Articles
After cutting their musical teeth in the small Victorian town of Shepparton, the future members of Augie March...
RedHotPie Editor | November 04 2008
Augie March - the RedHotPie interview
You’ve got to be good to make it in the Australian music industry; you’ve got to be real good. In fact not only do you have to be a cut above the rest, more often than not you will have to also fit or at least resemble the mould. We’re a proud nation built on Barnsey’s back; currently we’re chasing an electro blip soundtrack created by bands like The Presets and Cut Copy and the marketing push built to sell the current trend is huge.
So what if you’re not one of the gang? What if your music couldn’t be filed anywhere between denim rock and art-chic electro? How good would you have to be to beat the spread and come in winners? Well, you’d have to be number one; you’d have to top the pile and connect with the masses… luckily for Augie March, that’s all sorted.
After cutting their musical teeth in the small Victorian town of Shepparton, the future members of Augie March would all find their way to the state’s capital for schooling and general mischief.
After having crossed paths due to friendships and associated siblings, the aspiring musos would find each other and form the nucleus of Augie March, a strange bird indeed, in possession of magical feathers capable of captivating a country.
RedHotPie got to spend a little time with Augie March drummer Dave Williams to chat about their new record Watch Me Disappear, the Neil Finn connection and karaoke with Mandy Moore.
(RedHotPie)
So the band rocketed to prominence from a little country town in Victoria called Shepparton which is known more for it’s fruit production than music, how did Augie March come to be?
(Dave Williams)
Well I did my high school years in Shepparton, I was born in Melbourne and grew up in the Eastern Suburbs and then moved to Shepparton from late 87 till I finished up high school. The band didn’t really start in Shepparton, it started in Melbourne; I mean myself and Adam (Augie March guitarist) were old friends from when we were 14, we lived behind each other and we’d play music together so we were actually living together in Melbourne.
Glenn (Augie March singer/guitarist) was my older brother’s friend, and Glenn was already down here in Melbourne and had begun playing music. He knew that I played the drums, so we had a couple of jams and he dropped off a demo tape and that’s kinda how it got going. I mean I’d seen him play, and me and my mates had played in the garage and done a few covers gigs around Shepparton, it was all fantastic, and that was before Triple J had arrived up there, I mean it was just before I left that we’d got FM radio up there.
So Shepparton can’t really lay claim to too much of the Augie March success story?
Well I guess it can because we met there, it made us want to go out and see the rest of the world, to really strive to follow our dreams.
Speaking of dreams, you guy’s had a huge breakthrough with your third full length album, Moo You Bloody Choir, but you’d done a lot of work before that, tell us about your earlier stuff.
Well we actually recorded our first long player in 2000 (Sunset Studies), and when we released that album we got a lot of “where the bloody hell did this come from”, and I mean we’d already been playing around for four years and released a couple of EPs. So we had been slowly plying our trade, getting better at what we did and when the first album came out we got a bit of action from that, Triple J became aware of us and a lot of the community stations, no real commercial action.
The second record (Strange Bird) was quite a bit more arresting actually, more arresting musically and in its lyrical themes. I mean some fans dropped away when we released that record, but over seas, I mean that’s the record that made America sit up and listen. So we toured Australia and just when that tour was coming to an end we got some interest from an American label. So we went over there and had a chat with them, then an American agent got interested and asked if we’d like to be represented over there which we did because he’s fantastic.
Then BMG and Sony merged and we didn’t know if we were actually going to be kept on the roster. We were kind of an anomaly in the major label world, we were this funny little band that didn’t really sell many records but critically people got into; so when the merger happened they ended up deciding to keep us.
That kinda pushed everything back a bit, hence us not releasing a record for a couple of years. So yeah, we made Moo, and then we had to wait another six months because the record company didn’t think it was the right time to release it, and internally that was very difficult for us to handle, just sitting on our hands. In that period, Glenn actually went out and did his own little solo record, just so he wouldn’t murder people, but eventually we released One Crowded Hour and it’s just kept going from there.
Well yeah, it really took off, ending up with the number one spot on Triple J’s hottest 100, what sort of impact did that have for you?
Well apart from journos mentioning it, I mean it goes on the CV, but it really just showed us that people connected with us; a lot of people connected with the band and with that song and it just suggests to me that a band that doesn’t do hype, who didn’t come down in the last shower or are worried about what they look like, a band that focuses on the music, I mean we’re really ugly looking guys, really ramshackle, but that song, it really cut through the clutter and it shows that when a song connects, it can move lots of people to do things you know.
And was that validating for you guys on some level?
I don’t know about validating but it was certainly surprising, I mean when you hear a song you can often think, yeah that’s a great song but you never think people will be moved to vote for it… but yeah, it was just a bit of fun actually, we took some time and sat around, sipped a bit of wine and enjoyed the idea of that.
And why not? So let’s move on to the new record, I read somewhere you had recorded it in Neil Finn’s studio.
Well yeah, it’s a studio that Neil built that’s available for anyone to record in. He bought an old building in Auckland, built a few studios in there and eventually built an apartment upstairs for him and his wife to live in. So we went there for a month with an American producer called Joe Chiccarelli who’s worked with The White Stripes, The Shins, My Morning Jacket, so yeah we did four weeks there and then we came back to Melbourne and did a couple more weeks of over dubs and then Glenn and Adam went and mixed the album with Joe in L.A.
Had the Neil Finn hook-up come from the fact you guys had toured with Crowded House?
Well no, it was just that we wanted to go somewhere a bit different to record the album; we weren’t really too crash hot on L.A so Glenn got online and found that The Roundhead (Finn’s studio) was up and running so it was a nice little compromise to be able to go somewhere and really focus on the record 24/7 and just get away from distractions.
Awesome, so now it’s a touring game and then what? You guys have spent a lot of time touring the States too haven’t you?
Oh yeah, we went there three times last year.
We’ve seen a lot of Aussie bands invest in that market and if it doesn’t pay off it’s a costly outlay, how is it going for Augie March, are you seeing return for your efforts?
Not really, if you wanna make an imprint into that scene you’ve got to act like an American band which means you’ve got to live there or keep going back there for a year, tour relentlessly. So we were only doing month long tours, and I mean they were pretty gruelling in their own little way for us, driving around. If you don’t have a big label behind you over there it really is like starting again.
Get in the Van style
Yeah, it was a good shot of realism, this is what you got to do, so we’re trying to be strategic about those things, we don’t want to burn out or anything because after the last tour, things got a bit intense and tempers got frayed.
If nothing else, most bands bring back a great American tour story, is there anything like that in the Augie files?
Yeah man, there was one show were we played to five people in Detroit Michigan in a place called the Magic Stick which is a 900 head room and a bowling alley and a pizza shop as well. So we played the gig, to five people, three of them were Aussies. After the gig we go downstairs and we’re having a pizza and some guy sets up a karaoke machine, apparently it’s karaoke time… so I’m with the guys and I thought, yeah I want a sing, so I wandered over and I’m choosing a song when this woman comes up and says “hi, are you gonna have a sing?” and I said “yeah, I’m gonna have one” and she goes “I got something to tell you, Mandy Moore is out there and she needs someone to sing with her, are you willing to sing with her? So I’m like “ha-ha, yeah right, piss off, good one, off ya go, yeah Mandy Moore’s here, so is Anthony Keidis, he’s over in the corner”. So she knicks off and then she comes back and says “no really, why don’t you just come outside” so I said “ok then” and I went out there and there’s Mandy Moore on this massive tour bus, and apparently this woman was her tour manager and they had a night off were trying to shake it up a bit but I’d already chosen my songs, a few Police songs you know, and I asked if she wanted to sing those and she said no, but I asked her what she was doing at The Magic Stick and she said “oh I’m here with my friends The Beastie Boys, so I look inside and there’s the Beastie Boys on their night off, bowling with their body guards, so yeah, that was a funny night.
So you provided the soundtrack for Mandy Moore and the Beastie Boys’ night off
Yeah well I sent them scurrying into the bowling alley if nothing else, they couldn’t handle me, I don’t think I was singing that well that evening anyway, I may have blown out a vocal chord or two.
Augie March’s new album Watch Me Disappear is out now through Sony/BMG
Seen Augie March? Got their records? Let us what you think of the interview, the band and their music in the feedback area below!
So what if you’re not one of the gang? What if your music couldn’t be filed anywhere between denim rock and art-chic electro? How good would you have to be to beat the spread and come in winners? Well, you’d have to be number one; you’d have to top the pile and connect with the masses… luckily for Augie March, that’s all sorted.
After cutting their musical teeth in the small Victorian town of Shepparton, the future members of Augie March would all find their way to the state’s capital for schooling and general mischief.
After having crossed paths due to friendships and associated siblings, the aspiring musos would find each other and form the nucleus of Augie March, a strange bird indeed, in possession of magical feathers capable of captivating a country.
RedHotPie got to spend a little time with Augie March drummer Dave Williams to chat about their new record Watch Me Disappear, the Neil Finn connection and karaoke with Mandy Moore.
(RedHotPie)
So the band rocketed to prominence from a little country town in Victoria called Shepparton which is known more for it’s fruit production than music, how did Augie March come to be?
(Dave Williams)
Well I did my high school years in Shepparton, I was born in Melbourne and grew up in the Eastern Suburbs and then moved to Shepparton from late 87 till I finished up high school. The band didn’t really start in Shepparton, it started in Melbourne; I mean myself and Adam (Augie March guitarist) were old friends from when we were 14, we lived behind each other and we’d play music together so we were actually living together in Melbourne.
Glenn (Augie March singer/guitarist) was my older brother’s friend, and Glenn was already down here in Melbourne and had begun playing music. He knew that I played the drums, so we had a couple of jams and he dropped off a demo tape and that’s kinda how it got going. I mean I’d seen him play, and me and my mates had played in the garage and done a few covers gigs around Shepparton, it was all fantastic, and that was before Triple J had arrived up there, I mean it was just before I left that we’d got FM radio up there.
So Shepparton can’t really lay claim to too much of the Augie March success story?
Well I guess it can because we met there, it made us want to go out and see the rest of the world, to really strive to follow our dreams.
Speaking of dreams, you guy’s had a huge breakthrough with your third full length album, Moo You Bloody Choir, but you’d done a lot of work before that, tell us about your earlier stuff.
Well we actually recorded our first long player in 2000 (Sunset Studies), and when we released that album we got a lot of “where the bloody hell did this come from”, and I mean we’d already been playing around for four years and released a couple of EPs. So we had been slowly plying our trade, getting better at what we did and when the first album came out we got a bit of action from that, Triple J became aware of us and a lot of the community stations, no real commercial action.
The second record (Strange Bird) was quite a bit more arresting actually, more arresting musically and in its lyrical themes. I mean some fans dropped away when we released that record, but over seas, I mean that’s the record that made America sit up and listen. So we toured Australia and just when that tour was coming to an end we got some interest from an American label. So we went over there and had a chat with them, then an American agent got interested and asked if we’d like to be represented over there which we did because he’s fantastic.
Then BMG and Sony merged and we didn’t know if we were actually going to be kept on the roster. We were kind of an anomaly in the major label world, we were this funny little band that didn’t really sell many records but critically people got into; so when the merger happened they ended up deciding to keep us.
That kinda pushed everything back a bit, hence us not releasing a record for a couple of years. So yeah, we made Moo, and then we had to wait another six months because the record company didn’t think it was the right time to release it, and internally that was very difficult for us to handle, just sitting on our hands. In that period, Glenn actually went out and did his own little solo record, just so he wouldn’t murder people, but eventually we released One Crowded Hour and it’s just kept going from there.
Well yeah, it really took off, ending up with the number one spot on Triple J’s hottest 100, what sort of impact did that have for you?
Well apart from journos mentioning it, I mean it goes on the CV, but it really just showed us that people connected with us; a lot of people connected with the band and with that song and it just suggests to me that a band that doesn’t do hype, who didn’t come down in the last shower or are worried about what they look like, a band that focuses on the music, I mean we’re really ugly looking guys, really ramshackle, but that song, it really cut through the clutter and it shows that when a song connects, it can move lots of people to do things you know.
And was that validating for you guys on some level?
I don’t know about validating but it was certainly surprising, I mean when you hear a song you can often think, yeah that’s a great song but you never think people will be moved to vote for it… but yeah, it was just a bit of fun actually, we took some time and sat around, sipped a bit of wine and enjoyed the idea of that.
And why not? So let’s move on to the new record, I read somewhere you had recorded it in Neil Finn’s studio.
Well yeah, it’s a studio that Neil built that’s available for anyone to record in. He bought an old building in Auckland, built a few studios in there and eventually built an apartment upstairs for him and his wife to live in. So we went there for a month with an American producer called Joe Chiccarelli who’s worked with The White Stripes, The Shins, My Morning Jacket, so yeah we did four weeks there and then we came back to Melbourne and did a couple more weeks of over dubs and then Glenn and Adam went and mixed the album with Joe in L.A.
Had the Neil Finn hook-up come from the fact you guys had toured with Crowded House?
Well no, it was just that we wanted to go somewhere a bit different to record the album; we weren’t really too crash hot on L.A so Glenn got online and found that The Roundhead (Finn’s studio) was up and running so it was a nice little compromise to be able to go somewhere and really focus on the record 24/7 and just get away from distractions.
Awesome, so now it’s a touring game and then what? You guys have spent a lot of time touring the States too haven’t you?
Oh yeah, we went there three times last year.
We’ve seen a lot of Aussie bands invest in that market and if it doesn’t pay off it’s a costly outlay, how is it going for Augie March, are you seeing return for your efforts?
Not really, if you wanna make an imprint into that scene you’ve got to act like an American band which means you’ve got to live there or keep going back there for a year, tour relentlessly. So we were only doing month long tours, and I mean they were pretty gruelling in their own little way for us, driving around. If you don’t have a big label behind you over there it really is like starting again.
Get in the Van style
Yeah, it was a good shot of realism, this is what you got to do, so we’re trying to be strategic about those things, we don’t want to burn out or anything because after the last tour, things got a bit intense and tempers got frayed.
If nothing else, most bands bring back a great American tour story, is there anything like that in the Augie files?
Yeah man, there was one show were we played to five people in Detroit Michigan in a place called the Magic Stick which is a 900 head room and a bowling alley and a pizza shop as well. So we played the gig, to five people, three of them were Aussies. After the gig we go downstairs and we’re having a pizza and some guy sets up a karaoke machine, apparently it’s karaoke time… so I’m with the guys and I thought, yeah I want a sing, so I wandered over and I’m choosing a song when this woman comes up and says “hi, are you gonna have a sing?” and I said “yeah, I’m gonna have one” and she goes “I got something to tell you, Mandy Moore is out there and she needs someone to sing with her, are you willing to sing with her? So I’m like “ha-ha, yeah right, piss off, good one, off ya go, yeah Mandy Moore’s here, so is Anthony Keidis, he’s over in the corner”. So she knicks off and then she comes back and says “no really, why don’t you just come outside” so I said “ok then” and I went out there and there’s Mandy Moore on this massive tour bus, and apparently this woman was her tour manager and they had a night off were trying to shake it up a bit but I’d already chosen my songs, a few Police songs you know, and I asked if she wanted to sing those and she said no, but I asked her what she was doing at The Magic Stick and she said “oh I’m here with my friends The Beastie Boys, so I look inside and there’s the Beastie Boys on their night off, bowling with their body guards, so yeah, that was a funny night.
So you provided the soundtrack for Mandy Moore and the Beastie Boys’ night off
Yeah well I sent them scurrying into the bowling alley if nothing else, they couldn’t handle me, I don’t think I was singing that well that evening anyway, I may have blown out a vocal chord or two.
Augie March’s new album Watch Me Disappear is out now through Sony/BMG
Seen Augie March? Got their records? Let us what you think of the interview, the band and their music in the feedback area below!
