The Amistad

The Amistad started life in January 2007. Rob, Matt and Mike had managed about one month apart since the last Four Dumb Kids gig and decided it was about time to get another band together. Matt had been living in Leamington for a while and drafted in his former housemate Frank (ex-Brutal Justice) to play drums. After a few months of practicing at various locations vaguely near the M1, their first gig was in June 2007.

In November that year the band spent a weekend with Mark Sturgess at Soundstation Studios in Horbury and recording two songs for their debut split 7? with the Orphan Choir. This came out on Records Or It Didn’t Happen / Document Records in March 2008. Just over a year later, in April 2009, they recorded two more songs for a split 7? with Above Them, this time at Stuck on a Name in Nottingham. This lovely little package was released on Disillusioned Records in June 2009.

In July 2009 The Amistad returned to Soundstation to record their debut album, due out on Bombed Out later in the year (they’d already worn us down thanks to a string of Four Dumb Kids demo’s over the years). Kept Under by a Generation of Ghosts is the result and a belting little album it is too, coming across like Milloy covering The Broadways after a weekend of listening to Hooton 3 Car and Leatherface. And yes, The Amistad still manage to hold their own despite those lofty comparisons. Not surprising, perhaps, given the fact that they’d spent the previous year gigging with such punk rock luminaries as Textbook, Lemuria, Glass and Ashes, Young Livers, SNFU etc.

That August Rob moved to Colchester and Matt will complete the diaspora when he sets sail for Montreal in October. In his absence the band will continue to play as regularly as ever as a three piece, save for the occasional tour of Quebec.

www.myspace.com/theamistadband
www.bombedout.com