"I make up words occasionally," confesses Dave Williams, drummer for quirky Australian rock band AUGIE MARCH. "I do all the backing vocals for the band and occasionally in rehearsal Glenn will say 'don't tell me you've been singing that for the last ten years!'" Now I don't feel so bad, having muddled through Augie March's songs with some disgraceful mumbling myself. He goes on, unashamed, "sometimes the words are too hard to pronounce so I just make up another one."
Augie March are known for their beautiful, imaginative and emotive lyrics, which, as Dave says, could pass for poetry. Their 2006 album Moo, You Bloody Choir received four ARIA nominations, won the Australian Music Prize in 2007 and the only single from the album, One Crowded Hour, topped triple j's Hottest 100 in 2007.
The importance of lyricism to Augie March's music is evident in the title of their upcoming tour, 'Watch Me Set My Strange Sun You Bloody Choir'. This strange tongue-twister is a mish-mash of the titles of their four LPs, the most recent of which, Watch Me Disappear, was released last year through Sony. The tour will showcase songs from the entirety of the band's twelve year history, but never fear - it's not a farewell tour. Dave assures me there's still more to come from Augie March. "It's something a lot of fans have been asking for for a long time, featuring songs from most of the records and kind of b-sides if you will; album tracks which don't get an airing. We're trying to be nice to people!"
Speaking of nice, I ask Dave what we can expect from Augie March on this tour, as they are known for being somewhat volatile. Lead singer and songwriter Glenn Richards is particularly notorious for getting, erm, cross when things don't go as planned. "Well, there's me who loves talking all the time, and there's Glenn out the front who has a bit of a yak, and occasionally he'll get angry at something and go berserk but then he'll be happy the next song, and then there's Kiernan who doesn't say anything, and then there's Ed who looks like he's going to murder people, and then there's Dono who has his back to the audience for most of the night." Well. I guess that's all we need to know.
Dave adds that Augie March live are "sublime and sort of ridiculous," and I compliment him on his chosen adjectives. He admits that the band can be somewhat inconsistent, but "every night is different, it's not a cookie cutter band. When someone in the band is feeling a different way it really does affect the music. It's a very real band in that sense." In response to those people who allege that Augie March aren't as dynamic on stage as they are in the studio, he quips "they got us on a night where we were ridiculous instead of sublime."
The band recorded their fourth album, Watch Me Disappear, in Neil Finn's studios in New Zealand, teaming up with American producer Joe Chiccarelli, who has also worked with The Shins, White Stripes and My Morning Jacket. So what was recording like? "It's kind of like running at each other with knives," he says. I am shocked that such tranquil music is born of such a violent process. "Thankfully we can put all that away and then have a drink, but not have too many, 'cause then we start arguing again."
Dave's sense of humour is drier than dry, just like country Victoria where the band hails from. He brings up the band's origins when I ask whether he feels that Augie March's lyrics are bringing poetry to the masses. "Well I'm sure Glenn gets up in the morning and has a shower and looks at himself in the mirror and says 'g'day poet' (there's that dry sense of humour again). "But it's not about 'we're doing a service bringing, you know, culture to Australia,' not at all. We grew up in country Victoria before the internet. We had one AM radio station. It's not in the least bit elite."
That said, it's clear that Augie March are greatly influenced by literature and poetry. Their name is taken from Saul Bellow's 1953 novel The Adventures of Augie March, their 2002 album Strange Bird featured an index of first lines, in the style of a poetry anthology, and songwriter Glenn Richards has cited poets Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell as influences.
I ask Dave what he thinks of other modern lyricists. Does he like Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys? Yes. What about Lily Allen? No. He's eager to point out that Augie March's music requires a balance of execution between music and lyrics and cites Maneater by Nelly Furtado as a song he appreciates musically, but which is "not a wonderful insight into the human condition."
At that moment the Sony rep pops onto the line telling us to finish the call. "WRAP IT UP!" Dave jokingly shouts down the line and so I do, with one final question: what will you be voting for in triple j's Hottest 100 of All Time? "Back in Black," he replies, after a short pause. Not at all what I would have expected from a member of this sensitive, soulful band, but a good choice nonetheless. If he'd chosen Maneater I'd be worried.
Augie March with special guests Gareth Liddiard and Dan Luscombe (The Drones) play the ANU Bar on Saturday July 18. Tickets through Ticketek.
