There are three words often associated with the music of Augustines: anthemic, honest, and emotive.
Augustines consists of lead singer Billy McCarthy, multi-instrumentalist Eric Sanderson, and drummer Rob Allen. The band was formerly known as We Are Augustines, but has come full circle with their name and self-titled sophomore release. The name is a testament to the journey the band has been on since their formation, under the ashes of McCarthy and Sanderson’s previous band.
Their debut album Rise Ye Sunken Ships was based on deeply personal experiences of the band and their families, and resonated with listeners on an emotional note. Their sophomore effort draws on those emotions, yet triumphantly resonates optimism and the note that things can and do get better, despite the difficulties that one endures.
I had the opportunity to chat with the band a few weeks ago before their show at Venue in Vancouver about the new album and touring.
asapmusicblog.ca: Congratulations on the release of the new album! I saw this morning that you guys hit the Top 10 on iTunes’ Alternative chart for the US & Canada.
Eric Sanderson: And Canada?
A: Yes, it’s #9 for Canada!
ES: That’s great! I didn’t know that. And the UK?
Rob Allen: It’s #6.
Billy McCarthy: In three different countries, it’s never happened before.
A: What was the first song in your memory that inspired you to be a musician?
BM: It was “Ode To Joy” – is that Beethoven? I remember it was very triumphant – I was so impressed with it. I took guitar lessons when I was, I think, twelve and I walked straight in and asked him. It was that and also “Hazy Shade Of Winter” by Simon & Garfunkel.
ES: I think for me, it wasn’t a song – it was just my dad playing guitar. My dad played guitar, he was never very good – sorry, Dad, but he’s the first one to say that. He always used to just play when I was a kid, and then my brother Jim started playing guitar and I was young enough that I didn’t really know what songs they were playing. While Bill was talking, I was trying to think of what song specifically, but I always just remember my dad at the end of his bed looking at his fingers awkwardly trying to play.
RA: To be honest, I started playing at such a young age that it’s a bit of a blur. I just remember having lots of 70’s and 60’s music around the house, I was always banging away at two or three years old.
A: So since the first album, the band has relocated their base from Brooklyn to Seattle. As well, you guys have come full circle and changed your name back to Augustines. What led to the decision of self-titling the new album?
BM: We actually worked under the working title, Now You Are Free. Basically, we were so proud of the name Augustines and like thirty days before… I don’t know, maybe it was a couple of months, but it was a really short amount of time. When Rise Ye Sunken Ships came out, we upset some people and they came at us very fiercely and we had to improvise something just to be able to use the word Augustines and keep that.
We kind of brokered an understanding that we would both put our music out there and just see where it all fell. Thankfully, people really supported what we did and we were lucky enough to get it back. It doesn’t always happen that way. Sometimes people want to be paid and it can get kind of weird – I’ve seen it happen, but they were really nice about it actually.
We actually rehearsed in Seattle and put together the live show there. In Seattle, the North West has been really amazing to us, actually. That’s how we got our name back, and the reason why we self-titled it, we just felt like finally Rob – Rob is a core member of our band and we just felt like celebrating this – finally, we’ve arrived. I know it doesn’t really look like it, it looks like just one word, but to us it means a lot.
ES: Somebody said once – I saw it on Twitter, someone was like: “Oh, you didn’t put much thought into that name, did you?” They were kind of slagging us off for making the album self-titled, but the truth is, it was completely intentional and we put a lot of thought into it.
A: It’s difficult with band names because people always have their opinions, but it’s a personal decision at best.
BM: A lot of people advised us, and they pleaded with us to just be smart: “Come on guys, you’ve already had a lot of momentum with this other name.” We’re a fan-driven project and it’s been a reciprocal relationship, so it hasn’t been a problem and it’s really because of people supporting us. No lie, that’s really the truth.
A: On the topic of the long-term support of fans, you guys have an emotional connection to a lot of them through your music. Do you ever find difficulty in expressing those emotions in your music because it comes from such deeply personal experiences?
BM: No, because I think we’re all family, you know? Eric goes through something, Rob and I are there for him. If Rob’s going through something, we’re there for him, and they’re there for me. I don’t know if there’s a real separation between what’s too emotive or what’s just normal day-to-day stuff. We’re in this journey together, so I don’t know if there is any holding back, really. I’m sure we could go too far.
ES: I think also we have an emotional connection with our fans, but it’s not really weird. First off, we don’t call them fans – they’re people who listen to our music and write us, they’re normal people just like we are and they’re people who support us, and that’s amazing. When someone writes us and says that the music we’ve made has affected their lives, I think back to all the music that has affected my life.
I’ve written letters to people, and when someone writes back and you realize they’re just a normal being and there’s no bullshit in the mix. You can call that emotional, but it’s really just like we’re meeting each other right now and next time we see each other hopefully I’d be like, “Hey! How are you doing? I remember you, we did that interview together” – it’s just a normal human relationship.
BM: I wish we could hang out more, honestly. We just came off a support tour with a band called Frightened Rabbit from Scotland and some people ask, “Wouldn’t you rather headline?” but actually, we get to go out, we get to meet people and hang out longer and it’s nice for us.
A: Speaking of touring, you guys spent over two years touring in support of the last record, and tonight marks the first night of what’s probably…
ES: Another two years?
A: Another two years of touring. Obviously you don’t get to spend a lot of time in each city, but is there anything that makes traveling on the road a little bit more like home?
ES: Your imagination.
BM: Sometimes we’re lucky enough to go out to dinner. We just came back from some European dates and we’re working with some new people there and it was a really great opportunity to break bread and have wine – it’s fun. We also did it in Portland as well – we finished a video shoot for “Nothing To Lose But Your Head” and the directors and all of us and the studio we were working at, we all ate together. I really value that, I really do value that. I love eating with people.
A: With the new album, there are a lot of layers in the sound and in the production, and that’s in part of the collaboration with Peter Katis in the recording process. How do those layers translate into your live show?
BM: I was just on an airplane and it was actually a double decker airplane, and I was like, Jesus, how does this heavy thing get off the ground? I think it’s because the wings, they go out further. I think that for us to kind make a bed of, musically, to carry our ideas with this record we added a lot of layers. We are working with an artist in England by the name of Al Hardiman – Al’s not here with us tonight, but he’ll be here shortly.
Al’s a multi-instrumentalist and he’s really gifted, and him and Rob are teaching us a lot of things about Britain – a lot of slang words. That’s one of the ways. Eric is really the production mind in the band – we all contribute but Eric really has a passion for it. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, so there’s a lot of multi-instrumentalism in the band. Rob and I just hit things.
RA: I’d like to think it was a little bit more detailed than that.
BM: It is a little bit.
ES: Only a little. No, I’m kidding!
A: If you could narrow down a single message that you would want your music to convey, what might that be?
BS: I noticed that a lot of people have been mentioning the songs have like a hopefulness, and I can honestly tell you that music has been absolutely been a blessing in all of our lives. Speaking personally, it’s always been there for me whenever I’ve felt… you know, I was talking to this older guy once and he said whenever he felt lost in life, he took classes – that’s just what grounded him. It just seemed like whenever I’ve ever felt lost in life, music’s kind of been right there and after doing it for all this time, you’re able to express yourself.
For all three of us and also Eric and I’s band before, it’s funny, it kind of becomes an extension of yourself because don’t recognize that you’re doing if you do it frequently and you live it, kind of live and breathe it. It’s offered a lot of happiness to us, like in our families and people that care for us – I think there’s a hopefulness to it.
ES: I want to piggyback on that. I think that it’s really important in life to search yourself – I’m going to get preachy, I don’t want to sound preachy, but it’s really important to find your core. Like Bill was saying, your core might be taking classes, it might be finance, it might be theatre, it might be dancing, it might be smoking pot – whatever your core is, the thing that truly, genuinely makes you happy – you should do that. We happen to do music because when we found our core, when we were young and found our core, we pursued it effortlessly like most children do, like most young adults do – they don’t have that many threats in their life.
As we got older, we started dealing with more and more difficulties and challenges and things that threatened that dream and that very pure and simple idea of pursuing what you love. Then we had to reestablish our foundation and we found that just like when we were children, we still loved doing music and we still loved the simple act of making sound and that was the thing that made us genuinely happy.
I’ve heard people say, “Oh, I wish I was a musician! I wish I could do this, I wish I could do that!” – and it’s just like, no, fuck that, just because I’m a musician. Everyone says that if you’re an artist, you’re pursuing your dream. There are some people who are artists who would maybe prefer to do finance – they’re better at merchandise accounting than they are at playing piano, because they actually like it more and it makes sense, they should be doing that. You should follow the thing you actually like doing, it doesn’t matter what it is.
BM: I always admire suburban dads with their lawnmowers – it’s like a little happy time for that. Have something you love in your life that’s your joy.
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Augustines is available now in-stores and on iTunes. For more information on the band and for tour dates, head over to: http://weareaugustines.com.
