Soulshine Interviews Augie March

23 August 2009 by Max Easton

Share |

After capturing the country’s attention with 2006 ARIA nominated album ‘Moo, You Bloody Choir,’ Augie March have been a name on countless numbers of lips. Soulshine spoke to Augie March’s Edmondo Ammendola as the band embarks on their final tour before an indefinite break.

Hailing from Shepparton in Victoria, Augie March have been a presence to be reckoned with over the past few years. 2002 album ‘Strange Bird’ received huge critical acclaim, followed by the massively well known 2006 effort ‘Moo, You Bloody Choir’ off the back of that year’s Hottest 100 winning track ‘One Crowded Hour.’ They now stand as one of Australia’s premier rock acts, lining up for one last tour before what looks to be a lengthy break from existence. We spoke to founding member and bassist, Edmondo Ammendola, who’s take on the band’s direction, successes and failures were cause for some tremendously amusing and candid comments.

As mentioned before, Augie March are taking a break from proceedings. Having only recently polished off their fourth studio album ‘Watch Me Disappear,’ they’re now embarking on a tour by the career-encompassing tag of ‘Watch Me Set My Strange Sun You Bloody Choir;’ promising to devote equal time to all four albums and the preceding EP’s. This seems to be a welcome move for the band, providing some zest and harmony to touring.

“We just wanted to play some stuff from the earlier records and EP’s before we disappear for a while. It’s been a bit like that for everybody [an added enthusiasm to touring], there’s been less of that on-stage tanty rubbish you know, which gets a bit boring after a while. I guess we’re just having fun with the old stuff...and getting drunk a lot.”

As for what will fill in the time once Augie March goes their separate ways, Edmondo seems pretty keen to experience a new dynamic.

“Yeah, I’ll probably just continue doing what I was doing prior to the band, which was just doing session work and playing with other people. I’m looking for another gig I suppose...I’m a music lover and I love travelling and touring, so I’d be pretty much up for anything. I’m putting myself out there as a gun for hire and am looking to play for any singer-songwriter...or anyone who needs a bass player. I’m actually looking forward to just being on the road with anyone who wants to tour really hard. We’re not really a touring band, we don’t tour that much. I can only speak for myself, like I really enjoy it, but I don’t think the other guys get into it that much.”

The band have been together for almost thirteen years now, a lengthy enough period of time to warrant a rest. In this time, Augie March have been a band who have caused a divide between those who rave about their ability and those who just don’t quite get the hype. When Augie March released the drastically different 2008 album ‘Watch Me Disappear,’ this divide seemed to be flipped on its head; the naysayer’s were converted and the yea-sayer’s disappointed. It must have been a strange sensation, then, that their most critically disliked album has also doubled up as one of their most commercially successful outings.

“I just don’t know how much we actually care about that album. Look, it’s accurate [the poor reviews]; you can only hope for accuracy...you know, what’s been said about our last album was for the most part accurate, I don’t see any problem with it whatsoever. It’s a steaming pile of crap and I know that, we know that, everybody knows that and hopefully everyone knows how it got that way and that’s all you can do. We just gotta move on and come back with some sort of focus.”

It’s at this point where an interview becomes difficult to participate in with any real fervour, especially since a lot of us around Soulshine were pretty wary of Augie March before being turned with ‘Watch Me Disappear.’ It’s a self-depreciating point of view that can be hard to understand when separate from the band, and it all comes down to the individual opinion of quality, something that will be argued to the end of days.

“It’s a well-documented fact [that we don’t like the album.] If you spoke to anyone in the band I think they’d say the same thing. It was an experiment that went horribly wrong. But I think that’s obvious, it shouldn’t be a surprise to you, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. Just listen to it; there’s very little happening or going on. We really dropped the ball on it. Anyway, that’s just my opinion, I better stop being negative about it...I like the art work...I like the colours, and the fact that it’s a CD...I like the fact that the art work and the title and the white flag on top of the tower have a lot to do with where the band is right now. [Laughs] So it was a self-fulfilling prophecy really.”

When reviews like this were coming from within, what’s it like to read the same (if not worse) written in the papers, websites and magazines of the world?

“I couldn’t give a shit [about critical review,] if I cared about that sort of stuff and if we cared about that sort of thing, we’d be making even worse, but even more popular music than we are now. What do you do? We’ve got a default setting and when we know it’s crap...uh...it was beyond our control this time. From the point of view of the powers that be thinking that it could be really massive and applying some really sketchy production ideology to many of the songs which actually didn’t need it...and also the recording process; applying that kind of ‘potential commercial success’ ideology just doesn’t work with this band. And we’re really best left to our own devices. We’re best left within the band, with everybody left to do what they know how to do. So it was kind of the worst of all possible aspects.”

“People think that me slagging off the record and pointing out how the band is so dysfunctional as a musical unit is a bad thing and that it’s gonna hurt album sales and sales to tickets to shows...and that’s fucking bullshit. It is what it is right? I know we’re a good band and everybody knows what we’re capable of, but I guess you just gotta take the punt on whether the band is gonna be imploding on that night or not. What’s been happening on tour lately has been really good; we’re playing really tight and we’re all pretty much on the same page live at the moment, which is really nice. We seem to have reclaimed a lot of the songs from their studio versions and that’s been really nice too. We’re pretty confident about them, so the shows are good and consistent, which is really nice for once.”

So with all that said, there’s bound to be a little twinkle in the eye when the future’s considered. Ending on a positive note will hopefully lead to some confidence that seems sadly lost for the band.

“I am looking forward to the break, because there are some fundamental issues which need to change. The worst thing we could do is go hither tither and go ‘should we, shouldn’t we?’ We need a break. And Glen [Richards] for one has been wanting to make a solo record for a long time and I, as well as thousands of other people, are looking forward to hearing that without the constraints of the band. As a band we’re not so confident anymore that we’re able to support his music...we took a pretty big blow recording this album and some of us don’t have the confidence in our abilities anymore, which is sad in itself, but it’s kinda how it is.”

Augie March are due to complete their discography spanning final tour by the end of August, with only two more shows before their indefinite break-up. Their last two dates are on the 27th and 29th of August at the Karova Lounge in Ballarat and The Forum Theatre in Melbourne respectively.