Perth Music

Augie March have had a phenomenal couple of years which saw them gain more mainstream success with the release of their third album ‘Moo, You Bloody Choir‘ and the number 1 in Triple J’s Hottest 100 with One Crowded Hour. A year full of touring, both here and abroad, has seen them being added to the 2008 Big Day Out line-up. Keyboardist Kiernan Box talked to Justin Middleton for this exclusive interview.

Click here to download the podcast of the entire interview. (11:18 - 1.3Mb)

Speaking about getting the number one in Triple J’s Hottest 100 Kiernan explains “It was the first time where we had a, what you’d call, hit song. I’d be dishonest to say that it took us totally by surprise, we thought this was the sort of song that could do something and be a bit of a hit. You do see the power of having a song that is playing widely on the radio and what a difference that makes to your exposure levels. Apart from that one song being a bit of a radio hit nothing much changed in the Augie March world.”

When Moo You Bloody Choir was re-issued this year with a bonus CD, it included a bunch of songs recorded live at King’s Park with the WA Symphony Orchestra. I asked Kiernan if this could be an ongoing thing or if there was any possibility of including the orchestra in recording future albums. “I’m pretty sure we’ll try and arrange some more shows like that at some time in the future. There are no plans to do it right at the minute but that was a real highlight for us and it was a great thing to do. When our albums are made there is usually an element of orchestration in there but I couldn’t say for sure how far we will push that next time around”.

Talking about the new material Augie March have for album number 4 and direction that the new album might take Kiernan explains “I think this next album may come out a little rougher, rough around the edges and a bit rawer. I think it’s because each album rebels a bit against the last. Our previous album to Moo was Strange Bird and that was a fairly raw sounding album and then Moo reacted a bit by getting a little bit more cultivated in some way. I have a feeling this one will go back the other way”.

“We have a lot of new material but not much of it is ready. We are working on it and working through the typically tortured process of getting the material together and getting a plan and getting a philosophy and getting the attitude right. It’s all happening. With the way we work, we spend a lot of time preparing mentally and physically for it and then the making of the album will happen very quickly. But we are in that first stage, lots of songs - nothing much decided”.

I asked Kiernan if there were any bands in particular playing at the 2008 Big Day Out that he was looking forward to seeing. “It’s always good to be there and to be doing the national tour as you get a chance to wander around and have a look at everything that is going on. I am keen to see Spoon, pretty keen to see Arcade Fire live. I’m not a huge aficionado of them but I’d like to see how Rage Against The Machine do and Bjork. There’ll be plenty of things to do”.

You can catch Augie March playing the following Big Day Out Show dates:
Auckland - Friday 18 January
Gold Coast - Sunday 20 January
Sydney - Friday 25 January
Melbourne - Monday 28 January
Adelaide - Friday 1 February
Perth - Sunday 3 February

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Big Day Out, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.