<TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The Avalanches are an electronic music group from Melbourne, Australia, best known for its live DJ sets and debut album Since I Left You, which was assembled from approximately 3,500 vinyl samples.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The Avalanches began in 1995 as Alarm 115, a noise-punk outfit inspired by Drive Like Jehu, The Fall and Ultra Bidet. The band - Darren Seltmann, Robbie Chater, Tony Diblasi and Manabu Etoh - bought all their instruments at junk shops, where they also discovered piles of old records. When Etoh was deported and Alarm 115 ended, those records became the core of a new project. Chater was a film student at Melbourne&apos;s RMIT, and had access to a recording studio there, which he and Seltmann used to turn said vinyl into a 30-song demo tape labeled Pan Amateurs. In 1997, A new lineup (Seltmann, Chater, Diblasi, and Gordon McQuilten) was assembled to play the tunes live, debuting in July under the name Swinging Monkey Cocks. Their first four shows were played under different names.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT>