Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
The Amsterdams are a Romanian indie rock band formed in Bucharest in 2005. Their current line-up consist of Andrei Hațegan (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar, percussion), Andrei Ungureanu (guitar), Augustin Nicolae (bass, percussion) and Ovidiu Bejan (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, percussion).
The band toured in countries like UK, France, Spain, Holland, Italy, Hungary and Czech Republic and opened for bands like The Cranberries, Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs.
Up to date, The Amsterdams released two studio albums, an EP and four videos. Their second studio album, Electromagnetica, was mastered by Harris Newman (also known for his work with Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire) and features Dan Boeckner, who plays guitar on "This Burial Ground's For Two".
History
Formation and early years
The Amsterdams were formed at the beginning of 2005 by Andrei Hațegan and Andrei Ungureanu, following an ad posted by Hațegan. Both musicians were big fans of British alternative scene, listening to bands like Radiohead, The Smashing Pumpkins, Travis, Oasis and The Stone Roses. Shortly after, they were joined by bassist Dan Olaru and drummer Vlad Stoica. The name of the band was especially chosen to express the idea of artistic freedom, or, as Andrei Hațegan puts it:
"We weren't actually fond of the hard, garage, underground, chemical elements or funeral-like names, so we thought that the best we could do was to choose a name that would've express the idea of free spirit, in all of its aspects, which is why Amsterdams came up really naturally. The is because people had to know that we were those Amsterdams... The only ones!"
The band played their first gig in 2006, in Big Mamou Club, Bucharest. That summer, Vlad Stoica and Dan Olaru left The Amsterdams due to musical divergences, and formed a new band, called The Guillotines. Olaru was replaced by Augustin Nicolae, and shortly after the band was joined by guitarist Ovidiu Bejan. During the following months, The Amsterdams struggled hard to find a new drummer, working with no less than thirteen people; eventually, they chose Alex Ghiță.
In 2007, the band recorded two songs, "Taking Care Of Anna" and "Fireworks". "Taking Care Of Anna" was aired on a local radio station, 89FM, while "Fireworks" was included on a compilation called "The Next Dog Desert Island Selection", produced by Roadrunner Music. Later that year, The Amsterdams were invited to play at the third edition of UnderLondon2 Festival, in Bucharest. They were also part of the line-up for Stufstock 5 Festival, which featured The Dandy Warhols as headliners. Their performance impressed the American band, and made Courtney Taylor-Taylor to dedicate them the song "Country Leaver", while calling them "the best Romanian band".
Autumn brought them a new line-up change; drummer Alex Ghiță left the band, and was later replaced by Paul Ballo (Go to Berlin).
Automatic
On May 28, in Fire Club, the band released their first studio material, an EP called Automatic, which featured four songs. They also released their first video, for the song "Petrolize All Mice".
Following this release, The Amsterdams played at Europa Vox Festival, in France; after this performance, they went to London for a gig in Dublin Castle Club. The EP was promoted in the United Kingdom, gaining some favorable reviews. "Suffering And Surfing" and "Petrolize All Mice" were broadcasted on several local radio stations, like Cambridge University Radio and at BBC6 Music.
In the summer of 2008, the band was invited to several festivals, such as Peninsula, B'Estfest and Stufstock, this time on the main stage, with Apocalyptica and Air Traffic. Meanwhile, Vlad Stoica rejoined the band, replacing Paul Ballo.
At the end of February 2009, the band opened the series of live concerts broadcasted on MTV Romania's official site, a project destined to promote local alternative music. In April, The Amsterdams performed an unplugged gig at the local radio station ProFM, during which they also played some songs from their debut album. The radio station subsequently invited them to play during their sixteenth anniversary.
Adolessons
On May 22, 2009, The Amsterdams released their first studio album, called Adolessons. The release gig took place at The Silver Church Club in Bucharest, and featured Doru Trăscău (AB4, The Mono Jacks), Dan Olaru and Alex Ghiță (Rain District) as guests. The band performed the new songs from the album and some old songs.
The album was produced, distributed and edited by the band, under the name of their own label, Post Pop Records. It was registered at the Studio ISV, mixed by Alex Dragomir at Raza Studio and mastered by Christian Mike Sugar at CSM-Lab Bucharest. Andrei Hațegan explained the title in an interview:
"We're still living in a musical adolescence, as we're not playing together for a long time, and the album tells the story of all these years. It's like a lesson we have to learn while we're adolescents, for having a happy life afterwards..."
The band also filmed and released a video for the first single, "Chased by the Housewives". The video was directed by Anamaria Lazarovici and premiered on MTV Romania's official site. Singer Andrei Hațegan explained this choice by stating "We chose to make a video for this song because we like it a lot, it has less than four minutes, so it can be aired on TV without any problems, and, least but not last, because we were forced to do so." while bassist Augustin Nicolae specified "We thought that it's the kind of infectious song - it's like when you get a flu and it sticks with you from April until August. Even after you get well, you'll remember perfectly why you got sick in the first place."
In September 2009, following an invitation from The Blog Parties, the band performed two gigs in two cities from Holland, Utrecht (Ekko Club) and Amsterdam (Winston Club).
In October, The Amsterdams and The Mono Jacks played as opening acts for the Canadian band Handsome Furs in Control Club, Bucharest. Impressed by The Amsterdams, the lead singer of Handsome Furs, Dan Boeckner agreed to collaborate with them on a song. Initially called "Burial Ground For Two", the song would later appear on their second studio album under the name "This Burial Ground's For Two".
At the beginning of 2010, The Amsterdams had their first national tour, HOME AND DRY TOUR 2010; they performed in several cities from the north-east of Romania and also in Chişinău, Moldova.
On April 17, 2010, the band released a new video, for the song "Apple". The video, directed by Irina Stănciulescu (also known as Color Nurse), was projected during the concert held by the band on a roof above a record store from Bucharest, called Off the Record.
In May, The Amsterdams were invited to tour with Wolf Parade as opening act; the Canadian band was promoting at that time their newest studio album. The Romanian band performed in Budapest, Prague, Salzburg, Bologna and Torino. In July, The Amsterdams opened for The Cranberries concert in Bucharest.
During the winter, drummer Vlad Stoica left the band. The remaining members eventually decided to give up the search for a new drummer and continue as a four piece band instead.
Electromagnetica
At the beginning of 2011, The Amsterdams finished the recording of their second studio album, Electromagnetica. In February, a month before the official release, the band went in the UK to promote the new material. A song from it, "Coalmine", had been previously aired at BBC6 Music.
The official release of Electromagnetica took place on March 31, at Kulturhaus Club, Bucharest. The release concert had Hot Casandra and Sophisticated Lemons performing as opening acts and featured Electric Brother (the producer of Electromagnetica) and Vlad Stoica as guests. The name of the album comes from Electromagnetica, a factory in Bucharest, inside of which the band has the rehearsal room.
The album was released as a digital download on April 1, and received several positive reviews. The band described their new material as being more elaborated than their debut album, Adolessons.
At the end of May, The Amsterdams performed in Zaragoza, Spain. Their gig was part of a multidisciplinary project called Zaragoza Latina, which was supposed to encourage the development of interest for the Latin culture.
On August 31, the band released their fourth video, "Summertime", directed by Alina Manolache. The song features Roxana Niculae (We Singing Colors) on vocals and was registered at The Great Below Studio, mixed by Paul Ballo and mastered by Cristian Varga. Andrei Hațegan declared in an interview that the band will release a video for the song „Coalmine” as well.
On October 8, The Amsterdams performed at Sala Polivalentă from Bucharest, along with Electric Brother, Morcheeba and Parov Stelar Band.
Additional projects
Many of the band's former members, as well as the current ones, have additional musical projects. Andrei Hațegan and Roxana Niculae have a band called We Singing Colors, described on the official Facebook page as it follows: "We play around at home and sometimes music comes out. oh, really?" Andrei Ungureanu is part of a band called Nebulosa, with Noamme Elisha on vocals and bass guitar and Vladimir Proca (Robin and the Backstabbers) on drums. Nebulosa released an EP called Chimes in 2010. Augustin Nicolae plays in The Division of Joy, a Joy Division tribute band, with Gabi "Pipai" Andrieș on vocals, Janin Pasniciuc (Dekadens, ex-AB4, ex-Zebre) on guitar and Paul Neacșu on drums. Ovidiu Bejan and Vlad Stoica are involved along with Color Nurse in a band called Coughy, which is described as "Experimental Shoegaze Screengaze Electronica Noise Neo-Post-Rock" on the official Facebook page. Paul Ballo is known for his activity as a drummer in Go to Berlin and Kumm, and for his two electronic projects, Hot Casandra and Trouble Is, the former being a collaboration with Matei Țeposu, his ex-bandmate from Go to Berlin.