AMPLINE

  • CURRENT RELEASE

    • Release
      PASSION RELAPSE
      January 26, 2018
      BUY

  • Upcoming shows

    No shows booked at the moment.

    • Click here to download hi-res band photos of Ampline (credit: Keith Klenowski) and Passion Relapse album art

    Kevin Schmidt, Rick McCarty and Mike Montgomery have been writing, recording and touring as AMPLINE since 2001. Since then, they’ve stitched their way across the United States many times and have done multiple tours in Europe and the UK. Passion Relapse is the group’s fifth full-length album. It was recorded, mixed and mastered at Montgomery’s Candyland; an analog-based recording studio located in Dayton, KY that has played recent host to acts such as; The Breeders, Protomartyr, Buffalo Killers, R.Ring, Ed Crawford (fIREHOSE), Courtney Barnett, The Tillers, Jeremy Pinnell, Bat Fangs (Betsy Wright/Ex Hex) and many others.

    Picking up thematically where their last album (You Will Be Buried Here / Phratry Records) left off, the lyrics explore the interrelation of man, nature, industry and theology. Set atop a backdrop of a mythical sea voyage to find the Edge of the World, the songs weave a narrative of death, decay, invention and ‘progress,’ metering the growing gulf between corporeal and spiritual.

    Tracking live to tape enabled the band to capture the energy of playing together in a room, imbuing the songs with a sense of cohesion and urgency. As raw and propulsive as it is, the new LP is some of the band’s most accessible writing to date.

    Read on: Prior to founding Ampline, Schmidt played in the avant post-punk groups; Elk and Covington. Rick and Mike played together in the bands; Thistle, The Light Wires and El Gigante.

    Montgomery, along with The Breeders’ Kelley Deal, is currently a member of the duo, R.Ring, who’ve recently released their debut LP, Ignite The Rest. Mike also plays in Mike Vallely and the New Arms alongside iconic professional skateboarders Kristian Svitak (The Heartaches / Swami Recs) and Mike Vallely (Black Flag / Good For You w/ Greg Ginn). The group has been touring the States and overseas this past year. Vallely’s Skateboard company, Street Plant, has featured quite a few Ampline tracks in their video edits. The cuts document the riders’ lives, travels and skating around the globe. The Ampline tracks are a natural pairing for the raw, aggressive energy of the skating.

    Ampline’s Passion Relapse will be available on limited vinyl, digital and streaming formats on January 26th, 2018 via Sofaburn Records. Click here to pre-order.

    PASSION RELAPSE TRACK LISTING:
    01 Shrunken Heads
    02 Low Light
    03 Captions
    4 Rigging Snaps
    05 Charm Offensive
    06 Passion Relapse
    07 It Will Evaporate
    08 Drip
    09 Edger Chaos
    10 Stab

    MORE INFO ON AMPLINE:
    http://www.ampline.net

    MORE INFO ON SOFABURN RECORDS:
    http://www.sofaburn.com

    MEDIA REQUESTS:
    Tony Bonyata
    Pavement PR
    e: tony[AT]pavementpr.com
    https://pavementpr.com

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  • PRESS QUOTES:

    • “The songs on Passion Relapse never meander, which, matched with Ampline’s musical tightness, creative and propulsive rhythms and much-developed melodic muscles, makes it one of the best Indie Rock/Post Punk albums released so far in this young year. For anyone bemoaning the decline of ‘Guitar Rock’ albums in the Indie music world, let Ampline ease your fears and assure you that the legacy carried over the years by bands like Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill and Hot Snakes isn’t in danger of dropping off anytime soon.” – Mike Breen. CITY BEAT

    • “Passion Relapse easily finds that midpoint between catchy and chaotic… a thrilling level of intensity. There’s a sense of tight control that elevates Ampline out of the ‘90s revivalist ghetto and puts them on the path to distinction.” – BLURT MAGAZINE

    • “… a great album. Fans of hard-driving rock with one foot in punk will love this.” – Aaron Badgley, SPILL MAGAZINE

    • “Judging by riff-heavy first single ‘Captions’ on Ampline’s fifth album, Passion Relapse, their Fugazi-like fury hasn’t waned a bit since forming in 2001.” – COLUMBUS ALIVE

    • “… raw and very real. These aren’t 4-chord blues songs, these are extravagant rockers filled with multiple chord progressions. Musically, Passion Relapse is a much-needed breath of fresh air in a music world which has almost lost the concept of a band and the role of the guitar, bass, and drums. This music is very well thought out with precision drumming, driving low end, and an intoxicating guitar tone. They weave together making sounds akin to such ‘90s greats as Hum, Jawbox and Helmet.
      With stories of mythical voyages, spirituality, and reciprocal relationships between man and beast, Ampline’s Passion Relapse is a thinking person’s record with a concept.” – INNOCENT WORDS MAGAZINE

    • “… raging, propulsive energy and dense 90’s guitar tones.” – ATLAS AND THE ANCHOR

    • “Passion Relapse is the Post Rock/Post Punk soundtrack to a host of angels in chainmail trumpeting the advance of battle-armored elephants on their way to a Viking funeral on a glacier in a hurricane. In other words, forces of and beyond nature channeled through guitar, bass and drums in search of the Rosetta chord.”  – Brian Baker, CITY BEAT