Road ahead looks bright for Augustana

By: ALAN SCULLEY - For the North County Times | Wednesday, April 11, 2007 12:30 PM PDT ∞

Augustana's first major label CD, "All the Stars and Boulevards," may have come out in September 2005, but in some respects, the real Augustana didn't make its debut until last April.

That's when the group completed a significant shake-up with the departure of guitarist and founding member Josiah Rosen and the arrivals of keyboardist David Lamoureux and guitarist Chris Sachtleben.

The split with Rosen, said Augustana bassist Jared Palomar, had been brewing for some time, and it became clear that Augustana needed to move on.

"It was a really hard decision, but we ended up asking him to leave the band," Palomar said. "I think it was definitely one of the best decisions we've made. The new guitar player we have, his name's Chris, and he's been really phenomenal in helping us develop our sound and stuff. And we added a keyboard player about a year ago, and he's been equally amazing. So we're able to do a lot more things now in our live set and for the songs that we didn't really do before. So it's definitely been an excellent experience."

The new edition of Augustana figures to make its debut on CD later this year. For now, the band is busy touring. These dates come after Augustana recently got a modest boost from a single, "Boston," that nearly cracked the top 40 on Billboard's "Pop 100" chart and climbed to No. 54 on the magazine's "Hot 100" singles chart.

"It has definitely been a slow starter," Palomar said of "All the Stars and Boulevards." "But, I mean, we're all excited for where it's going right now. It's been awesome ever since we made some of these (personnel) changes and stuff."

The arrival of Lamoureux and Sachtleben has solidified a band that was formed by singer/guitarist and primary songwriter Dan Layus and Rosen about four years ago when they were students at Greenville College, a school in Illinois about 40 minutes east of St. Louis.

Palomar joined Augustana a couple of months later, and during 2003 the group self-released a CD, "Midwest Skies and Sleepless Mondays," and an EP, "Mayfield," before setting its sights on moving west to pursue a future as a band.

"We played a little bit around the (Greenville, Ill.) area and it just wasn't working out," Palomar said. "We were like, 'We need to go someplace closer to where we can actually do something productive.' So we all dropped out halfway through our sophomore years of college." The move was a risk, but things started happening ---- in stunningly quick fashion at that ---- after Layus, Rosen and Palomar moved to San Diego.

The band quickly found drummer Justin South, who had already made some contacts with managers before joining Augustana. The newly minted quartet recorded some demos, which were forwarded to South's management contacts to circulate to record labels.

Before they knew it, the guys in Augustana were playing showcases for major labels and signing a contract with Epic Records.

The band then pulled off another coup when its demo was submitted to superproducer Brendan O'Brien (whose numerous big-name credits include Bruce Springsteen and Incubus). O'Brien signed on to produce "All the Stars and Boulevards."

The recording sessions yielded a CD of thoroughly accessible songs that successfully blend melancholy pop and brisk, melodic rock ---- usually within each song. "Hotel Roosevelt," "Mayfield" and "Bullets" are good examples of the Augustana formula, as understated and often tender verses lead into anthemic choruses that find Layus' heartfelt vocals backed by big guitar riffs.

And although Augustana is enjoying renewed momentum behind the "Boston" single, Palomar is excited about getting to work on the next CD ---- hopefully with O'Brien once again producing.

"We'd love to work with Brendan if everything works out," Palomar said. "I mean, we've been talking with him. He's an awesome guy and we love him to death. So hopefully that works out, and if not, we'll find somebody else who will do a good job as well. We're just stoked to show these new songs to people."

The new songs, Palomar said, will still sound like the band that made "All the Stars and Boulevards." But they may move in a bit rootsier direction, at least if the music the band members have been listening to lately continues to seep into the new material.

"There's definitely a little bit wider variety of influences that we've been drawing from," Palomar said. "There's stuff like Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams that have definitely been big influences in the songwriting, stuff like Ryan Adams. Yeah, it's got a little bit different sound, but it still sounds like Augustana, and we're able to do a lot more with the songs with the lineup we have now. So it worked out well."

Augustana

When: 8 p.m. April 14

Where: House of Blues San Diego, 1055 Fifth Ave., San Diego

Tickets: $15-$18

Info: (619) 299-2583

Web: augustanamusic.com

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