Pitchfork: American Music Club Announce Spring Dates, Tour-Only Rarities Collection

American Music Club Announce Spring Dates, Tour-Only Rarities Collection
Animated "Filmy" character to amusingly blow notes off band's sheet music before each show

[Updated Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004 04:30:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

When we announced last summer the reformation of American Music Club, you may recall that, notwithstanding our excitement and rejoicing, frontman Mark Eitzel was somewhat reticent and not a little skeptical about some aspects of the project. He was pretty sure that the band would only be playing one or two shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles, which he said would be "the first and last for a long while." As he said at the time, "We want to tour to support the record but who knows when that will be released or if there will be enough interest."

Now, six months later, Mark has announced to his mailing list that the band are about to embark on what can only be called a mini-tour where they actually leave California. Not only that, there's even talk of a show in (are you sitting down?) London, England, sometime at the end of April, at Queen Elizabeth Hall. There's even the promise of a "real tour" in September, once the album is finished. Furthermore, those who make it to the shows will be able to purchase a tour-only CD of American Music Club rarities, which might tide you over until the new album becomes available. Mark is currently soliciting ideas for the tracklist, so if there's an old AMC track you just can't find, just get on over to the website and let him know about it. Dates:

02-29 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall (Noise Pop Festival)
03-12 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey
03-19 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-20 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-26 Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music
03-29 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
03-30 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
04-01 Seattle WA - Crocodile Cafe

Now, about that album. At the time of our last report, the reconstituted band had recorded eight songs for the new album. According to Eitzel, the recording is currently "moving slow but well," and the band now has 19 songs recorded. The band don't yet have a label, partly because, as he says, "we haven't played a lot of the songs for people." But he says that he hopes to have the album "very close to finished" this month.

Furthermore, and lest you think that anyone was dragging their feet, Eitzel has also been working on a solo album, which seems from his description of its "electronic pieces" as if bears at least a passing resemblance to his 2001 offering Invisible Man. But, as he says, "Who knows when that'll see the light of day as everything takes a back seat right now to the AMC." As well it should.