Augie March

Soft rock group Augie March was formed in 1996 after a series of late, drunken nights at the Punters Club in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy when three country boys who happened to come from the same town, Shepparton, discovered that they also had something else in common. Music. Glenn Richards revealed to David Williams and Adam Donovan that since coming to town to study literature at Melbourne University he had started to write songs. David and Adam already knew each other from Shepparton. Glenn grew up on the outskirts of a small town on the outskirts of Shepparton.

Two details provide an important insight into the kind of group they would form. When songwriter Glenn Richards was 15 he was the male half of the first recognized marriage of minors in the state of Victoria. He married his high school sweetheart, 16-year old Pauline Cole. But the marriage ended just one week later, when Pauline's carnival worker parents left town. That romantic 15 year old bridegroom has grown up to be Augie March's songwriter. Pauline is still somewhere in those songs. Also revealing something about Glenn's songwriting is his inspiration for a name for his group, after the 1953 book 'The Adventures Of Augie March' in which Saul Bellow's hero Augie March searches for himself and his place in the world.

Adding Melbourne bassist Edmond Ammendola Augie March gave its first performance just a few weeks after the group was formed, in the backyard of a Brunswick house to close a friend's visual art exhibition. They performed after an almighty rush to get enough songs together and work out the instrumentation. Then they settled down to a regular routine of performing, evolving the songs and the arrangements, and building up a loyal following on the way.

In 1997 Augie March was signed to a recording contract to Ra Records, the RooArt offshoot distributed by BMG. BMG executive Matt High had been charged with searching for acts to sign to Ra. He signed just one, Augie March; and left BMG's employ to become the group's manager. In January 1998 the group released its first EP, 'Thanks For The Memes' produced by Victor Van Vugt (Beth Orton, Nick Cave). The second EP, 'Waltz' was produced by the band itself and Richard Pleasance (ex-Boom Crash Opera), and won the band through to Triple J airplay for 'Asleep In Perfection'.

To prepare himself for the inevitable all-important first album Glen Richards found it necessary to remove himself from everything and return to Shepparton. The plan was to have Paul Kimbal of America's Grant Lee Buffalo produce. In the end the band produced the album themselves, ducking in and out of nine studios in the process, without the luxury of ever indulging themselves. Once they were in the studio they had to produce. Like the EPs, the album fills up all the time available on the disc. It's called 'Sunset Studies' "because the album's got a lot of end-of-the-day imagery about it".

On January 2nd, 2000 keyboard player Rob Dawson was killed in a head-on car accident. Recovering from their grief the group set up camp in a disused telephone company building in Preston, outer Melbourne to write the second album. New member Kiernan Box contributes piano, organ, piano accordion and harmonica.

The resulting album 'Strange Bird', a more concise and focussed album than the first was discovered by international labels and sent Augie March around the world.

Four years later Augie March finally released its third album 'Moo, You Bloody Choir', a year after it was completed, delayed by the merger between BMG and Sony. The first single from the album, 'One Crowded Hour', and 'Just Passing Through' were recorded in San Francisco while they were in America in 2004. The remaining twelve songs were recorded in Melbourne and Nagambie in country Victoria.

Finally Augie March reached public as well as critical acclaim. 'Moo You Bloody Choir' debuted in the national top ten and went on to achieve gold records sales. The album and its first single 'One Crowded Hour' were recogmized by all the major awards with four ARIA Award Nominations, the AMP prize, and the APRA Breakthrough album and Song Of The Year.

Success and acceptance meant that yet again time conspired against Augie March. 'Moo, You Bloody Choir' received internerational releases and necessitated tour support, all of which contributed to delay in thoughts towards a fourth album. On May 26 2008 Augie March entered Neil Finn's Roundhead studio in Aukland with American producer Joe Chiccarelli, who has worked with Frank Zappa, U2, The Shins, Beck and The White Stripes.