The Lavone (pronunciation: love-own) began life in 1986 as a duo consisting of brothers Rhett and Ryan Sutter, and formed the initial seed from which Nuclear Gopher grew. Ryan was 12, Rhett was 13, and their initial recordings were primitive basement rock recorded on a small GE tape recorder place in the middle of their shared bedroom. Over the years, The Lavone evolved both sonically and lyrically, as they scraped together better equipment and more songwriting experience, until releasing their final album, Isotope (2000).
In 1988, The Lavone expanded to a trio with the addition of guitarist Mike Thomas, reverted to a duo in 1991, and ended it’s existence as a quartet with a final lineup consisting of Rhett Sutter, Ryan Sutter, Brian Bishop, and Eric Elvendahl.
The Lavone made only a handful of live appearances during it’s 16 years as a band, concentrating instead on writing and recording new material in their home studio, the original Nuclear Gopher. The bands final release was their last live performance, a set recorded at The Depot coffee shop in Hopkins, MN in 2002.
The band decided to take a break in 2003 so the members could focus on other projects and other than a few unreleased recordings made that year, never reunited as Rhett passed away in July 2005. With the exception of The Hiatus (1999) and Isotope, every album by The Lavone was recorded on four track cassette and mixed and mastered on cassette.
Discography:
- Live at The Depot (2002)
- Isotope (2000)
- The Hiatus (1999)
- Some Enchanted Evening (1993)
- Purpose II (1992)
- A Concert for No-one (1991)
- Escapyst Flowers (1990)
- Purpose (1990)
- A Spectacle for Compassionate Minds (1990)
- Psychotic Requiem (1989)
- Earth Mother (1989)
- Nukenlodgetisenberry (1989)
- lavone (1988)
- We Don’t Exist (1988)
- One (1987)
- Psychotrauma (1986)