Augie March - Disappearing Act From Time Off Magazine, November 2008 AUGIE MARCH HAVE JUST RELEASED THE ALL-IMPORTANT FOURTH ALBUM. BEN PREECE HAS BREAKFAST WITH BASSIST EDMONDO AMMENDOLA AND GUITARIST ADAM DONOVAN AND LEARNS ALL ABOUT POP SENSIBILITIES AND HANGING WITH NEIL FINN. Over the short span of four albums, Augie March have quickly become one of the most watched, most appreciated and seminal bands in our fair land, their success culminating with their third album Moo, You Bloody Choir. The album spawned a classic single (‘One Crowded Hour’), was nominated for ARIA Album of the year (it lost to Bernard Fanning) and saw the once underground appreciation for the group cross loudly and proudly into the mainstream. The success of Moo... meant that album number four, entitled Watch Me Disappear, was going to be closely observed and judged more than ever by the original fans and those who were there to witness the band’s earlier, more baroque nature. Indeed, Watch Me Disappear sees the band more accessible than they have ever been but more importantly feels like somewhat of a transition for the five men on the inside. “It’s a shame we don’t do more albums,” Donovan says. “This one feels like a transitional album and it would be nice to get onto the next one. I’m not sure exactly what it’s transitional from and to – that’s what I want to find out. It’s more of a pop record.” Songwriter and frontman Glenn Richards has always had an uncanny understanding of the pop song, although has often openly confessed to having somewhat of a disdain for the contrived nature of the charts and commercial radio. “I think there’s a difference between pop music and pop sensibility,” Donovan says. “Having that pop sensibility doesn’t mean you write that vacuous content. Glenn has always had that sensibility although he has shied away from it a lot and would rather not admit it. But it’s there, and it’s there more on this album than it has been.” The album’s first single ‘Pennywhistle’ demonstrates that sensibility more than ever. If it wasn’t for genuine nature in which the single is delivered, than you could almost say it’s designed for radio. Of course with the reputation of Richards and Augie March, you can be certain this isn’t the case. “I guess because we’re on a major label, there’s always a sense of ‘Where’s a single? Where’s a single? Where’s a single?’,” Ammendola explains. “But the first two records, they just gave us the money and we gave them the record. There was no A&Ring done, but now there is a little more focus on how we’re going to sell this, and all that sort of stuff.” Listening to Watch Me Disappear, the songs are truly classic Augie March but one gets the sense this time around that the band are very aware of the world around them and have purposely stepped up the sound to perhaps meet more something more of an international appeal. “From a perspective of everyone in the band, I know that I tried to use my ears a lot more than my fingers as far as just playing,” Ammendola reveals. “With those early albums there was a lot of nervousness going into the studio and you were concentrating what you were doing but I think by doing that, you’re loosening off that conscious side of your brain that asks is what you’re doing good enough and just get on with the job. Now, there is a little bit more of that kind of... [he shrugs] we’re a band who is four albums in. But at the same time, you hope it goes full circle where you go back to experimenting and to a place where you’re not so conscious about it.” Richards wrote most of the album’s 11 songs at home in Abbotsford. Once the material was complete, the band hit a Melbourne studio, spending three solid weeks fine-tuning it before heading to New Zealand to team up with American producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, White Stripes, Beck, Counting Crows) to record in Neil Finn’s studio. “It was really great,” Donovan says. “We stayed in the Finns’ house, well their old house, and we got looked after really well and played pool every night. He [Neil Finn] stuck his head in from time to time. We were having a difficult time at one point and he said ‘You’re supposed to have a difficult time’. He invited us up for his birthday party and his brother was there playing.” “It was a bit ‘Get in there, get your parts down’,” Ammendola adds. “We did more takes on this one than any album we’d done before. We did a lot of obvious preparation with this one whereas before we did less obvious preparation. The first two records, for example, were less about obvious preparation and more about just being in the studio and pressing the ‘record’ button. All those takes on those albums are one of the first six takes, whereas this time it’s like, 30 takes later... We really let the producer be the producer,” he continues, “and it’s with mixed results to be honest. You speak to some people and they think it’s a pile of shit and you speak to others and they give it four and five stars – different appeal to different people.” One thing Augie March didn’t do on Watch Me Disappear is consciously attempt to recreate ‘One Crowded Hour’, the song that made the band a household name. Donovan explains it came naturally to not even think about the song while recording. “It was a natural thing because some people have said we’ve tried to do it again. ‘One Crowded Hour’ was never written to be a massive hit. It took us more by surprise than anybody. It’s not really a conventional single. There are a lot more conventionally arranged singles/songs on this new record than that one so it was a bit of a wildcard. But it was a great achievement, a great surprise – we got a lot of critical acclaim for that record and the Triple J thing [No.1, Hottest 100, 2006] was a real coup at the time despite there being so many better songs around. My friends came to a show in Melbourne last time and they just were like ‘My God, look at your audience now’ and were laughing because when we played that song there were six guys up the front arm-in-arm.” While Ammendola and Donovan play the interview humbly, even sounding less than impressed with certain parts of the album and the recording process, they are particularly enthusiastic when questioned about how the songs are translating to the live arena. Having only recorded a Triple J TV special at this point, the guys are most excited about the addition of Dan Kelly to their live line-up. “He’s good, like a V6 engine or something,” Ammendola chuckles. “Well he looks better than we do, and his career is going nowhere anyway,” Donovan adds, laughing. “I remember we did a tour with him and he was mortified at this live review – it said we were good but said Dan was a bit too whitebread. He still talks about it to this day.” WHO: Augie March WHAT: Watch Me Disappear (Sony BMG) WHERE & WHEN: The Tivoli Friday Nov 28