New song folks. 'Bad Education'.

(or 'Another Brick In The Wall Part 4')

Earlier this year, Augie March performed three shows at Sydney's The Basement as part of their On The Quiet tour.

One of these shows was filmed and it goes to air on Thursday 3 September at 11.30pm on ABC TV.

Tracks include:
Lupus
Farmer's Son
Sunstroke House
One Crowded Hour
Stranger Strange
The Cold Acre
The Slant
There Is No Such Place
Days
This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers

BIRDS OF TOKYO ANNOUNCE ‘BROKEN STRINGS’ ACOUSTIC TOUR
 
Birds Of Tokyo have earned themselves the reputation of being one of Australia’s best live acts, so they are pleased to announce they’re getting back on the road… with a twist.
 
Two years in the making; the Broken Strings Tour will not only see Birds Of Tokyo in full acoustic mode, but the band will also be accompanied by a grand pianist and string quartet.
 
Delicately and painstakingly, the band have reinterpreted their own music – arranging it for the Broken Strings Tour format – and have worked closely with renowned producer, composer and long-time collaborator, Anthony Cormican, who has scored the entire concert specifically for an orchestral arrangement.
 
Alongside Cormican - who has previously written and arranged strings on the band’s Day One and gold-selling Universes albums – Birds Of Tokyo have taken the wonderful ’90s format of the ‘unplugged’ show, and given it a healthy dose of grandiosity. Wanting the experience to be more daring and involved than merely picking up acoustic guitars and brushes instead of running with amplifiers and drum sticks; the band will be performing with a host of instruments - from ukeleles to 12-string guitars - that have been specifically incorporated into the ensemble of string quartet and grand pianist
 
Hosted in seated theatres Australia-wide, the Broken Strings Tour is an entirely new way to experience Birds Of Tokyo in concert.
 
Joined on stage by their ever-faithful multi-instrumentalist Glenn Sarangapany; the idea for the Broken Strings Tour first came up after Birds Of Tokyo had completed their Wayside tour, the band set about devising a new concert format in order to get back out on the road.
 
Two sold-out acoustic shows at Fremantle’s Fly By Night Musicians Club ensued, and it became obvious to the band that the extra textures brought to the band by Sarangapany were just the beginning of something grand. From there, the ideas rapidly snowballed.
 
Joined on the road by Augie March’s inimitable frontman Glenn Richards (who will be performing solo), Birds Of Tokyo will not only be recording all of the Broken Strings Tour shows for a 2010 live release, but will also be filming the tour for a DVD release.
 
Intimate and unforgettable; the Broken Strings Tour is Birds Of Tokyo like you’ve never seen them before.
All shows are open to all ages. Reserved seating / limited tickets available.
 

TICKETS ON SALE THURSDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER 2009 at 9:00am

6 NOVEMBER 2009 – BURSWOOD THEATRE, PERTH WA
Tickets from TICKETEK outlets, www.ticketek.com.au ..  or tel  132 849

10 NOVEMBER 2009 – QPAC CONCERT HALL, BRISBANE QLD
Tickets from QTIX outlets, www.qtix.com.au ..  or tel 136 246

12 NOVEMBER 2009 – ADELAIDE TOWN HALL, ADELAIDE SA
Tickets from BASS outlets, www.bass.net.au ..  or tel 131 246

14 NOVEMBER 2009 – ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY NSW
Tickets from TICKETEK outlets, www.ticketek.com.au ..  or tel  132 849

15 NOVEMBER 2009 – MELBOURNE TOWN HALL, MELBOURNE VIC
Tickets from Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com.au ..  or tel 13 61 00

PRESENTED BY TRIPLE J, CHANNEL [V], NO DICE, FASTERLOUDER, VIDEO HITS & STREET PRESS AUSTRALIA

Augie March are currently on their Watch Me Set My Strange Sun You Bloody Choir Tour, a six-week retrospective lap of the country. This tour will be the last one, in the words of the band, “for a long, long time”.

The final show of this tour, and therefore the band’s final headline show for a long, long time quite appropriately takes place at Melbourne’s storied Forum Theatre. A grand end to Augie’s weird and wonderful 13-year adventure. The Forum show will be a special opportunity for fans and band to say thanks for the memes and experience many of the great songs from Augie’s rich four-album canon in full 9-piece band glory. In other words, it’s the last chance to see and hear Augie March live for years and years; something the purists and the tourists won’t want to miss.

The tour continues throughout August, culminating in Melbourne's Forum show on Saturday 29 August 2009. Full tour dates can be found here.



Earlier this year Augie March singer songwriter Glenn Richards flew across the Tasman to write and record a song for Neil Finn’s all-star collaboration The Sun Came Out. 

The Sun Came Out is the follow up recording to the hugely successful, 7 Worlds Collide project. Glenn joined the likes of 7 Worlds Collide artists, The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Radiohead’s Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien, new additions Wilco and many more, for the double disc release.

"Though time permitted only a brief stay in Auckland I managed to see a dream concert, write and record a song in the space of a day with some fine musicians and writers, as well as be privy to some extraordinary collaborative moments between some of the most deservedly lauded artists working today.  Not a bad weekend across the soup really." -  Glenn Richards

Glenn’s song “Duxton Blues” features a wild guitar solo by former Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr as well as drums by Liam Finn, bass by Sebastian Steinberg and backing vocals from Neil Finn and Bic Runga. Proceeds from the album will benefit Oxfam.

The Sun Came Out will be released through Sony Music from late August 2009.

It's psycho cocktail hour in the Song Of The Month Club with the premiere of our our new song, "I Love It When A Truckie Thinks That I'm Alright".

Listen here

No plans for commercial release yet. Still in talks with the majors.

Once we've committed enough madness to tape I'll make CD quality audio and artwork available for free download.

xxx
OBJ

Fog clearing, barbarous microbial onslaught over, remnants beaten back beyond the gates, herbal remedies cast away and supplanted by Jamesons Irish, incendiary press clippings fluttering at the edges of a receding fever dream (thanks to the Fates for the eternal J.Depp).  The tour has begun.  The rite of pre-tour illness and self flagellation complete. 

The Nash in Geelong was patchy but alive for both band and audience, a good start and proof that a viable take on The Vineyard is a reasonable, if remote, possibility.  Adelaide's Governor Hindmarsh heaved, a reminder that nothing ever comes easy in this game, but still had its glorious moments.  Gaz and Dan Drones spelt out that they weren't going to take it easy on you soft Augie March fans with some withering acoustic takes peppered with abuse and barely concealed distaste for the bourgeois entity we have all created.  For future reference Adam and I are rooming with them and Gaz uses face creams while Dan sleeps standing up because "it gently spins the wheels of my chakra", or some shit.

Essendon went to sleep for a quarter and donated a game to Smack Mum FC while Hille saved Orangutans in Somalia, Watson continued building his model Fokker and McVeigh donned a black and red hairshirt while dragging a granite footy up Mt. Major and managed 5.3 for Dookie United in the same breath.  Which would be a different blog you'd think.

Coolangatta Thursday which, as I passed on to Gaz, would become Uncoolangatta as soon as he and Dan stepped off the plane, needs SUPPORT people.  As do all the shows.  You will not see this show again.  The set lists are without precedent.  The ability of the band to reach inside some of the most challenging and artful tunes penned in the last decade of this nation is at its muscular peak.  Forced to listen to what we've done, rather than wilt and cringe we've been moved to a condition which cannot be framed by nostalgia, it's something more potent because it has legs and voices.

RALLY THE TROOPS, OLD AND YOUNG, IT'S AUGIE MARCH WITH ALL THE FRILLS, IT'S THE INTIMATE, SNARLING CORE OF THE PEERLESS DRONES, IT'S THE SHOW YOU WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN AND IF THE PAPERS AND THE RADIO AREN'T INTERESTED ENOUGH THEN WE NEED YOUR TONGUES WAGGING FOLKS.  WE ARE POOR AND DIRTY AND ANGRY BUT WHEN WE SING IT’S THE HERALDING OF TRUTH AND MYSTERY AND IT’S FOR YOUR EARS, WE WILL NOT LET OURSELVES BECOME MIRED IN THE MEANINGLESS HORROR OF THE CONTEMPORARY DEADWATER, WE WILL NOT WATCH SHOWS ABOUT COOKING SHIT, WE WILL NOT ACCEPT MEEKLY THAT WE CAN ONLY HAVE EITHER GIN OR WHISKY ON THE RIDER NOT BOTH, AND WE WILL BLOW YOUR MINDS.

On behalf of AM, The Drones Duo and The Arnold Horns,
GAR


Watch Me Set My Strange Sun You Bloody Choir
Australian Tour
With Special Guests
Gareth Liddiard & Dan Luscombe (The Drones)

Thursday 9 July - The Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta QLD
Tickets from www.oztix.com.au & Oztix outlets

Friday 10 July - Joe's Waterhole, Eumundi QLD
Tickets from the venue (07) 5442 8144 / Backbeat Records, Maroochydore / Shake It Up Music, Nambour

Saturday 11 July - The Hi-Fi, Brisbane QLD
Tickets from www.thehifi.com.au 1300-THEHIFI (8434434) / Rockinghorse Records / Butter Beats / Sunflower Pacific Fair / Disasterpiece / Mosh Pit Music / Kill The Music / Gooble Warming / Rockaway Records

Thursday 16 July - The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW
Tickets from www.bigtix.com.au / Moshtix: 1300 GET TIX (438 849) www.moshtix.com.au

Friday 17 July - The Metro, Sydney NSW
Tickets from the venue (02) 9550 3666 www.metrotheatre.com.au / Ticketek: 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au

Saturday 18 July - ANU Bar, Canberra NSW
Tickets from Ticketek: 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au

Friday 7 August & Saturday 8 August - Moorilla Estate, Berriedale TAS
Tickets from the venue (03) 6277 9900 www.moorilla.com.au / TSO Box Office, Federation Concert Hall, 1 Davey St, Hobart 1800 001 190

Friday 14 August - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine VIC
Tickets from the venue (03) 5472 1196 www.theatreroyal.info

Saturday 15 August - Meeniyan Town Hall, Meeniyan VIC
SOLD OUT

Thursday 20 August - Settlers Tavern, Margaret River WA
Tickets from www.heatseeker.com.au / Beach Life, Margaret River / Blue 62, Busselton

Friday 21 August & Saturday 22 August - Fly By Night, Fremantle WA
Tickets from www.heatseeker.com.au / the venue (08) 9430 5976 www.flybynight.org / Star Surf, Perth / Planet, Mt Lawley / Mills Records, Fremantle

Thursday 27 August - Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC
Tickets from www.oztix.com.au & the venue (03) 5332 9122

Saturday 29 August The Forum Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Tickets from Ticketek: 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au

Yo Dudes and Dudettes,

It's the tub-thumper here reporting in on rehearsals undertaken for AM's lastest tour for a while.

And peoples, it's been epic.

Everything about this tour is epic: the name, the number of dates us whimpering fools agreed to, the breadth of material to be covered, the number of guitar changes during the set, the tosh and piffle I will be sharing with all and sundry over the mic, the number of crazed looks E. Ammendolololololo is gonna shoot at me on the band-stand, the amount of alcohol The Arnold Horns will imbibe before, during and after gigs - IT'S ALL FRICKIN' EPIC!! So why wouldn't the rehearsals for this little soiree we is putting on not be epic, you ask? Well....they have been as well.

1 flu-riddled bass player
2 bottles of beer
3 part horn section
4 band members fumbling their way through Century Son
5 band members butchering The Vineyard
6 interruptions by Dono to adjust his hat
7 chook-like head stabs from E while playing Clockwork
8 eye-lid flutters per second from Boxer while playing Blackpool
9 shoulder slumps per song from Richo
10 inappropriate fills in a row by me while playing Asleep
11 cups of tea

Anyway, you get the message.

Me, Us, Those 5 useless tools, The Poet and His Bozos, DaveDonnoERichoNoxer, invite one and all to come along and cheer a band about to enter their "Post Ambition" phase.















 

From a packet of 1970's bubblegum, a responsible drinking campaign, a 19th century Irish cookbook, the US comedy circuit and a ripping yarn.

I'm sure this ain't the definitive collection. Would love to see some other submissions - post links in comments.

k

It's time for the next installment...