THEY’VE collaborated with Elvis Costello and Christy Moore, and now it seems Amsterdam are ready to take on the world...
Their second studio album, Arm in Arm, is out on Monday, and its departure from the band’s previous sound seems to have caused a few problems when defining its genre.
“If someone said to me Amsterdam are a folk rock band I’d have to kill them,� laughs singer and songwriter Ian Prowse. “It implies the worst of both genres.
“I don’t like rock at the best of times, and as far as the finger in the ear folk brigade go, well… if I ever catch anyone in Amsterdam putting their finger in their ear they’re sacked.
“It’s just pop music. If people call the album folk rock expect violence.�
The follow up to The Journey – which featured Does this train stop on Merseyside?, the track which reduced the great John Peel to tears on air each time he played it – this promises to be the album that changes it all for the Merseyside band. More than anything, Ian says that it draws on soul music.
“I was brought up listening to Motown,� he explains. “My mum was really influential looking back at it. She’d buy all this amazing soul music with proper melodies, and I used to sit there and take it all in.�
It seems family is at the heart of the album.
“This record is mine and John’s record (guitarist Johnny Barlow, Ian’s cousin). It’s the first time he’s been lead guitarist. He wrote the track Rosie for the album, and co-wrote Feels Like Growing Up. It’s the first time we’ve ever done that.
“We were halfway through recording it when I said let’s give it a go. I’m really glad we did.�
Ian says it’s the most emotionally honest album he’s made.
“It’s illumination of the human condition,� he explains. “I’ve been as inspired by Shakespeare or Sylvia Plath or Emily Bronte as I have by Bruce Springsteen.�
And judging from the plethora of Springsteen records in Ian’s collection, that’s quite a feat.
The other big change for the band is the introduction of fiddle player Anna Jenkins.
“Anna has changed what we do so much,� says Ian. “She’s a classical musician, and with our music she can express herself in a different way.
“It feels like I’ve come full circle from the Pele days. In Pele we had a fiddle player, so we’re using the same instrumentation, but the sound is very different.
“It’s me getting back to my Celtic roots.�
Nowhere on the album is this truer than with Nothing's Going Right, in which folk legend Christy Moore appears. A long-time admirer of the Irish star’s work, Ian approached him after hearing that he was covering Does This Train Stop On Merseyside.
“He is an absolute joy,� explains Ian. “Getting him on the album is probably the thing I’m proudest of.
“Through him I learnt how to sing properly. I found the voice for my age. He didn’t find his voice until he was 50 and he gets better every time I hear him.
“I’m not 18 anymore, but I’m learning all the time. And I think there’s space for that.
“I’m not competing with The Wombats.
“Our record won’t appeal to the NME, but Uncut and Mojo give us great reviews. It’s Radio 2, not Radio 1.
“But the main thing I’ve realised is I’m not trying to be clever anymore. It’s about the big things in life now, the things that really mean something. I don’t want to write about throwaway things.
“It’s reflected in the sort of music I listen to now. Unless it’s really going to reach out and touch me I don’t want to hear it.
“We’ve taken risks with the album, and for people to have been so nice about the record means a lot.�
People have certainly been nice. The album has had rave reviews, and tomorrow night’s launch at The Cavern has already sold out.
So what’s next for Amsterdam?
“We’re doing a national tour in the Autumn, and after that I don’t know,� says Ian. “I’ve always wanted to do a really stark acoustic album in the manner of Springsteen’s Nebraska. Or maybe we’ll do another pop album.
“I’ve always had lots of songs on the go. I’m writing all the time, but I don’t know what direction we’ll go in yet
“Who knows what’s round the corner? This has been the most unbelievable year of my life. To have got Christy Moore to record with us, to do a duet with Elvis Costello, it feels like anything can happen.�
Arm in Arm is out on Monday. Amsterdam play the Cavern tomorrow, a live studio session on Radio Merseyside at 9pm on Sunday, and will be performing and signing copies of the album in zavvi in the city centre on Monday at 5.30pm. For more information, see www.amsterdam-music.com.