Loyal fans of Pela, a prog-rock group that suffered an unceremonious break-up when things were just starting to go well, must have rejoiced when the group’s frontman, Billy McCarthy, and guitarist, Eric Sanderson, decided to continue recording music as a new rock duo called We Are Augustines. The band’s current LP, Rise Ye Sunken Ships, has won acclaim from critics and fans alike, and seems to have unprecedented commercial viability.
The album, regarded for the depth of its lyrical content, required an unparalleled commitment from both McCarthy and Sanderson who inserted personal anecdotes from some of the most trying and tragic points of their lives. The duo wanted to develop a piece with a clear message that would resonate with fans and hopefully increase awareness of those suffering from both mental illness and homelessness.
Even though every word reflects genuine introspection and thought, the tracks are never overbearing; on the contrary, each song is absolutely engrossing. We Are Augustines have crafted a work that places raw human emotion on a minimalist musical spectrum. The aggressive drumbeats are defined by an engaging pop-sensibility while the guitar riffs perfectly compliment McCarthy’s melodic, and sometimes ghostly, voice. It’s a truly original work that might just be a modern-day masterpiece.
Recently, McCarthy took the time to explain his vision as an artist and what he hopes to accomplish with his new group.
Matt Thomas: You obviously went through a great deal to actually record, re-record, and polish Rise ye Sunken Ships, and the result is a masterpiece of an album. Could you explain the sense of accomplishment you now have, especially when considering how much it took to complete the work?
Billy McCarthy: I guess the most meaningful feelings have been the feelings we had before releasing this, because it was completed [so long ago]. We always said if this breaks our backs we’re getting this out to people. People are going to hear this album. That was the most important thing to us.
The biggest victory was getting to hear the album in one go. I don’t think we had any idea how good it would feel. We still feel good every single time we listen to it.
To be honest, it feels like a personal accomplishment, not an artistic one.
MT: Explain the differences between a “personal” accomplishment as opposed to an “artistic” one.
BM: I dropped out of school and had a tough time in my adolescence. I didn’t see things through to the end. Never cared to. The fact that we held on and finished this is a personal accomplishment.
An artistic accomplishment is . . . mixing [sounds], creating [sounds], writing notebooks [filled with verses]. That sort of thing. Achieving something with art in mind. We had artistic goals with this, but the personal accomplishment outweighs the artistic one, at least in my mind.
MT: The group has obviously found success through electronic means (social networking, WeAreAugustines.com, etc.), do you think that you’ve found a way to cut out major labels, or is there still a need for them in the music industry?
BM: I don’t mean to offend anybody by saying this, because I’m sure there are really fantastic people out there [working in the music industry], but I’m not sure if record executives have a clear role anymore.
Here’s what I mean. I’m close friends with the former producer of MTV Unplugged. He directed our video for “The Chapel Song”, and he can’t get that video on MTV. An MTV executive can’t get a video on MTV. What? That doesn’t even make sense to me. So how can a major label person get a song on the radio? Or a video on a network?
I’m not putting them down, but it just seems like times have changed in the industry. In general, things have been so scrambled around you get some pretty savage people, or really you get decent people acting in a savage manner to keep the status they worked so hard to get.
I’m honestly not trying to talk badly about executives in any way. Truly not, but recent years have sparked a different language in terms of how music gets made and how it gets promoted.
We’re in a decade where we’re really seeing what artists are made of. What they’re capable of. I got out of school and went right into being an artist. I just thought you get to be a spacey artistic dreamy guy, and boy that was not true. One thing young artists are realizing with Facebook and Twitter is how to market themselves. You can even record on the i-Pad now. They have tuning apps, and a virtual recording studio on that thing. Everybody has control over how broad their reach can be. We’re in the middle of a very modernized Do It Yourself epic. It’s not as sexy as making four-tracks and handing out fliers, but it’s probably more effective.
We saw such massive turnover in music industry offices because a lot of people don’t know where to go [with the music handed to them]. You can’t blame these larger labels for functioning the way they are, because that’s the way they always have functioned. But things are changing, and artists have a lot more control over how their music gets out there.
MT: Your sound is gritty yet melodic. Describe how you learned to play guitar and what other instruments you’ve mastered over the years.
BM: I definitely have not mastered anything. I can only speak for myself, Eric has his own background in music. When I was nine, I got stuck in this weird kind of artistic school. I could play sax, sang in the choir, and somehow I got my hands on guitar when I was 12. I started taking classes and I put it down because it hurt my fingers. I didn't get into full swing until 18. At that point I started getting into harmonica a bit, and even some piano, but I’m a terrible piano player.
To an extent though, the training and practice is important, but it’s not as crucial as you’d think. I was watching Archers of Loaf the other night, a band I’ve loved for a long time. And it was great being at that concert, beautiful really, to see people in their 30s crowd-surfing and mashing. The show brought me back to the Pixies and minimalism, and how much you can get out of a very simple sound. It’s about generating a connection with your audience. I met a lot of people from the Berkeley School of Music, and I get it: you’re amazing people with amazing talent, and there’s a whole art to writing. I get it. I do. But performing can’t be taught. That’s innate.
So an interest in music was always there, even though I didn’t necessarily have the training, I knew the basics, and that’s all I needed. When I was a little boy, there was a piano in one of the places I was staying in, and it really shook me. It just struck a deep human chord, and that chord never left. It was a safe place and I’ve been following it ever since I was a kid.
As a boy, I had a falsetto voice, and I would sing in hallways or tunnels, anything that had reverb, acoustics. And all that allowed me to develop a sound. Then I got contaminated by punk. At 18 I got into Social Distortion. One night, I was in my Nissan and the moon was shining above, and I was just driving around singing with Social D, wanting to blow the town I was in and get the f*** out of there. I thought, “I’m not in tune, but I can sing, and I’ve got a good story.”
Later on, I was taking some psychedelic drugs and in a ghetto apartment complex listening to Bob Dylan, and I never heard anyone doing that with words before. There was so much anger and tenderness in one verse, one line. Then I listened to it without acid, and it was still great. That’s when writing became so important to me. That’s why I put so much into my lyrics.
MT: Over the years you’ve experienced a great deal of heartache and tragedy. Has the completion and success of this album brought you closer to a sense of happiness?
BM: Yeah, ya know, a lot of the stuff you probably read felt like a protective layer, and I thought I would feel very vulnerable, especially with short interviews. It’s very awkward to talk about [the untimely deaths of my mother and brother, who were both schizophrenics and did not receive proper treatment].
Success was just having people hear [these songs]. If people could just hear [what happened to my brother, James, they’d know it’s] not right, and it’s still not right. That’s how I knew this album would be successful. So, it’s been successful, even if people don’t necessarily like it. Just the other day, I was reading some of the fan comments on i-Tunes, and somebody wrote “the singer should be dragged out into a field and shot”, but I don’t care. This one is for [me and Eric] and our families.
Somebody has to step up and talk about what [homeless people and the mentally ill] are dealing with. Somebody has to stand up for these people. They can’t really defend themselves. People who have mental illness exist, and a couple happen to be my family members. The more people who listen to “Book of James” and say the title, that’s three more times people say my brother’s name. I’ll sing my ass off; I’ll never rest or have a feeling accomplishment.
MT: How did the last tour go, and has your fan-base been growing the way you expected?
BM: Yeah, I think it’s been a real earnest homecoming in a way. Fans have been, I don’t know if it’s something all bands experience, but people have been really warm toward us. The fans have been beyond lovely. Driving hours and waiting, and sharing their stories with us. It’s all been very rewarding.
MT: Is there any difference between playing with We Are Augustines and Pela?
BM: Sure. We went from a five piece to a three piece, and yeah there’s a curve. But what I’m going for, and what Eric’s going for, is a stripped down, minimalist live sound. We think something stripped down can be just as powerful as something intricate and complex. There’s a lot of emphasis placed on every word I sing, and we want people to hear and understand that.
MT: Any plans on returning to New York on the next tour?
BM: I’m going to keep the tour stuff quiet right now. We’re definitely working, so I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I’m always writing, and right now we’re working with Dave Newfeld [who produced some songs on Rise ye Sunken Ships]. We have some surprises coming up in August, so fans should keep an eye out for that.
READ MORE ABOUT WE ARE AUGUSTINES BY VISITING THEIR HOMEPAGE.
TO READ ALL OF MATT THOMAS’S PUBLISHED WORKS, VISIT HIS BLOG.
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