Marks Top 10 of 2010

Over at the Merge web site Mark Eitzel has posted his top 10 cultural hilights of 2010.  Strangely enough, number 1 was getting his musical produced.

Marks Blog

Nothing to report really. Marks blog is worth a quick read as he has started posting again.  A dream about Vic Chestnut and musings on why he isn't playing Vegas?

Also Jace Everett likes the American Music Club.

Spanish Videos

Some YouTubes from the recent Spanish trip.

New AMC Tracks?

A bit late posting this but according to Marks blog, he has stared demoing tracks for the new AMC album. they are titled as follows

1. I Did Not Dig Your Grave
2. You Can Walk Away
3. In Your House
4. I'm Not Waiting For Your Call
5. Triumph
6. Its Not Enough
7. Destroy All Monsters

he says later on in the comments.

Yes the song (Destroy All Monsters) is about the band from Detroit.

I made these demo's for Vudi and Steve and for Merge. No one else will hear them as I'll rewrite the songs a few times before we start recording in August.

There are some plans to record with Mr. Buck - but I think he is rather busy - so I will wait until he has free time to do something. We sketched out some new songs earlier in the year and it would be cool to continue...

But I am happy to start figuring out the AMC record. The idea is to do a simple, minimal acoustic record and tour as a 3 or 4 piece..

Spanish Tour

According to Marks blog he is touring Spain next month with Steve Didelot on piano and guitar.

17th July - Ciclo 21 Grados (Sevilla)

18th July - Teatre de Santanyi (Mallorca)

21st July - Moby Dick (Madrid)

22nd July - Festival Kesse (Tarragona)

23rd July - Centre d'Art Can Xalant (Mataró)

24th July - Heliogàbal (Barcelona)

Marine Parade Review

At least three years in the making, Marine Parade had its debut in Brighton, the city it was set in and Mark Eitzels favourite new town. Why Brighton? As well as the large gay population it also had a bit of a seedy reputation. If you were going to have a dirty weekend away somewhere with the girlfriend/secretary then it was going to be Brighton.

The play with songs is set in one of the guest houses on the seafront and tells the story of the manager, the cleaner and the various people staying there. It was previewed a year ago in one of the pubs in Brighton. That contained probably half the story and songs and most of the same cast.

The cast included ex Eastender Lee Ross and Dr Whos assistants boyfriend Arthur Darvill. It was also nice to see Jeff Rawle as the grumpy man on the pier. Marks role was limited to being in the backing band. I think he got to sing a couple of songs however most of the songs were sung by members of the cast. His reading of "I live in this place" brought new meaning to the lyrics as he hovered behind the manager of this run down residence. Whenever he stepped up to the mic, you could see he wanted to make some wisecrack to the audience. He never did though.

The stories themselves were short looks at different aspects of love, from unrequited to new and old. There was the manager who fancied his cleaner even though she was leaving to go to college There was the young couple getting ready to do it for the first time and the old couple for whom it was all going wrong. As you would expect from something to do with Mark, there was at least one junkie trying to borrow money from an old boyfriend. The most touching story was the man on the pier. He starts chatting to the manager before going off on a bit of "taxi driver" style rant about the world in general. Finally he admits he lost his job a couple of months ago but hasn't had the heart to tell his wife. Even though he thinks she probably knows already.

The songs all went down well. Even though they were mostly sung by British women you could tell they were Marks compositions. I would have thought that "The blood ..." from Klamath would have been one of them, but it wasn't.

I believe it is currently playing in Germany without Mark and in German.

Mark On The BBC

Here is a bit of Mark Eitzel singing “I live in this place”. It is an out take from tonights Culture Show.

New Bruce Kaphan Album

Feeling a bit nostalgic? Then pop over to Bruce Kaphans website and check out the page for his new album Hybrid. Like his first solo album Slider, its an all instrumental affair but listening to the clips of the tunes, you can't help but think back to his contribution to Everclear. The slides and the twangs take you back to the last time they really sounded alt-country. It is released the 1st June and can be brought from his website for $15.

Upcoming TV Appearance!

A quick note from Marks mangement ...

Also Mark will be performing as well with the Marine Parade band doing some scenes from the Musical on the Culture Show for BBC which will go out on the 20th. This is the biggest UK TV show Mark has done in quite some time. It is being filmed next Monday in London so you may be able to get tickets somehow to see it taped.

Here comes the big time.

New AMC Side Project

While they are waiting for Mark to write the next American Music Club album, the rest of the band have been keeping themselves busy. Former American Music Club member Sean Hoffman has a new band called Loch and Key.

"(Along with visual artist Leyla Akdogan) they just finished their record called "Jupiter's Guide For Submariners". Vudi plays guitar on "In the Town of the Queen of the Angels", "Maybe", and "Helixes". Steve plays drums on "Apis Mellifera", "Moon Angel", and "Helixes"."

It sounds a bit like The Bird and The Bee with a jazzy vibe and breathy female vocals.

Singing On Lisa Papineau Album

It seems Mark Eitzel is putting in a guest appearance on the new album by Lisa Papineau. She has previously worked with Air and M83 and the album Red Trees is out on May 4th.

Marine Parade - Details

Details of the Marine Parade performances have finally reached the Brighton Festival website.

18 May 2010 to 23 May 2010 at Tue 18 & Wed 19 May, 8pm. Thu 20 & Fri 21 May, 6pm & 9pm. Sat 22 & Sun 23 May, 3pm, 6pm & 9pmThe Old Market£12.50, Festival standby £10

Get booking them tickets now.

On The Road again

It looks like Mark Eitzel is out on the road in Feb/March as the US support for The Magnetic Fields. It is more than likely solo shows and not the AMC as suggested.

Vic Chesnut- R.I.P.

I have been meaning to blog about the passing of Mr Chesnutt for a while now, as I was a fan. I had a few of his albums and had seen him half a dozen times, including once with the Undertow Orchestra. While life was never easy for him he seemed a fighter and as long as there was the promise of some weed at the end, he always put on a good show. The Undertow Orchestra gig was special as Mark and Vic and the others all played as each others backing band. The hi light for me was Vic singing "In My Way, Yes" with some beautiful harmonies behind him. As a new recording of them seems to have turned up now seemed a good time hear it again. Enjoy.

Mark Eitzel in May

It is a bit late to do anything about it now but Mark Eitzel has been added to the line up for the Pavement curated ATP festival in May (honestly). Unfortunately it sold out months ago.

The main reason Mark will be over here in May is that his musical Marin Parade will be premièring in the Brighton Festival down here on the south coast. For those of you interested in going the festival is split into the main festival and the fringe. The main festival programme comes out the end of Feb/beginning of march and the fringe one a bit later. Not sure which part the show will be in. I think it runs for the last two weeks in May.

Mark may also be doing a few solo shows while in between rehearsals during the start of the month.

Marks Best of 09

Merger records has a blog post from Mark listing his musical hilights of the last year.

In no particular order:
Scott Walker – The Drift

Peter Broderick – Home

Tim Fite – Fair Ain’t Fair

Samuel Barber – Songs

Carletta Sue Kay – Live at the San Francisco Eagle

Christopher Wheeldon - Within the Golden Hour – War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco CA

The Wrestler – Movie

Mahler: Symphony #5 In C Sharp Minor - 4. Adiagietto

Kath Bloom – various songs

Joe Henry – Blood From Stars

Into Great Silence – Movie

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. ;)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year

Toiling Midgets Gigs

The Toiling Midgets, a band that Mark Eitzel once did a great album with, are playinga couple of shows this Christmas. These are ...

December 30 - The Uptown, Oakland, CA.

January 4 - Annie's Social Club, San Francisco, CA.

It seems that Danny Pearsons band Clodhopper is on the bill for the San Francisco show. Should be worth checking out.

Picture Credit

You might have noticed a month or two ago that I got this nice new banner on the blog. Well the original pic comes from Charlie Craveros Flickr collection. I had been after a nice pic of Mark for a while and this one just seemed to do the job. Check out his This Is Hardcore set of pics for some really moody/arty shots of musicians.

Tour Pictures

Dana, the temporary bass player in the band has uploaded some pictures from the tour here.

Tour CDs Available in US

The recent CDs of Everclear and Mercury demos and rehearsals are now available in the US from the bands online store. Click here and then click on Store.

I have got a copy of both Cds, so watch out for the reviews.

Danny Pearson Gig

Our favourite bass player is playing a gig at the Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco on Monday the 10th November. Hopefully this is in preparation for the new album. He will be supported by ULTRALASH and TOUCHED BY A JANITOR.
Show:8:00pm
Doors:7:30pm
Door:$10.00
Ages:21+

Band News

Big news from the bands web site.

AMC has just finished their second European tour of the year and the new line-up with Mark just singing gave them a whole new energy and showcased some of Mark’s finest vocals in 16 years. The band were able to pull out some long lost nuggets like ‘Animal Pen,’ ‘Fearless,’ ‘Apology For An Accident’ and ‘What Godzilla Said….’ Sadly the band will not be touring the US early next year as previously reported.

Mark will be heading back into the studio in the next month to record an solo EP of 6-7 songs for release early next year which will feature some solo acoustic numbers alongside some band numbers. Mark will also continue work on his new musical “Marine Parade” which will make its stage debut sometime this next year. AMC will then go into the studio in late May/June to record their next album which should be released January 2010.

Please also check the European webstore for the new limited edtion tour cds of Mercury demos and Everclear rehersals all in great quality. We also have some new shirts. The US store should have the limited edition CDs up in two weeks.

BBC Radio Session

It seems you can hear the American Music Club in session on the BBC 6 Music web site.

Two New Tour Cds Available

The two new tour cds are available now (in Europe) to mailorder from Decor Records as well as 3 different shirts new for 2008. The US will have stock of these two tour cds within a 3-6 weeks.

The tour cds are Everclear sessions from late 1990 and Mercury demos for Virgin/Warners from 1992. Both come with a printed cover in a PVC slipcase.

Mercury is limited to 700 and Everclear is limited to 600, of these Decor will have roughly 300 of Mercury to sell and 225 of Everclear. The US 150 of Mercury and 125 of Everclear. The band took 250 of each on the road with them for the tour.

Comments On Current Tour

It seems the Blogosphere is alight with posts about the current tour. Quite a few of you have seen the shows so far and and one or two of you are turning into right groupies. ;)

New Single Out Now !!!

The "All The Lost Souls ..." EP is out now. It is a download only release available at E-Music, iTunes and possibly other places.

Tour Starts

A note from those in charge if you are still undecided about catching the beand on their current tour.

The tour kicked off ... in Belfast with some tunes they haven't played since the 80s and early 90s including Animal Pen, If I had a Hammer, Apology for an accident, Royal Cafe, What Holds the World Together plus the likes of Gary's Song, Outside this Bar, Nightwatchman and a host of others new and old. Mark and Vudi are extremely happy with the new expanded line-up. There is a promise for bringing out other tracks like Rise throughout the tour.

Please come down to the shows where we will be selling two very limited(600 copies on one and 700 copies on the other) tour cds which will not be on the web until towards the end of the tour. details to follow

Rumour the current setlist looks a bit like this

• What Godzilla said to God when his name wasn't found in the book of life


• All My Love


• Nightwatchman


• The Stars


• What Holds The World Together


• Sleeping Beauty
  
• Gratitude Walks
  
• Royal Cafe


• If I Had A Hammer


• Another Morning


• Apology for an Accident


• Home


• Windows on the world



• Animal Pen


• Gary's Song



• Outside This Bar

New Single

I haven't seen any official notification but the Interweb is alive with news of a new single. To tie in with the autumn tour they are releasing "All The Lost Souls Welcome You To San Francisco" as a digital download single with two previously unreleased tracks – Stars (demo) and Who You Are (demo). I always thought it was the more obvious single, especially when the video for it (below) surfaced.

Official Announcement

The latest news from the bands record label.

AMC will be expanding to a five piece band for the following European tour, Gone is Sean Hoffman (yes the guy on the front of the album cover) and in is Dana Schechter on bass. Dana previously played with the band back in 1994. Also Jonathan Heine joins on guitar and keyboards. This will allow the band to pull some old rare tunes out of the back catalogue that have not been played for many years as it frees up Mark to focus more on singing. The set list will be very different than the last tour.

The band has also added a date in Beirut for Oct 18th as part of a festival there. We should also have a new shirt design plus a few tour cds featuring tracks from the 92-94 period.

The new amc website webstore should be up very soon in the next few days on the new look website which features videos etc. We are hoping to have some live video added to the site in the near future as well

Makes me wish I was going to see them now.

More Videos

Loads of videos have appeared on YouTube over the last month or two including some great TV footage from 93. I will try and embed all the videos at some point but the highlights are

Gratitude Walks


Jonny Mathis Feet


Can You Help Me


????

Firefly Mailing List

As it's summer and not much is happening I think it's time to give the Firefly mailing list a plug. This is the (un)official list for gossiping about Mark Eitzel and the American Music Club. I have been on there (on and off) for about 10 years and I can say that they are a friendly bunch. Danny and Tim have been known to put in appearances as well as Chris from the bands management. Has Mark ever signed up? Possibly.

As well as AMC related chat, they are a good source for whatever is hip and happening in the Americana field. Recently things have been getting a bit excitable over the Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes albums. It is a it quiet at the moment but sign up and say hello.

Misc News

Did you know that the Willard Grant Conspiracy have covered "Miracle On 8th Street " for their new album "Pilgrim Road"?

Or that Tim Mooney and Jason Borger play on the album "Swirl" by a chap called Mark Lawrence.

Maximo love Eitzel

Over at maximopark.com one of the Diary entries (16 JUN 2008) name checks Mark Eitzels "Songs of Love Live" album. The band member (not the one with the ironic comb over) says how much they love the album and how they like to listen to it first thing in the morning.

New AMC Web Site

I don't know if you have noticed but the official American Music Club web site has been given a face lift. As well as a comprehensive Discography and Tour section it has selection of the bands promo vidoes available for viewing. Lets see if the News page is updated any more regularly than the old one? ;)

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.