American Heartbreak

San Francisco's American Heartbreak was formed in 1996 by guitarist Billy Rowe, recently orphaned by the dissolution of the commercially ignored but critically favored <a href="spotify:artist:5mBf7eusalyTh54NbiaWlR">Jetboy</a>, also featuring ex-<a href="spotify:artist:5CW2x4YosugZJZZCWA0kBI">Hanoi Rocks</a> man Sam Yaffa. Together with vocalist Lance Boone, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:0tAqZAmAxg91lrk3Rc97rj">Michael Butler</a> (formerly a member of Bay Area thrash kings <a href="spotify:artist:76S65NHJHrNy4JTrXHP2BH">Exodus</a>!), and a few long since departed musicians, Rowe introduced American Heartbreak's '70s-based glam rock formula (think <a href="spotify:artist:3dBVyJ7JuOMt4GE9607Qin">T. Rex</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3Jk87AV48O8quMXNs7sMIW">Starz</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1LB8qB5BPb3MHQrfkvifXU">Cheap Trick</a>, and of course, <a href="spotify:artist:0WhGV9lzljq2QKJ8ipw6jx">the New York Dolls</a>) to fans with 1997's What You Deserve EP, but it would take an additional three years before the band's first full-length, Postcards from Hell, finally surfaced. 2001 saw the release of a split CD with <a href="spotify:artist:4fSPtBgFPZzygkY6MehwQ7">the Libertines</a> and the arrival of rhythm guitarist Casey Crenshaw; 2003, the release of the part-live/part-studio/part-acoustic/all-sardonic You Will Not Be Getting Paid collection; and, following ever increasing touring stints with <a href="spotify:artist:4ASJkb9HOe3Vz5ZaXOjnfN">Backyard Babies</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2c0qomdZabcCyqTZ5M9msd">the Donnas</a>, and others, American Heartbreak (now rounded out by drummer Paul Scavuzzo) recorded and released their eponymous second LP through Liquor and Poker in 2006. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi