In a one-off diversion from its usual Monday slot, Ken Griffin from August Wells chooses and selects some of his favourite tracks for this special Friday Mixtape (see what we did there?)

check it out here:

http://thethinair.net

The superb August Wells make a welcome return to Galway with a free show in Róisín Dubh next Thursday, January 28. The project is the brainchild of Ken Griffin and John Rauchenberger, both based in New York.

Griffin is a former member of Irish indie legends Rollerskate Skinny, whose 1996 single Speed To My Side remains a classic.

An August Wells record, will feature a saxophone player, a violinist and a French horn player. But the core of the band is the partnership between Ken and John Rauchenberger, whose style has been described as ‘Sinatra singing Lou Reed songs’. How did the pair meet?

“I met him through a circle of friends,” Ken says. “We were all walking home and he wanted us to show us his house. There was a piano there – I’d known him for two years and didn’t even know he could play!

“He sat down and started playing for a minute, and I thought ‘that’s interesting. Those weren’t very predictable notes’. So I suggested ‘why don’t we just get together and play?’ He lives a hundred yards from me!”

The collaboration has resulted in some fine songs that have a melancholic, Nick Cave feel to them.  August Wells recently opened for Glen Hansard for some of his tour dates, and their work will appeal to anyone interested in the craft of songwriting. Unmissable. Doors for their show are at 9pm.

read more: http://connachttribune.ie

festivalandgigguide.ie

2016 breezes in with a chorus of brass, strings and shuffling guitar as the first bars of August Wells’ ‘A Little Too Real’ permeate the January air. Ken Griffin’s baritone returns with the New Yorkers first release of the new year and a taster of their new album ‘Madness Is the Mercy’ due out later this Spring on FIFA Records.

‘A Little Too Real’ is a sensitive ode to those who feel the world can be a daunting place. August Wells emotive first singles ‘Here in the Wild’ and ‘Come on in out of that night’ set the tone and tempo for a band writing and exploring music that rolls in like dusk; warm yet tragic, inclusive while conveying the outsider.

August Wells finished on a high note, supporting Glen Hansard at a sold out show at New York’s Beacon Theatre, before they return to Ireland and Europe at the end of January for a number of dates. Ken Griffin (ex-Rollerskate Skinny, Favourite Sons) and pianist John Rauchenberger have met in the middle of differing musical pasts to form a band who would sit easily at the same table as Scott Walker or John Cale.

‘A Little Too Real’ eases us into a new year full of promise for August Wells and is a tantalising hook for their imminent long player.

Last Mixed Tape reviews our new single “A Little Too Real”

http://thelastmixedtape.com/

When American artists Ken Griffin and John Rauchenberger came together for a passion project entitled August Wells, they already had an extensive amount of experience between them. In the past, they have been associated with acts such as Favourite Sons, Rollerskate Skinny and Kid Silver. Now though, they’re firmly focused on expanding their audience as a duo beyond the borders of their homeland.

They’ve already managed to make an appearance in Ireland at Electric Picnic and are planning a return at the end of January to embark on a tour of the country. But before that, they’ll be busy promoting their brand new single, “Alice Dear Alice”. Having first featured on their inaugural album, A Living and a Dying Game, the track tells the tale of “a magical woman’s character”.

It reverberates in gently, then wastes no time breaking into some soft but vivid vocals. The instrumentation grows gradually, remaining warm as it establishes an affecting ambience. There’s a sense of solemnness to the singing that’s eventually offset when the music begins to build brightly in the background. Pleasant pianos add a dreamy undertone to uplifting trumpets which sooth the senses as the piece progresses.

Read the entire piece here:  www.puremzine.com

August Wells have come up with this very fetching promo for ‘Alice, Dear Alice’, one of the standouts from their A Living And A Dying Game album which follows in spring 2016.
The band, who open on December 1 for Glen Hansard in New York’s Beacon Theater, are lead by former Rollerskate Skinny and Favourite Sons man Ken Griffin.

“I have no idea who Alice really is,” says the owner of one of the richest baritones in rock. “She just arrived in my head one day. I wrote down quickly what I thought of her, then she disappeared. She seemed mischievous and aloof; she seemed to represent the other side of things.

“Someone who saw the worth and worthlessness of living, the point and pointlessness, the hope and hopelessness. She seemed to walk around in the truth, looking with pity on the rest of us. We tried to make the video a simple odd portrait of Alice, nearly coming apart, nearly taking part, almost laughing.”

We’re not ones for over-using the ‘m’ word, but we’ve been listening to that new LP of theirs and it’s a bit of a masterpiece.

see the piece here: http://www.hotpress.com

The voice behind Rollerskate Skinny is back with a new project called August Wells. Ken Griffin left Dublin in the late ’90s for New York, where he formed Kid Silver and Favourite Sons. Griffin still calls NYC home. Indeed, the singer has just returned to a still scorching Big Apple, despite it being September, which is a shock to his system after a brief Irish tour that included a set on the Other Voices stage at Electric Picnic.
“For the very first time in twenty years it has really crossed my mind to move back to Ireland,” Griffin reveals. “There is something in the air and environment, which is now harmonious with who I am. I actually feel a little behind and I need to do some catching up. The Ireland of my mind doesn’t exist anymore.”

Griffin has been round the block with a major label deal, but is much happier with the more modern, independent and self-sufficient way of doing business. “I can play a show now and sell twenty albums directly to people,” he enthuses. “I understand there is less opportunity to make money, but there are communities making exciting things happen. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, anybody who had any integrity in music wanted the industry to die anyway. Who gives a fuck about the music industry? They never gave a fuck about me.”

Griffin is embracing these new opportunities wholeheartedly. “The power is back in the hands of the musicians,” he says. “I did Other Voices for TV and Electric Picnic. It was all arranged in about two or three direct emails. Before, you would have to go through such rigmarole. The next thing you know you’re being interviewed in Dingle by the guy who was in Game of Thrones.”

While he was home, Ken went into the studio with Girl Band to record a version of the old Rollerskate Skinny song ‘Bow Hitch Hiker’. “In the modern world your work lives forever,” he says. “It is incredible for me to play the Workman’s Club at the age of 45 and the crowd love it. The work is still being found by people.”

– See more at: http://www.hotpress.com