We Are Augustines are already causing huge waves in the States with their personal and up front music and that is set to continue here in the UK.
I caught up with lead singer and songwriter Billy McCarthy to talk about the new singe Chapel Song and the upcoming album Rise Ye Sunken Ships.
- You are about to release your new single Chapel Song here in the UK so how have you found the reception, not only to the single but to the band over here?
Oh it’s been incredibly warm. We didn’t know what to expect when we started playing over here but it has been extremely warms (laughs).
- It's a beautiful record is a very personal song so where did the inspiration for the single come from?
The more I think about it it sounds like a song about a girl going on a marrying a man. But the deeper tissue perspective is it’s about the end of a chapter, end of ones childhood and doors closing and forcing oneself to open other doors and go forward.
- Rise Ye Sunken Ships is the album, which is due for release next month, so what can we expect from that?
You can expect honesty and you can expect as much of a blood, sweat and tears effort as you can hear really; the band has largely funded and produced and did everything, against all odds, to get the record out.
- You have touched on my next question the album is released on your own label Oxcart Records as well as being self financed so why did you choose to record and release this way instead of going to a label?
I think that we just had a bit of a bad taste in our mouths - I read somewhere Jack White said: ‘major labels with f**k you but indie labels will f**k you even more’ and I think that’s pretty fair.
In this industry it’s getting very easy to be rough with labels because they don’t have the sales that they use to there’s a larger population and a lot more people competing for everything and things have turned on a dime.
And when things turn on a dime being very sensitive artists the intersection between art and music and be excruciating if it’s not going your way (laughs); at best it’s something that you don’t think about but at worst it’s something that you moan and cry about (laughs). So maybe that is why we went that way.
- But releasing on your own label gives you 100% control of the recording of the album so how much did you enjoy that control?
Oh that control is everything to us. I really enjoy writing songs and my partner Eric is really keen on recording and is always looking to recording things differently - so it meant everything to have that creative control.
No matter what happens out there you want to live with your work so this allowed us to live with the work that we wanted to make and that is the most important thing to us.
- What does the album say about you as a band and as an artist?
It says that where there is a will there is a way, it says that no matter what happens if you believe in your songs and you believe in your band it’s actually a form of believing in yourself and if you feel compelled and driven in that way then it’s not something you should turn your back on.
It’s pretty much all that feel good stuff; follow your heart, follow your dreams, don’t give up, pull yourself up by the bootstraps and it’s ok if you get knocked down but you have to get back up and keep moving.
- As you have said you have penned all of the songs are incredibly personal so how comfortable were you opening yourself up like that?
Not very (laughs). To be honest with you I wrote the songs and the lyrics in the company of myself in my living room or in a hotel room of wherever we were and this has far exceeded anything that we really thought could happen.
I am prepared to speak about it but it’s because I have to but I didn’t anticipate going into this like we have. It was very innocent and in fact it probably kept that very pure - there were honest things to say and I never second guessed them.
- These are also very real songs that cover real issues such as homelessness and mental health, which isn't something that you see a lot of in the music industry at the moment, so how much have you found fans really connecting with these songs?
I have found a lot of fans connecting on a very deep level. I was watching this film 50/50 and it is about a moment in this person’s life where he is going through chemotherapy, he is also young and social and he is trying to navigate these two worlds.
What I realised is that basically it’s about letting someone come into this fella’s bubble and I realised that there are bubbles in all walks of life. What that was showing was someone who was walking amongst us was going through a very different experience to everybody else sitting on the subway going to work, do you know what I mean?
So what the record did was it allowed listeners into our bubble and into my family’s bubble for the duration of twelve songs or so. So when people connect, on any level, it’s because they are walking around in their bubble, and it’s never really talked about.
The subject of incarceration or mental illness this isn’t something that you talk about at parties or casually at work on your smoke break, mental illness is fairly taboo and you really don’t want to know if someone’s father is bipolar and taking medication.
It’s real and the statistics tell us that it’s very present in our culture and it’s seeming stranger and stranger to me tat people don’t talk about this, while this is the wrong arena to talk about it I am sure it is who we are and we need to talk about it. I am not looking for a discussion and I am not looking for a fight it just happened and we are just letting people into our lives a bit.
- Bearing in mind that this is a personal record what it is like for you at a live gig when your fans have connected with the record and they are singing it back at you?
I won’t lie to you the band has very high highs and it has had some pretty hard times so it’s very heart-warming to hear people sing it back to you but it is also very painful to know that I am singing. But I think that it’s a win at the end of the day because I think the real tragedy would have been to just have this as a shut… the book is shut and a closed case and it’s over - just take the grief and good luck.
But to actually get the chance to put it out there and we receive fan mail all the time about people who are going through this stuff. So while it is a little bit painful, and to be honest I desire to change the subject some times, we are here now and it’s resonating with people and I am happy that it is.
- The album has already been awarded the likes of iTunes Alternative Album of the Year in the States so you must be delighted by the way that's it's been received?
Yes I am very touched by that because it is a big deal. To be honest with you the original concept for the album was gymnastics, I was a former gymnast and I was doing gymnastics way past my prime; being a thirty year old gymnast in an eighteen year old game you take a lot of shots.
No I am kidding (laughs) I have to try and have fun with this shit when it gets too heavy - no I am not a gymnast, please don’t make that your headline.
Yes I am delighted. I got asked a few interviews ago what it was like to sing this shit? And I said it’s not unlike singing your journal but running down the street and shouting it really really loud - it’s creepy and a little strange.
But I am thrilled and it also gives me hope I think that sometimes the music community can fall into patterns and song writers can sometime opt for a snazzy video and a fun dance beat and people are a little standoffish about doing something that is a little closer to the heart.
It’s an affirmation for me because I didn’t know how this was going to be received but hopefully other song writers and people starting out can look at this and think ’wow, maybe I should be brave.’
- Yourself & Eric were originally in Pela so how did the success and break up of that band prepare you for We Are Augustines?
When that band ended I had to sit down and assess my own life, Eric as well, and we talked a lot about the life that we wanted to live.
I think that we just wanted to do things that resonated and had meaning. To be honest with you, we have had out fun; we have rocked out, we have smashed equipment, we have been the merry pranksters and kicked the girls (laughs) and at this stage in our lives I don’t think that that would mean much to use anymore.
I think we are looking to have experiences and learn and be humble and to take this properly; you are giving us your time and I appreciate that. I think we never want to be too far away from being centred and understanding that.
- You are also set to play the HMV Next Big Thing show in Edinburgh this week so how much are you looking forward to that show?
That is a big deal that show. One Edinburgh is gorgeous, I have been to the UK so many times and I had never gone that but it was amazing. Two the band that is headlining at Frightened Rabbit has been very warm to us, we met with them last time I was up there and we had a really nice time with them hanging out.
I really believe in Scott’s writing and I think that they are a really fantastic and it is a big honour to be able to share a bill with them - we really are big fans, we like their music and it is really cool to see it live.
- The band is also hitting the road with the Maccabees as well in Europe so what can we expect from those shows?
We played with the Maccabees at the Brixton Academy. There’s a lot of them to meet and we were running around like crazy but I did see their set and I think our sounds are going to be really compatible; they are far enough away from each other but close enough related. But I think that it should be a really nice spectrum of music for an evening.
- You are building up quite a fanbase so is there anything that you would like to say to the fans reading this interview?
Yeah I really would, I would like to thank you for giving a shit. There is a lot going on in the world and in the headlines, there’s plenty of football to watch and stuff to go and do and the fact that you are hanging about reading about We Are Augustines is well appreciated and we thank you very much.
- Finally what's next for you?
Holland, we are going to Amsterdam tomorrow. So we will be sitting in a hotel room and not leaving and we will not be having in fun or partake in any kind of sightseeing or museums.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw