PureVolume

Members: Robert - Vocals, Bud – Guitars, Josh – Guitars, Bruno – Bass, Josh - Drums

American Minor is a five-piece guitar-driven rock and roll band that hails from the Kanawha River valley of southern West Virginia; not exactly known for being a hotbed of musical activity or a hotbed of anything else really. For the past year, when their van hasn\\'t been breaking down on the highway, they\\'ve been practicing at blistering volumes in a rundown century-old farmhouse in Champaign, Illinois.

Four out of the five members have spent time living in a trailer, three have done construction work, none of them come from musical families, and while all five will agree that Deep Purple is a pretty bitchin\\' rock group, all five will say the same thing about Fugazi. Ask these young men (21-25, if you care) anything more about their influences and they'll gladly admit to worshiping at the altar of the classics; Stones, Skynyrd, AC/DC, Ramones, Heartbreakers, Mats', Lennon, Sabbath, etc. but they seem to speak 'indie-rock' with equal fluency. They're just as likely to give it up for Pavement or The Refused. Must be a generational thing – or maybe these boys just love great music and don't really care what you call it.

These West Virginians pride themselves on writing songs-with no pomp, no circumstance-about things they experience in everyday life: the mentally ill struggling in the streets of their dilapidated hometown; the police interrogating a suicidal neighbor late at night in their apartment building; the loose talk that spews forth from women on tour; and the deranged people they wished they never had the opportunity to meet. When asked about their \\"mission\\" as a band, lead vocalist Robert McCutcheon very matter of factly points out the absurdity of that question, \\"Last time I checked, rock bands don\\'t go on missions, the only thing I can really think to say in response to that question is that we\\'re an American band. And in accordance to the well-established and long-standing tradition of the \\'American Band\\', we\\'re coming to your town--we come to party down.\\"