You can take Avril Lavigne out of Canada but you can’t take the Canada out of Avril Lavigne.
“I love hockey and playing hockey and ice skating,” the 37-year-old singer said during a recent appearance on Mark Hoppus’ streaming show After School Radio. But, Lavigne admits she doesn’t get too many chances to lace up her skates in Malibu, where she lives.
The Ontario native said hockey is “something I’m actually really good at because of growing up in Canada.”
She recalled: “As soon as I could walk, I was in my backyard on a pond, on skates. Then in school we would always go ice skating and then I played hockey. I played on a guy’s team and then when I got into in high school I had a tryout for the girls’ hockey team.”
Lavigne played on the Napanee District High School’s girls’ team – but it wasn’t always smooth skating. “Did a tournament, got kicked out, drank beer, got home, got suspended,” she told Hoppus.
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Elsewhere in the conversation, Lavigne gave an update on her plan to turn her hit song “Sk8er Boi” into a movie. “I found [a writer] that I’m digging so I think we’re moving forward,” she explained. “Once the script is written … we get a director and then we film.”
Lavigne also hyped her seventh studio album, Love Sux, which drops on Feb. 25. She told Hoppus that the album – on which he is featured on a track – is the type she has wanted to make for a long time.
“The album’s got a pop-punk vibe all the way through,” she said. “My last album was very introspective and deep and this one is just rockin’ all the way through.”
Lavigne said Love Sux is sonically her most alternative. “On my first album it was like, ‘OK I want to rock out, I want guitars, I want to sound like a band, I want drums.’ At the time bubblegum music – super pop music – was in, so I had to fight for that.”
Lavigne said her sound evolved over the years to keep up with trends. “I had to dial back a bit, not that I wanted to do that, but I did,” she recalled. “With this album I just wanted to not hold back at all… Guitars, drums, just go for it.”
The singer, who is dating Mod Sun, said Love Sux is the perfect title. “I went into this record feeling that way, genuinely. I still do, I still do!
“It was a time for me to sort of reflect on my past relationships and my past experiences in love and the ups and downs I’ve been through.”