Alamo Race Track

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Alamo Race Track

Background information
Origin Amsterdam, Netherlands
Genre(s) Alternative rock
Years active 2001- present
Label(s) Excelsior Recordings
Website Official website
Members
David Corel
Guy Bours
Len Lucieer
Ralph Mulder

Alamo Race Track is a rock band from Amsterdam. They have released two full-length albums. Their last album, Black Cat John Brown, was released on October 28, 2006. The title track of the album became a successful video on the popular site YouTube (view video).

[edit] History

[edit] Early days (2001-2002)
When in 2001 the band Redivider loses keyboard player Diederik Nomden the remaining members decide to carry on. As they feel that Nomden’s departure affected the band’s sound they take on a new band name, Alamo Race Track. Under this name, David Corel, Guy Bours, Len Lucieer and Ralph Mulder start to record new demo tracks.

After supporting Daryll-Ann on a tour in early 2002, Excelsior Recordings signs the band. The following year the band plays numerous high profile shows, resulting in raving reviews from various Dutch magazines (amongst others 3voor12 and OOR).


[edit] Birds At Home (2003-2005)
After completing several side by side projects, playing with Daryll-Ann and Bram Vermeulen, the four members reconvene in early 2003. Together with producer Frans Hagenaars the band records the tracks for their debut album, Birds At Home. Sessions take place in Hagenaars’ studio Sound Enterprise in Weesp. By June the album is completed.

Birds At Home is released in the Netherlands on September 1, 2003. The album becomes a moderate success in the Dutch pop music charts.

2003 is also a year with a lot of concerts. The band plays a number of prestigious festivals in the Netherlands such as Noorderslag, The Music in My Head and Lowlands. In addition to this Alamo Race Track visits Great Britain, playing at The City in Manchester and during the MusicWork showcase in Glasgow.

While playing at the South by South West festival in Austin, Texas the band is spotted by a representative of Fargo records. This meeting leads to a licensing deal for the French territory. Consecutively Birds At Home is released in France in early 2005. Following this the band tours France in June. Almost all shows on this tour are sold out. At this point the band's popularity in France exceeds that of their home country the Netherlands.


[edit] Black Cat John Brown (2006-present)
In mid-2006 recordings for Black Cat John Brown start. Just as with the first album the band records in the ‘‘SSE Studios with Hagenaars producing. Meanwhile a dressing room performance of the song Black Cat John Brown finds its way to popular video website YouTube. Within two weeks the song is viewed by more than 170.000 people. This success translates in widespread media exposure in the Netherlands with items in the national news broadcast (NOS) and De Wereld Draait Door .

When the album is released in October it is received well amongst press and record buying audience. There is a string of very positive reviews and the initial sales numbers are promising. Consecutively Black Cat John Brown reaches the number one spot in the Scherpe Rand Van Platenland, an important alternative music chart in the Netherlands.

In December the band tours as part of the Fine Fine Music tour. Together with labelmates Ghost Trucker, Spinvis, Do-The-Undo and El Pino & the Volunteers the band visits numerous venues in the Netherlands.

The band opens 2007 with a show at the Noorderslag festival in Groningen. In early January the band also records a video for the song Northern Territory (video).

After the Noorderslag show on January 13th the rest of January and February are dedicated to touring abroad. Alamo Race Track plays at the De Nachten festival in Antwerp and follows this up with a three week streak of shows in France. This tour is a great success as almost all venues are sold out. In addition to this the band makes several performances in the French media.