Exclusive U.S. premiere: Augustines’ Walkabout video blog, part 1

“Britain had become a second home for us, and London is where we began our journey supporting our sophomore release 'Augustines.' Our drummer Rob Allen and multi-instrumentalist Al Hardiman are both British and we enjoy our happy NYC / London camp,” Augustines frontman Billy McCarthy told HitFix. “It seemed fitting to film 'Cruel City' and our Walkabout blog in England. Viva England, Viva New York!”

And so sets the scene of the rock band's first installment of their Walkabout Blog. The exclusive video above was shot while the band visited and performed in London, and features their next U.K. single “Now You Are Free,” due on April 28.

I interviewed Augustines — then known as We Are Augustines — in January 2012, around the time they released the music video to  emotional, driving single “Chapel Song”; in these two years that have followed, clearly the intensity hasn't lessened. In this video blog, you can see written all over McCarthy's face.

As you can tell from the title — “Walkabout Blog Pt.1 London – Now You Are Free” — this is just the first part of many, as the band continues to update fans with more music and footage from the road. The band performs overseas again starting April 10; all tour dates are here. Their second, self-titled album was released last month.

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