Aushua Interview for Know Your LA Bands

BeatCrave brings you band, Aushua, as part of our Know Your LA Bands series. Although they are from the Santa Ana area, they have been making great friends and music over here in the LA music scene. With their foundation of folk-rock and a splash of new wave, they are more than deserving to be featured.

Brothers Phil, Eric, and Lee Newyear and long-time friend Nathan Gammill have made music together that breaks all stereotypes of the beach lover/skateboarder/surfer in the OC area. Gammill’s vocals are tenaciously delivered and the melodic guitars among the steady bass and drums create an amalgamation of classic comfort and refreshing edge.

With a daring but accessible sound, Aushua has gained fans throughout southern California but expand their fan base as they continue to tour across the nation. Their next show is on May 30^th in Phoenix, AZ at The Wydham Hotel. If you’re in the area, make sure to catch them live! Until then, check out this exclusive interview with lead vocalist Nate Gammill below!

We know that three of you are brothers. Did they grow up in a musical family?

Eric, Lee and Phil were brought up in a bit of musical environment. Their mother taught choir; their family sits around the piano and sings hymns and songs at family get-togethers. So they definitely learned the schematics of singing harmony at an early age. My mother was always playing music as well, so there was plenty of instruments always at my disposal. Both my brother and sister make music too, so I would say something had to trigger that.

How did everyone else meet you?

I got a message on my home phone answering machine… it was Phil. He said, “I hear your band is looking for a guitar player, I think my girlfriend went to your high school…yadda yadda yadda.” So, Phil joined that band, which I was playing guitar for, and shortly after that I told Phil I was leaving that band and I wanted him to come with. After trying way too hard to find other like minded musicians we baited his brothers to move back to California and play with us.

Are all of you still living in Santa Ana?

Yes, in a beautiful find, thanks to the current rental market. However, due to the fact that it’s foreclosing and we have tour dates all summer, I can’t tell you how long we’ll be here.

Do you think you’ll ever physically be an LA band by changing residence location?

I have to say that I’ve seriously thought about it. I really love some of the areas up there, and we have some friends up there that it would be great to be closer to. I just can’t hang with this southern California weather. I’m not cut out for bright, hot areas. Who knows though? We have four guys that all have to get on the same page.

What’s one thing the OC music scene has over the LA music scene?

Well, that’s a tough question. I don’t see much of a scene down here, everyone has their own little pockets and cliques. Also, once a band starts doing well here, they skip town and change their residence location (which I do not blame them for) to Long Beach or LA. So, maybe the one thing we have over the LA scene is our opportunistic ability to move to LA once we have something going and seemingly come out of nowhere.

So Aushua is a made-up word? What made you decide to create a name rather than “choose” a name?

I like the idea of being given a new name; a new identity that, due to changes you’ve made, seems to be more fitting than your given name. We feel our name will allow us a little bit of freedom to continually push and prod at what we are. The name has an adaptable feel, you know? It’s liquid, it’s clay, but I think it’s pretty bold as well.

One of my favorite Aushua songs is “Sister Saves.” Where did the lyrics for this track come from?

As a song writer I am continually trying to see how loaded I can get a song to be. How much I can put in to provoke a certain result. This song was generally about the an overwhelming feeling of peace, or forgiveness. A moment of clarity. I was hoping that under the right circumstances, if the song just connected to you, it could bring about the same feeling, and pass along this moment of clarity. I gave the “feeling” a female pronoun in the same vein of the whole “Be Here Now” divine mother thing – and just to piss off the whole patriarchal god crowd, I guess.

Have you guys finished your next album yet?

Working on our debut full-length. It’s hard doing it yourself. You always romanticize what it would be like with a budget, or an interesting producer. Always doing the, “This part would be great… if we only had that 12-string Rickenbacker…” and the “I’m thinking it should sound like this… does anyone know how to do that?” I guess that’s what makes an interesting album though is big ideas, and trying to accommodate those ideas within your means. Champagne taste and a beer budget, as my mom would say.

Has anything in the songwriting process changed during the making of this record?

We are experimenting with things that we did not expect. Such as drum loops, synthesizers, tape loops, sound effects, etc. We have a lot of avenues that we can take to get a song out and more are always making themselves evident to us.

It must be hard to select the songs for the album when you’re working on so many. How do you carefully choose these tracks?

It’s not careful at all. It’s blind intuition. For instance, in pre-production we were having some difficulty with a certain song, the general consensus was to cut it, which would have happened had I not been a crafty bastard and said, “Well let’s just lay down the drums and see what happens.” A few days later it became one of the songs we are all most exited about on the new record.

Quick-Fire Round:
Who are some of your favorite local bands?

We love Voxhaul Broadcast. They have such a dedication to the way they sound live – some real great musicians and people there. We Barbarians; I really don’t get to see them enough. I’ve recently heard of a lot of locals that I would apparently really like. I usually get something out of every set I watch, though. So, I have lots of favorites for many different reasons.

What’s a good “summer” song?

“Genius of Love” by the Tom Tom Club might be my favorite all time summer song. Close runner up is “African Herbsman” by Bob Marley. A new song I can’t get over, that is also seasonally appropriate is “Tunnelvision” by Here We Go Magic. Voila.

What’s your drink of choice before you go on stage?

I can’t drink beer before I sing. So I’m usually stuck with the well whiskey at whatever venue we are at. In dreamland I would get to sip on Cao Lila, or Laphroiag prior to a show.

Tell us one thing about yourself we probably don’t already know.

I have to work in six minutes, and all my jeans have holes in them. Oh, and I yell out loud at the TV when I watch Laker games.