Throwing Out the Past: A.A. Bondy

AUGUSTE ARTHUR BONDY is known by many names. As frontman for Birmingham-based Verbena during the late '90s, he went by Scott Bondy. Last year, when he released his solo debut, the haunted "American Hearts," he billed himself as A. A. Bondy. Lately, he's been known to answer to Gus.

These constantly shifting identities draw from the darker corners of musical history but remain anchored in the dark present. Currently, Bondy illuminates his apocalyptic imagery and lowdown woe with old folk, blues and country.

"Everybody wants to do something new," says Bondy, "but to throw out the past, you have to know the past."

The transplanted Southerner recorded "American Hearts" in his barn in rural New York state, where he lives with his wife, Clare Felice.

Backing him on the album are his brothers-in-law, the Felice Brothers:

"I had an idea that this record was going to come out, but not anything more than someone pressing them up and maybe getting them into a local record store in Alabama," says Bondy. "I never had any grand hopes for it, which freed me up to do whatever I wanted."

Bondy has toured almost constantly behind "American Hearts," but continues to let the songs guide him. "If people are going to build a house, they need to know what it';s going to look like," he explains, "but songs don't necessarily need to know what they're going to sound like in the end, so you're allowed to throw your subconscious into them."

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Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Photo courtesy 10music