European Supports Announced

The support bands for the American Music Clubs European tour have been announced. According to Chris from Undertow ...

"The support on all the UK & Dutch dates is Bee and Flower as advertised
nationally. Check them out www.beeandflower.com
www.myspace.com/beeandflower It was originally going to be Paula
Frazier who they often back but due to pressing matters she had to
withdraw. Lisa Papineau of Big Sur will be doing many of the European
gigs http://www.lisapapineau.com

Dana from Bee and Flower may be known to some trainspotters as being a member of AMC for one show back in '94. The band decided to tour the US with Danny on guitar but after the first show he decided he preferred the bass. Dana had quit her university place and job for that tour so now she is out for blood some 14 years later."

New Mini-Documentary

As mentioned in the comments of a previous post there is a great little video about one of Mark Eitzels trips to Ireland here. It was done by a company called Areaman and is a behind the scenes look at the making of one of the TV appearance that you used to be ble to find on YouTube. Note, you need the latest version of Quicktime to play it and I couldn't get it working in IE7.

Anyone know why Mark is so popular in Ireland? He has played a lot of shows there recently.

Parker Bros X mess Spectacular

On Sunday December 23, 2007 Mark Eitzel will be appearing at the MakeOut Room in San Francisco as part of the The Parker Bros. Xmas Spectacle. It is a charity do in aid of the SF Food Bank and features ...

The Parker Brothers and their guests Beth Lisick and Ralph Carney, Mark Eitzel, Kelley Stoltz, Chris Von Sneidern, Tippy Canoe, Phil Crumar, Chuck Prophet and Stephanie Finch, Tom Armstrong, Corey Alan Porter, Eric Moffat, Brian and Sandra Mello, Marc Capelle, Pete Simonelli, and Spiral Stairs. Plus the comedic stylings of Johnny Megget and Chris Portfolio.

$15 at the door or $10 with 2 cans of food. Proceeds to benefit SF Food Bank...

Caught In A Trap ... - Review

The War Against Silence has an old review of "Caught In A Trap" that makes an interesting read. Yes, it is nearly ten years old (which is reealllly ancient in Blog years) but it has a nice analysis of some of the lyrics.

Golden Age Charts at #1

Well, sort of. The January issue of Uncut magazine (the one with John Lennon on the cover) lists the new album as #1 on "The Office Stereo", their list of what they have been listening to in the office. It is up there above both the Happy Mondays and Led Zeppelin.

Mark Eitzel on Loose Ends

Mark appeared on Loose Ends on Radio 4 this weekend. It was the Saturday 24 November 2007 show and can be heard here for a bit. Mark performs “The Dance” from the new album.

Mark Eitzel @ The Luminaire Vids

Thanks to Michael from the FireFly list for posting a couple of vids from Marks recent gig at the Luminaire in London on YouTube.

I've been a mess


Firefly

"All the Lost Souls Welcome you to San Francisco" MP3

A bit more audio from a different source. Over at Merge Records they have a posting on their News page that has a nice big picture of what I guess is the new album cover as well as a link to an MP3 of "All the Lost Souls Welcome you to San Francisco". It sounds great, but is rather lacking the "gay men's choir" he always said at gigs it should have. Perhaps the budget didn't stretch that far.

New Album On-Line? *Update*

According to a comment in one of my other posts ...

"The entire new album can be streamed at http://www.imeem.com/ (for free). This might be a mistake so might not be up for long -- sounds great! Not at all upbeat though like they said--sad, moody, and very AMC."

Had a quick look and couldn't see anything but then again I am not a member. Can anyone else see it?

**Update 1**
The whole album is here.


**Update**
Back to one track now. :(

First Review Of "The GoldenAge" Appears

Thanks to Michael on the FireFly list for pointing out that Uncut (home to many an Eitzel fan)have a blog about the new American Music Club album. According to this it sounds a bit like California.

Poll Results

I don't know if you noticed but there was a poll running down the left of the screen to see which was your favourite American Music Club album. well, it is over now and I can announce the results. The winners were (in reverse order)

3rd - California with 20% of the votes
2nd - Everclear with 26% of the votes
1st - Mercury with 35% of the votes

It's a bit of a surprise but Mercury was probably one of their most successful.

Mark Talks To Billboard

There is a brief interview with Mark on the Billboard website. He says that the new album is more "live" than the previous one. He goes on to say that "I did a tour with Spoon a few years ago, and played a bunch of old American Music Club songs, and they were dark. I just don't think I'm in that mood anymore," Eitzel says. "I like that 'The Golden Age' is loose and upbeat.".

American Music Club - Website

It seems the band have finally got round to updating their website. You can see it here.

It has a little jukebox on the front now with some of their tracks in it. It looks like the (now unavailable) AMC best of and the Demos for Lovesongs. Could be a couple of unreleased tunes on there as well by the looks of it.

American Music Club - New Tour Details *Update*

From Chris at Undertow records ...

Please see the following dates in support of the upcoming new AMC album "The Golden Age" - a few of the venues will not have tickets on sale until the end of the week. We are also confirming a few more dates not listed below including Paris in the next few weeks.

Wed – Jan 30 – Cork, Ireland – Cyprus Ave
Thurs Jan 31 - Limerick, Ireland – Dolans

Fri – Feb 1 – Galway, Ireland – Roisin Dubh
Sat – Feb 2 – Dublin, Ireland – Whelans
Sun – Feb 3 – Bristol, UK - tbc
Tues – Feb 5 – Leeds, UK- Irish Centre
Wed – Feb 6 – Manchester, UK - Academy 3
Thur Feb 7 - Newcastle, UK – The Cluny
Fri Feb 8 - Glasgow, UK – Oran Mor
Sat Feb 9 - Nottingham, UK- Rescue Rooms
Sun Feb 10 - Birmingham, UK – tbc
Tues Feb 12 Brighton, UK – Concorde 2
Wed Feb 13 -London, UK – Dingwalls
Thurs Feb 14 – Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
Fri Feb 15 – Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
Sat Feb 16 – Den Bosch, Holland - W2
Sun Feb 17 – Groningen, Holland - Vera
Mon Feb 18 Köln, Germany - Gebäude 9
20.02 Gijón, Spain - Acapulco (Casino)
21.02 Madrid, Spain - Caracol
22.02 Bilbao, Spain - Kafe Antzokia
23.02 Barcelona, Spain - ApoloSun Feb
24 Bielefeld, Germany - Forum
Tues Feb 26 Hamburg, Germany - Fabrik
Wed Feb 27 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
Thur Feb 28 – Malmo, Sweden - KB
Fri Feb 29 – Oslo, Norway - John Dee

Sat Mar 1 – Gotenburg, Sweden - Sticky Fingers
Sun Mar 2 – Aarhus, Denmark - Voxhall **
Tue Mar 4 - Berlin, Germany - ColumbiaClub
Wed Mar 5 - Leipzig, Germany - Nato
Thur Mar 6 Frankfurt, Germany - Brotfabrik
Fri Mar 7 Weinheim, Germany - Cafe Central
Sat Mar 8 St Gallen, Switzerland - Palace
Sun Mar 9 Zürich, Switzerland - El Lokal
Tues Mar 11 Turin, Italy - Spazio 211
Wed Mar 12 München, Germany - Registratur
Thurs Mar 13. Wien, Austria, WUK
Fri Mar 14 Ebensee, Austria - Kino
Sat Mar 15 Geislingen, Germany - Rätschenmühle
16.03. Diksmuide, Belgium - 4 AD
18.03. Paris, France - Divan Du Monde
20.03 Norwich, UK - Arts Centre

The new album is due Feb 4th UK (unless you go to Bristol and buy it the night before) and
the week before in Ireland. US dates will be in April

American Music Club - New Album Details

According to Peter on the FireFly mailing list, the new American Music Club album is done.

American Music Club's new album "THE GOLDEN AGE" is done! The album will be released in early 2008 by Merge Records in North America and by Cooking Vinyl in Europe. The track listing is as follows...

1. All My Love
2. The Victory Choir
3. The Decibels and the Little Pills
4. The Sleeping Beauty
5. The Stars
6. All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco
7. Who You Are
8. The Windows of the World
9. One Step Ahead
10. The Dance
11. I know that's not really you
12. On My Way
13. The Grand Duchess of San Francisco

What with tour dates appearing now in February, we could be looking at a release around that time. Mark has been playing at least three of these tunes (lost sould, windows and one step) live for a year or so now. Anyone have any details of the others?

A couple more dates

According to the bands website, the American Music Club will be playing a couple of dates in LA and San Francisco next month.

Fri 11/9/07
Rickshaw Stop
San Francisco CA

Tue 11/13/07
The Echo
Los Angeles CA
w/ Emma Pollack

New AMC Track On Charity Compilation

The music blog HardToFindAFriend is releasing a digital download only charity compilation and it will feature a new track by the American Music Club. It is a holiday themed compilation and the track is called - You Cain't Always Get Whatchu Want (Original) which according to Mark is at least Holiday themed/inspired. It is released on the 13th of Nov and is only available via the blog for the princely sum of $7.

Videos From Ghent Show

A couple of new videos have appeared on youTube, both from the recent show in Ghent. The sound is a bit crackly but they are both good

Another Morning


Lost Souls Of San Fransisco

Recording - Mark Eitzel: 2007-04-27, Copenhagen

According to a posting at LargeHeartedBoy the is a recording of Mark Eitzel from the 2007-04-27 show in Copenhagen. It is in Flac format and you need membership of dimeadozen to access it.

Please note that there is a poll in the sidebar on the left where you can now vote for your favourite American Music Club album. Have a quick click and make your vote count.

I have also moved the list of guest appearances into its original post which you can access through the link on the left.

New Dublin Gig

It seems there is an American Music Club show at Whelans in Dublin being advertised. It is a while to go as it's not till Saturday 2 February 2008. Still, it could the first sightings of a new tour. Click on the above link and go to the last page of the listings.

New Pics

There are some new pics of the band on their MySpace page. I think you have to click the Pics link under the scary picture of Vudi. Some of them are web cam type stuff but one is of the (new) band in a rowing boat with Vudi swimming along side !?!?!?! I don't know if someone photoshopped it for laugh or what.

Not quite sure how I managed to see the pics as I don't belong to MySpace and the page seems to be members only. I got a couple of random errors when I tried clicking the link abut it did let me in. Try it and see what happens.

Recording - 12th April 2006 - Lund, Sweden

There is a recording of the Mark Eitzel show from Lund in Sweden last year. It is available here and you don't need to register to download it. According to this post it only contains seven songs and was the support slot to a Willard Grant Conspiracy show.

Video Documentary On-Line

Here is a nice little documentary about the American Music Club. I remember downloading and watching this years ago but it seems its available on YouTube now. I guess it's a promotional film from around the time of Mercury. It is worth watching just to hear Vudi say something.

Holiday Destinations

If you are looking for somewhere different to go on holiday this year then here are a few places to try.
Myopic Books.
This is a bookstore in Chicago where as legend has it the staff are "super skinny and they play Dinosaur Jr".
Mission Rock
"Lets have a drink at the Mission rock ...". Well, you won't be alone as its one of the more popular restaurants in San Francisco.
Sacre Coeur
Well worth a visit if you ever go to Paris. You get a lovely view of the city from there. Messiaen on the walkman is entirely optional.
Southend On Sea
One of the UKs finest holiday resorts. Not! Seems Mark had a really bad experience there judging by the song.
Hotel Utah
San Francisco venue where some of the live tracks on United Kingdom were recorded.
Make Out Room
Another venue song though this one never got officially released.
Bernal Heights
There was a "Memo from Bernal Heights" on the b-side of one of the Mercury singles.

Finally, from what I gather, the Mission District was once a dodgy part of San Francisco but is now its equivalent to Camden/Greenwich Village. Here is a nice tour round the area by Marc Capelle, the trumpet player on 60 Watt.

Have I missed anywhere?

A Couple Of New Live Dates

According to Rich on the FireFly mailing list, Mark Eitzel is playing the Handelsbeurs at Gent in Belgium on 14th September supporting Joan As Police Woman. After that Mark will be in the UK working on his play/musical and the only other show will be London's Luminaire on October 14th.

Everclear Review

Here is a nice review of Everclear. "It’s definitely the most emotional, sad, bittersweet, and depressingly beautiful album of all time ..." he says and we wouldn't disagree with that. The site is a music site called Mog which also has another member of note.

Anyone else out there want to review their favourite Mark Eitzel related album? Send them in and I will post the best.

Mark On German Radio Show : Update

It seems that on Sunday Radio Bremen broadcast a recording of one or Marks shows from earlier in the year. A quick translation of the page doesn't reveal any links to on-line versions so I guess we have missed it. Unless anyone out there recorded it? Anyone?

Update
it seem the show is available on Bittorrent. It's available at dimeadozen or hopefully at a good FTP site near you soon. Thanks to LargeHeartedBoy for pointing that out.

Message From Mark

As noted by Kyle on the Firefly mailing list, Mark has posted a message up on his MySpace page regarding the new incarnation of the band.


Message from Mark Eitzel


it has come to my attention that there is some major controversy
surrounding the 'new' band members of amc.

how do i say this... it was my and vudi's decision not to work with
tim and danny. i think they are great musicians and people but a lot
about making music has to do with enthusiasm. frankly they hadn't even
spoken to me for about 6 months before we decided to move on. there
was some money problem and tim would not return my calls. danny
disappears into the woods every once in a while and would not return
my calls. it was like pulling teeth.

vudi and i had started working on arrangements in la and he found
steve and sean to play bass and drums. the three of them made me feel
excited about making this record - and i kept thinking - this is a
great band.

we wanted to call this collection of people something else than amc
but i couldn't find anyone who would release the record with a new
name. we are known in some circles but not to the world at large and
the gesture of using a new name would have fallen flat. no one would
care if we didn't use a name they never heard of before.

i am sure that a lot of long time fans will resent this and to them i
am sorry - but - i wanted this record to be a 'band' record - not a
record that you have to edit together. i mean it is hard to have a
band that lives in different cities. i wanted vudi to be front and
center - not someone who flies up every other week to work. honestly
it killed me to make this decision.

the new album "the golden age" is intended to sound like a classic
amc record - much like 'california' and so far i am really proud. i
hope the fans will hold their noses and check it out.

love,

Mark

I think the gist is that he wanted to make a new album, the record companies said it had to be another American Music Club one otherwise it wouldn't sell so well. It seems he has "issues" with Danny and Tim and as Vudi lives in LA it seems sensible to move the "band" there. On the plus side the new album "The Golden Age" is supposed to be a return to the golden age of albums like California.

Do you think it matters what the new band is called or who is in it? Would you skip the new album just because it didn't have the original line up or will you but anything that comes out with Marks name on it? Let us know.

Tribute Videos

YouTube seems to be flooded with videos set to music by Mark and the Music Club. Most of them seem to be from a chap called Zenmac from Portugal.

If Zenmac gets in touch and explain why he chose the films he chose, then I will let you know. Anyway, here they are for you to watch and enjoy.

Western Skyline


Goodbye To Love


Faux Poney


Loves Humming


Revolving Door

Another California Review

Here is another review of the classic American Music Club album California. It seems to be the critics choice as it has a nice selection of sounds and lyrics to anlyse. Having said that, I was raised on the CD version which came with the "United Kingdom" album tacked on the end as bonus tracks. The two are merged into one for me. It's only now I have my iPod that I have separated them out. This review is by Tony Heyward at the HighwayFive music blog. Tony is a regular contributor to the FireFly mailing list.

Universal Audio Ad

If anyone was wondering what the story behind the video of Mark Eitzel extolling the virtues of the new DCS Remote Preamp are, then head over to here. It is an interview with him on the makers web site. He mentions the "MacArthur Park Music Club" and his favourite producers and engineers.

Details Of New AMC Album

FROM MARK EITZEL
June 20, 2007

American Music Club has a new line up.
Vudi - guitar
Sean Hoffman - bass - vocal
Steve Didelot - drum vocal
Mark Eitzel - guitar vocal

AMC moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. The original members Danny Pearson(bass) and Tim Mooney (drums) still work in San Francisco and perform in various bands. Danny is releasing a solo record by the end of the year. Mark and Vudi started working with Steve and Sean about a year ago. The chemistry was great and so they continued with the project and called it the MacArthur Park Music Club but this work eventually became the new AMC record.

Members of the band:
Vudi lives in LA, drives a city bus and also plays with the popular rock band Ariel Pink.

Sean Hoffman is a producer, commercial music maker, ex skate punk and plays all the shredding guitar that you enjoy whilst watching Fox Sports. He also plays guitar in a band called the Larks.

Steve Didelot is a songwriter, drummer, surfer, and a Mathematics teacher in the LA public schools system. He also plays in the Larks

Mark Eitzel still lives in San Francisco, loves the Bay Area but spends a lot of time in Los Angeles. He says he 'loves all the trees' and says Los Angeles is "so "triumph of the will"'.

The new album:
Tentatively called MacArthur Park because Vudi lives in that neighborhood and because we all enjoy the original song by Jimmy Webb. It will be produced by expert producer Dave Trumfio at his studio called King Size. We are very excited by this....

The overall sound is lighter than on previous AMC recordings. Of course there are many reasons why. 1) AMC refutes the label of 'Emo Pioneers'. For the record they hate Emo and have never been on the soundtrack for any W.B. network show. (yet) 2) Dark music is for people who are healthy enough to take it - and AMC want to appeal to all people - including the sick. 3) Mark Eitzel comments: "What will my neighbours in my retirement community think? How will I charm the nurse that tends to me? I want to fill my mouth with sugar and spit it on everyone when I talk. I want to cover the world with chocolate cake icing."

Yes there is a song about the World Trade Center. But such controversy is nothing new for this 'Right On' political band. Sean (bass) is a right leaning liberal texan who hates NPR and is the proud owner of a Segway. Vudi (guitar) dreams of an imperialist world of powdered wigs and waltz's in ballrooms. Mark (vocals) is a gay communist who once wrote an article: 'How Secure Will Your House Be During The Apocalypse'. Steve (drums) is a Christian activist who only plays in this band because the end times are upon us and what the fuck.
Plans.

The new album should be released in early 2008. When the ice and snow is thick and heavy. When your winter depression finally kicks in. No Christmas or New Years to look forward to - just the iron grip of the cold and the bleak endless news reports on the death we bring to the middle east and to ourselves. Perfect. Merge did much market research and focus group after focus group said this would be the perfect time to release our new record. Of course it will be. After that we tour and bring our own version of American Freedom to a waiting and willing world.

Kiki & Herb: Alive from Broadway

A show called Kiki & Herb : Alive from Broadway is currently playing in Boston. It is a cabaret type thing and features amongst many pop tunes a version of "Patriots Heart". It runs through to the 30th June and you can read a review here. The mind boggles but having seen their MySpace page it sort of makes sense.

Updated: Guest Appearances

Down the side now you will see that I have added a list of compilations and guest appearances that Mark Eitzel has made over the years. I have included links to the tracks, the CD or (in some cases) the only references I can find. There are still a few more to add but there are a few mentioned there I haven't seen anywhere else. The Mitchell Froom one sounds interesting from the two words you get in the sample clip.

• Cane 141 - New Day Parade EP
• Congo Norvell - Abnormal Anonymous
• Mitchell Froom - Dopamine
• Pine Valley Cosmonauts - The Executioner's Last Songs: Volumes 2 & 3
• Sonny Smith - One Act Plays
• The Shallows - Crooked Rain
• Toiling Midgets - Son
• Tuatara - East Of The Sun
• V/A - Acuarela Songs
• V/A - Clubbo Sampler Vol. 1
• V/A - Comes With A Smile #8,#12 & #16
• V/A - Esopus Magazine 1
• V/A - New Sounds of the Old West Vol.3
• V/A - No Alternative
• V/A - Offbeat A Red Hot Soundtrip
• V/A - Shanti Project Collection 2
• V/A - Sigmatropic : Sixteen Haiku and Other Stories
• V/A - You Can Never Go Fast Enough
• Virgil Shaw - Still Falling

Have I missed any others?

Heart And Soul Video

Here is a another clip from the recent tour of Mark Eitzel performing Joy Division's 'Heart and Soul' live at Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire. The video doesn't quite make it to the end of the song but you get most of it. Thanks to the Perspective blog for this one.

American Beauty Recording

There is a recording of the Grateful Dead tribute show that took place back in Jan in New York. I only menton it as Mark Eitzel took part covering "Friend Of The Devil". He is on track 2.

KCRW Radio Sessions

It seems there is a nice archive of Mark eitzel and American Music Club related stuff here at the website for the KCRW radio station. There are interviews and songs from "60 Watt", "West" and "Patriots". I believe Mark as already released one of these as a CD.

Obscure Compilations

Seems there are a couple of obscure CDs out there with Mark Eitzel contributions that I had never heard of before. First is "Dopamine" by Mitchell Froom. Mark contributes the track "Watery Eyes". Second is something called "One Act Plays" by Sonny Smith. I can't find much trace of it on the net anywhere but he is a fellow performer from San Francisco and chums with Mark. Supposedly it is 10 one act plays written for his friends in the form of songs.

Video from Loppen

The tour may be over for Mark Eitzel but the videos keep coming in. Here is one from Loppen where "Johnny Mathis' Feet" get rewritten as "Robbie Willams Feet".

Norwich Review

There is a review of Marks gig in Norwich on the BBC web site.

Couple More Videos

Lets see. Today we have the original promo video for Rise. It features a relatively young and clean shaven looking Mark Eitzel.



and then a couple more live clips of the American Music Club.

A shot of the back of the band ?!?!


Jesus' Hands


I thought I had had a lot of hits recently. That is probably something to do with the mention over at indiefolkforever, a lovely blog about all things indie/alternative.

Musical Differences???

In shock news it seems that the American Music Club are down to a duo consisting of Mark Eitzel and Vudi. The official word is that the band will be based in LA from now on and as Danny (Pearson) and Tim (Mooney?) have families they won't be able to make the commute from SF. Presumably Vudi has given up his job on the bus' to go full time now.

However, the unofficial word in a posting from Danny on the Firefly mailing list is that;

"tim and i never left amc, we were not invited to continue! I WOULD JUST LIKE IT ON THE RECORD THAT I HAD NEVER THOUGHT OF NOT PLAYING IN AMC, I DID NOT QUIT. danny pearson"

So there you go. It cold be San Francisco all over again. For me Danny has always been as much of the Club as Vudi or Mark.

"Ten Years of Tears" Review

My copy turned up in the post today, #260 of 500. It is a white CDR with a rubber stamp on the front. It does actually say Vol.2 which implies Mark may have released a Vol.1. If he has then I have missed it. The front cover is a portrait of a small uni-browed child who might possibly be Mark.

So, what does it sound like? It is all good quality recordings. Mainly all originals except for his covers of Joy Divisions "Heart & Soul", Springsteens "My Fathers Place" and a couple of tracks from the solo albums.

It starts with 4 Music Club tracks with the Undertow Orchestra and then jumps back 10 years to a couple of "60 Watt" tracks. Next there is a track from "West". I don't know if that is Pete Buck on guitar is it? Then comes my fave bit, 3 tracks with the band that toured "Invisible Man". They only played one gig in the UK supporting J Mascis and they rocked. Big time. Next come the covers and finally there are 3 of the old classic.

It could easily have been an hour of Mark and his guitar so it is good to hear a nice selections of bands playing on there. At 64 mins they could have stuck some auidence banter on there or possibly a couple more unreleased tracks. Still, worth getting as a document of the man in his prime.

New Live Videos

A couple of clips of Mark on his current tour have appeared on YouTube.

Zagreb


Cardiff


With added audience singing.

Interview From Ireland

There is an interview with Mark in the Galway Advertiser. He touches on his relationship with Vudi and how the new songs he is currently doing are for the next American Music Club album. He says there will be some recording in May with an eye to a January release.

"Ten years of Tears" Available

Marks new live album is available here. It looks like a few tracks from a radio show from around the time of "60 Watt ..." as well as a few tracks with the Undertow Orchestra. That means that half of it will be with a band of some sort and half will be solo strumming. As they say in the Jazz Club, Nice.

Update. Not shipping to North America. You probably want the bands web site for that.

Edinburgh Review

There is a review of Marks gig in Edinburgh on Thursday here.

"Mean Mark Eitzel Get's Fat" - BitTorrent

It seems there is a FLAC torrent of Mark Eitzel: 1981, "Mean Mark Eitzel Get's Fat" 4 track demo out there in BitTorrent land. Unfortunately you have to be a member of dimeadozen.org to see it.

New Live Album!!!

It seems Mark has a new limited edition live cd coming out soon. It is called "Ten years of Tears" and features live recording made over the last ten years. It will be available on his current tour or shortly from his website. There are only 500 copies available so be quick.

Tracklisting is
1.Ladies and Gentlemen
2.St Michael My pet rat
3.Sleeping Beauty
4.Home
5.Mission Rock Resort
6.Aspirin
7. In You Life
8. Greeting Cards
9. To The Sea
10.No Easy way Down
11.Rehearsals For Retirement
12.My Father's Place
13.Heart and Soul
14.Blue and Grey Shirt
15.I've Been A Mess
16.Jesus’ Hands

More details as they emerge.

A review of California

Here is a nice overview of the Music Clubs album "California" from Julian Copes HeadHeritage site. The reviewer places it at the tail end of all those West Coast Hippy albums about that state which I am not sure I agree with. He also gives a nice track by track run down of it.

The site seems to have more going on than when I last looked at it. There seems to be more general content with reviews and features not necessarily about Mr Cope. Check it out.

Tour News

It seems the gig at Sheffield on 20 April has been cancelled. However the is now one at Loppen in Copenhagen on the 27th of April.

Eitzel v Mould

In a change for the usual news posts, today will be more of an opinion post. I was flicking through my iPod the other day and it struck me that two of my favourite singers were following rather similar career paths. The two chaps in question being Mark Eitzel and Bob Mould. As I see it, their careers go something like this.

• Start as singer in an influential underground band (American music Club and Husker Du respectively) that briefly flirt with success and major labels.
• Split the band up for music influence/ego problems.
• Get a reputation as a really miserable git. When "Black Sheets of Rain" came out the Guardian called Bob "the most miserable man in rock" and Mark of course wrote "If I Had a Gun".
• Release great debut solo album and then a series of patchy follow ups.
• In Bobs case, do the same again with a band call Sugar.
• Endlessly tour with solo acoustic shows.
• Come out of the closet, start hanging around clubs like Trade (or the US equivalent), think that Soft Cell are fab and re-invent yourself as a "electronic" artist.
• Release a series of electronic/dance albums to various amounts of critical praise.
• Finally make a decent comeback album. In Marks case it was "Love Songs for Patriots" and in Bobs case it was "Body of Song".

I just find it strange that the singers of my two fave bands of the late 80s/early 90s both had such similar career paths. They have both gone electronic and produced Pro-Tools albums though the albums have been most different. Marks are still singer/songwriter albums while Bobs still have that hint of power pop guitar in them.

And another interview ...

There is an old interview with the band at KEXP.ORG that's worth checking out. Normally its just Mark so it's nice to hear the whole band talking. You can listen to each song separately or hear the whole interview and songs in one go.

Tour Starts ...

Marks solo tour started last night at University of Cadiz, Algeciras. First reports say that he came on before the support act and left the stage after about 20 minutes never to return. Hopefully its just a one off but his shows have been a bit erratic recently.

More news as it happens.

AMC Videos

Having a browse round iFilm and i see they have a couple of American Music Club promo videos up there. There is the amusing Karaoke version of "Johnny Mathis' Feet" and the rather buff, tanned video for "Wish The World Away". I remember seeing an old one for "Electric Light" recently, but have lost the URL. Anyone else out there got it?

What we need is an comprehensive AMC DVD gather all these videos up and make em available. Possibly with some decent live footage as well.

The Comic Strip Presents ...

Here are a couple of Eitzel and AMC related comic strips I found, courtesy of ConcertLiveWire.Com. They seem to run a comic strip taking the mickey out of rock and pop acts. The Bad Religion one is quite good.

Another Interview

Here is another interview from 2006. It is by a site called Vox.Com which is presumably nothing to do with the old music mag of the same name.

I, Curmudgeon (2004)

In an attempt to avoid stereotyping, it seems Mark appeared in a documentary a couple of years ago, all about being miserable. It had a relatively all star cast for something like this. I have never heard of it or seen it advertised anywhere.

New Tuatara Track

Looks like the new Tuatara album is available for streaming from the record companies site. By the sound of it Marks track is "A Spark In The Wind". It has a bit of an eastern drone rock sort of vibe to it.

Photos

It seems a few of the users of the photo web site Flickr are fans of Mark as well. Here are a selection of photos of the man himself. What a selection of shirts and hats he has.

Podcasting

Here is a cool Podcast interview with Mark that goes into the history of the band and his thoughts on music and the world on general. They also have a good video of the American Music Club playing "I've been a mess" in Brooklyn. From the good people at CultureCatch

Mark on new Tuatara album

It seems Mark is contributing to the new album by Tuatara, the side project of Pete Buck from REM and Scott McCaughey (when they are not being the Minus 5/3). It seems they put together a bunch of tunes and sent them out to their favourite singer/songwriters, Mark included, to write and sing on.

"East Of The Sun" is due out in June 2007 and there is talk of taking the band and the singers hitting the road. We will have to wait and see whether they come to the UK.

This is also mentioned in the April issue of Uncut on page 24.

Undertow Orchestra

When Mark toured with the Undertow Orchestra they seem to have got quite a bit of publicity.

Glide Magazine have an interview with all the band members.

There is another interview with them and a couple of songs on Minnesota Public Radio.

There is also what looks like a video of a show in Athens, Ga.

There are a coule of YouTube posts but nothing with Mark on it really.
Will

Vic

Will


Finally there are a couple of recordings around. There was a nice piece and a complete show up on (the realllly good) Bradley's Almanac. Unfortunately he has taken the tunes down now but I am sure they are still around somewhere. Further searching shows It's Hard To Find A Friend also has another whole show. I went to the Union Chapel gig which was one of the best shows of last year. Anyone out there have a copy?

Enjoy.

Music Club Recordings

A quick trawl of the net reveals you can get some American Music Club goodness from the Internet Archive. Only one show from 2005 but probably worth checking out.

It's also worth remembering there is the FREE version of Everclear on Download.Com.

Have I missed any more?

Mark On YouTube

It seems there is quite a bit of Mark on good old YouTube.

Jenny


Johnny Mathis Feet


Sleeping Beauty


Doing An Advert


Meets My Bloody Valentine - Incidental One

I remember hearing this on a "Red Hot and Blue" compilation when it came out and thinking "erm ... where's Mark?".

Mark Eitzel Touring

It seems Mark is touring again next month. Here are the dates so far announced.

28.3 Algeciras - University of Cadiz
29.3 Sevilla - South Pop Festival
30.3 Barcelona - Pocket Club
31.3 Madrid - Sala
8.4. Halle (Saale) - Objekt 5
9.4. Nurenberg - Jazzstudio
10.4. Münster - Gleiss 22
11.4. Bremen - Kioto Lagerhaus
12.4. Stuttgart - Laboratorium
13.4. Munchen - Zerwirk MUSIKEXPRESS Party
15.4. Vienna -Chelsea
16.4 Zagreb - Teatre & TD
17.4 Innsbruck - Weekender
18.4 Aberdeen - Lemon Tree
21.4 Exeter -The Phoenix
22.4 Cardiff - Clwb Ifor Bach
23.4. Wolverampton - Lil Civic
24.4. London - Luminiare
29.4. Norwich - Arts Centre
30.4. Cambridge Junction
4.5 Cork - Cyprus Ave
5.5 Kilkenny - Roots Festval
6.5 Kilkenny - Roots Festival

In related news, he has also demoed at least 8 tunes for his forthcoming musical project.

The beat of a different DRM

As mentioned earlier, I have an iPod. On it I have ripped pretty much all of my favourite CDs and a few other bits that I have liberated off the net. Have I brought anything from iTunes? A couple of things, but nothing that I wouldn't mind losing if I ever switched back to a non Apple player. You see, anything you buy from iTunes is encoded with Digital Rights Management (DRM) in such a way that you can only play it on YOUR ipod or your copy of iTunes. Considering there are hundreds of makes of MP3 player out there, this is a bit of a limitation. Especially now that Microsoft have launched the Zune media player. Music purchased from the Microsoft site will play on the Zune but not on the iPod.

So what has caused this stupid state of affairs? Its because the digital music revolution has been lead by the hardware manufacturers up till now. In the old days someone would invent the tape cassette or the CD player and all the music companies would agree to use it. The phrase download is a bit misleading as there are so many sorts. An itunes download would be more equivalent to an Apple CD that could only be played in an Apple CD player. The only thing it shares with an MP3 is that they are both stored as computer files.

There is one simple solution to this whole saga though. That is for the music companies to come up with their own format. This would have all the features of Apples FairPlay but would be licensed to M$, Apple, iRiver and anyone else who wanted it. I am sure it wouldn't take long to come up with some encrypted version of an MP3 file. Then, as long as the manufacturers stuck to the rules you could play the tunes you downloaded from itunes on your Zune and vice versa. I mean, how hard can it be to create a new audio processing codec? I am sure for a fee apple would license the algorithms behind FairPlay. Wrap that round an MP3 file and you are ready to go. Of course Sony has tried something like this. They came up with their ATRAC file format which you could only download from the Sony site and that only played on Sony players. Therefore trying to copy Apple but failing miserably (of course naming your new technology after the old 8 track technology didn't help).

The other thing about DRM is that people say its too restrictive. How many places do you need your music though? Your PC, your laptop and your music player should be enough. M$ have given us the ability to "lend" music to friends for a bit. If you buy a CD you can only really play it in one place at any one time. You could burn a copy for the car and a copy for the office, but who does that? Also, as long as the new system worked with all the various subscription services as well they would have it all tied up. Then digital music would really take off in a big way.

Mark Eitzel goes musical

Mark Eitzel likes Brighton (the one in the UK). The American Music Club have played there a couple of times and he has appeared solo a couple of times. In fact he likes it so much he's writing a musical about it.

I saw him when he played the town over xmas as was suprised when he announced this. He played two of the songs from it and they sounded really good. One was set in Lower Rock Gardens which is in the shady part of town. From what I remember, it was about a woman who possibly had a difficut childhood and was possibly on the game. The other was more of an anthem for the town. There was some lyric about blokes in jeans and white t-shirts. The chorus was something about spending "another year in Brighton", though I can't remember if it was meant in a good or bad way.

What I hate about iPods & iTunes

I have probably had my (5.5G 80Gb) iPod about 6 months now, so its probably a good time to review what I like and don't like about it.

Likes

• Integration with iTunes. As a complete package its great. Having put most of my collection on there now (several hundred CDs and the same amount of "backups") it has opened up a whole new way of listening to music.
• Smart Playlists are cool and so is the ability to mark a Cd as a compilation. It keeps the list of Artists a bit cleaner.
• Video and games are quite fun if you have 20 mins to kill on a train journey. I wouldn't watch a whole film on it though.
• Podcasts. There are some really good ones on there.
• Nice long battery life.

Dislikes

• As Apple is in league with the record companies, why couldn't it get its track names from them as well instead of going to that CDDB thing. Windows Media Player nearly always came back with the right disc and track names. Give iTunes a 2 disc set though and it will come back with two similar but distinctly different disc names.
• Inability of iTunes to play an album or artist without keeping the music pane open at all times. If you continue browsing through your music then it just plays the current song and finishes.
• The way the iTunes Music pane always goes to the top of the artists list whenever you switch to it, instead of keeping your last selection. Very annoying.
• Might just be my MacBook but the Cd is very flakey. Often it will freeze mid rip and the only way to eject it is a reboot.
• Misc hardware fault which returns error -48 and requires you to have your MacBook set to a West Coast US timezone in order to sync with your iPod.


• More than £20 for the optional power adaptor. I got one from Amazon for £2.50.


• The fact that the audiobooks and one single that i have brought can only be played on an iPod or in iTunes.

I had a iRiver H340 and while it was a nice bit of kit they assumed that just the ability to play music was all that was needed.