Augustana

The band was created by current member Dan Layus who brought three of his high school friends together with the intention of starting a rock band. Their full length debut album was released in 2003, with a meagre 1000 copies being produced. Layus, after this disappointment, moved to Southern California with one bandmate, picked up a drummer and began what would be his incline to success. In California, the band toured with several established artists including Switchfoot, Maroon 5, The Fray, Snow Patrol and Goo Goo Dolls. Indeed, the band’s musical style is often compared many of these bands that they toured with.

The band’s first successful album was called ‘All the Stars and Boulevards’ and was released September 6, 2005. It reached number one on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and number 96 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. The accompanying single, also released in 2005, was titled ‘Boston’ and remains Augustana’s best-selling and biggest single to date. Other well-known singles of the band’s include ‘Sweet and Low’, ‘Twenty Years’ and ‘Hey Now’, all of which are from their second album, ‘Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt’. Many of these songs appeared on famous television shows, including One Tree Hill and Friday Night Lights, generating the band some well-deserved publicity.

The band have since released two more albums, ‘Augustana’ and ‘Life Imitating Life’. Throughout it’s time, the band has seen many members come and go. All members, original and old, consist of Jared Palomar (bass guitar, vocals), Chris Sachtleben (lead guitar, vocals), Justin South (drums), Josiah Rosen (lead guitar, vocals), John Vincent (piano, organ, keyboards, vocals), Josh Calhoun (drums) and, of course, founder and leader Dan Layus.