It started with a pop song: a simple, accessible number with a snappy melody
and an easy hook; the kind that couold really make a band. "Definite top
40 material," an industry type quipped. "A real bullshit kind of tune."
But Augie March's Juggernaut Boy remains in the vault. Although
still discussed by those who've heard it, it is, says the band's lead singer
and songwriter, Glenn Richards, unlikely to ever see the light of day.
It's just too poppy, too delineating ... too aaaggh, says Richards. "We
included it on a demo tape - it had a certain life-force about it - but
it's just not what we're about."
Rather like the Saul Bellow character after whom they are named, Augie
March aren't the compromising types. Rather than attaching themselves to
Juggernaut
Boy and riding up on its proverbial coat-tails, the band have taken
a more primordial path.
Introspective, raw and evocative are just a few ways of describing the
sound of the Melbourne four-piece.
But when it comes to snagging a record deal or snaring a gig, concept rock
just doesn't open the doors.
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Augie March's latest offering - the five track mini-album Waltz
- is a beautiful balance of experimental and accessible.
The album marks a considerable progression since their first EP - Thanks
for the Memes, released in January last year - marking the transition
from garage groovers to polished performers.
Formed after a series of late, drunken nights at Fitzroy's Punters Club,
Augie March (Adam Donovan, Dave Williams, Edmond Ammendola and Richards)
started playing together in 1996.
Donovan remembers their first gig, at a gallery opening, just a few weeks
after the band formed. It was a panic - a rush to get a repertoire, a struggle
with the instruments and, admits Richard, the notes. All the usual hitches.
But somehow they pulled it off. Now, two-and-a-half years later, Augie
March have a loyal - if slightly odd - band of supporters, a touring history
with Grant Lee Buffalo and, with the release of Waltz, a regular
spot on the Triple J playlist. And if that wasn't enough, the band have
just been confirmed as principal support act on Something For Kate's forthcoming
national tour.
A measure of success has, it would seem, descended upon this group of original
and determined musicians.
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