Amplified Heat (Austin, Texas)...new MP3 up

[velcro]

yeah man i think the show will be great
i have been working with the club to set up a sweet bill. im sure promo will be done right.
yeah i have been lurking on this site for a while. i have a subscription to tapeop. fuckin love it, but since i only get in to produce my own records like 3-4 times i year, i dont have much to say about recording usually. cant keep up on gear, but this site always gives a great perspective on shit for me, since i went to art school for sound compostion and all the 'tech' i learned was way more creative than vocational, i dont know what the hell im doing...
but i know what sounds good!

[DavidATX]

A review from Hellride Music for this release:

Having played together since 1988, the brothers that comprise Texas trio Amplified Heat have released In for Sin, a debut in name only. Combining the sounds of the first six ZZ Top records, pre-Another Perfect Day Motorhead, Link Wray and Cream (who inspired the band?s moniker), Amplified Heat prove themselves to be veterans.

These guys are great songwriters, knowing when to adhere to the song structure they?ve laid out and when to go off and showcase their chops. Their jamming is never long-winded and always tasteful. Never does it feel like they?re showing off. Although they should show off a little more, like during the Robin Trower-like solo in "Reflections" for example.

Lyrically, it?s standard fare?chicks, tequila, HEMIs; however, ?The Gunny? is a little more poignant, dealing with themes of blind patriotism. Still not sure if the band is being sincere or ironic and sarcastic with that one, but either way, it works.

As great as this album is, these songs beg to be heard in a live setting. Thankfully, they?re about to tour the country with Dixie Witch. Based on the strength of this lone album, Amplified Heat have the capability of showing them up, which is certainly no small feat.

With In for Sin and the upcoming re-release of RPG?s Full Time, Arclight Records is poised to dethrone Small Stone as the favorite record label of many within this circle.
--Mat Urbancich

[jimmyjazz]

GREAT review, David. I'm sure you're happy to have this kind of response.

How does Arclight handle distribution? Has it been a problem getting your records in boutique stores nationwide? If you don't mind, could you give us an idea what kind of fees are involved and how many units the typical distros are looking at these days?

Ever since Southwest folded I've pretty much written off getting much national distribution for our CDs, but maybe it isn't hopeless. Any thoughts on the matter would probably interest a lot of us little fish . . .

[Ben Logan]

Hey - I like it! Especially those scooty guitars at the beginning. I like it when you guys kind of stall on that 7th chord...

[DavidATX]

Thanks guys...yeah, we are very proud of the band and this record! This is the first review we have gotten back...PR started about 2 weeks ago.

As for distro...the label uses a few different places: Cargo Music, Choke, and Lumberjack. We also sell directly to stores in and around austin as well as on line stores such as Hellride Music, Stonerrock.com, etc.

It is rather hard to find a good distro company. The way it has worked for us is we send them x amount of a release with one sheets. They then list them for the stores that buy from them. The stores have the option of buying the release. We Sell to the release to the distro at wholesale, they add some, and sell it to the store, which adds more cost and sells it for whatever price. We get a check and/or unsold merch in about 90-120 days.

Hope that helps.

[jimmyjazz]

Thanks, David. What do you usually include in the one-sheets? It seems vendors want something different than press which wants something different than radio.

Our wholesale pricing to local stores has typically been ~ 67% of "retail". Does that jive with what your seeing with distributors?

[alissa]

hey!

i just listened to it. very cool. a lot of influences that i like. like old school texas blues with like jane's addiction and led zeppelin mixed in.

like i would have gone to emo's for the show and got into it with some psycho girl over a guy i didn't even know.

[DavidATX]

Hey Alissa...glad you dig the album!

Jimmy...67% sounds about right. For an example of a one sheet go to www.arclightrecords.com and then to the releases section...there a couple there.

Best quote I have heard to describe these guys so far has been "They are the Black Flag of Blues!"

David

[jimmyjazz]

I can't find the one-sheets on your site, David. I'm probably just being stupid. Lots of cool mp3s, though!

[DavidATX]

Jimmy...they are in the "Press" section. There are several band photos as well as one sheets.

David

[DavidATX]

And here is one from Monterey County Weekly:

AMPLIFIED HEAT
In For Sin | Arclight Records

Mean as mean can be, these rock ?n? roll rattlesnakes deliver what must be the oddest hybrid of the year. Revving up the aged blues thing and liberally borrowing from a panoply of unlikely sources (the title track comes in like a cow-punk take on the ancient Ministry track ?N.W.O.?), this is garage rock that doesn?t dress itself up in the needless trappings of the same. While one might make the case that Speeddealer or the tuneless Nashville Pussy have beaten this horse all the way to the glue factory, I beg to differ. By completely removing the issue of taste or tightness, Amplified Heat come closer to Lighnin? Hopkins than their more sophisticated cousins in roots music ever will.

That?s either a compliment or insult, depending on your aesthetic. This is a prelude to hangover rock, trashiness for its own sake, and as fine a representation of the ?Budweiser as elixir of life? ethos as I?ve seen in ages. I love it! (JA)

[DavidATX]

WOW! awesome review by Bully Magazine. I can assure you, this man was not paid!

By Ken Wohlrob

Amplified Heat
In For Sin
Arclight Records
www.amplifiedheat.com

Not since Johnny Winter's bastardization on The Progressive Blues Experiment has a band so unabashedly mangled the blues tradition?in a really cool way. It's apropos that Amplified Heat also hail from Austin, Texas, the same locale that Winter called home and the location of the Vulcan Gas Company where he recorded The Progressive Blues Experiment.



Originally from Columbia (and then Houston), the three Ortiz brothers who make up Amplified Heat take the blues and turn it into a frenetic, loud, amped up monstrosity that hasn't sounded so raw since the days of Cream and Winter. Being that their name is a sub-reference to Cream, it's fitting that their style is more like Clapton, Bruce, and Baker on smack, especially on the two opening tracks "In For Sin" and "Roadrunner." It is a very loud, very punk take on the blues that reminds one of what the Reverend Horton Heat has successfully done with rockabilly. While blues purists will obviously hate this album, a more open-minded listener will be hooked from note one. It is infectious and rocks like a son of a bitch especially on "The Gunny" and "Fever."

The production by David Elizondo and Mauro Arrambide (of the stonercore band Speedloader and owner of Arclight Records) fits the band perfectly. It is dirty and raw?sounding as if it were recorded in a gas station garage at night?and yet the separation of the instruments is superb. You can hear every note of the foundation laid down by bassist Gian and drummer Chris, while guitarist/vocalist Jim tears your eardrums out with a blistering solo. "Wagon Wheel" and "Fever" both are excellent examples of their Texas-blues gone ballistic sound. The latter starts off like a Cream classic, before becoming a long-lost Motorhead track circa Overkill. And at the same time, if you listen closely, they're remaining extremely faithful to the blues (while unabashedly tearing down its boundaries), especially on "Just A Junkie" and "Drivin." Most importantly, the three brothers play like a well-oiled machine, with each one adding their distinctive style to this cohesive, raw, punk version of dirty Texas blues.

It's a hell of a debut, with tons of spark and energy and fantastic playing. If you love Cream and Johnny Winter's early material as much as you love Motorhead and the MC5, this will be one of your favorite albums.