Augustus Will Deliver Its New Album by Skateboard...Some Day

These are bleak times, says Jim Herlihy, and it's a challenge to avoid despair. He's a member of Denver indie-rock band Augustus, which had planned to drop its fifth album at the Fox Theatre in Boulder on May 8, but instead released a new single, "Kick Your Doors Down" — since the musicians were unsure when, if ever, they'd be able to give the new record a proper launch.

"We’re trying hard not to slide into a pit of depression," explains Herlihy. "We’ve been there before. There’s not a lot of good stuff down there. But on the bright side, we are really using the downtime to hone our falsetto."

The band formed in 2013, after its members got drunk and decided to make music together.

"We started as a folk trio and put out a couple records with that lineup before going through a series of lineup and genre changes," Herlihy says. "We toured with the current four-piece lineup for the past few years, and are about to put out our fifth studio album."

The band's not-yet-released album, Color TV and Tall Tales, was inspired by Huey Lewis and the News; it's a concept piece about the bandmates' dream of leaving their current life behind and moving to Italy.

Nate Cook, frontman of the Yawpers, co-produced it with Tyler Imbrogno of Eldren, who also served as the engineer. Eric Halborg from Dragondeer played harmonica. Much of the album tracked live, which gives it an organic feel, says Herlihy.

Once the full album is finally released, the members plan to deliver vinyl via skateboard — with appropriate social distancing in place.

"We started production of our vinyl a few months ago, and intended to pay the final payments with gig money that we lined up this spring," says Herlihy. "As we all know, all spring gigs have been canceled, so we didn’t have the funds to pay the final invoices. Luckily, the amazing people at Standard Vinyl shipped us our finished vinyl anyway, and we’re running a pre-sale campaign to pay off the last payments. We’ve been overwhelmed with the interest and are in the process of mailing out orders to friends and fans who have already purchased. We’re currently taking orders, and if you’re local-ish, you’ll get a hand delivery via skateboard from us."

Check out "Kick Your Doors Down" and the rest of the group's music at the Augustus Bandcamp page.