Eitzel Through The Ages

Here is a nice selection of pictures of the band taken at various stages through their career. Ah, the haircuts, the hats, the various line up changes. How they bring back memories.

Mark Eitzel Cover

Someone (possibly a regular on the Firefly mailing list) calling themselves Exit has just released a 2 track internet single, the b-side of which is a cover of "Everything Is Beautiful" from Marks "60 Watt ..." album.

Top 25 Rock Bands of the 90s

It seems the American Music Club have made it into Yahoos 25 Best Alternative Rock Bands Of The 1990s. That puts then up there with Beck, Nirvana and SonicYouth. Strange thing to note is just how many of those bands have reformed in the last couple of years.

The Best Tracks Of 2008

The Onions A.V. Club has nominated "All My Love" as one of its top tunes of the year so far.

Quick Q&A

The Music Minded blog has a short Q&A with mark about the new album.

Danny Pearson Show Tomorrow Night

Danny Pearson is playing a gig at the Starry Plough pub in Berkley tomorrow (Friday 13th June)night. He is supporting Ultralash and 20 Minute Loop.

Uncut Cover CD

The July issue of Uncut magazine features "Decibels ..." on it cover mounted CD.

Autumn American Music Club Tour Announced

Hot off the Press comes the dates for the second Eurpoean tour.

A few of them may not be on sale until later this week. Some fans asked for Finland and Portugal so we came through. There will be another three dates added in soon which will include Portugal, Belgrade and Zagreb so please stay tuned.

Sept 2 Belfast – Empire
Sept 3 Dublin – Whelan’s
Sept 4 Manchester – Academy 3
Sept 5 Glasgow – Stereo
Sept 6 Newcastle – Cluny
Sept 7 York – Princess Charlotte
Sept 9 Bristol – Thekla
Sept 10 Leicester – The Musician
Sept 11 London – Bush Hall
Sept 12 Dorset – End of the Road Festival
Sept 13 Exeter – Phoenix
Sept 15 Cambridge – The Graduate
Sept 16 Winchester – Railway
Sept 18 Spain – tbc
Sept 19 Portugal – Barriero (venue tbc)
Sept 20 Spain – Huelva – South Pop Festival
Sept 21 Spain – tbc
Sept 24 Switzerland – Luzern
Sept 25 Germany – Karlshruhe – Jubez
Sept 26 Germany - Dresden – Beat Pol
Sept 27 Germany – Wendelsterin – Jegelscheune
Sept 29 Finland – Helsinki – Tavastia
Sept 30 Luxembourg – Dudelange - CC op der Schmertz
Oct 1 Belgium – Ghent - Handlesbeurs
Oct 2 Netherlands – Haarlem - Patronaat
Oct 3 Netherlands – Den Haag – Paard van Troje
Oct 4-8 tbc
Oct 9 Italy – Milan – Casa 139
Oct 10 Italy – Florence – Viper
Oct 11 Italy – Rome - Init

The single for All the lost Souls will be promoted at the end of August so please look out for more sessions and interviews then.

American Music Club Play Ireland (again)

They have a gig at Whelans in Dublin on the 3rd September 2008.

Idler Interview

I haven't seen the latest issue yet but there is apparently an interview with Mark Eitzel in the latest issue of the Idler. For those of you that haven't see it, the Idler is a British magazine dedicated to living a more relaxed way of life. And no, that is not a drug euphemism.

American Music Club Play Belgium

The autumn leg of the tour is starting to appear now. The band play the Handelsbeuer club in Ghent, Belgium on the 1st October 2008. More details as they appear.

Tour Videos

Here are some clips of the band on their current tour.

Decibels and Little Pills


The Stars


All The Lost Souls ...


Hello Amsterdam


Wish the World Away


All The Lost Souls ...


I Know That's Not Really You


Another Morning


Hello Amsterdam (ish)

Tour Photos

Here are some pics of the band on their current tour.

All The Lost Souls ... - Video

Looks like "Lost Souls" is probably the new single as they have gone and done a video for it. The woman in the video is Grace Zabriskie who has appeared in a whole host of interesting films and TV shows. What do you think?

AMC @ Bam! Fest

Looks like another festival appearance for the American Music Club, this time at Bam! Fest in Chicago. This takes place in Roscoe Village, Chicago on June 28 & 29.

More Dates Ahead

According to the bands press bloke

We are currently booking UK, Belgian, Dutch, German, Spanish, Portuguese and hopefully eastern European & Italian dates stretching from Sept 2 until Oct 10th. There will be a new live tour cd taken from their last dates for this.

Late Gig Review

Here is a review of a gig somewhere on the North American continent. Possibly Torronto judging by the ads. One of the comments says something about one of the shows selling out.

Sean Body (RIP)

It has come to my attention (via the Firefly mailing list) that the writer Sean Body has passed away. This gets a mention here as Sean was the author of Wish The World Away, the marvellous book on the American Music Club. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you order a copy now. As well as that, he used to run Helter Skelter book shop (no longer) on Denmark St in London. Our thought go out to his family.

AMC On The Radio

There is an appearance by the American Music Club on Minnesota Public Radio. Songs performed: "Home," "All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco," and "The Windows of the World."

A few more interviews as well.

More interviews ...

Here (quite good for the group photo), here and here.

Guaranteed Good Review

If you ever want a sure fire way of getting a good review on then net then look no further. All you have to do is dedicate a song to one of the audiences pet dogs. They will love you for it.

Mark Answers 20 Questions

In PopMatters.

Worlds Briefest Interview?

There is another interview over at the Frog and Blender magazine/blog. Some really interesting questions are asked but some of the replies given are really short.

Another Interview

This one is quite interesting. He goes into what happened with Danny and Tim and working with Vudi.

An Interview

The US tour is getting nearer so we can probably expect to see a bit more press in the coming weeks. There is an interview with Mark here.

American Music Club @ Sled Island

Yep, the American Music Club are playing the Sled Island music festival in Calgary. Thats in Canada in case you didn't know. It takes place on the 27th and 28th June if you are interested.

Bruce Kaphan On New No-Man Album

Ex Music Clubber and all round excellent pedal steel player Bruce Kaphan appears on the new album by a band called No-Man. No idea what they sound like but

"schoolyard ghosts is released by Kscope / Snapper music in mid-May, 2008, and will feature a 22 piece orchestra on the 13 minute track truenorth, as well as contributions from a number of guest collaborators (including Pat Mastelotto, Bruce Kaphan, Porcupine Tree's Gavin Harrison and Colin Edwin, and Tim Bowness Band members, Pete Morgan, Andrew Booker and Peter Chilvers)."

So there.

User Generated Content???

The tour is well underway and apart from the fact that Mark has started doing Firefly as a solo encore, there isn't much else for me to report. However, if any of you have reviews, photos, videos, audio recordings of the current tour tat you would care to share then let me know. Either leave a comment with details or e-mail me at "ThirdPrize AT Gmail DOT Com" and I will post them on the site.

Danny Pearson News

There seems to be a flurry of activity over at the web site of our favourite bass player. He has a new album coming out on Evangeline Records and is doing a few gigs in preparation for it. The next one is the 6th April at the Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco as part of a Evangeline Records showcase.

There is also a remastered version of Reds Recovery Room available for download. This features everything from the (now out of print) original as well as a couple of bonus tracks. I really liked this album so it is really worth $12 if you haven't got it already.

Nick Drake

There is an interesting interview with Mark Eitzel in Harp Magazine where he discusses the influence of Nick Drake on his work. A few interesting titbits including the fact he never got into Nick until after the band had started and that he was friends with Heath Ledger.

Atwater Afternoon CD Review

Well, a month after I got my copy I have finally got round to doing a review of it. Atwater Afternoon is a Ltd Ed release of a couple of sessions recorded by the new look American Music Club. I say a couple of sessions as the first half sounds like demos for the new album while the latter half sound like it was recorded "live" in the studio.

There are 13 tracks in all. Of these, 3 are old country standards, one is written and sung by Vudi and one is by new band member Steve Didelot. There is definitely a bit of a country vibe running through the whole thing. Steve's song is a classic bit of country all about a book called "The Insiders Guide to life". It gets passed down from generation who admit that they have "never read it son, but I really think you should". the other cover of note is "I'm your Puppet" which has Mark reaching for the falsetto he last used on "Move on Up". "Long Long Walk" is supposed to be an out take from the Golden Age. Based on the evidence of this, the new version of the AMC could have a good country album in them. The new boys know their licks and as Mark is feeling mellower these days we could have another Everclear or California.

The last 3 tracks sound a bit more live than the rest. There is lots of Cymbals there but you can't really make out much other detail.

It is also worth noting that the ones sold on the current tour make up the very limited CDR run of 300. I managed to get one of these complete with a hand drawn cover by Vudi. The ones on the Internet will be a run of 1500 proper CDs with proper printed covers.

Yeee Gods!!!

It has come to my attention that a comedian named Neil Hamburger has released a CD of country covers, among them being the American Music Clubs "Hula Maiden". And I quote ...

"But his album-closing take on Eitzel’s “The Hula Maiden” played semi-straight is a real gem, bringing out both the over the top self-pitying indulgence of the song even as he refashions it as a lost country classic. It’s almost kind of brilliant."

The Tale Of a Support Band

There is a nice blog post here from the band Dacianos about their support slot on the recent American Music Club tour. It was last Friday, 29 February at the venue called John Dee in Oslo.

More press

Nice interview with Mark here on the BrightestYoungThings website. There is also a foreign language review here along with a nice photo gallery.

Radio Interview

There is a link on this page that leads to an Interview with the American Music Club. It is a program called The World Cafe and it appears to be hosted by Sir Richard Attenborough.

The Review Of All Reviews

The lines are closed and the judges have come to their decision. The folks over at MetaCritic have averaged out all the reviews for The Golden Age and its final score is 80/100. Not a bad average, that is more then the new Kylie one but less then the Drive By Truckers.

Two More Reviews ...

while one is in the medium of words, the other is in the medium of pictures, courtesy of our friends at StripWax.

Few More Reviews

Album reviews Here, here, here, here and live reviews here and here.

Apology For An Accident

From Chris at the bands management.

"Dingwalls was the first time the band has played London without their own sound man which was a big mistake. It was probably the worst sound I have ever heard at an AMC show in 18 years. Mark and Steve also had very evil stomach bugs that kept them busy before, during and after the show with the bog...not a pretty site. So apologies all around.

Ask people who went to Brussels last night and they can tell you a different story, the venue had great sound and was broadcast on Radio1 there, I can't seem to find the link to it on their site but should have some more information next week here.

The Hamburg concert will be broadcast on NDR and Berlin will bebroadcast on Radio Eines."

Links to the concerts when they come on line.

Brighton Gig Review

I went along to the show the American Music Club were playing in Brighton the other night. Mark has always liked Brighton so I was hoping for a good one. Upon arrival the C2 seemed to be 1/3 full. Vudi was sat on the merchandising table drawing pictures on the plain covers of the tour CD. Mine has got a picture of a pig getting its head chopped off. Nice.

First band on was Butterfly McQueen. These were a Brighton band and I think they were on the bill as Mark was writing his musical with one of the singers. I missed the first part of their set but thought they were quite good for a band that doesn't even have a MySpace page. Two or three singer/guitarists taking it in turns along with keyboards, bass , drums and girl on tambourine. Their final song was dedicated to Mark as the singer said he had written it for him.

The second band was Bee And Flower. They sounded a bit like Madder Rose as the guitarist played a lot of slide and the singer had a similar voice to Mary Lorsen.

Vudi was the first to come out and taking his place stage left started singing (what I guess was) their Abba cover. Then the band came out and went straight into "Hello Amsterdam". I seem to remember that mentions Abba covers. Then it was "Revolving Door" and a couple more of the old songs. Mark seemed a bit nervous as he cracked jokes between songs and introduced the band as "Wish the World Away", an American Music Club tribute act. What can you say, it wasn't the original band so it wasn't going to sound much like them. They got through the old songs in double quick time. Then about 1/2 way through the set we got "The Stars", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Decibels" and with that the band seemd to relax and play them like the record.

The encore part of the show was interesting. The new lads left the stage leaving Vudi and Mark to play "Johnny Mathis' Feet" together. Then there was a band verson of "Western Sky" and a duo version of "Jesus' Hands". And they were gone.

Were you there? What did you think?

Another Interview

Here is another interview with Mark. It is by a San Francisco newspaper and examines Marks obsession with the town. Strangely he says he prefers performing in London "... because I get paid better there". He is also quite frank about the new line up of the band.

London Show Update

A message from the bands management regarding the upcoming London show.

"As many of you have heard Camden market burned down over the weekend so Dingwalls is closed until later in the week. We are looking to move the show to somewhere close by like the Electric Ballroom or Underworld. As soon as I have any information I will report it here. Please check back in by this time tomorrow and we should have all the new details."

I will pass on any further details as soon as I hear them. Shame about Camden Market though. It was the place to go if you were after vaguely ethnic clothing or head massagers. Rumour has it you could smell the burning incense for several miles.

Manchester Reviews

Here is a review of the Manchester gig and here is another.

Miscellaneous Media Mentions

The media machine seems to be in full swing for this tour and album.

To begin with we have a bit from the Independent about how Mark and Sean Hughes first met as well as a short but favourable review. He contributes to a discussion on the art of writing love songs. There is a mention in the Guardian.

There are also some other reviews of the album out there and some reviews of the Bristol, Bristol and Dublin gigs.

The Musical

A year after I first reported it, Mark Eitzels musical gets a mention on Teletext today.

Exclusive: Eitzel musical
American Music Club singer Mark Eitzel is writing a musical, PS can reveal."Most musicals are s***, so I wanted to see if it was possible to write one that isn't," Eitzel told PS.Eitzel has co-written the musical, Marine Parade, with his playwright friend Simon Stephens. It will open "on a stage somewhere" in 2009. Eitzel said: "It's set in Brighton. I love Simon's writing, he's a genius."

It also got a brief mention at the end of this interview with Simon and here.

Galway Set List

The European tour is now under way and the first repors are coming in. The set list for the Galway show was ...

Johnny Mathis' Feet (Mark Acoustic/Vudi Electric)
Blue and Grey Shirt
Home
Who You Are
Sleeping Beauty
Windows of the world
The Revolving Door
Western Sky
I know that's not really you
Another Morning
Decibels and The Little Pills
Hello Amsterdam
Wish the world away
Jesus Hands (Mark + Vudi)

So that's a bunch of new songs, a couple from the last album and some old faves. No Patriots Heart or Firefly? More from San Fran than Mercury?

American Music Club Play Spanish Festival

Get your sun tan lotion out. As reported here in Uncut, the American Music Club will be playing the Benicassim festival in Spain this summer. It takes place 17th, 18th, 19st and 20nd of July and features amongst others My Bloody Valentine, Babyshamble, the National, the New Pornographers and Spiritualized.

New Tour CD

Not only do the American Music Club have a new Album out but if you see them on tour (or visit the record companies web site) you could pick up a copy of "Atwater Afternoon", a limited edition tour cd they have just put out.

To quote the web site
"This puppy was recorded at rehearsals leading up to the massive 60 cities in 80 countries AMC tour. It features some well know favorites, some new tracks taken from "The Golden Age" and a song sung by Vudi as well as Steven Didelot track sung by Mark. This released on the web and tour only NOT available in shops! It comes in a simple printed card sleeve. It also features three unreleased covers, the classic Sam & Dave track "I'm Your Puppet" plus two Ray Price covers. This is in an printed card sleeve and is not a cdr. The highly collectible cdr run was limited to 300, these are limited to 1500 worldwide and never again. Available for preorder now and shipping Feb 4th. Miss it now and pay £40 on Ebay next year."

1. City Lights - (Ray Price cover)
2.All My Love
3.For the Good Times (Ray Price/Kris Kristofferson cover)
4.I'm Your Puppet (Sam & Dave cover)
5.Long Long Walk (The Golden Age out-take)
6.Little Joy (Vudi penned and sung track)
7.One Step Ahead
8.Who You Are
9.All The Lost Souls
10.Insiders Guide To Life (Steve Didelot track sung by Mark)
11.Hello Amsterdam
12.Home
13.Western Sky

Thats 3 covers, a Vudi song, a Steve song and an unreleased track.

"For US/Canadian customers please wait until the Merge copies of Golden Age are available and the band has stock of "Atwater Afternoon" to sendout from the US. We will be reserving 600 cds for the US. Otherwise you will be paying twice as much for from the UK due to the insane exchange rates."

Happy Birthday Mark !!!

I am sure you will all join me in wishing Mark Eitzel a Happy Birthday today.

"It's your birthday baby

Here's a gift you should take it

It's your birthday baby

Here's a gift you should unwrap it

It's your birthday baby

Here's some luck you should grab it

It's your birthday baby

Here's a smile you should unwrap it"

US Tour Dates

The American Music Club will be playing the following delightful venues from April onwards

Wed 4/2/08 Independent San Francisco CA
Thu 4/3/08 Harlows Sacramento CA
Fri 4/4/08 Doug Fir Lounge Portland OR
Sat 4/5/08 Triple Door Seattle WA
Sun 4/6/08 Richards on Richards Vancouver BC
Mon 4/7/08 off
Tue 4/8/08 off
Wed 4/9/08 Aquarium Fargo ND
Thu 4/10/08 Turf Club St Paul MN
Fri 4/11/08 High Noon Saloon Madison WI
Sat 4/12/08 Schubas Tavern Chicago IL
Sun 4/13/08 Pike Room Pontiac MI
Mon 4/14/08 Cafe Bourbon Street Columbus OH
Tue 4/15/08 The Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh PA
Wed 4/16/08 Mohawk Place Buffalo NY
Thu 4/17/08 LEE’S PALACE TORONTO ON
Fri 4/18/08 Divan Orange Montreal Qc
Sat 4/19/08 off
Sun 4/20/08 off
Mon 4/21/08 SPACE Gallery Portland ME
Tue 4/22/08 Harper’s Ferry Allston MA
Wed 4/23/08 Iron Horse Muisic Hall Northampton MA
Thu 4/24/08 Cafe Nine New Haven CT
Fri 4/25/08 Johnny Brendas Philadelphia PA
Sat 4/26/08 Williamsburg Music Hall Brooklyn NY
Sun 4/27/08 Mercury Lounge New York NY
Mon 4/28/08 off
Tue 4/29/08 Iota Cafe Arlington VA
Wed 4/30/08 The Arts Center Carrboro NC
Thu 5/1/08 E.A.R.L. Atlanta GA
Fri 5/2/08 The End Nashville TN
Sat 5/3/08 Hi Tone Memphis TN
Sun 5/4/08 Randy Bacon Gallery Springfield MO
Mon 5/5/08 Record Bar Kansas City MO
Tue 5/6/08 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines IA
Wed 5/7/08 Waiting Room Omaha NE
Thu 5/8/08 offFri 5/9/08 Larimer Lounge Denver CO
Sat 5/10/08 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City UT
Sun 5/11/08 off
Mon 5/12/08 Rhythm Room Phoenix AZ
Tue 5/13/08 Plush Tucson AZ

The Golden Age - Microsite Live

There is a new microsite promoting the forthcoming album on line now.

"There is a few free downloads on here plus video interviews and three acoustic tracks. The tracks were recorded from Mark's home away fromhome at the world famous Columbia Hotel right here in the big smoke latelast year.

Check back on it in a few weeks as we will have more videos as they come in."

Each album track seems to have a video interview explaining the story behind it and there are even a couple of acoustic songs on there as well. Very professional looking.

First US Dates Appearing

The first dates of the US tour are starting to appear. So far we have

pm on April 12th - Chicago, Schubas

April 25th - Philadelphia, PA, Johnny Brenda's

Do you know of any more? If so, leave a comment.

Warm Up Show - Yesterday

The American Music Club played a warm up show for their European tour last night at the Tiax 321 Lounge in Los Angeles. No news of any reviews yet. If you went, drop us a comment.

Promo Video On-Line + iTunes Single

There is a short video interview with Mark Eitzel on-line here. It's called "All My Love" but features him talking about writing "All The Lost Souls" while playing "The Dance" in the background.

You can also get the single "Decibels and Little Pills" on line at iTunes. Just one track with no b-sides or anything.

The Golden Age - Review II

A few of the tracks on The Golden Age deserve a bit more of a detailed look than I gave them in my main review, so in the next couple of posts I intend to put that right.

The Dance
If ever there was a song that deserved a Tarrantino directed video then it is this one. A woman (possibly a hooker) meets a cop and it is love at first sight. They start dancing around the room together, the cop holding her in one hand and his gun in the other. All is lovely, "he is pulling out all his best moves, he is cool like Wonderbread" until his finger slips and "paints her face all red". The final verse implies that he manages to save his career. I don't know if this is based on any true stories?

All The Lost Souls ...
If you ask me, this should have been the first single. It is upbeat, catchy and all those things you want from a pop song. Alright, they are not a band renowned for upbeatbut it wouldn't hurt once in a while. Lyrically its one of those songs about San Francisco and its residents, "the lost souls". The town it seems that was "built on fire trucks" and "saints who are only holy when they sin" and "people are humming a Love Supreme". Marty who supposedly owns several of the bars on 22nd St (including the Make Out Room) is called upon to cheer him up and keep him happy. He spends his time at a bar "trying to keep the good times rolling, as they are almost gone".

The Decibels and Little Pills
Some people would call that a good night out, taking some drugs and going to "the big rock show", and I guess that is what this song is about. While in the past Mark would have been in the centre trying to lose himself, now he is writing about it from a distance. "He was sweet and so was she, and you needed love to fill the dark" describes his old partying mood but hilights the reason now. He admits that wearing a cowboy hat means that "you are tonights casualty" and sees the crowds of people whose eyes say "I don't want to know". The chorus goes "No one here is gonna save you" as if to say everyone else is here for the same reason as you, so don't go looking to them for answers.

Uncut Review The Golden Age

It seems that Uncut magazine has made the new album their album of the with a 4 star review There is a scan of the review here. According to the bands management

"There was supposed to be a 3 page feature in the same issue which explains why it was not covered in the review. It has now moved back to the next issue, it features interviews with Mark and Vudi.

Decibels and the Little Pills was "single of the week" this week on Shaun Keaveny's breakfast show for BBC6, Eitzel was briefly interviewed this morning on it which you can listen to here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/shaun_keaveny."

The Golden Age - Review

My copy of the new album turned up in the post this morning. Played it a few times during the day and Like it. The cover is the picture of the band in a boat (vudi is in the liferaft) and period costume. Due to the layout of the pic, Sean is on the front cover while the rest of the band is on the back. What is it with singers always hiding in group shots?

1. All My Love
Starts off with a bit of picked guitar that sounds like "Jenny" off "California" before turning into a gentle love song.
2. The John Berchman Victory Choir
Comes on sounding a bit like "The Horseshoe Wreath In Bloom" and is a nice little up tempo number. Possibly something to do with the uplifting effects of choral music.
3. The Decibels and the Little Pills

This one has been getting played on the radio so possibly the first single?

4. The Sleeping Beauty

This was one of the hilights on "Candy Ass". Presumably repeated here so it gets the attention it deserves. Quite a slow tune. Less obvious keyboards here.

5. The Stars

Quite a moody number with lots of Vudi feedback on guitar. The central image is of finding someone you know dead in the road. Again it has the California vibe to it.

6. All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco

Probably the most upbeat of the numbers on the album. Another one of Marks songs about San Francisco and the places and people found there. Gorgeous sing along chorus. Love the bit of trumpet in the middle.

7. Who You Are

Another of the more uplifting songs. Sounds a bit like one of the poppy bits from "San Francisco".

8. The Windows of the World

Supposedly written about meeting someone at the top of the World Trade Centre and getting high. Sounds a bit like "Myopic Books". It is more of a story than a proper song.

9. One Step Ahead

Another good pop song. More of Vudi on guitar.

10. The Dance

I would say another love song but I think someone dies towards the end.

11. I know That's Not Really You

Is this the first use of accordion on a Music Club track? It seems to be in 3/4 time and has a whole host of instruments on it.

12. On My Way

Weird one this. Sounds a bit like the lyrics were written for another tune or something. Central theme seems to be a boat journey somewhere. Also has Vudi wigging out a bit at the end. Most experimental of the bunch.

13. The Grand Duchess of San Francisco

I would guess this is about one of Marks San Francisco chums. No drums on this one, just guitar and keyboards.

Five of the songs have been around for a while now, and they are the ones that immediately stick in the mind. That's not dissing the others, it just means I haven't heard them enough yet. There is a nice selection of happy songs and sad songs here and enough imagery to keep the fans pondering its meaning. Is there another Kathleen song on there? Who knows. Stylistically I would put it between California and San Francisco. Nothing as country as Everclear or noisy as Mercury. There are a few twangs and guitar picks that remind me of California while its as well produced as San Francisco was.

New Poll - Best Solo Album

Merry new year to you all. If you look a little to the left of this you will see that there is a new Poll running on the blog to find out which of Marks solo albums are your favourites? I have narrowed it down to the ones that got proper releases on proper labels and have left out all the various tour CDs.

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.