This was the first Release from AWA on Damnably Records and is a compilation culled from the bands previous albums and EP's. Here's the press sheet from back then.
What is this?
International debut album from Dallas based pop Rock trio
'American Werewolf Academy'.
Who Are these Cowboys?
Aaron Thedford: Guitar and Vocals
Tony Harper: drums
Jake Barnhart: bass
American Werewolf Academy formed in 2003 and have since
been bashing out unashamed pop. The band's influences
range from 60s pop, 70s power pop, post punk to bubblegum
rock. Aaron and Jacob from the band are illustrators who
draw all the albums covers and posters from the band and
both just completed the new album artwork for Shonen
Knife’s Free Time.
What do we need to know about this record?
Recorded direct to tape at Echolab in Texas by Matthew
Barnhart (Sound Technician to Silkworm, The New Year,
Superchunk, The New Pornographers and Midlake) and
mastered by JJ Golden (Calexico, The New Pornographers,
John Vanderslice and Devendra Banhart). Howard Draper
from Denton, Texas band 'Tre Orsi' helps out with lap steel &
organ.
Teenage kicks so hard to beat.
American Werewolf Academy like their name suggests, are
a strange band. Their music reflects an unhealthy obsession
with B‐movies, monsters and hooks into the collective
conscious ‐ referencing as they do common movie plot
lines.
‘The Hop’ & ‘The Kid...’ play out as end of summer themes
to a Huckleberry Finn‐style adventure laden teen flick.
‘Rock Show Tonight’ is a loving take on playing and
putting on gigs; ''I've got the posters, you got the records...it's
our birthright, we fought for it, our names are on the wall,
you load up the station wagon, I'll bring the alcohol are
you going to the rock show tonight?”
From the tender, lo‐fi moments of ‘Goodnight, My
Pumpkin Pie’, to the relentless guitar hooks in 'Summer
Ship' and ‘Goodnight for Anything', this is catchy as hell,
wholesome cinematic rock, replete with scratchy vocals,
dirty guitars and a classic thumping pop‐rock rhythm
section. It's a sound pulling in everything from The Kinks,
The Small Faces, Cheap Trick, Roky Erickson, The
Buzzcocks to Guided By Voices and Superchunk.
So let American Werewolf Academy transport you into the
small town America of Peter Bogdanovich's The Last
Picture Show and George Lucas's American Graffiti; a
coming‐of‐age and last dance time, this is a celebration of
carefree days with your buddies‐ hellraising, cruising the
strip in your parents Chevy and Wolfman Jack blaring from
the stereo.
The Denouement
These guitar slingers rock because they love music and
genuinely have fun making it. AWA are not fame seeking or
egoists with an agenda. Sincerity shines through this small
town trio, so much so they might just be the unlikely stars
of tomorrow. Are you going to the Rock Show tonight?
credits
released October 31, 2011
Recorded direct to tape at The Echo Lab in Denton, Texas by Matthew
Barnhart
Mastered by JJ Golden in Ventura, CA
Howard Draper from Denton, Texas band 'Tre Orsi' helps out with lap steel & organ.
supported by 61 fans who also own “Everything is Alright So Far”
From the chord that rings out solemnly during the opening "One per Customer" through the hypnotic distortion of the finale "Black Hole," this is full of heart. Melodic, mature, and evocative. Joe de Larios