Fast times with O.C. quartet Aushua

The Orange County-based quartet Aushua has been around only a year, but the band is building itself to last. "We want to be in a band that matters," singer-guitarist Nathan Gammill says. "Hopefully, we can be pop in a classic sense, making music that's very relevant and that speaks to people we know."

The rough-edged anthems on the foursome's self-released "Hold On!" EP are a good start. Gammill -- with Neujahr brothers Phil (bass), Eric (guitar) and Lee (drums) -- recorded the five songs last October using portable studio equipment in the Good Shepherd Chapel on the campus of Concordia University in Irvine. Both the band and producer Eliot Richardson had to, um, give thanks the session was allowed to go off.

Now, Aushua is getting ready for a follow-up. Although the initial batch of songs came mainly from Gammill and Phil Neujahr, "the songwriting is pretty organic now in that everybody in the band does his own thing," the singer says. "We just kind of know when the song is ripe."

Just last weekend, a new batch came to fruition -- Aushua recorded four new songs, with Thrice guitarist Teppei Teranishi at the controls. Coming off a handful of gigs in the L.A. area and a residency in July at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa, the quartet of early twentysomethings seems to be racing through the learning curve. "We grew from that," says Gammill, "we learned a lot about just playing a club."

As for the band's name, Gammill explains Aushua is a made-up word, and while it has some benefits in the Internet world (the band is the only thing that comes up on Google), nobody quite knows how to spell it when it's spoken. "Word of mouth has been a little tough," he concedes.

||| Aushua performs Thursday night with the Deadly Syndrome, Phoenix and the Turtle and Le Switch at the Scene in Glendale as this blog's nominee for the Now Blog This showcase. The fine folks at LA-Underground explain Now Blog This here.

||| Download: "Sister Saves."

Photo of Aushua at the Silverlake Lounge by Kevin Bronson / LAT.

Touts for Wednesday, Aug. 22

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have sold out the Mayan, so if you're ticketless and in the mood for some good music: The Stevenson Ranch Davidians and the Black Pine play the Echo. ... Frankel is among the performers at the Silverlake Lounge. ... Cary Brothers, supported by Stars of the Track and Field, plays the Troubadour. ... Australia's Eskimo Joe plays Club NME at Spaceland. ... And the Letter Openers will be nice and sharp at the Kiss or Kill club at El Cid.