We Are Augustines

Augustines
Augustines live at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC in 2014.
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	Indie rock, alternative rock
Years active	2010–2016
Labels	Oxcart Records, Caroline, EMI, Votiv
Associated acts	Pela
Website	www.weareaugustines.com
Members	Billy McCarthy Eric Sanderson Rob Allen Yannis Panos (unofficialy)

Augustines (formerly We Are Augustines) were an American indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York consisting of guitarist Billy McCarthy, multi-instrumentalist Eric Sanderson and drummer Rob Allen. Augustines were known for their intense shows and heavy interaction with the audience. Numerous shows saw the band leave the stage to perform on the floor with the fans.

Following the break-up of their former band Pela, McCarthy and Sanderson decided to continue producing the songs that were originally supposed to comprise Pela's second studio album. The album, titled Rise Ye Sunken Ships, was released digitally on June 6, 2011. In September 2016 announced that their fall tour will be their last, following a break up of the band.

The band derived its name from the month of August. Both McCarthy and Sanderson were born in August, as was McCarthy's brother, James. James' story is one of the major influences behind their first album. Pela also dissolved very quickly ("In the span of two weeks") in August 2009. Originally, the new band was named Augustines. Since there were other bands with the same name, they changed the name to We Are Augustines.

In August 2013, the band announced via YouTube that they would return to using the name Augustines.

Material for Augustines' debut album originated when, with Pela, McCarthy wrote dozens of songs and Sanderson contributed many demos of his own. The band had close to 40 songs to pick from. Even though the album was nearly complete, they were unhappy with the results and wanted to re-record the material. "We had to do it twice because it just wasn’t strong," Sanderson said. Throughout the recording (and re-recording) process, the band fought with its record label, its manager and amongst themselves. Soon after, McCarthy learned his brother James had committed suicide. With all the issues surrounding the band, "Pela was unable to survive the storm," Sanderson said.

After deciding to part ways with the other two members of Pela, McCarthy and Sanderson eventually decided to finish the album. Having been through a terrible experience with the music labels and industry, "We knew that we wanted to proceed independently, but actually taking that on was a whole other challenge." With support from the indie music community, specifically John Richards of KEXP, they were able to finish the record. The album was produced by David Newfeld, who is best known for his work with Broken Social Scene. Their first performance of the new material, still under the original name Augustines, was for Richards and KEXP at the Cutting Room Studios on October 18, 2010. They released Rise Ye Sunken Ships independently on June 6, 2011 as a digital-only copy on iTunes.