Beery bonhomie

By REBECCA BARRY

There's a brash but affable frankness about Augustino.

"This is a song about sexual intercourse," deadpans singer Sean Clarke as they launch into Collapse at their smoke-filled launch gig for debut album One Day Over.

Backstage, sweaty, hyped and eagerly swilling their first post-show beers, guitarist Gareth Price is arguing with fellow guitarist and keyboardist Joel Halstead as to whether it was at a backpackers in Whakatane or Waihi in which he fell asleep naked.

Their honest sense of humour isn't all there is to like.

The album is a mix of swaggering, burly rock songs - Goin' Downtown, Climb Away and the punk-tinged Into the Grain - and punchy, melodic pop gems Say, You're Making Me Sober and the immensely catchy Lines Are Down.

"We're totally interested in shelf life as opposed to recording a rip-off of Linkin Park," says drummer Wade Shotter.

"We tried to go for honest sounds as opposed to using too much technology. It can get washed out and in five years it's going to sound boring and dated."

The band formed four years ago as nothing more than a reasonably serious social group, says Halstead with a swig of beer.

He met Clarke in a suitably rock'n'roll setting - a boozy Sunday afternoon at the King's Arms where they sat in the sun discussing their love for the Beatles, Duran Duran, Stone Roses, and Kiwi bands Bike and Straitjacket Fits.

"Sometimes you meet people and you feel like you've known each other your whole life," says Clarke.

"We just had very similar musical tastes and ambitions and neither of us were in creative situations at the time. I was working in a Celtic band and decided that it was definitely time to get something happening, especially since we got along so well."

They joined classically-trained Price (formerly of Semi-Lemon Kola/Propeller), Shotter, a video maker and creator of cult comic strip Stickman Jack, and bassist/audio engineer Nick Buckton, formerly of Polaar.

After a string of bass players he turned out to be a good choice - his brother Andrew Buckton ended up co-producing the album with Clarke.

They reckon it's that blend of musically diverse backgrounds that sets them apart. They've already been compared with the feelers but Clarke, who comes from a ska background, says their sound has a few more layers. Price aspires to Radiohead. Shotter likes his hip-hop. Halstead was inspired by Guns'n'Roses. Their differences also mean plenty of give and take.

"We're a really close bunch of guys, to the point where, if you're around us it can sound nasty sometimes because we're so open with each other," says Clarke. "The 'c' word gets tossed around sometimes but I've kind of stopped and thought: 'Shit, that must've sounded really harsh.' It's just because we're so close that we're quite comfortable with just pulling each other up."

One Day Over comes after five years of sporadic touring and support gigs, playing the Queenstown Winter Festival, True Colours and a trip around North Island beaches with Jordan Luck's Rock'n'Roll Circus. By the end of the year they plan to head across the Tasman and next year will travel to Britain where they'll try for a label deal.

For now though, Augustino are relishing the independence their Sony distribution deal has given them.

"It means that we don't get the red carpet treatment but in return we get complete artistic control," says Clarke. "We kind of guided ourselves through it, really. So if the album stands or falls it's due to our hard work."

So far there's been plenty of that, but Clarke admits the album probably could have taken two months to record rather than four. "Andrew did go fishing a lot," he muses - but their laidback way of doing things seems to influence everything they do. Even manager Robert Taylor was keen not to over-hype the band, a difficult feat considering the number of people packed into 420 on K Rd for the launch party, including members of Pluto and GoodShirt.

"We're all very real people, we've got our feet firmly planted on the ground," says Clarke.

Perhaps it's for that reason the album is dedicated to his aunt, who helped to raise him and encouraged his love of the arts. And a significant proportion of people thanked in the liner notes are members of the music community, from the Muttonbirds' Don McGlashan (who plays on the album), to good friends Pluto and Dan Sperber of Relaxomatic Project.

"We try to spend as much time as we can with them," says Clarke. "There's a little network, a healthy circle of friends who keep in touch and keep their noses in each other's pockets."

The moral support is probably just as well, he says, considering the difficulties they face making it as musicians in New Zealand.

"It can be hard. You can take it to a certain extent and then there's not really anywhere you can go after that - although we haven't even reached that yet, so we've got a lot of hard work to do. It's cool because we enjoy playing a lot and working hard. It's a wicked life."

On CD

* Who: Augustino

* What: Debut album One Day Over

* When: Out now

* Where: The band appear on Space tonight, TV2, 10.30pm and play at the King's Arms, Sat Aug 23; New Brew Bar, Albany, Sat Aug 30.