Augustana

It's been over three years since Augustana released their juggernaut anthem, "Boston," to the world. After years of touring and topping the charts being the hit, the San Diego rockers have returned to give you a third helping of the catchy hooks and infectious piano melodies that the band has become known for.

Augustana formed in 2003 while living in Greenville, Illinois, a small place that is known as "A Town for all seasons." It was this same year that the band released its debut effort, Midwest Skies and Sleepless Mondays, with only 1,000 copies made. The band's 2005 smash single, "Boston," originally appeared on this record.

After making the move to San Diego, Augustana were "discovered" and signed to Epic Records. Their second album, All the Stars and Boulevards, was released in 2005 to poor sales, but then along came a little single called "Boston," a tune that crashed the music world like a tidal wave, moving more than 300,000 copies sold of Boulevards and a shocking 1,000,000 copies of the single alone.

Augustana will release their third full-length album, Can't Love, Can't Hurt, on April 29. The record's first single, "Sweet and Low," is receiving frequent airplay and the remarkable tune itself is proving that Augustana are more than just a one-hit wonder. Buzznet caught up with bassist/vocalist Jared Palomar to talk about the new album, collaborations, forgotten lyrics and, of course, "emo."

Buzznet: Where is the most bizarre place you've heard "Boston" being played?

Jared Palomar: I think one of our favorite times was on the show "The Pickup Artist." We had religiously been watching the whole season, and we had no idea that they were going to be using the song every time someone got eliminated. So all of us are on the bus after a show watching and waiting to see who gets eliminated, and all of a sudden we hear the song start playing and everyone kinda freaked out ... definitely the most surprising place we've seen it.

Buzznet: Where did the album title Can't Love, Can't Hurt come from?

Palomar: The title is a play on a tattoo [singer] Dan [Layus]' wife has, which says, "This Is Love, Make It Hurt." He ended up writing the lyric that became the album title after he saw that, which is basically about all the ups and downs of a relationship ... taking the good times with the bad, and embracing all parts of every relationship.

Buzznet: Are there any special guests on the new album? If not, have you thought about collaborating with anyone?

Palomar: There aren't any special guests on this record, but live it's definitely fun to be able to collaborate with the bands you're touring with. That's always really amazing both as a musician and as a fan. I love going to shows and seeing all the bands do something together, because that's usually something you're not going to get to hear again.  It'd definitely be fun to do something with someone who's been a musical inspiration to us, like Tom Petty or Lucinda Williams.

Buzznet: You've must have played your songs hundreds of times by now. Has anyone every forgotten their part or the lyrics during a performance?

Palomar: I think we've all had our moments where we've forgotten a part, but that's definitely something you grow from as a band and use to make you a better live band. And there's definitely times where a mistake has actually been a good thing and led to a change in a part — so sometimes it's good!

Buzznet: What's the most embarrassing song you guys have covered during a show or at practice?

Palomar: Haha ... We usually save our bad covers for practice and so people don't see how bad we are at playing other people's songs, but we actually have a pretty decent version of Petty's "Breakdown" that comes out at soundchecks.

Buzznet: You've gone through a few lineup changes. Do you think this is your strongest yet?

Palomar: Absolutely. The five of us have been playing together for a year of nonstop touring, so we've definitely grown really close, both musically and as friends. We definitely still have a ways to go as a live band, but I'm really excited about how we have grown.

Buzznet: Your music has touched the lives of many. Are there still musicians out there that do the same for you?

Palomar: There's definitely lots of music that still makes a difference for me. I don't think any of us would listen to music if there weren't anything that did!  But I think we've all been inspired by people like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Counting Crows, Ryan Adams, Wilco, The Band. We really look up to these bands, and they're people that have been really inspiring for us as a young band and musically we keep coming back to.

Buzznet: How do you feel about the term "emo"? Do you think it's become a novelty? Has anyone ever called your band "emo"?

Palomar: I feel like there's not many bands that HAVEN'T been called emo these days, and I'm sure we've had our fair share of that, but unfortunately there's not much value to the word anymore. I think it's good that people can see some emotion in the music we write, because it's something we are very passionate about, and I'm glad that's something that's visible, but I don't think we really hold much value to the word. We just do our best to write good songs, and however people want to interpret that is up to them.

Buzznet: Your new album only has 10 tracks. How many songs did you leave off? Will we ever get a chance to hear them?

Palomar: There's definitely a couple others we recorded that didn't really fit the rest of the record, and I'm sure they'll come out at some point, be it at a show or online.  But we've definitely played (and continue to play) quite a few songs live that didn't make it on the record, so I'm sure people will get a chance to hear something new at shows.

Buzznet: What's been your dream tour so far? Nightmare tour?

Palomar: I think almost all the tours we've done have been really enjoyable, and we've been very fortunate that all the bands we've toured with have been incredibly gracious and nice to us.  Probably our favorite so far was being out with Counting Crows, which we're going to be doing again in August and September this year, so that's going to be a really fun tour as well.  We haven't had any tours that have been a total nightmare, all the guys are really good about keeping each other's spirits up if we do have a rough night, so that's always really encouraging.

Check out this behind-the-scenes look at Augustana's music video for "Sweet and Low."