American Football and Bleachers

The band was formed by Mike Kinsella and Steve Lamos, who both played in The One Up Downstairs along with Dave and Allen Johnson, who would later form the band Very Secretary. Soon after The One Up Downstairs came together, they wrote three songs together in order to release them as a 7” vinyl on Polyvinyl Records. However, the band broke up before the record was pressed, and Kinsella and Lamos were determined to keep performing together. Together with Steve Holmes, a guitarist and mutual friend of theirs, they started putting together a new band, a band which you can tell was formed before the age of Google because they named it American Football.

The new power trio spent one year writing, recording and rehearsing before releasing their self-titled debut E.P, again through Polyvinyl Records. Like the vast majority of American underground punk releases, it was massively acclaimed by the very, very few people who heard it, but all the same, it was enough to justify the recording and release of their debut studio album, which came along in 1999. By this point, the acclaim for the album was so strong that word started to spread about the band into the overground punk scene, and the band started to attract the beginnings of a cult following.

However, the year after they released their first album, the band announced that they would become a studio only project, and soon after that the band decided to call it quits altogether, a mere three years after they’d formed. Over the 2000’s, the “American Football” album became a touchstone for the rising emo movement that took over the world of rock for a couple of years, and word about them began to spread faster than it had ever done when they were together thanks to the internet.

In 2014, nearly a decade and a half after they had split up originally, it was announced that the band were reuniting, and would tour the world over the next couple of years. Their first live shows in Illinois and New York were acclaimed as everything that fans of the band had hoped for during the time they’d been away. Unfortunately, there’s no sign yet of any new material, but there’s also no sign that they’ll be going off the road any time soon. With their technical emo rock more in favour than ever before, and the band members in the prime of their years, American Football come highly recommended.

Jack Antonoff, the talented singer/songwriter and guitarist found fame with pop group Fun and is credited as a co-writer of one of the band's most successful singles 'We Are Young'. He has also written music for pop heavyweights including Taylor Swift and Christina Perri. Whilst on the road with Fun, Antonoff found an outlet for his creative urges whilst travelling from city to city in Bleachers. His side project remained unknown until February 2014 when he released the single 'I Wanna Get Better'.

It received moderate chart success due to the singer's credibilities and notoriety as an artist formerly associated with Fun. Critics enjoyed the shimmering layer of pop gloss that had been applied to this release and the album 'Strange Desire' which came in the summer continued to accumulate accolades. It was released through RCA records and was met with chart success, debuting at #11 on the US Billboard Charts and #19 on the Canadian album charts.

The guitarist has been touring the US tirelessly throughout 2014 to promote the album's release, including at stop off at Austin City Limits. Despite the success and time that Antonoff has invested into this project, he has made it clear this is not a departure from Fun and he still remains committed to the band.