"Makes Swell Maps sound like Led Zeppelin" - NME
The forty-nine Americans* is a band which consists soley of Americans and has 49 members. Everyone accepts everyone else's musical differences and we play authentic rock and roll. We never use the same drummer twice and consequently will only be able to do three more songs ever unless we get round to rewriting our constitution. Our favorite color is blue. We work according to the laws of supply and demand, but we are only able to understand them subjectively. We don't write all the songs, but if one of the main songwriters produces something awful it is open to criticism. Our favourite colour is blue. We have existed since we were born, but only as a band. We like Ella Fitzgerald because she tells the truth. We are perfectly prepared to cope with people who think our music is too popular. There was never a more significant person to us than our president. He lives in a White House and works in a room the shape of an oval. We are not afraid of war, but we won't fight. We would rather be playing music than selling records, which is frightening. Our favorite color is blue. We are all taller than our mothers. Having worked in an office for twenty years we need the release we are able to find in playing music. We only improvise when we can't remember how to read complicated sheet music. We lap up reviews. We work out our music in our heads individually and whisper it over the phone to the lead guitarist, it is all part of our experimenting with communication. We like TV as long as people on it are smiling. We never go to bed. We buy albums in order to listen to them. Our favourite colour is blue. We realise that our music is too radically new wave for some people. We are happy when we hear a good trumpet solo. We promote dancing and singing. Our favorite color is green now.
The 49 Americans is a band which throughout the length of its brief history and ever since has not existed. There has always not been a band known as the 49 Americans. That is what makes them so special. There are many ways not to exist, this is only one of them.
All kinds of music are created equal. No music is more important than other music in a democracy. We believe in freedom. Freedom from everything, including lack of ability. In early American times, when there was a tradition of patchwork quilt making, the last piece of patchwork was always placed incorrectly in order to emphasise that man was not perfect. The 49 Americans have continued this traditional practice in their own music, accepting the subtle variance of the pieces they play through the medium of human error.
The 49 Americans* were an experiment in the pursuit of happiness. Happy music doesn't have to be dumb.
(*1. Representing the whole of the United States; especially, chosen as the best in the United States. 2. Composed of Americans or American materials exclusively. 3. Entirely within the territorial limits of the United States. 4. Of all the Americas.)