Australian band Augie March are back with a new album Bootikins and are coming to Queensland in May

REVERED Australian band Augie March are making a rare trip to Brisbane in May to showcase songs from their newly released album Bootikins.

Augie March will play in Brisbane on May 25.

ACCLAIMED rock band Augie March are hardly Australia’s most prolific outfit, but they are one of the country’s most critically revered, and since the release of their debut album Sunset Studies in 2000, they have attracted and retained a fervent following.

That cult fan base hasn’t always translated into commercial success for the band – Augie March’s first two albums only scraped into the ARIA top 40 despite healthy Triple J airplay and ARIA Award nominations – but their intricate compositions and singer/guitarist Glenn Richards’ prose-like songwriting have always garnered well-deserved critical praise.

The band attained mainstream recognition for their 2006 album Moo, You Bloody Choir, which debuted in the ARIA top 10 upon its release, and produced the single One Crowded Hour, which took out the No.1 spot in the Triple J Hottest 100
and earned Richards an APRA Song of the Year Award.

Their 2008 follow-up, Watch Me Disappear, charted at No.4 on the Australian charts, but the years of hard slog had started to take a toll on then band, and the title proved to be portentous – after the tour to support the album wound up, the band went on a lengthy hiatus.

Richards admits that there was a sardonic nod to the planned break in the album's title. “Yeah, it was pretty blatant, wasn’t it,” Richards laughs. “Ultimately that (title) was down to the song; the recording was very much like what I did for the demo, I just thought it was a very strong piece of music. But as the album went on and the process was pretty unpleasant – the making of it – it became clear that had to be the title of the album, because I knew that after whatever touring we did I was going to call a bit of a halt.”

During his time away from the band, Richards relocated from Melbourne to Hobart and released the solo album Glimjack, on which he collaborated with musicians including Drones guitarist Dan Luscombe and drummer Mike Noga.

In mid-2014, Richards reconvened with his Augie March bandmates – guitarist Adam Donovan, bassist Edmondo Ammendola, keyboardist Kiernan Box and drummer David Williams – and shortly afterwards, they released Havens Dumb.

“There was no expectation, we just wanted to make a record and get it out there and we were independent for the first time since we started the band, as well. It was kind of fun from that point of view, although not much fun not having a lot of money, but we never really got that much out of the record company anyway.”

Augie March have just released their sixth album, Bootikins, which they recorded with legendary producer Tony Cohen, who passed away shortly after its completion.

Richards is at his verbose best on the album – as epitomised by the fanciful musing of semi-autobiographical I Woke Up in Borgolombardo – and the music sounds as cohesive as ever, from the aching beauty of opening track Fake Jive to the psychedelic glam of the title track.

Richards’ lyrics are often dripping with literary references, and he is frequently namechecked as an inspiration by other songwriters, and when asked if he first writes poetry and then the accompanying music, he takes a moment to ponder.

“It’s a good question because this time around there were some really strong examples of taking some poems I’d written and giving them musical vehicles and that’s what sort of got me writing again,” he says.

“I don’t write a lot of poetry at all, they’re very much late-night, half-hysterical ramblings, but a few of them had good rhythm and good, bizarre intent. So I put them down on top of very basic beds, I kept it very simple and recorded to four-track as soon as I had a basic shape and that’s where at least half of the record.”

Bootikins (Caroline/Sony) is out now. Augie March play The Zoo, Friday May 25