Augustana to play Toledo Civic Theatre
Written by Vicki L. Kroll | | news@toledofreepress.comYoung bands dreams of it: an opening slot on a huge tour. Augustana got that chance earlier this year, logging miles with Counting Crows and Maroon 5.
Augustana
“Both bands were just amazing people and great musicians from the opening night,” said Jared Palomar, bass player of Augustana. “Counting Crows in particular was especially nice to us because a couple of them — a guitar player and a keyboard player — ended up having babies while we were on the tour, so they kind of used us to fill in on some of the songs. Chris [Sachtleben, lead guitarist] pretty much played the rest of the shows after their guitar player left.”
“Everybody here tonight is a musician, all three bands,” Adam Duritz, Counting Crows lead singer, said during a teleconference in August to promote the tour. “Everybody here tonight can play music. And that’s kind of the spirit of this tour is that it’s for real.”
“They were great guys and really took us under their wings,” Palomar said of Duritz and Co. “It’s just cool to have someone like that you look up to and who’s had a long career just be so inviting and welcoming and encouraging.”
Palomar, Sachtleben, singer/guitarist/pianist Dan Layus, drummer Justin South and keyboardist John Vincent Fredericks found inspiration from their favorite artists for their second disc, “Can Love, Can’t Hurt,” released in April.
“We’ve been able to take a lot of the good things from our idols and influences and kind of apply those into our music,” Palomar said during a phone interview from his Los Angeles home. “We’re really into people who have had long careers and have written really great songs — people like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones and The Beatles — and we really strive to take some of the good things those people have done, you know, song-writing wise.
“I think especially recording this last album, we kind of used a Tom Petty guitar here, a Bob Dylan get-to-the-chorus kind of thing here,” he continued. “We just want to be good musicians both live and in the studio and decent songwriters. I think looking up to people like that is a good motivation for us.”
Palomar and Layus started the band while at Greenville College in Illinois in 2003. The two dropped out of school in 2004 and headed west, where they found their bandmates.
Augustana’s debut, “All the Stars and Boulevards,” was released in 2005, and contained the hit, “Boston.”
“We were kind of stuck in a rut and then all the touring we did started paying off, and [‘Boston’] started taking off,” Palomar said. “When we did that song [in concert] and some people knew it, it was just amazing for us.”
Palomar described the group’s music as “Americana rock ‘n’ roll with a little bit of bluegrass.” And it packs a cerebral punch.
“One of the amazing things about music is to have this crazy connection that the listener has with music I love and, hopefully, people can take something from our music, too,” he said.
Augustana will play with OneRepublic, The Spill Canvas and The Hush Sound at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Toledo Civic Theatre, 237 S. Erie St. Tickets are $24 in advance and $28 at the show. Doors open at 6 p.m. Visit www.augustanamusic.com and click on links for more information.
