Amplifier are a British three-piece rock band consisting of guitarist/vocalist Sel Balamir, bassist Neil Mahoney and drummer Matt Brobin. Amplifier are best known for their trademark massive live wall-of-distortion which is conjoured out of multiple amps and many many effects pedals. Their music is often described as progressive rock, psychedelic rock, post classic rock, melodic rock, stoner rock and mega rock Proto-Amplifier formed in 1998, but did their first gig on 4th May 1999 at Manchester's Band On The Wall. After some years and many many gigs, and equally as many floors that were slept upon and miles travelled in their trusty and rusty white transit van, they signed a record deal with Music For Nations, the stalwart indie rock label that housed such names as Metallica, Slayer, Tool, Frank Zappa, err... Bowling For Soup. They recorded their eponymously titled album in 2003, which came out in the UK in 2004, with a very very very limited run in Europe that year also. The album came out to tremendous press and a Kerrang awards best new band nomination. Unfortunately, the same week as the records release the label MFN was dissolved in a business merger between Zomba, the label's parent company and giant corporate behemouth Sony/BMG. The band spent about year trying to get out of the clutches of their new masters, before buying their freedom in an act of artistic manumission which is called an "override" deal. Trust me, if you're in a band - you don't want to hear this phrase. The band then moved to German label Steamhammer, part of the SPV group, and released the 5track EP "The Astronaut Dismantles HAL" in Nov 2005, before releasing their second album "Insider" in Oct 2006. The band parted company from SPV in 2009 and are currently putting the finishing touches to their 3rd album, which is a double album entitled "The Octopus" and is due for release in summer 2010 on their own Ampcorp label. In 2008, the band's trusty white van sadly passed on after ten years of faithful service.
