Steve Lamos

American Football
From left to right: Mike Kinsella, Steve Lamos, and Steve Holmes
Background information
Origin	Urbana, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Emo, math rock, indie rock, post-rock
Years active	1997–2000, 2014–present
Labels	Polyvinyl
Associated acts	The One Up Downstairs, The Geese
Website	americanfootballmusic.com
Members	Mike Kinsella Steve Lamos Steve Holmes Nate Kinsella

American Football is an American rock band from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, originally active from 1997 until 2000 and reunited in 2014. Guitarist/bassist and singer Mike Kinsella (formerly of Cap'n Jazz and Joan of Arc and currently of Owen), drummer and trumpet player Steve Lamos (formerly of The One Up Downstairs, one-time member of The Firebird Band and Edward Burch & the Staunch Characters, and currently of The Geese and DMS), and guitar player Steve Holmes (also of The Geese) formed the band. American Football reunited in 2014 and played a festival set and announced three headline shows in the fall of that year. They have since remained together.

Mike Kinsella and Steve Holmes knew one another at an early age, as both were students at Wheeling High School in Wheeling, IL, where Kinsella played drums for Cap'n Jazz; Holmes played guitar in a variety of bands. Kinsella and Lamos began playing together with David Johnson and Allen Johnson in 1997 under the name 'The One Up Downstairs', in which Kinsella was exclusively a vocalist. Three songs were recorded under this name, with the intention of releasing them as a 7" record on Polyvinyl Records. However, the band splintered before the record could be pressed and the songs were shelved. The three tracks recorded by The One Up Downstairs would finally be released in 2006 as a digital download EP, and in 2009, as a 7" record through Polyvinyl.

David Johnson and Allen Johnson went on to form the band Very Secretary (and later Favorite Saints), while Kinsella and Lamos began working with Steve Holmes. American Football completed a total of two releases—a titular EP in 1998 and its debut album in 1999, both through Polyvinyl Records. Though the band did not record bass on the EP, Kinsella played bass guitar on the LP.

Within a year of the release of its full-length, American Football became a studio project. Shortly thereafter, the band mutually decided to stop recording together. Still, American Football gained critical acclaim for that album, which merged the plain-spoken, confessional lyrics and the varying time signatures of math rock with a softer musical sensibility. These characteristics have been found in Kinsella's current project, Owen.