AUGUST is a Rock & Roll, Soul, and Rhythm &
Blues band, with a hint of jazz thrown in for good measure. The band’s influences are diverse: The Beatles, the
“horn bands”: Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chase, Earth Wind & Fire and the legendary Tower of Power;
Ray Charles, Aretha, James Brown, the many Motown, Atlantic and Stax recording artists; rock and roll superstars like Eric
Clapton, The Who, Hendrix, Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers; and jazz masters the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Maynard
Ferguson and Buddy Rich, name a very small few.
The mission of the band, then and especially now, is to preserve and
present some of the music that we all grew up on during the late 1960’s through early 1970’s as well as music
from newer artists; some of the best ever written, and to make sure that these songs continue to be presented to not only
those who remember it, but also to those who are starving for real music.
AUGUST is NOT a "retro" band, nor is it the typical
"horn band" who plays top 40 music or "the hits" from the 1960's through today. We've chosen
a different path. Songs are chosen not because of their popularity or radio presence, nor are they chosen from specific
artists, although there are those to whom the band gravitates. Although there are commercial songs in the set list rotation,
AUGUST chooses music that may have been heard as an album cut, with the idea to not back away from a difficult chart.
Some songs may even be obscure. Arrangement, chord structure, lyrics and musicality are the criteria. Is the engine
of a song such that it drives and creates emotion? These are the ideas behind the song choices of AUGUST. This
is music that should be experienced live.
We play for ourselves and for everyone. We believe that in the days of manufactured “stars” and badly spoken
rhymes masquerading as music, real music demands to be heard again for sanity’s sake. We believe that
people should perform for the love of performing and not for the sole purpose of making as much money as possible at the expense
of decency and morality so as to live the “good life” while leaving a trail of broken spirits and minds behind.
We also believe in raw performance without the distraction from dancers, elaborate stage productions and background videos
designed to make up for the lack of musicianship, called the "show". We play music. Period.
We choose to attempt
to fill the gap left by the demise of many of our musical heroes of old and new, and to perform that great music.
Here is our story, warts
and all, from the beginning. And even though this page ends, the story of the band known as AUGUST continues.
Thanks for being with us for the ride…
First, Where did the name come from?
This question has been asked often, and we've decided to explain the
origin of the name, AUGUST. We would like to say that we started in August. We didn't. We probably began rehearsals
in May or June, 1972, with our first performance being on September 9, 1972 at a fund raiser for then Democratic gubernatorial
candidate, Dan Walker, at the VFW in Montgomery, IL.
The name came from a mispronunciation. In looking for a name, we did what many other
bands did, we looked through the dictionary. However, we wanted something that had meaning, something strong and powerful.
We found the word august, with the accent on the second syllable, au-gust. We were proud that we had
found something somewhat esoteric and meaningful. In early promotional material, we sent information to our first contacts
with agents, people booking us, publicity people, etc. which, of course, had the name of the band. In talking with people
we found that they pronounced our name August, like the month, with the accent on the first
syllable. We, of course, corrected their pronunciation, yet everyone continued to pronounce our name like the month
rather than our intentions of "strength and power". Hence, the name of the band changed from August to August. Interestingly, August is the 8th month and often the
number "8" comes up in things.
The Beginning of the Story:
AUGUST began like every other band of the early 1970’s; in a basement. There were no written musical charts to
follow. The songs were learned “by ear” with one twist that set this band apart from many of the other bands
of the era. In addition to the traditional guitar, bass, keyboard and drum parts (chords, riffs and the like) that had
to be deciphered, the added challenge of trumpet, sax and trombone parts had to be decoded from a 331/3
record. After repeated listenings and the figuring out of individual parts, including lyrics and vocal harmonies, the
task of arranging them and assembling all of the parts into something able to be performed began. Then each member had
to memorize his own part with full awareness of how it fit into the rest of the song with the other instruments.
People today ask how we did it. AUGUST believes that we did it because
we didn’t know we couldn’t. Looking back, we had no idea how incredibly difficult an undertaking like that
was. That’s just the way it was and since that was the only way we knew how, that’s how it happened.
