fun on her third album,
The Best Damn Thing, which hit stores this week.
The Napanee, Ont., native, was explaining the in-your-face,
aggressive pop sound on the disc -- best exemplified by the
sing-along first single, Girlfriend -- which seems contrary to her
happy personal life.
To explain further, Lavigne married fellow Canuck pop-punk rocker
Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 last July and the two recently purchased a
multi-million-dollar home in Beverly Hills, not Bel-Air as earlier
reported.
"My last record (2004's Under My Skin), I was 19 and I was kind of
in a darker place in my life. And that's kind of the music I liked.
I liked the darker piano parts and the verses and then the heavy
guitars," said Lavigne, 22, on the phone from New York
yesterday.
"And this record, I was just all about bopping around and having
fun. And when I'm on stage, no matter what kind of mood I'm in,
this stuff's fun. When you hear it, you can just jump around, the
audience freaks out. I realized this is the kind of record I need
to make, 'cause these are the songs that I like. I definitely
wanted this album to be pop and catchy, and to rock so I feel like
I totally nailed my vision."
Lavigne also relished her independence in the studio without label
interference and partying it up -- "I mean a couple of the songs I
was definitely wasted," she admits -- with a number of producers,
including Whibley.
"I thought they would kind of suit his kind of style, like the
younger energy," said Lavigne. "And so I gave him Contagious and
One Of Those Girls to do and (Sum 41's) Steve-O played drums. We
were both in the same studio too, which was kind of cool, for like
a month or a couple of weeks, so we just did it then."
ACTING
In the time between Under My Skin and The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne
also began acting, with small roles in the animated feature Over
The Hedge, Fast Food Nation and the upcoming The Flock opposite
Richard Gere.
"When I was younger I was in theatre, outside of school, and I was
in some of the school plays, and enjoyed it, singing and acting,
and now I'm kind of at the point where I'd like to do a really
great movie."
To that end, Lavigne said she will star in a film later this year
but couldn't give the title or director just yet.
"It's kind of a darker film, a bit of a drama, it's sort of indie,"
said Lavigne.
Lavigne, who won't tour until 2008, was headed to L.A. last night
and will tape Ellen today after a string of high profile
appearances in the Big Apple this past week.
Next up is a promo visit to Asia and Australia -- although she's
pencilled in to appear at the MuchMusic Video Awards on June 17 --
and then she'll do some summer festival dates in Europe, on which
Sum 41 are also playing. Whibley's group also has a new album,
Underclass Hero, due July 24.
Lavigne said managing a double rock star marriage isn't as
difficult as it sounds.
"We respect each other and he respects what I do and I respect what
he does. We have the same manager, Terry McBride, so it just works
out. It's like we take our time off together and sometimes we get
to do the same festivals and stuff, whatever, it works out
fine."