Biography

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, AUSTIN LUCAS was taught how to sing by his musician father Robert Lucas before he could even speak. At home or in the car, his family would sing and make music, traveling during the summer months to folk, bluegrass, and old-time music festivals where his father would perform every year. As Austin became old enough to attend school, he also attended the Indiana University Children's Choir to hone his gift of singing. In spite of working under the program for 6 years - performing in 3 operas and dozens of classical choral pieces - he never learned to love or appreciate his studies until much later in his life. At 12, Austin removed himself from the choir in search of louder and faster music, and it was in the punk and hardcore scene where Austin found himself and has remained for the last 16 years. Having played in crust and grind bands such as RUNE and TWENTYTHIRD CHAPTER, as well as technical punk outfit K10 PROSPECT, Austin currently lives in Praha, Czech Republic and splits his time touring solo and playing guitar in the Orc-core Crust band GUIDED CRADLE. However, as many will infinitely attest, it is truly Austin's skillful and soulful homage to his country and bluegrass roots that leave all listening audiences haunted with a stirring sense of amazement. "Putting The Hammer Down" is Austin's North American debut for Magic Bullet Records. On it, you'll find 8 songs harkening the rich heritage and tradition of great American country and folk music past, rounded out by the strong DIY ethic and punk progressiveness that played a large part in shaping both artist and label over the years. In the end, you're left with an album that reaches across generational and genre lines in a way that few artists could ever dream of or hope for. over the years Austin has shared the stage with such bands/people as, william e. whitmore, against me, david dondero, chuck ragan, mike hale, riverboat gamblers, oh no! oh my!, atom and his package, selfbrush, monster, racebannon, pine hill haints, avskum, digger barnes, josh small, the wading girl, battleship, rapider than horsepower, larkin grimm, embers, the weary boys, saw wheel, ghost mice, christian kjellvander, leadershit, q and not u, murder by death, xbxrx, el guapo, thursday and many many more... Austin has played in these countries... Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, Denmark, sweden, finland, poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Austria and the good ol' USA...