American Football

American Football unearth 1997 demo for new release, playing New Year's shows

American Football‘s classic debut albums turns 20 tomorrow (read our look back on the album), and to celebrate, the band have announced the release of Year One Demos, “a collection of newly mastered and previously unreleased instrumental demos” that pre-date the band’s 1998 debut EP. The demos comes out December 14 via Polyvinyl (pre-order). Here’s more:

“American Football was never intended to be a real band,” Holmes writes in the liner notes for Year One Demos. “The band was our creative outlet, and gave us something to do outside of schoolwork. Not to say that we didn’t take the music seriously. We spent an enormous amount of time crafting and arranging these little songs, but we had zero interest in a ‘music career’.”

The recordings found on Year One Demos are a glimpse back at that inauspicious time, and according to Steve Lamos who recently re-discovered the original tape (labeled with the date May 31, 1997), is the first proper set of demos the band ever made. “My dad ‘recorded’ this in the basement of the house I grew up in,” says Lamos. “As far as I can recall, he set up two vocal mics, at 90 degree angles, set the levels, showed me how to turn the Roberts two-track to ‘record,’ and then went upstairs while we played.”

Lamos last remembers coming across and listening to the demos in the mid-2000s, nearly a decade before American Football’s eventual reunion. He hadn’t thought about the recordings since until the approach of the LP1s 20 year anniversary reminded him of their existence.

American Football are also playing a few shows this weekend, culminating in a slot at hometown festival Riot Fest. They also just announced a hometown New Year’s Eve run. All dates are listed below.

American Football

Tracklist
1. Five Silent Miles (Demo)
2. Song #1 / Song #2 (Demo)
3. The Summer Ends (Demo)
4. For Sure (Demo)

American Football — 2019 Tour Dates
09/13 – Kansas City, MO @ Granada Theatre #
09/14 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall # 20th Anniversary of American Football (LP1)
09/15 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
11/02 – Camden, London, UK @ Mirrors Festival
11/03 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell (Two Shows) *
11/04 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla *
12/29 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
12/30 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
12/31 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern

# w/ Mess & Disq

* w/ Hailaker