Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas all and a happy new year!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Christmas Benefit Show

It looks like Mark (and Marc) will be taking part in a benefit show at the Make Out Room in San Francisco tomorrow (tuesday 22nd) night.

Performing originals, holiday classics and kooky covers will be: Jonathan Richman, Chuck Prophet and Stepahnie Finch, Mark Eitzel and Marc Capelle, CVS, Jill Olson and Smelly Kelly of Red Meat, Carletta Sue Kay, Tim Mitchell, Kristen Sobditch and the Hollyhocks, Phil Crumar, Paula Frazer and Patrick Main, Sandra Mello, Jen Sands, Bob Conlon, Poontang Wranglers, Touch Me Nots and many more guests and surprises.

Yes, thats Jonathan Richman!!!

More Reviews

Here are some more reviews of the album, tour and even the bootleg.

The forum seems to be slowly taking off. I am still planning on writing a decent review of Klamath at some point. Unless anyone else want to have a go?

Concert Recording

Someone of the Firefly mailing list has made a recording of the recent Copenhagen concert available here. I haven't listened to it myself yet but it is aparrently very good.

More Kalmath Reviews

There are a few reviews ou there courtesy of Drowned In sound, the BBC, the Independent and the German edition of Rolling Stone.

There is also a very revealing interview with the Scots Herald.

Brannan St CD Finally Available

Mark Eitzels other new album "Brannan St" is now available in the UK on Decor Records. I quote ...

The new tour/mail order only cd to accompany Mark's new release Klamath. The cd was recorded in San Francisco Sept 2009 and contains all new material including a few reworkings of songs from Klamath. Many of the songs are acoustic based demos with just Mark and his guitar. It is limited to 250 in the US
(available directly from Mark's new site soon) and 500 copies in the rest of the world available here Oct 21, 2009. The cd is in a PVC sleeve.

1.Friends (Instant Song)
2.There's Someone Waiting
3.Please
4.Winners Always Win
5.It's Never Over
6.ssssss
7.Ramblin' Man
8.Your Heart
9.Eva
10.Corny Spaceship Song
11.Tori
12.River

Only £10 so get it while its hot.

Misc Appearances

According to a Facebook group, there will be an interview with Mark Eitzel in the Octber issue of Acoustic Magazine. The Klamath should also be getting a feature in the next issue of Uncut magazine.

There is also some new YouTube footage from the current tour.

www.markeitzel.info is up!

Marks Eitzels new website MarkEitzel.Info is now up and running and presumably taking US orders for the new album. It says it will be a personally autographed copy and it won't be available on iTunes.

Klamath - Review

Yep, I got my copy of Klamath from Mark at his Brighton show last night and have given it a couple of listens. What's it like, you are all wondering? Well, I have played it a couple of times and here are my initial impressions.

Stylistically it builds on albums like the "Invisible Man" and "Candy Ass" however it benefits from a couple of guest appearances and a much better use of Pro-Tools (or whatever it was recorded with). It is essentially an album of nine songs (bracketed by a nicely atmospheric intro and outro) and what should be a hidden bonus track at the end. I think at least one or two of the tracks are from the forthcoming musical "Marine Parade". The songs have the familiar rhythm track sounds from those albums but it is a lot more organic sounding these days. There are a couple of guitar numbers on there but there are just as many synthy ones.

Standout tracks are
The blood on my hands. Interesting one as it sounds like it is sung from a females perspective.
I miss you. Another Kathleen song?
I live in this place. One of the songs from the musical and about a prostitute looking back at their life.
Why I am bullshit. Typical Mark title. A song sung to someone he may have let down. A few San Francisco and religious images thrown in for good measure.
Remember. A nice slow one.
Ronald koal was a rock star. The token upbeat rocker all about his meeting with the singer(?) Ronald koal years ago.
Buried Treasure and Antennas. These are the moody instrumental intro and outro. They work quite well and don't break up the flow of the album.

Guest appearances are by Marc Capelle, Franz Nicolay and Dave Douglas (not the trumpeter).

All in all, a good little album.

European Tour Started

Anyone been yet? Should get a copy of Klamath (and the other tour CDs) tomorrow so will post a review Friday (with a bit of luck).

New Forum

In an attempt to drum up a bit of community spirit, I have added a forum to the blog. It lives at

http://theinvisibleblog.forumotion.net/

and is somewhere where you can share reviews, stories, photos, and all that sort of stuff.

**EDIT**

You can actually post on the forums now! I had them all set to read only. Doh!

Vintage Live footage

Tom Mallon, the drummer/bass player in the American Music Club and owner of the rights to a couple of their early albums has put some old archive footage of the band up on YouTube. Click on the list of Uploads on the right. There is a few tunes from the California era band filmed at the Hotel Utah. Back when they were all looking very, very young. I won't list embed them all here as there is about ten of them, but here is one to wet your appetite.

Cool T-Shirts

There is a cool t-shirt doing the rounds that makes no bones about which was the best American Music Club line up.

New Album Details

Mark Eitzel has finally posted some details about his forthcoming solo album on his blog. It is called Klamath and the cover is quite lovely.

Secret Show?

According to a post on the FireFly mailing list from a certain Danny Pearson,

I will be playing at the hotel utah on friday the 28th of august with my band. We will be performing some old songs from some band I used to play in with the singer appropiate to the venue... danny

I wonder who that could be?

More Tour Videos ...

At this rate, if you can't actually make it to a show then you can probably reconstruct a playlist from YouTube vids and watch it at home.

'No Easy Way Down' - From the House concert in Buffalo NY


For the Good Times @ Maxwell's, Hoboken.


Nightwatchman @ Maxwell's, Hoboken.

US Tour Update

Seems the Philadelphia show was a bit of a disaster. Mark being on the bill between a couple of covers bands on a covers evening. Still, elsewhere he has been getting good reviews.

Anyone here seen any of the shows and care to comment?

Tour Videos

The solo (plus piano) tour is currently underway in the states. Here are some of the first YouTubes from it.





and this link has some footage of "Decibels ..." from Jasons Upstairs Bar.

Also a review.

Quick Poll

There is a new poll on the right listing Mark Eitzels current projects. Which ones are you really looking forward to?

Solo European Dates

Mark Eitzels upcoming tour for his new solo album looks a bit like this.

04.10.09 Exeter -Phoenix
06.10.09 Winchester – Tower Arts Centre
07.10.09 London - St Giles in the Fields
08.10.09 Brighton – The Basement
15.10.09 I-Milan, House Concert
16.10.09 I-Massa Carrara, Tagomago
17.10.09 I-Turin, House Concert
18.10.09 CH-Zurich, El Lokal
20.10.09 Karlsruhe, Jubez
22.10.09 L-Dudelange, Centre Culturel opderschmelz
23.10.09 B-Brussels, AB Club
24.10.09 B-Brugge, Music In Mind Festival
01.11.09 NL-Utrecht, Ekko
03.11.09 Bristol – St Bonaventures
04.11.09 Birmingham – Glee Club
05.11.09 Manchester - St Margaret's Church
07.11.09 Edinburgh – Cabaret Voltaire
08.11.09 Newcastle – Cluny 2
09.11.09 Leeds - Brudnell Social Club

Support comes from Franz Nicolay, lead moustache for the Hold-Steady, who also contributes to Marks solo album.

New Post By Mark

There is a new post by Mark on his blog. There are some new dates and some other news.

9/19/09 Triple Door Seattle WA
9/20/09 Mississippi Studios Portland OR
9/24/09 Red Devil Lounge San Francisco CA

"There may also be a show at the beginning of August in SF but I am not sure about that one yet... These are the same shows with Marc Capelle on Piano that i am doing on the East Coast.

As soon as I finish this record - I can start working on the new American Music Club record - and also the new record I am doing with Peter Buck.

In addition I started sketching out a new solo record that I will sell for Merch in Europe when I tour there in October and November. I wrote them quickly and can't wait to start on them. "

So it looks like there might be a tour CD to go along with the tour for the new CD.

Video For "San Francisco" By Jill Sobule

I suppose if you are going to do a song called San Francisco then you want some locals in the video.

Mark Eitzel Performs American Music Club

If you haven't seen this post on Mark Eitzels blog then you might be interested to know he is doing a small est coast US tour this summer.

Sat 7/18 New York, NY at Le Poisson Rouge
Sun 7/19 Hudson, NY at Jason’s Upstairs
Mon 7/20 Hoboken, NJ at Maxwell’s
Tue 7/21 Boston. MA at Lizard Lounge
Wed 7/22 Albany NY at Lindas at WAMC
Thu 7/23 Rochester, NY at Lovin’ Cup Cafe
Fri 7/24 Buffalo, NY at Marty & Susan’s House
Sat 7/25 Baltimore, MD at Metro Gallery
Sun 7/26 Chapel Hill, NC at Memorial Hall Theatre w/ She&Him & Wye Oak (part of the Merge XX celebration)
Mon 7/27 Arlington, VA at IOTA Club
Tue 7/28 Philadelphia, PA at Johnny Brenda’s
Wed 7/29 Brooklyn, NY at Bell House

According to the comments there is apossible west coast US tour in late sept and a European one in October. More details as they appear.

American Music Club Interview From 1994

Here is a link to a scan of an old interview with the American Music Club way back in 1994.

Thursdays in May With Loquat!

Meant to blog this one earlier, but this Thursday Mark Eitzel will be putting in a guest appearance at the "Thursdays in May With Loquat!" night at the Cafe Du Nord. Dunno what it will actually involve but Mark seems to be getting back in practice, possibly for a tour somewhen.

Another Record With Pete Buck?

Over on Pitchfork they ask Pete Buck from REM what he has been up to recently. He mentions Mark Eitzel and says they have some tracks that need finishing. It is not quite clear if this is new stuff or something left over from West, their album together. How do you read it?

Animal Nights - Review

I think most people were there as it was a Brighton Fringe Festival show and it had a bloke from "East Enders" in. I was strange hearing the first couple of chords to Johnny Mathis without the polite ripple of applause that normally accompanies them. It is pretty much a big chunk of the play with a few local acts thrown in for variety. The Brunswick is a small place with a small bar at the back and a low stage at the front. Most of the action took place amongst the (seated at tables) crowd. Mark sang "Johnny Mathis" and "I left my heart in San Francisco" and a couple of numbers during the show. He was hamming it up a bit. They probably did half a dozen other tunes from the show. The band gave it a slightly "60 watt" sound with mute trumpet and the songs were a bit broader than his usual stuff but with a few recognisable elements (drinking, loneliness, etc). The play seems to be about a hotel on Brighton sea front and the relationship between the owner and his cleaner, who he loves but is off to college. A few guests and tourists make an appearance and it was funnier than I was expecting. It would be good to see Mark do them solo.

Still one more show to go, so get down there if you can.

Marine Parade UK Shows

According to Mark Eitzels Facebook he will be visiting the UK for a bit this week. It is all to do with Animal Nights, an attempt to drum up some publicity for his upcoming musical, Marine Parade. Says the Facebook post ...

"I am part of an event called Animal Nights as part of the Brighton Festival.
This is an unpaid atempt to get our musical off the ground. I may sing a couple
of songs but the focus is on the play. We are talking with Channel 4 to make a
film of it."

The Brunswick is a nice venue with a good reputation for Jazz, but isn't that big. Best get in quick.

American Music Club PLay XX Merge Festival

On Sunday, July 26 the American Music Club will play the Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill, North Carolina , US of A. This is part of XX Merge, the music festival to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Merge Records, a label with ties to the Club. Also on the bill that night are She & Him and Wye Oak.

New Song

It looks like Mark Eitzel has posted a video of himself singing a new song on his blog this morning. He is also sporting a spectacular black eye as well.

Live @ Noise Pop 2009 Video

Here is a nice video of Mark Eitzel performing "Decibels ..." at Noise Pop 2009.



There is also some footage of the American Music Club live in the KCRW studio

LA Gig 18th April

It seems Mark Eitzel is playing a gig at the Largo at the Coronet in LA on Saturday the 18th April. Looks like it is Mark singing and Marc Capelle playing the piano again. It costs $20 and is with Miranda Lee Richards.

There is also this curious little webpage.

(Update)
The show has been cancelled.

AMC To Play California Album - April Fools!!!

And they said it could never happen! It has been confirmed that Mark and the original lineup of the American Music Club will be getting back together and performing their California album right the way through as part of this years All Tomorrows Parties season. it seems it is a one off to take place at the New York branch of the festival where the Dirty Three, Suicide and the Feelies will also be performing their albums. Book your tickets now!

Review of Bob Mould Show

Here is a review of Marks recent support slot. Sounds like it was jolly good.

Birthday Vids

It seems there is some footage from Marks birthday bash on YouTube. It is of the local band the Enablers doing their thing.




There is also a bizarre one of Vudi cycling down the street one night.

Happy Birthday Me !!!

Would you believe it, it has now been TWO years since my first post on the "Invisible Blog"! That is a couple of albums and a couple of tours worth of news and reviews. This year looks just as busy, so lets see what happens.

Happy Birthday Mark !!!

It is the mans big 50 this year. To celebrate here is a nice interview for you to peruse.

Sleeping Beauty Played On Banjo

Here is an interesting YouTube video.

Mark To Support Bob Mould

It is only for one show but Mark Will be opening for Bob Mould at the Swedish American Hall, San Francisco on the 28 February 2009. According to Marks Facebook page "Marc Capelle will play piano and I will sing". Not the sort of line up we have seen before.

Mark Eitzel On-Line

It seems that Mark has gone and got himself a blog. It looks a lot like ramblings about life, the universe and everyting as you would expect from his blog. The first entry is interesting though.

I guess I could talk about my career in music - though that is something I usually prefer to forget. People are much more interested than i am, actually. In 2008 AMC toured for about 6 months. I was in London for 2 months working on the play I am doing called Marine Parade. I also spent a couple of months in LA thanks to the generosity of my friend Chris Buck who lets me stay in his place. I wasn’t home a lot and I am very happy now to be in San Francisco which I love no matter how much i complain about it. I guess AMC wont do anything until late next year. I am writing a solo record tentatively called “The Old Queer On The Hill” and after that I am going to finish writing the AMC record. The solo record is going to be quiet acoustic songs and the AMC record will be songs that it is fun to play live. At least that is my plan.

So it looks like one new solo record this year and probably a new AMC one next year. Hopefully he will be touring the solo album.

As well as the Band Myspace, Band Web Site and Solo Web Site Mark is also on Facebook. He added me as a friend before xmas and seems to have embraced the whole interactivity of it all. Still, there is only one place to come for all the latest information. ;)