NTSIB’s good friend Michelle Evans checks in with road report on Austin Lucas. Midwestern Ohio NOTE: Austin is playing Zanesfield TONIGHT. More details below.
I was able to catch up with Bloomington, Indiana musician Austin Lucas this past weekend before his set at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville, where he and his back-up band for the past couple of weeks, Glossary, opened for alt-country Tennessee rockers Lucero. It was a line-up made in heaven, for which people from all over the country drove and flew in. We talked about what it was like for him touring with Glossary, his European fan base, and what’s ahead.
You can catch him with his family band in Zanesfield, Ohio this Friday, November 25th at 7 p.m. at the Mad River Theater Works Studio, and/or next Friday, December 2nd at The Bishop with Murder by Death in Bloomington, IN. I don’t recommend missing these shows; he won’t be touring the U.S. again till next year.
How’s it been touring with Glossary?
Amazing. It’s like being on tour with five stand-up comedians. We just laugh a lot, and I mean a lot. Usually, I laugh a lot on tour, but it’s not often I go on tour with a band that’s been together 15 years and really knows each other and really gets along and also has so much camaraderie between them, and they’re dynamic is really good. They’re all really funny people and all really sweet people. Fitting in with them could’ve been really daunting, ya know, like a 6th wheel, but in this case, the 6th wheel runs real smoothly. It was the most natural tour experience I’ve had with another band.
How long have you been on tour with them now?
Two weeks. It was a short little tour.
How did y’all mesh musically, like with them playing your songs?
For me, great. In my way of thinking, really great. A lot of people at the shows were like, “Holy shit, I wish they were your band all the time.†At least the people who said anything to me felt that way. I’m sure there were people who thought, “He didn’t play any of his old songs,†or “He didn’t play very much acoustic,†but that happens.
Now, Todd Beene was with you that entire time, correct?
Yeah, of course. He was with Lucero up until our tour and then with us, and now these two shows with both of us. He prioritized Glossary and Austin Lucas. It was very sweet of him.
What’s ahead?
A lot of resting. I’m going home. I don’t have any dates, really, until I go to Mexico and then Europe, so I don’t have anything going on till then. I’m going to write songs, get in the studio maybe around January, something like that. We’ll see.
And you’re bigger in Europe, right?
Definitely.
How does Europe generally treat you? Like what are your favorite spots?
Finland’s my most favorite place to play in the world, without a doubt. Finland, the UK, and Germany are my three biggest markets, and in the UK, it’s really the south where I do well, like in London, Brighton, and pretty well in Leeds, but I haven’t really broke in the west and the north as well. In Europe, I sell out quite a few venues. At least I have on my other tours.
Which folks do you or have you toured in Europe with? Anyone we would know?
In the past, usually, I’ve packaged up, like with Chuck Ragan, Mike Hale, and Josh Small. Also Drag the River and Cory Branan. The last tour was with Digger Barnes. He’s a German guy, and he was Chuck’s bassist for a while. He was originally my bass player in my band Austin Lucas and The Pressmen, my back-up musicians. Then he met Chuck, and he played with us on Bristle Ridge and was on the first several tours. He’s awesome. He’s amazing, and he’s got his own solo stuff. We did a tour together last year.
So who’s playing with you on this upcoming European tour?
I’m just going to bring my back-up band, The Bold Party. We don’t have anybody supporting. It’ll be the first tour I’ve done over there in a long time where I wasn’t packaged up and ensured that the music quality was really good every night. There aren’t a lot of acts over that that play what we play or Americana or alt-country or whatever, so we’ll see. Should be a great time no matter what.
