The Anderson Council
A Brief History of the Band
Established in 1999, The Anderson Council is the brainchild of singer and songwriter Peter Horvath, whose love affair with late 60’s pop informs and inspires both the band’s sound and direction. The quartet of Horvath, guitarist Mike Potenza, drummer Scott Jones and bassist Simon Burke enthralls listeners with irresistible hooks and captivates them with intelligent layers of sound.
In 2001, The Council released its debut album Coloursound (The Sinclair Recording Co.). Coloursound made its radio debut on Little Steven’s internationally syndicated radio show “Underground Garage" and the first single “Sitting on a Cloud”, was named the “Coolest Song in the World” in April 2002.
In 2006 the band released its second full-length album, The Fall Parade (Groove Disques Records), which was nominated for “Best New Release” and “Best Album” by the Asbury Park Music Awards. The album quickly made its way to the Billboard Garage Rock charts on the strength of its first single “Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours” which entered at number one and propelled the The Fall Parade to number nine.
In 2012 The Anderson Council completed and released their 3rd full length album, Looking at the Stars(The Sinclair Recording Co). Recorded in Highland Park, New Jersey by Kurt Reil, “Looking at the Stars” featured 13 new songs ranging from high-energy 60’s power pop to 70’s Mod Revival to 00’s British re-invasion. Their video for the single and lead off track "Don't You Think" received extensive views online on YouTube and in the blogosphere. The single also appeared in the Canadian film The Right Kind of Wrong (2013). The record continued to surge, behind the support Little Steven Van Zandt, who deemed a deeper cut, "Gardening Man" the “Coolest Song in the World” on his Underground Garage Sirius XM radio (channel 21) and syndicated radio show.
Over the next two years, the band stayed busy and productive playing shows and kept their name in the public eye. They made appearances on several tribute records, recording their versions of songs by Elvis Costello, Bobby Sutliff, The Posies, New Jersey’s own, The Critters and most recently, the Canadian rock band, Sloan.
In 2015 The band recorded Listening Party!(The Sinclair Recording Co), a six song EP which gave their fans some well deserved tracks to spin while awaiting the next album. The EP track listing was unique in that each member contributed one original song and chose one cover song.
In the fall of 2016, The band signed with Marty Scott’s JEM Records. Their first release on JEM was titled Assorted Colours. Scott’s intention was to introduce the rest of the world to the sounds of The Anderson Council without having to purchase their vast back catalog. Thus the idea behind Assorted Colours, an aural history of The Anderson Council was born.
The Anderson Council was subsequently honored by Little Steven by naming the band's latest single, “Magical” the “Coolest Song in the World” on SiriusXM 21, The Underground Garage. The band was also invited to Washington DC to the SiriusXM studios to record a "Loft Session" for SiriusXM 30, The Loft. The set captured the band’s live persona, doing what they do best.
On July 26th, 2019, the band released their new full length LP, Worlds Collide on JEM Records. It made many peoples' year end best-of lists and was a critical success, with much love in the press.
2020 happened, to ALL OF US... Peter spent most of the lockdown year demoing new songs, getting the new members up to speed, and getting ready to make a new record, which commenced in March 2021.
2023 brought The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon to the listening audience, with yet ANOTHER Coolest Song in the World, "Times On The Thames"! 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 also brought more Coolest Songs for the band from the JEM Records Celebrates series, covering The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and David Bowie, respectively.
2026 sees the impending release of the 6th album, Meet Me At The Melody, both a tribute to a local bar where the band played a bunch of early shows, AND as a celebration of all things melodious!
Other Fun Facts:
The Council has shared the stage with groups like The Pretty Things, Chris Butler (of The Waitresses and Tin Huey), Richard Lloyd(of Television), Lisa Loeb, The Smithereens, The Gripweeds, Pugwash, Sasha Dobson, The Windbreakers, Glen Burtnik, the Weeklings and The Upper Crust; as well as artists like Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook and Jellyfish’s Jason Falkner. In three of its most memorable shows, the band performed at legendary YANKEE STADIUM, has appeared alongside The Romantics at Atlantic City's Borgata, and played with The Zombies, The Fleshtones, and The Mooney Suzuki at a sold-out Irving Plaza in New York City.
