American Football (sometimes stylised in all lowercase as american football or americ anfootball) is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...

, originally active from 1997 until 2000, and again beginning with 2014 and onwards. The band was formed by guitarist/bassist and singer

Mike Kinsella Mike Kinsella (born March 4, 1977) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. Having been involved in many Illinois-based bands, he is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the emo band American Football. Kinsella's first musical ...

(formerly of

Cap'n Jazz Cap'n Jazz (sometimes stylised as caP'n Jazz) was an American emo band formed in Chicago in 1989 by brothers Tim and Mike Kinsella, who were joined by Sam Zurick and Victor Villarreal. After a number of name changes and the addition of guitaris ...

and

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

and currently of

Owen Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...

), guitarist Steve Holmes (also a member of the Geese) and drummer and trumpet playe
Steve Lamos
(formerly of the One Up Downstairs, one-time member of

the Firebird Band Christopher Robert Broach (born September 5, 1976 in Madison, Wisconsin) is one of the guitarists/vocalists in the 1990s emo band Braid. Broach joined Braid in 1994, recording his guitar parts on the band's first 7-inch release a week later. ...

and Edward Burch & the Staunch Characters, and currently of the Geese and DMS), who has since left the band. Despite the group's short initial lifespan, their self-titled debut album became one of the most acclaimed

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

and

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (includi ...

records of its era. American Football reunited in 2014, with Kinsella's cousin

Nate Kinsella Nate Kinsella (born March 19, 1980) is an American musician who currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. Nate's musical resumé is vast, including most notably projects such as American Football, Joan of Arc, Make Believe, Mata Hari and De ...

joining the band, and has since released two more albums, both bearing the same name as their debut: ''

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

'' (2016) and ''

'' (2019).

History

Mike Kinsella and Steve Holmes knew one another at an early age, as both were students at

Wheeling High School Wheeling High School, or WHS, is a public four-year high school located in Wheeling, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 214, which also includes Buffalo Grove High ...

Wheeling, Illinois Wheeling is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Lake County, Illinois, Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it is primarily in Cook County, approximately northwest of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 United Sta ...

, where Kinsella played drums for

; Holmes played guitar in a variety of bands. Kinsella and Lamos began playing together with David Johnson and Allen Johnson in 1997 under the name the One Up Downstairs, in which Kinsella was exclusively a vocalist. Three songs were recorded under this name, with the intention of releasing them as a 7" record on

Polyvinyl Records In polymer chemistry, vinyl polymers are a group of polymers derived from substituted vinyl () monomers. Their backbone is an extended alkane chain . In popular usage, "vinyl" refers only to polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Examples Vinyl polymers ar ...

. However, the band splintered before the record could be pressed, and the songs were shelved. The three tracks recorded by the One Up Downstairs would finally be released in 2006 as a digital download EP and in 2009 as a 7" record through Polyvinyl. David Johnson and Allen Johnson went on to form the band Very Secretary (and later Favorite Saints), while Kinsella and Lamos began working with Steve Holmes. American Football completed a total of two releases—a titular EP in 1998 and its debut album in 1999, both through Polyvinyl Records. Though the band did not record bass on the EP, Kinsella played bass guitar on some songs for the LP. Within a year of the release of its full-length, American Football became a studio project. Shortly thereafter, the band mutually decided to stop recording together. Still, American Football gained critical acclaim for that album, which merged the plain-spoken, confessional lyrics and the varying

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

s of

with a softer musical sensibility. These characteristics carried on in Mike Kinsella's solo project

, and Kinsella would later re-record "Never Meant" as Owen in 2004.

Reformation

In March 2014, Polyvinyl Records announced a deluxe re-issue of the band's eponymous debut album, including 10 additional unheard demos and live recordings. Live dates, in

Champaign Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, were announced the following month, all of which sold out. For these dates, Mike's cousin

joined the band on bass. further tour dates followed in the US, Canada, Spain, UK, Japan, and Australia. Two years after reforming the band released their second album. Again eponymous, and again on Polyvinyl, the album was released in October 2016, preceded by single "I've Been So Lost For So Long", which was made available for streaming through

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

. The album's cover featured the same house photographed on the band's first full-length. The "American Football House" became a landmark for emo music fans around the world, who would travel to Urbana, Illinois, to take photos outside of the home. American Football's

third album ''Third Album'' is the third studio album released by the Jackson 5 on Motown Records, and the group's second LP released in 1970, on September 18. ''Third Album'' featured the group's fourth consecutive No. 1 single on the US pop charts, " I' ...

, once again eponymous, was released in March 2019, with the single "Silhouettes" made available upon announcement the preceding December. Steve Lamos left the band in July 2021, citing a change of situation in his life. A single with the tracks "Rare Symmetry" and "

Fade Into You "Fade into You" is a song by American alternative rock band Mazzy Star from their second studio album, '' So Tonight That I Might See'' (1993). The song was written by lyricist Hope Sandoval and composer David Roback, who also served as produ ...

" (a

Mazzy Star Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal. Mazzy Star ...

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

), was released in December the same year.

Musical style

Although they are usually described as an

band, as one of the most important bands of the late 1990s

Midwestern emo Midwest emo (or Midwestern emo) refers to the emo scene and/or subgenre that developed in 1990s Midwestern United States. Employing unconventional vocal stylings, distinct guitar riffs and arpeggiated melodies, Midwest emo bands shifted away fro ...

scene and subgenre, American Football's musical style has been also described as

, and

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

due to them having uncommon time signatures in their songs, which is a staple in both the

and

's sounds. While their various works have been punctually described as

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as ...

, and

slowcore Slowcore is a subgenre of alternative rock and indie rock. The music of slowcore artists is generally characterized by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies, slower tempos and minimalist arrangements. Slowcore is often used interchangeably with the t ...

. Talking about the group's sound, Tim Sendra of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

stated, "The trio spent almost a year coming up with a clean, melodic approach that blended the intimacy of emo with the empty space of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, while adding pop hooks and jangling guitar interplay to the mix." In their article about the math rock's history, specialized online magazine Fecking Bahamas described American Football as "a second-wave emo band rooted in unconventional melodic song structures as well as containing elements of math rock and slowcore."

Members

Current members *

– lead vocals, guitar (1997–2000, 2014–present), bass guitar (1997–2000), drums, percussion (2021–present) *Steve Holmes – guitar (1997–2000, 2014–present), keyboards (1997–2000) *

– bass guitar, backing vocals, vibraphone (2014–present) Former members *Steve Lamos – drums, percussion, trumpet (1997–2000, 2014–2021) Touring musicians *Mike Garzon – percussion, melodica (2016–present) *Cory Bracken – vibraphone (2019–present) *Sarah Versprille – backing vocals (2019–present)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:90 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1997 till:12/31/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:BVocals value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:Trumpet value:powderblue legend:Trumpet id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion id:lightgrey value:black legend:Studio_album id:bars value:gray(0.95) BackgroundColors = bars:bars Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:01/01/1997 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:01/01/1998 BarData = bar:MK text:"Mike Kinsella" bar:SH text:"Steve Holmes" bar:NK text:"Nate Kinsella" bar:SL text:"Steve Lamos" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:MK from:start till:09/14/2000 color:Vocals bar:MK from:08/12/2014 till:end color:Vocals bar:MK from:start till:09/14/2000 color:Guitar width:3 bar:MK from:08/12/2014 till:end color:Guitar width:3 bar:MK from:start till:09/14/2000 color:Bass width:7 bar:MK from:07/16/2021 till:end color:Drums width:7 bar:SH from:start till:09/14/2000 color:Guitar bar:SH from:08/12/2014 till:end color:Guitar bar:SH from:start till:09/14/2000 color:Keyboards width:3 bar:NK from:08/12/2014 till:end color:Bass bar:NK from:08/12/2014 till:end color:BVocals width:3 bar:SL from:start till:09/14/2000 color:Drums bar:SL from:08/12/2014 till:07/16/2021 color:Drums bar:SL from:start till:09/14/2000 color:Trumpet width:3 bar:SL from:08/12/2014 till:07/16/2021 color:Trumpet width:3 LineData = layer:back # all lines in front of bars except where noted. otherwise at: 09/14/1999 color:black width:2 # perpendicular to time axis full length at: 10/21/2016 color:black width:2 # perpendicular to time axis full length at: 03/22/2019 color:black width:2 # perpendicular to time axis full length

Discography

* ''

'' (1999) * ''

'' (2016) * ''

'' (2019)

References

External links

American Football
at Polyvinyl Records

at joanfrc.com

at Epitonic {{Authority control Polyvinyl Record Co. artists Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Emo musical groups from Illinois Indie rock musical groups from Illinois Musical groups reestablished in 2014 Wichita Recordings artists 1997 establishments in Illinois 2000 disestablishments in Illinois Family musical groups Big Scary Monsters Recording Company artists