A Chat with Augusta Sky (12.08.2020)
Augusta Sky is a collective band form by friends Steve Wilkinson (keys), Paul Harrison (bass guitar), Matt Wynn (drums) and Josh Blackwell (electric guitar). Playing with other sessions musicians, the band is ready to unleash their debut single ‘Dreaming’. We sat down with Steve Wilkinson to talk about the new single, their music and much more!
OSR: How did the band get together?
Wilkinson: I first met Paul at secondary school at the age of 10 and we have been good friends ever since. We first played together in the school jazz band and used to meet up early before school started every morning to jam our favourite chart songs. We were also keen footballers and met Matt playing local 6 a side football a few years later after leaving school.
As musicians, we have worked on various different projects, including performing at festivals such as Humber Street Sesh and Pride Festivals and have also played BBC Radio 1Xtra Sessions at Maida Vale. Our shared love of funk and dance acts such as Nile Rodgers and Jamiroquai brought us together to form Augusta Sky.
OSR: You work with different session singers on each track, how do you connect with them?
Wilkinson: Well for the singers on our initial songs, we had previously worked with each of them as a musician so we were already connected.
OSR: . If you were not a musician, what would you be doing right now?
Wilkinson: Who knows? I’ve been playing keys since the age of 7 so it’s all I really know!
OSR: ‘Dreaming’ is your debut single, why this track and why now?
Wilkinson: ‘Dreaming’ was the first song we worked on and the video also shows all the band members doing their thing so we thought this would be a good one to put out there first as an introduction to the band. The next couple of videos are more mysterious but I won’t elaborate on that, hopefully they will be a nice surprise!
OSR: Is there a backstory or hidden meaning to ‘Dreaming’?
Wilkinson: It’s basically a love song about a love that never was. When one person falls in love with someone who doesn’t feel the same way.
OSR: What is the largest hurdle you have overcome as a musician?
Wilkinson: As songwriters, it can be hard to look at a piece of your work and deem it not to be good enough. For example, the lyrics may hold some kind of sentiment for you which makes the song of importance, so I’d probably say learning how to be self-critical and knowing when to make changes to songs that aren’t working.
OSR: What is your creative process? Do you start with lyrics or a melody?
Wilkinson: It can be both depending. Sometimes a lyric and melody pops into my head and I write those down and go from there, but for the funkier tunes I’ve written I often come up with the bass line first.
OSR: If you could collaborate with any musician from any time, who would it be and why?
Wilkinson: It would be good to do some co-writing with Nile Rodgers. He has been directly responsible for so many hits spanning over the past few decades and it would be great to see his creative process in the studio.
OSR: If people could remember one thing about the band, what would you like it to be?
Wilkinson: “Augusta Sky? Oh they were the band that did Dreaming!”
OSR: What can we expect from you in the next 12 months?
Wilkinson: We plan to release our second single ‘Feelings’ in October 2020, followed by a new song every 8 weeks through to the summer of 2021. Hopefully by then, the lockdown will have eased and we can actually get out and play some live gigs!
Thanks to Steve Wilkinson for chatting with us! You can find more about Augusta Sky on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
