American Music Club Re-Open
Nearly a decade after what singer Mark Eitzel terms a “pretty
friendly breakup,” the members of San Francisco’s American Music
Club have reunited and are in the midst of recording a new album.
“We’re pretty different now,” says Eitzel of bassist Dan
Pearson, drummer Tim Mooney and guitarist Vudi, who split in 1995.
“I think we’ve changed a lot. You’d have to in ten years, right?”
Eitzel helped spark the reunion by visiting Vudi in Los Angeles
recently, where the guitarist holds down a day job as a city bus
driver and fronts the band Clovis de la Floret. Though he plied
Vudi with drinks and persuaded him to give the band another shot,
Eitzel says the elusive guitarist hasn’t yet joined them in the
studio due to his work schedule.
In the meantime, the core trio has recorded basic tracks for
seven songs over the past two weeks at Mooney’s San Francisco
studio, Closer. The free studio time was one of the keys to the
reunion, as the band has not yet signed a record deal, despite
interest from several independent labels. “Interest, but no money,”
Eitzel says in his typical deadpan.
New Eitzel compositions such as “Team USA,” “Job To Do,” “Look
For You in a Crowd,” “Another Morning” and “Home” (Pearson penned
the song “Brothers in Arms”), were quickly committed to tape for
the album, tentatively titled You Better Watch What You
Say. “These guys can read my mind musically,” Eitzel says. “I
play shit, and they know where I’m going. I never have to deal
with, ‘What were those notes again?'” Vudi is scheduled to join the
rest of the group in the studio this Thursday and Friday.
Formed in San Francisco in 1983, AMC quickly gained a reputation
for their eclectic mix of rock, punk, lounge and country, with
songs that poked at the sometimes seedy underbelly of the city.
Eitzel, rarely without his signature fedora and rumpled suit, also
gained a reputation for his boozy, humorous monologues during live
shows.
The band released seven albums between 1983 and 1995. Eitzel
delved further into his modern lounge lizard persona on a series of
solo albums, including a collaboration with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck on
West (1997), the mostly acoustic Caught in a Trap and
I Can’t Back Out ‘Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby (1998) and
last year’s eclectic covers collection, Music for Courage and
Confidence. Though it might seem like perfect timing, Eitzel
says his just-released solo album, The Ugly American — a
collection of nine AMC songs recorded two years ago with a group of
Greek musicians — was not a calculated set-up to the reunion.
“I’m just looking for ways to make make good records,” Eitzel
said, admitting he was so unsure the alliance would hold that he
only planned on staying in San Francisco for three weeks, just in
case things fell apart. “I just think these guys are great players.
Maybe I’m a fool, but they’re good for my songs.”
AMC will give the new songs a trial run during an August 21st
show at the Make-Out Room in San Francisco.