October 2002

By Patty Adams

"I used to get in fights with guys and kick the crap out of them," says Avril Lavigne, about her days on an all-boys hockey team. "My parents were worried about me because I was so small and skinny. But the boys' moms were like 'Go Avril, go!' It was awesome," Avril (she says it rhymes with Advil) even has a video game of herself punching out the goalie during a game when she was 10.

At 17, Avril's still beating up the guys - but now it's on the music charts instead of the ice. Her album, Let Go, debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Her guitar-driven first single, "Complicated" has beaten out Nelly, Britney Spears, and Eminem for the top position on TRL, and earned her a best new artist nomination for the 2002 Video Music Awards (she won). We love how Avril and her band run around the mall razzing shoppers and cops in the song's video. Apparently we're not the only ones. She's so popular that some fans are even begging the Lavignes' neighbors to steal blades of grass from the family's lawn to add to their "I love Avril" scrapbooks.

In July, she performed at a radio station showcase in Orlando, Florida, which turned into what she calls a "tiny riot" after she criticized Aaron Carter and O-Town (who had just performed) for lip-syncing. The station was pissed off, but Avril has never censored herself. "I'm not going to be pushed around and told what to do," she says. Like it or not, That's Avril.

She decided she wanted to be a singer when she was 2, and her stay-at-home mom, Judy, and phone repairman dad, John, have been supportive ever since. In her hometown of Napanee, Ontario (population 5000), there wasn't much of a music scene, but that didn't stop Avril from singing in front of everyone, even the stuffed animals in her bedroom.

Judy proudly tells me about Avril's first church solo when she was ten-years-old. "She was like a songbird," Judy says, gushing like only a mom does. "She was dressed as an angel and sang 'Near to the Heart of God' at a Christmas cantata. People were just amazed at her voice."

After her big church debut, Avril started performing at fairs and local talent competitions. "I mostly sang Dixie Chicks songs." she says. "When you're out in the country, that's all people want to hear." By age 12, Avril had taught herself how to play the guitar on her dad's six-string. "When I get really upset, I go to my guitar." she says. "I feel like it's my therapist."

Her high school years sucked, so she had plenty of reason to practice. "School gave me an inferiority complex," says Avril, who admits she has a short attention span of zeero. "I never did my work, was always talking, and I failed all my tests because I didn't try. I would be throwing M&Ms and the English teacher would say, 'Stop that or I'm going to make you leave the room.' And I'd be like, That's what I want. So I'd keep throwing them, get kicked out, and I'd grab my skateboard and go skate."

On her less-than-stellar academic performance, she wasn't exactly Most Popular with the girls at her school. "They'd be like, 'What is she doing?' because I'd wear baggy size-32 pants and hoodies. I was a little badass," she says. Avril couldn't care less about being dissed by them. "Girls are strange. They have groups and don't want to let anyone else in. I've had a hard time getting along with other girls because of that."

So Avril wound up spending less time on her classes, and more time writing songs - which eventually paid off. In January 2001, an A&R guy at the Canadian label Nettwerk hooked her up with a producer, who in turned asked L.A. Reid, the president and CEO of Arista Records, to come check her out. "When I walked in to meet this little girl, I expected some Orlando-style kid pop," says L.A. "But I was blown away by her voice." Thirty seconds after the gig was over, he offered her a record deal.

Within weeks, she dropped out of school and moved to New York City, with her brother, Matt (who's now 19 and studying to be an electronics engineering technician). They lived in the West Village while she worked with producers writing songs for her album. Avril's mom admits she and John really wanted to see their daughter get her diploma (or at least her GED) but she knew Avril couldn't pass up a record deal. "Who were we to hold her back?" Judy asks. "It was the chance of a lifetime."

Rebels Never Give In
But once Avril got to New York, the creative problems started. Arista wanted her to sing what Avril describes as "Celine Dion-type ballads" written by someone else. Having professionals write songs for new artists is pretty standard in the industry, but Avril wouldn't stand for it. "I'd say, I know what I want. They'd be like, 'What do you think you're talking about? You're 16.'"

In the end, Avril got her way. She's listed in the liner notes of Let Go as a co-writer of all the songs. L.A assures me "her name isn't just there for show. She has an incredible point of view, and writes great melodies and lyrics."

Avril used her frustration from a studio experience as inspiration for "Nobody's Fool", a song about all the people who didn't believe she could make it. Similarly, her second single, "Sk8er Boi" came from all the popular kids looking down on her, thinking she'd never amount to anything. "The preps would all hang out at this wall at lunchtime and I'd walk past with my skateboard and they'd all make fun of me," says Avril. That's why she made the skater misfit in her song to turn out to be a rock star - payback.

Even Tomboys Have Mushy Sides
Avril doesn't have a boyfriend right now, but a lot of her male groupies would like to change that. "In Toronto, all these guys brought me roses and gave me their phone numbers." Avril says, giggling. "Guys would kiss my hand. It was kind of flattering. They say, 'Oh my God, Avril, will you marry me?' and I'll say, 'You don't know me; don't ask me to marry you.' Other times, I'm like, 'Okay!'"

"I'm a hopeless romantic," Avril confesses, getting absolutely giddy at the mere mention of marriage. "If I pass a store with wedding dresses, I freak out. I have my dress picked out in my head. It's gonna be really poufy, and around the stomach it will be tight. I think I want my back to show. And I want one of those things on my head that the guy has to lift when he goes to kiss you [uh, it's called a veil]. Oh my God! I can't wait. I have so much to look forward to - falling in love, getting married, having a house and a family. But that's in awhile. I'm only 17." (Her 18th birthday is on September 27.)

In the meantime, she knows what kind of guy she wants to date. "I need a sensitive guy who has depth," she says. "I'd love it if he could sing and play guitar and write songs - that's so sexy to me. I like guys with edge, who are ballsy bad boys, but not too bad."

When I ask if her past boyfriends were like that, Avril's usual mile-a-minute chatter switches to slow motion. She does tell me if she has a crush on someone, but says in a bratty-little-sister sort of way that she's not going to tell me who it is. The only thing she'll say is that he's kind of a celebrity, but not really. "I don't want to talk about him and have him read about it and go, 'What's she doing?'"

She eventually says that she's only had one serious boyfriend, when she was 15. After they dated for six months, he dumped her (she wouldn't get into why). She was so devastated, she turned to skating to get her mind off of things.

"Once a guy starts acting supid and doesn't call me, I get mad and write a song," says Avril, who has relationship dramas show up a lot in her songs. "People ask me how many boyfriends I've had. I guess they think each song is about a different long-term relationship, but most of my songs aren't just about one guy in particular. I talk about guys I met for a day and ones I dated for months." Whichever the case, Laura Pavone, 15, a fan from Baton Rouge, L.A. doesn't care. "I can relate to everything she says and most of my friends agree with me," explains Laura. "I was really surprised that four out of my five guy friends bought her album. Everyone loves her."

Girl Fight
Well...not everyone. Apparently, a little backlash has already begun (that was even faster than Britney's!). After Avril was our On the Verge artist in the August 2002 issue, we received an anonymous letter: "The poor girl is trying so hard not to be like the other pop princesses, but in reality, she's exactly like them. Her music is pop, not punk as she claims to be. I say just ignore her as much as possible and maybe, just maybe, she'll disappear until VH1 makes a new One Hit Wonders show." Ouch.

Avril's blue haired guitarist, Jesse Colburn, 21, is the first to jump to her defense. "She gets tagged the Pop Princess, but she hasn't taken any dance lessons, doesn't have one of those strap-on microphones, and doesn't lip sync," he says.

"It bugs the hell out of me when people say I'm not punk," says Avril. "I never claimed to be." Hmm. I remember Avril labelled herself a punk in our July 2002 issue. When I call her on that, she says she used the word to mean a screwup - not a punk rocker. Right.

Avril admits she didn't grow up on a diet of Green Day and the Ramones. Instead, she listened to pretty sappy pop acts like Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty. She thinks people have been quick to call her a punk rocker because she wears spike bracelets and plaid. (Plaid? I don't remember her wearing any plaid.) "How lame is that? Being punk has nothing to do with the way you dress - it's what you believe in, how you act, and it's mostly political," says Avril. "I'm a chick with edge. I like to rock out, have fun, and cause trouble. What you see is mostly what I am. I haven't let anyone mold me."

Her bassists, mark Spicoluk, 23, backs her up on that. "Most people would say, 'I have the opportunity of a lifetime. Whatever [the record label wants] I'll do it,'" he says. "But she knows what she wants and gets it. For example, Arista planned on calling Avril's CD Anything But Ordinary, which is track 8. But she phoned L.A. Reid and told him, "I'd like the album to be called Let Go, because that's exactly what I did with the record - I let go. And that's what I want the people listening to the record to do." Minutes later, she got her way.

"She's 17 and she's calling up the president of the label," says guitarist Evan Taubenfeld, 19. "It's amazing."

One of the Boys - Only Prettier
When I catch up with Avril at our photo shoot in New York City, she's hanging with her band - Mark, Jesse, Evan, and drummer Matt Brann, 21. The four adorable musicians look like they're straight out of Sum 41. Mark, who's been playing bass for 6 years, was actually in Sum's early lineup in 1997. And Evan, the most talkative of the group - and the only one not from Ajax, Ontario - immediately points out that he used to be in Spinfire, which was our "Boys in Bands" story in the December/January 2002 issue.

How did she wind up with such hot boys backing her? "I didn't want a bunch of old guys with me on stage." explains Avril. "I wanted my band to be around my age with dreadlocks and tattoos, so I put my foot down [with the label]." Luckily, Avril's A&R guy knew Evan, Matt, and Mark. Then Mark brought in Jesse from his political-punk band, Closet Monster. Once they all met, it just clicked. Within 10 seconds of metting Avril, I was like, 'This girl's insane. We're going to be like the next Motley Crue.'" laughs Matt, the hardest rocker of the group. Avril acknowledges that the guys are cute, but says, "They're more like my brothers than potential boyfriends." Mark feels the same about Avril. "She's my lead singer, little sister, and best friend all in one," he says.

Mark forgot "makeup artist" - of maybe that was intentional. Avril wishes she had girlfriends she could give makeovers to, but when you're on the road with all the guys, you gotta improvise. "I'll put mascara and lipstick on them or little cover-up to their zits." says Avril. Or according to Jesse, pop them. Gross!

The whole band gets together for mud masks. "I'm like, 'Everyone come to my hotel room. It's time to do Ninja Turtle masks,'" says Avril, who gave them that nickname because the mask turns green when it dries. "But I'm not one of those 'Oh I broke my nail' girls. It only takes me five minutes and a little eyeliner, and I'm ready." Matt agrees: "Evan takes longer than she does."

She's a Singer, Not A Model
We finish up a shot of Avril and the guys lounging on the couch, whree they're feeding one another cereal and spilling milk all over the place. Before we head outside to photograph her wheeling the band in a rickshaw-style cart, she takes a break to flip through issues of Trasher and Guitar World. As she glances at features of The Hives and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, she tells me staying true to herself is important to her.

When photo-shoot stylists make the mistake of unpacking wardrobe cases of tight tube tops, mini skirts, and heels, Avril goes straight to her backpack and pulls out a rumpled T-shirt and cargo pants to wear instead. (For the record, her bag stayed zipped during the entire YM shoot.) "People want me to look all pretty and sexy for pictures but it's just not my thing," she says. "I won't wear skanky clothes that show my booty, my belly, or my boobs. If I were selling my body, I would wear that stuff, but I'm selling my music."

And people are definitely buying it. Tickets for her show at Irving Plaza in NYC sold out in 20 minutes. Avril wannabes decked out in tank tops and ties were right alongside spiky-haired guys holding up their "Avril take me home with you signs", singing every one of her songs. Even Sum 41's singer Deryck Whibley came out to support her and the band. (Oooh - wonder if he's the crush she alluded to.) So no matter how many punks call Avril a poser, I don't think her self-esteem is going to plunge anytime soon. "I'm a fighter," she says. "I may be small, but I'm tough."