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http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/COLUMNISTS04/703290316/1005/ENTERTAINMENTAmsterband finds a good match with Bloodshot
After four years, three self-released CDs, hundreds of shows and thousands of miles on the road, Amsterband has done it.
The Springfield rock band has signed with a label: Chicago-based Bloodshot Records, one of the larger independent labels around, and, I think, a good home for a band whose sound borrows equally from indie rock and Ozarks folk music.
Bloodshot has long been home to artists who meld country and rock. The Bottle Rockets, Ryan Adams, Robbie Fulks and Neko Case have all called Bloodshot home at one time.
Call it alt-country or insurgent country or twang-rock or whatever — Bloodshot has a solid stable of artists, and Amsterband will be in good hands there.
"This is one of three labels we'd always had our eye on," says singer Brian Roberts, 27. "We didn't feel we were major-label material. We've seen too many people get burned by major labels. ... It just seems like a really good fit."
If you want to hear them for yourself in a smoke-free environment, the group plays at 7 p.m. Friday at the Monarch Art Factory, 600 W. College St. The cover is $8. Better Left Behind and Treaty of Paris open.
Bloodshot co-owner Nan Warshaw says she was attracted to the band's weirdly workable blend of gospel harmony, indie rock rhythm and onstage charisma.
"It's very accessible," she says. "... I remember seeing them for the first time (at a Chicago club), and they played in front of an emo crowd and won them over."
Bloodshot will re-release the band's newest album, "Buckle in the Bible Belt," nationwide later this year.
In December, I named "Buckle" the best local album of 2006. In 2005, I chose Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's "Broom" as the top local offering, and six months later that band signed with Polyvinyl Records. Can I pick 'em, or what?
One big reason why Amsterband has this opportunity is all the work it's put into building a fan base across the Midwest. A lot people think labels sign bands based solely on whether the music sounds good. But the reality is labels look for a solid base on which to build.
But this is only a checkpoint on the way to bigger things for Amsterband, or so it and Bloodshot hope. It'll be considered a new act across the country, and even in places in the Midwest. The fight for recognition starts all over again, except now with marketing help from Bloodshot.
"It's an exciting milestone to reach because so many bands don't even get this far," says drummer Lennon Bone. "But at the same time, it also feels like there's added pressure."
Pressure, yes. But these guys have the songs and the smarts to make a go of it.
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Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:37 am