Ava and the Gardeners, live in New York

While other students chose to venture into warmer climates during Feb Break — or simply to escape the occasionally claustrophobic campus we call home for a couple of days — there were four who opted to spend their hours in a much more productive manner. The members of the student band Ava and the Gardeners — who have been playing together since last year — kicked off their break by recording the first three songs for their EP before traveling to New York City to perform at a real-world venue.

Ava Kerr ’12, the bands namesake and lead singer/composer, along with guitarist Peter Coccoma ’12, Allison Lacroix ’12 on violin, and Sam Wyer ’12 on drums have played a few shows around Middlebury at 51 Main, the Gamut Room and the like and were even booked to play a set at a small Burlington café.

It was not until this February Break, however, when the band was invited to play at Sullivan Hall in New York City that they were able to play their first “real” venue.

“We had a small show at the Radio Bean,” said Wyer, “but that didn’t really count because we were jammed into a corner. But we did make 12 bucks at that show...” Though the band was excited by the opportunity to play a show in the city, the sudden invite to play at Sullivan Hall certainly was not expected.

“It was interesting as it was our first foray into the world of public opinion as opposed to solely performing for peers,” said Kerr.

“It was also different and interesting because we have a manager now, Avi Gandhi, who is making a lot of our shows possible.” It was Gandhi, said Kerr, who made the New York show a reality.

Eager to play in a location with more than a couple square yards of floor space and one that boasted a professional sound system, Ava and the Gardeners wasted no time in promoting the event on both their Facebook and MySpace pages — an effort that did not go to waste, as over 30 people showed up to see the show, including a number of Middlebury students.

“We were delighted by the Middlebury turnout,” said Kerr.

In general, the group concurred, the show was a success.

“There was a lot of hassle with the equipment at the beginning, but it was eventually resolved,” Kerr continnued.

“Basically, it went really well, but it was a lot of schlepping, so I don’t know if I could do it again. J-Term was a flurry of activity — from recording EP to playing shows in the Gamut Room and Burlington — so this show was a nice culmination of that franticness.”

Though the show has come and gone, the band’s exposure has not stopped there. Since returning to campus after their show, Ava and the Gardeners has added two of their newly recorded and mixed tracks to their MySpace Music profile, which, Wyer was quick to point out, already has over 3,700 hits.

“One percent of our viewership is in Malaysia,” said Wyer who has a self-proclaimed obsession with checking the view count on a daily basis. “We also have fans in Australia, so hopefully we’re going to do a world tour this summer. Our dream, though, is an Asian tour — we’re going to get so big in China and Japan.”

To check out the latest from the student band Ava and the Gardeners for yourselves, visit them at http://www.myspace.com/avaandthegardeners.