Biography
Trained on piano from a young age and initially self-taught on guitar, Amy Stolzenbach lives and breathes music. At twenty, the Midwest didn’t seem to hold many opportunities. After playing in bands in high school, one year as a music major in college and playing in a regional Top-40 band at nineteen, Amy’s gaze turned west to Los Angeles. A year later, she graduated from Musician’s Institute, one of five women in her class, and started to plug into the music scene in L.A. She quickly realized that there had to be more tight knit exciting music communities elsewhere so she packed her bags and headed to Seattle. The music scene was vibrant and everything she had hoped for. With lots of opportunities to play, she hooked up with Seattle music veterans, Charlotte’s Webb. When that band had run its course, Amy honed her songwriting skills with her band flood, a melodic blend of psychedelia and guitar-heavy pop. The EP, Satan Touched My Hat, produced by Martin Feveyear (Mark Lanegan, The Presidents) and released on her own label, garnered critical acclaim. Several incarnations of flood led to the formation of Ground Bloom Flow’r which built on the heavy sound of flood but added influences from Massive Attack and William Orbit by using drum loops and dreamy synths.
Seattle musicians had taken note of Amy’s songwriting and arranging skills. This led to collaboration with Kim Virant and eventually a stint in her band on guitar and keyboards. The John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Harvey Danger) produced Stealing Days would not be Amy and Kim’s last collaboration. 2001’s EP, 4 More with Pete Droge (The Thorns, Almost Famous) and Elaine Summers producing and co-writing respectively, cemented Amy’s reputation as a skilled studio musician.
She left Kim’s live band in late 1999 to devote all her attention to her new project, the all-female AC/DC tribute band, Hell’s Belles. Amy had always loved AC/DC and had the concept for an all-female version of the Aussie band with herself as the explosive, eternal school-boy(girl) lead guitarist, Angus Young, nearly a year before all of the pieces fell into place. What started in her mind as a fun side project exploded onto the Seattle club scene and quickly spread all over the western states and Canada. Hell’s Belles has racked up numerous awards and accomplishments, including meeting AC/DC and inspiring a near deluge of female tribute acts around the country to follow in the footsteps of Amy’s idea by paying homage to their favorite band.
The constant touring and demands of Hell’s Belles left little time to work on her craft so Amy left the band in early 2002 and was soon recruited by two Seattle acts and nearly by one infamous bad boy band, Limp Bizkit. Amy auditioned for the Fred Durst circus as it rolled through Seattle and the very next day, every media outlet from CNN to Rolling Stone caught wind of the daring female infiltration into a clearly misogynist imaged band, naming her as the favorite pick to replace their recently departed guitarist, Wes Borland. Amy has never been afraid to rattle the cage of the establishment and this audition proved that people will take notice.
Quickly joining forces with the beloved Seattle music icon, Carrie Akre (Hammerbox, Goodness), Amy co-wrote the opening track on Carrie’s 2002 release, Invitation, and continued to play in her live band through 2004. At the same time she performed with Sweet Lou, where she played keyboards exclusively.
In 2003, Pete Droge introduced Amy to San Francisco transplant, Geoff Stanfield (Geffen band Black Lab and critically acclaimed Sun Kil Moon) when he turned to Pete for advice for musicians to turn his studio project into a live band. The result was the band Glorious. After signing with Madacy imprint Toucan Cove, the band was an industry favorite and toured in support of their eponymous CD (co-produced by Dave Lebolt – David Bowie, Laurie Anderson) and mixed by David Bianco (Teenage Fanclub, U2) in 2004.
Amy left Glorious in the spring of 2005 when the persistent call of her own music once again became the focus of her time and energy. Finding herself was the mission and by the fall of 2005, she began recording new songs she had written over the summer. It had always been a fantasy to record an album where she played all the instruments and since she had always been a closeted drummer and bass is a close cousin to guitar she hit the ground running. Once again her bold idea paid off. There is no impossible with Amy. February of 2006 saw the release of a three-song EP entitled This Fall where she performed all the instruments and vocals and served as producer and engineer.
That same creative drive allowed Amy to add on to the three EP songs in 2006 in a non-stop parade of live performances (backed by some of Seattle’s top musicians) and recording studio hibernation. All of her blood, sweat and tears forged 2007’s full-length album, On and On – released through her label, Four and Four Records and Burnside Distribution.
Several writing and producing jobs followed as 2007 drew to a close. Two standouts were producing the first full-length solo album for Honey Tongue lead vocalist, Jen Ayers. Amy contributed guitar, bass and drums to the project as well - look for a 2010 release. She also started an ongoing collaboration with filmmaker Bryan Smith, providing the musical backdrop for two films, 49 Megawatts and Pacific Horizons. His next film, Eastern Horizons, was released in early 2009. For fun, Amy also enjoys playing drums with the revolving cast of players in her all-improvised groove project, Int’l Scout, which started in 2006.
2008 found time for reflection and relaxation – two things that artists don’t often afford for themselves, but in the fall of that year, Rock came head banging on Amy’s door once again with an offer to join KZOK’s Bob Rivers Show’s all-star band, Spike and the Impalers. The brainchild of morning show vets Bob Rivers and Spike O’Neill combines veteran musicians and radio madness; the sum of which equals fun! The band has opened for many national acts (Foreigner, ZZ Top) as well as selling out large venues on its own. There are plenty of heavyweight musician friends who like to sit in like Alan White (Yes, Asia), Don Peake (Righteous Brothers, Ray Charles) and Chris Slade (AC/DC, Tom Jones).
A life in music is all Amy sees in her crystal ball – a device that when consulted in the past, has led her on some amazing adventures. She follows her heart and in turn, we all follow her.
Notable
1995 – Appeared in the movie Georgia with Jennifer Jason Leigh & John C. Reily
2000 – Played KISW’s Deck the Hall Ball at Seattle’s Paramount Theater with Hell’s Belles
2002 – Feature article in ROCKRGRL magazine
2002 – Appeared in KMTT’s Mountain Music Lounge with Carrie Akre – Live performance of the song
“Invitation” released on KMTT’s On the Mountain 8
2003 – Played the first show at the White River Amphitheater with Carrie Akre opening for Heart
2003 – Helped establish Ann & Nancy Wilson Scholarship for Girls at Ground Zero Teen Center
2003-2007 – Hell’s Belles winner of Best Tribute/Cover Band in Seattle Weekly Music Awards
2004 – Played White River Amphitheater with Glorious opening for Alanis Morrissette
2004 – Played KEXP’s Audioasis with Glorious
2005 – Nominated for Best Guitarist in Seattle Weekly Music Awards
2006 – Performed to over 2000 people in July as one of five finalists in the Redhook Emerging Music Awards
2009 - Opened for Foreigner and ZZ Top with Spike and the Imaplers