Augie March's vocalist and songwriter Glenn Richards knows the value of a good song. In fact the Melbourne band's debut EP Thanks For The Memes is full of wonderfully sculpted art-rock/pop tunes. For Richards songwriting is an art-form that he is determined to conquer. "If you listen to the EP I don't htink it is very representative of what we do," says Richards. "They were just songs that we had in the works that ended up coming together. I think we are very strongly song based but also have a real basis in interesting music that involves the different tunings; I guess subverting the traditional sort of style. It sounds lovely but dark at the same time and it's slow release sort of thing both musically and lyrically. I also place a lot of emphasis on the poetics of the lyrics, the sounds of words and different phrases trying to achieve some sentiment. The music that I really respond to I get it, whether directly or not, by understanding sentiment of what is being conveyed, the emotion of it."

Augie March's unique style of disjointed and dissonant pop puts them in the illustrious company of other bands who attempt to push the envelope of what can be defined as a good tune. Their unconventional take on rock has landed the band an avid local fan base. This has in part to do with the band's constant gigging around Melbourne over the past couple of years. The band are now signed to the record label Ra which makes them stable mates with the likes of Crow and You Am I. "About a year-and-a-half ago now we did a demo tape and dropped it into a lot of pubs. The guy who booked the bands at the Evelyn really liked the tape and he passed it on to someone at Premier, the booking agents. They approached us and said they'd get us a few gigs and see how it goes. But this guy from BMG, Matt High, who was looking at setting up his own label, got a hold of the tape. He'd been looking for a band to kind of kick things off so he came down and saw us and really liked it. He kept coming down from Sydney and we developed a really good no bullshit relationship with him. It ended up that he couldn't do that small label in the end but he got Ra who have like Crow and You Am I to sign us. In the end he quit BMG and became our manager which is great."

Signing to a major label doesn't mean that Augie March are suddenly living the rock star lifestyle, quite the opposite actually. "If we want to head up to Sydney and play they will give us money for that sort of thing to hire a van and stuff," declares Richards. "It's certainly made a difference with recordings and that sort of stuff. I'm not really sure how the financial side of things works. Until you make a bit of money for them there is no question of a salary or anything like that. So life's pretty much the same as it was before we signed." The life of a Melborune musician is no glamorous affair as Richards is testament to. "At the moment it is probably the worst time I've had in Melbourne since I came here," sighs Richards. "Rent has just gone up so much. I originally came from Shepparton about six years ago or so. It's pretty close to impossible now to live in the inner city and survive on the dole so we put everything we make from gigs and stuff back into the band. It all goes on equipment and that sort of stuff."

Their Thanks For The Memes release has been out for a while now but is still gaining the band support and airplay. "The EP has actually done really well we have gotten heaps of suport from RRR and PBS and SRA and a couple of people on JJJ really like it," states Richards enthusiastically. "Richard Kingsmill plays it as much as he can on his show so it's done really well just by word of mouth I think."

After taking a bit of a musical sabbatical Augie March are set to return to the live scene with a slurry of gigs in the next few weeks. After all their airplay and gigging you would think people about Melbourne would know them by now but unfortunately that's not always the case says Richards. "It's strange 'cause we played so many gigs for the last two years. Now and again we will pop up on a big bill and people still think we are from interstate, or some mystery band or something," he laughs.

- Mick Eva

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