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Alamo Race Track

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Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Website: http://www.alamoracetrack.com/

Bio: It's all come pretty fast for the foursome - consisting of Ralph Mulder (deep John), David Corel (cuddly Paul), Leonard Lucieer (mystical George) and Guy ... (more) Bours (happy-go-lucky Ringo). After releasing their well-received debut album Birds at Home in 2003 - produced by renowned Dutch knob-twiddler Frans Hagenaars of Bettie Serveert fame - the band quickly found themselves getting more attention - and better gigs - in neighboring France. Concerts then followed in the Netherlands, supporting Dutch stalwarts like Daryll-Ann.

But only after a Dutch blogger supplied YouTube with a video of the band performing an impromptu dressing room rendition of their single Black Cat John Brown (also the title of their latest album), the band suddenly had a few hundred thousand new Internet friends. The Dutch media couldn't get enough of the song, or the YouTube story, and were keen to boost their home-grown talent into the rock pantheon; as one Dutch newspaper had it, Alamo Race Track makes "ingenious, subtle popmusic with roots in the post-new wave of Talking Heads and The Smiths, to the melodic pop of Sparklehorse and the Beach Boys."

The band parlayed this success into support gigs for Arctic Monkeys and a well-received appearance at this year's SXSW, which in turn led to the band getting the 21st-century version of a winning lottery ticket, namely to have their single included in the mega-popular TV series Grey's Anatomy. Suddenly Alamo Race Track was being heard by a captive audience of some 18 million Americans, more than the entire population of their home-turf Holland.

And now it's up for America to decide for itself. Black Cat John Brown will be released in the U.S. in July on Minty Fresh, with a series of stateside gigs to follow.
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