After a huge year for Brisbane’s August River Band, releasing singles “Crazy” and “In My Arms”, the band are excited to announce the release of their debut album Thank You Pain.
Produced by Paulie B (Ziggy Alberts, Bobby Alu) at Yama Nui Studios, who provided backing vocals and electric bass on the album, August River Band explain that “Sharing a space with this high a level of artists is truly amazing. It takes that level of skill and experience to make something simple sound magnificent.” Releasing their feature single “Mr Sky” on 18th September, the band has described the track as their ‘happy song in a hurricane’. Lead singer Eev Ferreira explains, “This was the first song I wrote after leaving behind a decade of insane religious devotion . It was a prayer I guess. As with many of my songs the reference to “a girl” is a metaphor for a bigger picture, such as our relationship and disillusion with fate, faith, destiny, and transcendence”.
August River Band has the ability to instantly draw in listeners through their unique sound which offers a wild and beautifully juxtaposed chemistry between the tortured singer songwriter (Eev Ferreira) the classically trained violinist (Lil Burrows), and the hard hitting rock and roll drummer (Gerard Kerr). The release of Thank You Pain is the culmination of 2 years work, with Ferreira explaining that “The album is an ode to Pain. I am deeply grateful for its teachings. Make no mistake I don’t like it and certainly aim to avoid it but, alas, there is no greater mentor. The songs on this album spans across the last ten years moving from a religious dogma to the secular one. Religion, self-actualisation, they are no different. In both you are constantly at war with what you are and what you think you should be. This all being said, Peace is not good for art.”
The opening song on the album, “Hallowed Be”, was initially named “Thank You Pain”, and was the very first chapter of August River Band’s musical journey. Ferreira had been out of the music scene for nearly 2 years after arriving in Australia before finally setting out to write music that brought a sense of satisfaction when he played it. “I had been completely over sensitised with rock, blues and pop I just could not play another standard G chord. I had to expand my own mind and skills. I then started playing with odd time signatures. This riff came first and when I played it initially it seems impossible to imagine singing over it. For whatever reason I persisted and a few weeks later the penny dropped.”
With an intoxicating live show, August River Band will be joined at their launch show by NT’s 2019 Live Voice Of the Year Award Winner, Colin Lillie and local 6 piece Blues/Roots/Funk band, HAM. With such a great combination of artists at the Thank You Pain launch show, it is a night that fans will surely not forget. While these are unprecedented times to be releasing a debut album, Ferreira explains that “As hard as it is, I feel privileged to be making music at the cusp of a revolution in consciousness. The art of this generation is going to come riding in on an avalanche of courage and perseverance. A decade that starts like this is destined for greatness.”
