Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 

and a 

happy new year 

to one and all!

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