Augustana began with humble roots in Greenville, Il. as college students studying music. Abruptly the band decided to uproot themselves and move to California to live their dreams as musicians. After a steady flow of touring and a rapid influx of publicity, Augustana became famous from San Diego to Boston. recess' Baishi Wu spoke recently with bassist Jared Palomar before Augustana's Duke University Union-sponsored show in Page Auditorium this Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
What made you and Dan want to drop out of school and form a band?
Me and Dan actually met while we were in college, in Greenville, Il., and we were playing around there a bunch. Pretty much all there is in Greenville is like... our school. And St. Louis is kind of close by. So there wasn't a big music scene in the area. And you know, to actually get something going, it's hard to do out there, we decided to move some place that was a little bit more accessible music-wise where we were closer to what was going on and where we could actually get some shows.
There have been a lot of rumors floating around here that the song Boston is actually about this girl at Duke who went to high school with Dan. Is this a true story?
Yeah, it's kind of loosely based on her story. Obviously she goes to Duke and not Boston. It's more the idea of getting away from everything and starting over. The whole idea of what she did was kind of the inspiration for the song.
Is that one of the reasons why you guys wanted to play at Duke?
They actually contacted us, so we were pretty excited. I've been a big Duke basketball fan for a while, so that was pretty rad to see.
You think we're going to beat UNC?
Oh man, I hope so. It's a tough one.
It took a while for All the Stars and Boulevards, after it's release in 2005, for you guys to get to the national stage. What do you think has helped you guys get to the top?
I don't think we're at the top by any means. The biggest thing for us was just that we toured for two years pretty much before we were able to start getting some video and radio play. I think it's really cool that we were just able to play shows and not have to worry about the media for a while, and just develop a good fan base. I think all our fans are just really solid and really dedicated, and hopefully come out to a lot of our shows. Which it feels like. Those people have been really, really supportive of us. Between that and MySpace, those have been the two biggest things for us.
How do you think the internet and MySpace and other forms of popular media are helping out music. There's Radiohead's internet release, and I know you guys have done Xbox Live's artist of the month, and I'm just wondering how you guys think that's helped your music.
I definitely feel like people find out about music in different ways than just the radio. I think there are so many different areas where you can go on the internet and find new music, and even a little edge is going to help you out a bit. It's definitely the easiest way and the most widespread way to get your music across to people.
How have you guys dealt with band turmoil? I know you guys have a lot of people come in and out of the band.
Yeah, it's not crazy dramatic or anything. We haven't had a whole lot of turmoil. We parted ways with our old guitar player, who is a good friend, because at the end of the day, we didn't end up getting along. I think everybody in the band had a mindset of whatever's best for the music, whatever's best for the song. At the end of the day we're all good friends, and I think that's gotten through any struggles that we've had.
What's going to become of your next album?
We just finished it up a couple of months ago. We just got the final copy last week pretty much. It's going to be called Can't Love, Can't Hurt. I believe the release date is May 6. We just put another song on MySpace called "Sweet and Low" that's going to be the first single off the record, so we're going to be touring in support of the record really shortly. We're doing some college shows.
So are we going to hear a lot of the new songs this Saturday?
We'll definitely be playing some for sure. We've actually been playing a lot of them for a year-and-a-half or two, pretty much since we got done with the last record. It's pretty exciting for us to share those with people and get those recorded.
What do you guys think of Boys Like Girls, the band that you're playing with this Saturday?
They're great! I'm stoked on that. I know Bryan, their bass player, through friends and stuff. I hear their songs all over and can't get them out of my head. I'm excited to see those guys.
What would you say is the worst city you've ever played in?
The worst? I love most places honestly. I don't really like Detroit a whole lot because most of the areas are kind of gnarly. But I've really gained an appreciation for a lot of the people there, a really great sense of humor, and a really great barbeque restaurant. That and little random podunk towns in upstate New York that we seem to find ourselves in a lot. Even though I was born in upstate New York, it's not exactly my favorite place to stay.
I only asked because, well, you mentioned small, little Podunk towns, and I think Durham kind of resembles that...
Well, I really, really enjoy coming out to the Carolinas. It's so pretty out there. Actually, every time we've been out there it's been really fun. And the people out there, just hanging with college kids most of the time, it seems like a really college-y area and it's nice for us because we're all drop outs.
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