American Music Club Reform For new Album

reformations. when are they ever good. maybe the gobetweens. so hope isn't all lost. won't he jist get into shit fights with vudi again over the guitar sound.

good luck to them though. shit knows they deserve some.

still as i said before. good luck. as always they are going to need it. that said the story of how eitzel's lawyer screwed one of the big four record companies for a huge advance on his publishing because he was rumoured to be collaborating with dylan proves he aint always had bad luck. or that record companies are dumb. or both.

eitzel can be a terrific performer [as he was that night] and the band was incredibly tight.nice nice show.

just hope they don't blow now and tarnish my memory of that night.

Id prefer just him, Vudi and Kaphan to be a unit though.

You are all insane. This is the best news ever. AMC never really wanted to break up, and may not have if it wasn't for major label pressures to "make it." Now that the music industry has really turned its backs on anyone who won't sell millions of units I think they can play together again w/out that pressure. The other word is that, although they are playing a show in SF (at a bar that holds roughly 100 people) they have no real plans right now to tour, and Vudi's conditions were always that they couldn't play any old songs. VUdi's a pretty stubborn cuss and refused to play with them a few years ago for a one-off show in SF because they wanted to play old stuff.

AMC were the most important band in my life. I look forward to August 22nd with an anticipation that can't be overstated.

As for it being a desperate move, well, Eitzel has already been a bit of a desperate guy. Or maybe not everyone has seen him drunk off his ass and trying to play a show.

For me, AMC was horribly inconsistent. Eitzel is like Ryan Adams--both guys are so indulgent that they fail miserably without an editor or at least a strong member of their bands. I loved the West record that Eitzel did with Pete Buck.

but there you strangely i agree he could do with an editor.

No Bruce = zero excitement on this reformation on my part. I'm sorry but while i like vudi's guitar its bruce's slide coupled with Mark's songwriting that makes AMC so special. Good luck though. I'll prob buy the record.

I just think the band format may dilute his stuff, cos I feel with TiM and the tour cds he found his solo voice big style. I don't want to see him slipping.

But that said, i just want more new Eitzel songs...

This show is tonight! I am wetting myself with excitement. I'll be front and center. Since, with the possible exception of the *first* AMC show I saw in 1990, I was drunk every single time I saw them from 90 through 94, I am hoping to have better recollection of this show tomorrow, so expect pictures and a coherent review.

They will be playing "a lot more shows" and Mark is moving back to SF for practice. So this is not sounding like a one-off short term reunion anymore. They're back, fuck all yall! The new songs were almost uniformally excellent. There were definite rough spots and sloppy bits and some tension and nervousness for the first half but they hit their stride by the end.

self-released retrospective/rare tracks collection available march 1st:

http://www.american-music-club.com/music.html

New song available here:

http://server1.sxsw.com/audio/sxsw04/mp3hi/American_Music_Club-Ladies_and_Gentlemen.mp3

Tour starts in two weeks.

another new track as well as live video available here:

http://www.american-music-club.com/downloads.html

I think they ran out of CDs and Mark was telling people to go to the website (he might've not wanted to deal with it). So, uh, about to order my best-of then.

I think they need another year to re-aqcuire the majesty of their best moments live, but there's a youthful exuberance right now which is great to see in a bunch of old fogies.

But, still a fantastic performance. The new songs held up well with the classics, and it was fantastic to hear Bad Liquor and Western Sky with the full band. Definitely worth seeing when they roll thru your town.

It's sent me on a Eitzel kick, too, which I always enjoy. Everclear is incredible; take off the goofy 'Crabwalk' and it's classic right through. 'Royal Cafe' needs more recognition, esp. following the savage 'Sick of Food'/'Dead Part Of You' pairing.

The new album has not hit home completely for me yet, but if ever a group rewarded repeated listening it's AMC. In six months time I'll probably be praising it to the rafters...

maybe I should finally pick up Engine.

Highlights: "Nightwatchman," "Western Sky" (the encore), and a tremendous performance of "Home" from the new album. If they played "Kathleen," I probably would have wept.

"Patriot's Heart" was sort of the centrepiece and really was superb.

The audience was a bit quiet, and I found myself almost at the front without realising it.

I can remember them playing

Ladies & Gentlemen
Gravity Walks
Only Love Can Set You Free
Sick of Food
Kathleen
I've Been a Mess
Jesus' Hands
Myopic Books
Patriot Heart
Hope
Firefly
Bad Liquor

but I'm sure I missed stuff off that list.

Tracklisting:
1. Why Won’t You Stay?
2. Gratitude Walks on 6th St.
3. Only Love Can Set You Free
4. Another Morning
5. Johnny Mathis’ Feet
6. Patriot’s Heart
7. Job To Do
8. Home
9. Myopic Books
10. Amusing Interlude # 1
11. Blue And Gray Shirt
12. Outside This Bar
13. Western Sky
14. Amusing Interlude #2

more random unpredictability from AMC:

> 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 neighbors 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.

Yes there is a song about the World Trade Center.

san francisco is overlong and has bad sequencing but that can be fixed with a few clicks. I should dig out my rehash.

and mercury's hat trick is "apology for an accident" / "I've been a mess" / "johnny mathis' feet". saw eitzel solo in '97 or '98 in a coverted church, he came and sat out in the audience and did all 3, it was something else.

new album leaked "accidentally" yesterday on imeem; I think it's gone now but promos are out in the UK which means it's available (it comes out in February in Europe, APRIL in the US, which is kind of nuts). New rhythm section acquits themselves very well, songs are generally more restrained and light than the last album as stated, things sound tracked in a more traditional manner (less protools editing; i'm sure protools was probably used for mixing but it wasn't cut to hell). This is probably the most solid album Mark has made since 60 Watt and in a way I feel that it is a kind of spiritual successor to that album. Originally this album was going to be credited to either the Lost Anchors of the Pacific or Macarthur Park Music Club but the label and management talked Mark out of it; as a result, we're now in an era where the name 'American Music Club' is a signifier along the same lines as 'the fall' where if it's Eitzel and your granny on bongos, it's AMC if they say it is.

This is a kinder and more gentle AMC to be sure. I was initially a bit
startled by how straighforwardly poppy songs like "Who You Are" and
"Lost Souls" had been arranged until I remembered how poppy songs like
"Can You Help Me", "Aspirin", and "I Broke My Promise" were. It's easy
to forget that not every second of AMC music was howling misery like
"Apology for an Accident". There aren't really any moments of that
kind of misery on "The Golden Age" (and I suppose the title of the
album reflects that); this is emotionally a more mature work. I fully
expect some fans to revolt at this but Eitzel and Vudi aren't mental
puppets for our amusement and I neither expect nor do I want to see
Mark cry during a show these days. I've said before that "The
Invisible Man" showed an artist moving out of a dark period and into
the light; "The Golden Age" shows him fulling inhabiting it.

Songwise: the other night mark introduced "all my love" as the most
gooey song he'd ever written and that people should be 'appalled';
it's no more sentimental than "only love will set you free" though,
and it's a better song and better played and sonically matches
'fearless' as a gentle opener. I think the picking pattern here really
recalls recent Kozelek songs (sorry E), and it's also possibly my
favorite song on the album. We get at least two major Vudi freakouts
on "Windows on the World" and 'On My Way' (which has been lyrically
rewritten from it's Invisible Man demo days; you can all decide if you
think it's better or worse now, i just think it's different); Sleeping
Beauty is only marginally changed arrangement-wise from Candy Ass and
remains one of Mark's best songs; "Decibles and Little Pills" and "The
Stars" are both excellent surrealistic scenarios against strong
compositions.

Anyway, yes, very good album. I hope it does well for them. Their SF show last week was great, I heard the LA show was rough; I'm sure they'll pull it together in time for the European tour in February.

AMC was actually started by Vudi and was pretty much Vudi's band, so I guess anything with Eitzel and Vudi can pass for American Music Club.

Looking forward to hearing this one...

noticed today that you can stream this (the golden age) off the merge website (don't know how long they'll keep it up there though?)

Thought I'd say that Mark Eitzel's latest solo album, Klamath, really is lovely. If you like Eitzel or AMC definitely worth picking up. His last effort Candy Ass was a bit of a dud and might have put a few followers off -- it's safe to come back to the fold.

Eitzel's blog is also a great read: http://markeitzel.blogspot.com/

And, to conclude this public service announcement, his recent live shows with Marc Capelle on piano were great. Do catch them if you get a chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NPsfv6IuWQ

Yeah, Klamath is well worth picking up, it's been a slow burner for me, but some great songs on there.

I caught him with Marc and Franz Nikolay on their recent UK tour and was (as ever) blown away - I've rambled on about him on other AMC and Eitzel threads, but there is imo no better live performer in the world. The promoters played an ace by booking the show at a church, so the gig took place beneath a vaulted roof, in front of stained glass and with minimal lighting, which helped to make it super atmospheric and intimate. The simple piano and voice combination worked incredibly well too.

their last album is one of my favorite albums of recent years. just awesome.

also, cool thing happened at mergefest last summer - eitzel was on the bill with she & him. naturally the turnout for she & him was past-capacity & there were lots of people in the crowd, some of them friends of mine, who had no idea who eitzel was and who weren't really planning on paying a lot of attention - they were there for the marquee act. eitzel proceeded to completely blow them all away. people went from "who is this guy?" to "this is the best show of the festival!" & were talking about it forever. and some of us back-in-the-day types were like, fuck yeah, score one for our side mark

John, was Mark performing with Marc Capelle or was it a solo show at mergefest? It's great to hear that he was so well received, esp. if it was in front of people who were previously indifferent. From the show I saw it felt like Marc C was a great foil for him by being a brilliant musician (thus able to ride the often loose tempos etc), but also really responsive to Eitzel's moods. He clearly loves the songs as well.

Love stories like that. Was at the Mark/Marc show in Seattle, and the folk next to me were talking about this new band they'd gotten into: Red Hosue Painters. There are always waves of discovery happening out there.

or Red HOUSE Painters, as it were...

the mergefest was filmed, right? I've heard several times that Mark completely owned the audience during his set.

I've known Mark for about 15 years and seen him countless times. Although he hardly ever plays in SF these days, there were times, particularly in the late 90's, when he would do solo shows that were so incredibly captivating, I don't think I'll ever see anything that will top them.

that london show was indeed absolutely amazing and one of my
highlights of the year.

The show with Marc Cappelle reminded me again what a fucking great singer he is. He simply blew us all away.

yeah when he's on he's on. It's a shame and ridiculous that he is not held in higher esteem and doesn't have higher recognition; I'm glad he pulled through on that Mergefest show to show fans of younger, lesser bands what's what, because it isn't always that way. Several years back I saw him play a Noisepop show in SF, with Bright Eyes opening; Eitzel and band had just gotten off a plane from a tour, were jetlagged, came into the club which was sold out (for Bright Eyes, not him), most of which then promptly walked out about two songs into his set. Not good.

Klamath is good, not great, about what I expected though. I'm not fond of him producing himself and I think The Golden Age was really helped by having a sensitive producer and engineer (it's also why Love Songs for Patriots is kind of a mess, I think).

He has been working on a musical stage production for the past few years which I know already played in Brighton and maybe they're trying to bring it to London and NYC now.

I've seen Mark solo twice and once with AMC--some of the best shows I've attended. His voice is so room-filling that the microphone almost seems unnecessary.

From Facebook, via Mark's friend Chris Metzler:

Mark had a heart attack the night before last (6 May). It was pretty bad but he is doing ok at the hospital now and getting a lot of needed rest. He seems to be in good spirits.

A big outpouring of positivity and love on his Profile, I think a few people here will feel the same. Here's hoping he makes a swift and full recovery.

damn that's terrible. get well soon Mark.

Profoundly upsetting news. Much love to the man for a full recovery.

C'mon Eitzel.
You're better than that
Beat it man

eep! get well soon!

I ran into Mark a week ago after a Tindersticks show in SF and he looked alright. I hadn't seen him in over a year though. Then this happened a few days later... whole thing was pretty shocking, in some respects, although not in others, I guess. I would hope that Mark gets healthy, there is a lot you have to do, lifestyle-wise, to adjust to these kinds of setbacks; it's my hope that those adjustments will not present too huge an obstacle to him.

nooooo that's awful :-(
i am an idiot for not seeing him live before last year when he played probably my 2 favourite shows of that year, one of them maybe in my top 10 of all time. so for selfish as well unselfish ones i hope he gets well soon.

selfish as well as unselfish reasons i mean

maybe SF will be kinder to Mark after this. he hardly ever plays here and when he does turn out has been not so good, which means that we get maybe one show every two years and a good one every four or something. SF sucks.

Any word on Mark's condition? I can't find anything online.

he updated his FB status last week to say he was doing ok and taking his pills, but otherwise I haven't heard. Mark doesn't really have any PR or management that would make some kind of official statement on things.