Augie March

Augie March’s music reminds me of a perfect summer’s day walking through the park while the sun is shining and the birds are singing.  You can just imagine a scene where a young girl and a young guy walk through the park hand-in-hand with their hair gracefully flying in the wind.  If you can’t, then you need to watch more happily-ever-after movies! I digress, Richards vocals in each song is definitely soft and sweet, with the certain hint of folk-esque tone, backed up with amazing musically talented band members.

Augie March was formed back in 1996 in Victoria, when we were all still little kids playing out in our sandpits and chasing insects, oblivious to any form of music.  The band was put together by Glenn Richards (Vocals and Rhythm guitar), Adam Donovan (Lead Guitar), Edmondo Ammendola (Bass), David Williams (Drummer) with Kiernan Box (Keyboardist) replacing Rob Dawson who died in 2001.

I interviewed Mr. Edmondo Ammendola.

Hey dude!

So with several time changes for the interview, it was kick started with a phone call from Ben from Sony BMG (which I was totally crazy about and have saved the number as I feel very important that I received a call from them).  I was working that day and was given the thumbs up about hiding outback and taking the interview there. I switched on the MacBook ready to record and the interview was underway. I greeted Edmondo very casually with a ‘Hey dude’, and asked how he went.  It was like meeting any other person the street, but was it? No, I was talking to a musician from a well-known band!  I asked Edmondo where he was and he replied that he was in a rehearsal room in South Richmond, 2km’s southeast of Melbourne’s central business district.  After a couple milliseconds of awkward silence, the interview went on (obviously not a very strong phone connection).

Have you been to Darwin before?

Not knowing if Augie March had played in Darwin before, I asked if they had come up before “yes, the year before last, we played at a festival”. But he could not remember what it was called.  I went on, inquiring about any general influences that helped build their musical career, “everyone in the band has always wanted to play music, and sometimes you underestimate what that means” he says. “I’m just a massive music love, and everyone else in the band is as well”.  But Edmondo goes on saying if he was asked if he would be doing music in 13 years time, he would say “No, I’d be a meteorologist”.

Any dirty band secrets?

You heard it right here kiddos; a musician to a meteorologist! “That or an explorer” he continues. “I’ve been an explorer and adventurer since I was 18. Basically on my bicycle, discovering new suburbs and new towns.”  Which is definitely a significant contrast to music making “but I love going between the two, music and exploring that is”.  I followed on with asking if there were any major fallouts during tour.  He repeated the question as our phone connection was horrible, I mumbled a ‘mhm’, in agreement. “There’s probably one between every band member.  But it’s something that happens with all bands.  It’s just part of the territory really” which is a pretty safe answer for someone not to spill any dirty band secrets, which was my main intention!  Only to please the lovely readers of course.  I also asked if there is any band ritual prior going on stage. I listed a few examples such as praying, or drinking a ten litres of water. “Praying?” with a laugh. “No we pretty much just sit around and drink and usually ask, when are we going on? When are  we going on?  We’re always aiming to arrive at the venues a lot later. We hope get a spot where we just jump out of the van and go straight on stage”.  Then just when you thought there wasn’t going to be any dirty news, “because we hate each other so much, we don’t want to spend any more time together” with a hint of sarcasm.

What next?

Later this year, Augie March will be part of the Splendour In The Grass line up alongside Hilltop Hoods, Josh Pyke, Sarah Blasko and Little Birdy, who have all been to Darwin, as well as acts such as MGMT and Bloc Party. “Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it”.  At this point in the interview everything turned horrible as my lovely MacBook stopped recording.  I asked Edmondo about going to Crocosaurus Cove and chilling with the crocs.  He told me the crocs would probably be more scared of him.  He isn’t the type of person to be scared of anything, but he stopped and said “except horses”.  We ended the interview with a goodbye and an all the best, I hung up the phone and returned to the store and began my shift of selling clothes.

Definitely an experience to remember.