Isolation figures a lot in the music of Melbourne band Augie March. And that's the way they like it, thank you very much. SCAPE finds out why singer/guitarist Glenn Richards likens the Australian music scene to one big high school. And why his band may have just released one of the albums of the year, Sunset Studies.
The ARIAs (Augie March was nominated for Best New Artist - Single). What were your thoughts?
It was the first time I'd been and I got terribly bored, terribly early. It was horrible. There wasn't one moment when my attention was aroused. Paul Kelly and Kasey Chambers singing together - that was nice. But those kids in the moshpit, clapping out of time. Really, can you just leave something alone?
So, you're not a big fan of Killing Heidi, then?
Oh, there are always a hundred bands more deserving. That really does mean that these bands, these people, are the cream of Australian music. It's just funny to go from your local scene to something like that. It's like the distance between glitzy Hollywood and indie filmmaking, I guess. Funny, because Australian music has always prided itself on being close to the root of things.
Still, were you happy to be nominated?
Oh yeah. But we were quite surprised. Probably the best thing about it was the producer nomination (along with Richard Pleasance). Still, we can regard ourselves as 'ARIA-nominated producers'.
Where do you fit in with the Australian music scene, then?
We don't have a spot anywhere. It's not a bad thing, but it's kind of lonely. It was like at the ARIAs. We were sitting at our table thinking, "Why won't somebody come and talk to us?" Growing up in Melbourne, we've always played wherever to whoever we wanted to, and that's not viewed well. Street press in Melbourne is a lot more vicious than it is in Sydney. It's just people having a go. If you play a certain venue, you're not considered 'cool'. It's very high school kind of stuff.
So, you don't have a group of bands you identify with?
I don't understand 'scenes' anymore. I understand community, and that's what I was looking for in music. But sometimes it can be a clique. So we don't inhabit any spot, anywhere. And then we go to the ARIAs and we definitely don't have a spot there. It's like coming from a country town to university. You think you're going to join the writers' club and meet all these like-minded souls and you don't. And then you discover that the writers' club is full of wankers.
Sunset Studies - are you happy with it?
Yes. There's still a few tracks on there that I listen to and think, "Hmm, they're not quite up to scratch", but, yeah, we're all pleased with it.
You grew up in Shepparton in country Victoria. How has that influenced you and your music?
It still influences me. If I go back there - my parents still live there - I have a much more emotional writing experience, because a greater part of your history (is there), that's where your personality kind of developed. There's a lot of opposition still there. You feel like the kid that you were when you walk down the street. That still plays a large role in my writing.
So you wouldn't move back there?
No. But I try to move as much as I can within Melbourne, because I find it helps my writing. I'll live in the city and then I'll move 30 kilometres outside Melbourne. Because every time you move it's very alienating and isolating. That helps my writing.
Finally, who did you grow up listening to?
Metal bands. Motley Crue. Bands like that.
No!
Seriously, in Shepparton that was the alternative. Other than that, you listened to Cold Chisel and Jimmy Barnes. That's what people still listen to in Shepparton. They're drinking beer to Khe Sanh.