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For nearly a decade, American Heartbreak have been one of rocks underground heroes, but with the release of their eponymous second full-length album, they aim to leave the underground behind and follow in the footsteps of their arena rock idols. The San Francisco-based quintet co-founded by Billy Rowe, onetime guitarist for Jetboy (a band All Music Guide calls one of the best-kept secrets of 80s glam metal) blend a punk-influenced pop-metal aesthetic with the melodic allure and accessible hooks of classic pop radio. If the New Wave Of Classic Rock is in session, American Heartbreak is at the head of the class. Along with vocalist Lance Boone and former Exodus bassist Michael Butler (currently the host of the highly successful weekly Rock and Roll Geek Show Podcast), Rowe first introduced American Heartbreak to rock fans via the 1997 EP What You Deserve, initially released on Perris Records. After several tribute album contributions and lineup changes, their first full-length, Postcards From Hell, surfaced three years later on hometown indie Coldfront Records. The album recalled the unpretentious fun of supercharged Sunset Strip rock while reinterpreting the buzz-saw melodies of arena rock legends such as Kiss and Cheap Trick for a post-alternative rock age. Following a 2001 split-CD with The Libertines, the group added rhythm guitarist Casey Crenshaw prior to a European tour, during which they recorded a live set that became the foundation of their next release. 2003s You Will Not Be Getting Paid (Perris Records) featured five live songs, five acoustic tracks (including Starz and Cheap Trick covers) and six remixed songs from the What You Deserve EP. After the European releases of You Will Not Be Getting Paid and Postcards From Hell in 2004 (People Like You Records), the group returned to the continent for another tour in early 2005. Back on the home front, they toured the West Coast with Backyard Babies, The Chelsea Smiles and Crash Kelly that summer. (The group has also toured and/or gigged with The New York Dolls, The Donnas, Queens of the Stone Age, Buckcherry, Warrant, Cinderella, The Scorpions, Dio, Sebastian Bach, L.A. Guns, Starz and Tsar, among others.) By years end, the band completed its second full-length with co-producer Rick Parker (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Space Twins [Weezer guitarist Brian Bells side project], Tyler Hilton). The result: 13 tracks of timeless rock n roll. It proves that while trend-seekers may be fawning over the latest batch of rock saviors as if the genre was invented only yesterday, American Heartbreak is the real deal a band impervious to fads and driven purely by the desire to play loud, catchy rock.