BIO:
30 January 1959, Walnut Creek, California, USA. Widely acclaimed songwriter Mark Eitzel, the leader of American Music Club, recorded his first solo studio album in 1996 (a live set recorded at London’s Borderline had been released at the start of the decade). 60 Watt Silver Lining departed a little from Eitzel’s established reputation as a despondent writer, offering instead his most optimistic suite of lyrics in a career that has received almost universal adoration. Released on Virgin Records, it featured long-standing American Music Club contributor Bruce Kaphan (pedal steel guitar/piano), drummer Simone White (of Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy and Spearhead fame) and renowned soundtrack composer Mark Isham on trumpet. Alongside a cover version of Carole King’s ‘No Easy Way Down’ were typically detailed narratives such as ‘Some Bartenders Have The Gift Of Pardon’ and ‘Southend On Sea’, a song documenting the time Eitzel spent in England during his youth. The following year’s West was a startling departure with Eitzel by now sounding positively upbeat. The fuller sound was enriched by the participation of R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and the Screaming Trees’ Barrett Martin. The clumsily-titled Caught In A Trap And I Can’t Back Out ’Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby (1998) was a largely acoustic affair, featuring material written before Eitzel’s collaboration with Buck.
Eitzel returned after a three-year hiatus with the experimental The Invisible Man, which used a backdrop of percussion loops and electronic samples to showcase Eitzel’s typically insightful lyrics. During this period he also pressed up limited quantities of a 1999 recording with ex-American Music Club guitarist Vudi. Other CDs sold only at Eitzel concerts include Lover’s Leap USA andLive On WFMU NYC. The official 2002 release Music For Courage & Confidence featured only non-original material, with Eitzel tackling unlikely material including Glen Campbell’s Gentle On My Mind’, Culture Club’s ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?’ and Anne Murray’s ‘Snowbird’. The follow-up The Ugly American was stranger still, with Eitzel decamping to Athens to re-record old American Music Club songs in Greek style with local musicians.
Eitzel subsequently reunited with his former colleagues to record the wonderful new American Music Club album, Love Songs For Patriots. The next Eitzel solo album, Candy Ass, was released at the end of 2005, following which he rejoined a new line-up of American Music Club to work on a new album.
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