Adema
Photo: Jason Campbell

The latest band to bail from the sinking nü-metal ship is Adema, whose new record, Unstable, foregoes down-tuned guitar clamor and pulverizing rhythms and focuses instead on melodic rock constructions and harmony-filled choruses.

"Some people want to say we sold out. Hell yeah, we want to sell out shows and sell lots of records," said frontman Marky Chavez, nabbing a line famously uttered by Gene Simmons of Kiss. "These songs are great and they're still heavy and we're so proud of them. They're 10,000 times better than the ones on our first record."

The first single from the Howard Benson-produced Unstable is the title track, which shudders with frustration and features churning guitars that grapple with sing-songy vocals and an undercurrent of gurgling computerized noises. The song is about trying to hang onto a relationship for all the wrong reasons.

"It's that kind of thing where you're like, 'God, I'm in love and why can't this work out the right way?' " Chavez said. "And then you try to leave, but you're going, 'Dang, the bedtime activities are great. I gotta stay around.' "

A video for the song was recently shot by Kevin Kerslake, who has worked with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and countless others, and features performance footage in an unusual context.

"They shot all these leaves at us and [drummer] Kris Kohls was picking leaves out of his teeth," Chavez said. "The concept of the video is the world is at its breaking point, and there's tornadoes and stuff flying around. We're flying in the video and there are people flipping out of the atmosphere. And we're playing through the whole thing. We wanted it to be like that and not be some stupid typical story of some girl and a guy having a fight."

While many of the songs on Unstable are washed with melody and Alice in Chains-style harmonies, the disc also features "Needles," the band's heaviest song both lyrically and musically.

"That song was inspired by a really hard time in my life," Chavez revealed. "I have a close family member who's really struggling with heroin addiction. I was so mad and angry and pissed off and I asked the band to play something that was dirty and heavy and fast, and had anger written all over it. When you're stuck to a needle, that sh-- calls your name constantly. It was real tough having to watch a family member destroy himself."

Unstable comes out August 19 (see "Adema Stepping Away From Angst, Metal For Next LP").

• Adema

Adema's Marky Chavez
Photo: Arista

When Adema played Ozzfest last year, they had all the trappings of a nü-metal band on the verge of cathartic collapse.

Their performances were explosive, buzzing with intensity, rivaling the fury of tourmates System of a Down, Rob Zombie and P.O.D. And after their shows, Adema indulged in every rock and roll cliché imaginable.

"God, man, that was just a mess for us," recalled singer Marky Chavez. "There were constantly about 25 people on our bus, and there were all these chicks and booze and drugs. Partying is fine if you can keep a handle on that situation, but it can obviously get way out of hand. It's hard to give the fans a good show when you have all these distractions around you all the time."

Had Adema continued down the path of depravity, they would've self-destructed, Chavez said. So they made some major changes, and as they cleaned up their personal lives, the tone of their music shifted as well. The bandmembers were no longer interested in writing hateful electro-metal diatribes, instead focusing on crafting more melodically structured rock songs.

"We've matured a lot," Chavez said. "The record we're working on is going to be a rock album, not a metal album. There's a lot of straight beats on it and the tones are a lot cleaner. It's still got a heavy edge at times, but it's a lot more focused."

Adema have written 16 tracks for the still-untitled album and have already recorded one song with producer Howard Benson. They're hoping to finish the rest of the material in the next six weeks and will then narrow the album down to 14 songs.

So far the material is shaping up to be a combination of old school and new. Chavez compared the drums to Mötley Crüe and the guitars to Stone Temple Pilots and Incubus. But it's U2 who provided his greatest inspiration.

"They write really good songs, and I find myself relating to almost everything Bono says," he said. "I think that's a testimony to the type of guy he is and the songwriting ability that that band has."

Lyrically, Chavez decided to forsake angst in favor of writing about daily observations and interpersonal dynamics. "Still Fortunate," a delicate ballad featuring a 30-piece orchestra, is about the loneliness of being on the road. "Promises" is a rocker about a kid who's unable to meet people's expectations, so he sets his own goals and strives to please himself instead of others. And "Stand Up" is a bird's-eye perspective on domestic abuse.

"One of my family members got into a really bad relationship and it turned really bad," Chavez explained. "So I wrote about it in a song, and it says when things get violent it's time to call it quits and it's time to move on and realize that an abusive relationship is a very unhealthy thing."

The first single from the album will be "Unstable," which explores a relationship in which the people involved are ultimately incompatible.

"It's about the curiosity between these two people," Chavez said. "They kinda want to get to know each other, and in the end they figure out they're a little more different than they thought they were."

• Adema

Adema
Photo: Jason Campbell

Sometimes releasing an EP of one or two new songs, live material and a few remixes is a stall tactic for bands with nothing new up their sleeves. But in Adema's case, Insomniac's Dream is a way of giving back to the fans before gracing them with the next record, which is currently in production.

"We had a few leftover things that we wrote on the road and we didn't really know if we wanted to put on the new record, so we were like, 'Hey, why don't we make an EP and pretty much give it away to our fans?' It's got all our videos on it and it also has a new video for the feature track 'Immortal' " (see "Adema 'Immortal'-ized On New Mortal Kombat Game").

Adema wrote "Immortal" earlier this year while they were on tour in Europe. Soon after they banged it out, they started playing it for overseas audiences and received an enthusiastic response.

"When we were over there we were sort of bored," frontman Marky Chavez said. "It was really, really rainy and we felt detached and jetlagged and we didn't know our way around anywhere. Our friends weren't there and our families weren't there, so we said, 'Screw it, let's just write some music.' "

The song echoes Chavez's growing frustrations with the music business. But rather than give in to the powers of adversity, he's vowed to conquer his demons and win over the masses.

"When I wrote it, I was going through all the pressures of having to perform all the time and the pressure of people asking you personal questions," he explained. "On the first record I wrote specifically about myself, and people who did interviews would just take straight shots at my life. So all those feelings came out in 'Immortal,' which was just a testament to [the idea that] whatever comes my way, it's not gonna knock me off the path I want to walk down. I'm saying, 'Take you're best shot at me, because it's not gonna work. I'm gonna prevail over any situation.' "

The other new cut on Insomniac's Dream, "Shattered," was originally intended to be a track on Adema, but it didn't make the cut for the American release. The EP also includes a cover of Alice in Chains' "Nutshell," recorded when the band played the song in tribute to singer Layne Staley, who died in of an overdose in April (see "Layne Staley Died From Mix Of Heroin, Cocaine, Report Says").

"We played it in Austin the night we found out he passed away," Chavez said. "We're huge fans of Alice in Chains, and having Layne Staley pass away this year was a huge trip for me. It really wasn't a question of if he was gonna die, it was just a question of when. And it's sad to see an artist pollute himself and let himself go like that, so we did that song out of respect for that band that changed a lot of things in music."

Chavez is psyched with the band's interpretation of the Alice tune, but he's equally stoked about the remixes of "The Way You Like It," "Freaking Out" and "Giving In," which expose the band's material in a different vein.

"It gives listeners a different twist of what some of our other influences were," he said. " 'Tripping Out' is a really trippy remix with Chris Vrenna, who worked with Nine Inch Nails. And you get that type of industrial feel, which we love. And on 'As You Like It' we brought the song back to the hip-hop feel it originally had before we recorded it for our first album."

Instead of embarking on a full tour to support Insomniac's Dream, Adema are locking themselves up in a Los Angeles studio to continue working on their next record. Chavez can't say who will produce the album because the ink on the contract isn't dry, but he revealed that the band has seven songs written for the disc, including the tentatively titled "Canuck" and "Unstable."

"I'm really excited about the new stuff," he said. "It's really up-tempo and upbeat, but there's also some more atmospheric things that we've been working on that are a little slower and tripped out. The stuff we're writing smokes anything on the debut album."

In addition to being more musically developed, the lyrics will be more mature as well. They'll be just as personal as those on the first record, but they'll explore a wide scope of influence.

"I'm gonna be having a child in March and that's made a huge difference in my life," Chavez said. "Things that I experienced on the road [will be addressed, including] getting over abusing alcohol so much. It's good that I've learned some lessons. I've gotten my head screwed on straight now, and I'm leading the band in the right direction. We're not gonna let the world beat us. We'll beat the world."

• Adema

Adema
Photo: MTV

In an odd juxtaposition, Adema are lending a song about living forever to the soundtrack of a video game about fighting to the death.

The Bakersfield, California, rockers' recently recorded track "Immortal" will be used as the theme music for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the fifth version of the ultra-violent video game series slated for a fall release, according to a Midway Games spokesperson.

Not only are Adema the only artists offering a tune to accompany the onscreen action, but a special DVD element featuring game footage woven throughout the band's in-studio performance of the song — which will be shot before a green screen in New Orleans in late June — will also be included on the Mortal Kombat disc. Scenes from Adema's showcase for Midway, at last week's E3 video game conference in Los Angeles, are expected to be on the disc as well.

"Immortal," which grew from a set of looped beats that guitarist Mike Ransom riffed above before fellow axeman Tim Fluckey came up with the chorus, is one of "about five or six" new songs Adema has penned for their new album, frontman Marky Chavez said.

"The whole song is based around confusion and chaos," he explained. "The chorus hook is, 'You can't kill me, I'm immortal.' " So when the game developers asked the group to contribute a song to the game, in which two sorcerers must put aside their differences to overcome the ultimate challenge and gain immortality, the choice was obvious.

As clear-cut as Chavez's choice for a song was, the decision to contribute one in the first place was a bit more clouded.

"At first [the decision] was challenging for me," Chavez said. "I don't ever want to compromise my artist reputation by putting out some bullsh--. I really took some time and wrote some lyrics that I'm really happy with. They're descriptive without being cheesy ... because you don't want to be categorized as some commercial-writing band."

As such, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance might be the only video game to feature Adema music, though Chavez was quick to point out that if the makers of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, a tour-bus favorite, were to come knocking, he wouldn't turn them away. He did, however, reserve the right to lend himself, and not the full band, to future game soundtrack work.

Having their music become part of the nearly decade-old Mortal Kombat franchise comes as quite an honor for Chavez, who harbors fond memories of plunking quarter after quarter into the arcade classic for yet another chance to "finish him!"

"[Mortal Kombat] was one of my favorite video games as a kid," he said. "So it's going to be kind of neat to see that my music branched out far enough to make it to a video game that I used to play as a kid."

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance will be available for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Game Boy Advance platforms.

• Adema

Ashanti will begin shooting the clip for her second single, "Happy," at the end of the month, her spokesperson said. Murder Inc. CEO Irv Gotti will direct it. ... On "TRL" Wednesday, 'NSYNC's Joey Fatone told host Carson Daly that after the boys are done touring, they're going to take a few months off before they start their next album. Fatone said they would begin working on new material by December of this year or early 2003. ...

Voletta Wallace, mother of slain rap great the Notorious B.I.G., is soliciting help from the public to bring forth information regarding Biggie's murder and the handling of its investigation by the LAPD, as outlined in the recently-filed wrongful death suit (see "LAPD Interfered With Biggie Murder Probe, Suit Says"). Those with information are urged to visit www.biggiehotline.com and leave tips. ... In honor of National Military Appreciation Month, Celine Dion, Jessica Simpson, Clint Black and Lonestar will perform on the deck of America's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, according to USA Today. The performance tapes in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and will air May 25 on CBS. ...

Stripped-down blues-rock duo the White Stripes will perform 15 gigs in 11 U.S. cities from May 22 to June 10. The tour kicks off upon the band's return from London, where they're scheduled to film a video and begin recording their new album next week. ... On their official Web site, Coldplay revealed the titles for several tracks on their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, including "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face," "The Scientist" and "Daylight." Ken Nelson (Gomez) is producing the album, due in late July or early August. ...

Soul Asylum singer Dave Pirner will release his as-yet-untitled solo debut July 16, a few weeks later than previously expected. "Never Recover," the LP's lead single, is expected to surface on radio June 24 and features legendary keyboardist Billy Preston, who played on the Beatles' Let It Be. ... Adema will release "Freaking Out" as the third single from their self-titled debut. ... Chris Fortier will mix the third installment of John Digweed's Bedrock label's Compiled and Mixed CD series, due June 11. ...

04.17.02

Dave Matthews' strained vocal cords forced a second DMB cancellation at New York's Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, when he was expected to return after being sidelined Monday with the same ailment. Both shows have been rescheduled for May 28 and 29. ... Kid Rock will release "You Never Met A Motherf---er Quite Like Me" as the third single from his latest release, Cocky. Due at radio on April 29, the song chronicles the highlights of the Detroit native's life over the last few years, including meeting the president "half-stoned." ... Rock may show up in the same state when he headlines Chicago's Q101 Jamboree on May 18. Other performers announced so far include Billy Corgan's new band, Zwan, Tenacious D, Hoobastank, Our Lady Peace, Dashboard Confessional, Earshot, Unwritten Law, Quarashi and Trik Turner. ...

Cee-Lo will be among those strolling through the revolving door of performers on the NBA's Rhythm 'n' Rims Tour, which kicks off April 20 in Atlanta and wraps up September 2 in San Francisco. Other acts on the bill include Co-Ed, Phatter Than Albert and L.A. Symphony. ... The Outlawz, Jayo Felony, Rappin' 4-Tay and Tray Deee appear on Spiceberg Slim, the ninth release from Too Short protege Spice 1, due June 11. ... Don Henley, Smokey Robinson and Donna Summer will perform at the ninth annual Race to Erase MS on May 10 in Los Angeles. The event will benefit the Nancy Davis Center Without Walls. ...

It's official — the summer concert season has begun. The Eagles start flying on May 31 in Reno, Nevada, and finish up July 20 in Biloxi, Mississippi; Rush kick off their first tour in five years on June 16 in Hartford, Connecticut, and wrap on August 21 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and the Indigo Girls hit the road starting May 27 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and pack it in on July 21 in Winter Park, Colorado. ... Cowboy Junkies hit the road starting May 9 in Detroit and finish up on June 26 in Las Vegas. Later this summer, they will release their first-ever DVD called "Open Road," which documents their 2001 Open Tour. ...

George Clinton will headline the third annual Detroit Electronic Music Festival at Hart Plaza in the Motor City May 25-27. A live performance by techno innovator Green Velvet and DJ appearances by Juan Atkins, Frankie Bones, DJ Krust, Roy Davis, Jr. and Adam X are among the other highlights on the bill. ... British anarchist rockers Chumbawamba will release their 10th studio album, the ambient Readymades, on June 18. The record features a guest appearance by Mercury Music Prize nominee Kate Rusby, along with the usual barrage of political tracks, including "Reason and Rhyme (The Killing of Harry Stanley)," about a man who was carrying a chair leg when he was shot to death by policemen who believed it was a gun.

• Ashanti
• *NSYNC
• Notorious B.I.G.
• The White Stripes
• Adema

Pink
Photo: Arista

The next compilation in the immensely popular Now That's What I Call Music! series features all the regulars — Britney, Backstreet, 'NSYNC, Destiny's Child — but also steps out of its shell by including alternate remixes of three recent hits.

The Sweet Dreams Mix of Pink's "Get the Party Started" featuring Redman, the Trackmasters Mix of City High's "Caramel" featuring Eve, and the All Cities Remix of Petey Pablo's "Raise Up" are among the 20 songs compiled on the ninth Now album, due March 19.

They join Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U," Backstreet Boys' "Drowning," 'NSYNC's "Gone" and Destiny's Child's "Emotion" as well as other pop luminaries like Jennifer Lopez ("Ain't It Funny"), Mary J. Blige ("Family Affair"), Nelly Furtado ("Turn Off the Light") and Shakira ("Whenever, Wherever").

Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 9 also has a particularly strong rock flavor, to the tune of Incubus's "I Wish You Were Here," U2's "Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," Lenny Kravitz's "Dig In," Aerosmith's "Just Push Play" and Adema's "Giving In."

Hip-hop favorites "Livin' It Up" by Ja Rule featuring Case, "Roll Out (My Business)" by Ludacris, "Lights, Camera, Action!" by Mr. Cheeks, and "Differences" by Ginuwine round out the lineup.

Now That's What I Call Music! debuted Stateside in 1998 after great success overseas and has become the biggest-selling compilation series in American history with more than 28 million albums sold. Every volume has reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart, with a few reaching #1. The eighth volume featured Aaliyah, Destiny's Child and Janet Jackson (see "Now 8 Hits Collection Dedicated To Aaliyah").

• P!nk
• City High
• Petey Pablo
• Britney Spears
• Backstreet Boys

Adema's Marky Chavez
Photo: Amy V. Cooper

When they finish the Projekt Revolution Tour, which also features Linkin Park, Cypress Hill and DJ Z-Trip, Adema will join Alien Ant Farm, Fenix TX, Glassjaw and others on the already-in-progress SnoCore Festival (see "Alien Ant Farm, Fenix TX At Heart Of SnoCore Tour"), which runs until March 30. After that, the band will likely tour on its own through the end of the year.

Some bands in such a position long for all those seemingly endless months to pass so they can get home and work on new material. Adema, however, plan to write their next record while they're on the road, and they've already got three complete songs and dozens of solid ideas.

"The new record's gonna be cool because we're experimenting with different sounds," frontman Marky Chavez, the half-brother of Korn's Jonathan Davis, said Friday. "A lot of it's real deep, and we also have some crowd-getters, stuff that makes people bounce. There's a new song that has a real Rage Against the Machine influence. I miss that band terribly."

"I think our prior bands were learning grounds for all of us," added drummer Kris Kohls, who was previously in Videodrone, the first band signed to Korn's Elementree label. "But once we came together it felt like we had been together forever. And we work really well together. Writing songs for us is as easy as it can be. We're constantly working and creating."

The three newly finished Adema songs are all still untitled, and only one has lyrics. "It's about a friend who really hurt herself and did some things that really screwed up her opportunities," Chavez said. "When it comes out people will know what I'm talking about. I've worked really hard on it. I had to re-write the thing six or seven times."

The other two songs have vocal melodies, but Chavez is taking his time with the actual verse. Unlike the songs on Adema's self-titled debut, which were largely about alienation, non-conformity and substance abuse, Chavez wants the next disc to convey many of the things he's learned since the band began its whirlwind tour.

"I'm trying to challenge myself to write really explicit, detailed stories so people really, really get what I'm saying," he said. "When you're on the road so much you start getting more in-depth about what you're talking about and the things that you're experiencing. So I think the second record is gonna show a lot of growth and a lot of maturing, and I think people will be able to relate to a lot of it."

Although Adema recently had to leave the Projekt Revolution Tour because of an unspecified family emergency, the band will likely rejoin the jaunt February 16 in Little Rock, Arkansas. After all, the bandmembers had been having a blast up until they were forced to temporarily drop off.

"It's just been excellent," Chavez enthused. "I don't think you can get a better lineup. The coolest thing about the tour is the positivity in the room. I see people leaving and they're happy and they're laughing and having a good time. And I think that's what music's about."

"There are definitely no egos on this tour, which is one of the best things about it," bassist Dave DeRoo added. "We're having a great time. We'd already been good friends with Linkin Park, and they're from the same area we're from. And then we've really clicked with Cypress Hill."

After Projekt Revolution ends on February 24 in San Diego, Adema head out on the SnoCore Tour. "It should be good," Chavez said. "I think Alien Ant Farm fans will like Adema music and it will be fun because we've known those guys. They played shows with us before we were both signed."

"It'll be good because it will be a different crowd for us," added Kohls. "It's gonna be little skater kids and snowboarders, which is cool. We're up for playing to anybody. We play Bar Mitzvahs, parties. We do it all, we're just gonna keep playing and making our fanbase grow. So SnoCore is just another notch on our bedposts."

Currently, the band is still rockin' its latest single, "The Way You Like It," which will likely remain a priority cut for a while. But when Adema drop their next single, they'll probably go with  "Freaking Out."

"We really like the way the crowd responds to it," Chavez said. "It's about feeling left out. I think everyone has that anxiety of being the new kid. I constantly was moved around in schools throughout my entire life. So I was always trying to make new friends and that whole thing sucked. I wrote about those experiences in the song and hopefully someone can get some peace out of listening to someone else who had to go through that."

• Adema
• Rage Against the Machine

"Don't Let Me Get Me," the second video from Pink's Missundaztood, will premiere on February 16. Plans for a spring tour are in the works, according to Pink's spokesperson. ... Adema were forced to drop off the Projekt: Revolution bill for at least three shows following an unspecified family emergency. Monday night's show in Lowell, Massachusetts, featured only Cypress Hill, Linkin Park and DJ Z-Trip, and the lineup will be the same for Tuesday (February 12)'s gig in Fairfax, Virginia, and Wednesday's performance in Philadelphia. ...

U2 won Major Tour of the Year and Most Creative Stage Production in the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards, which were presented February 9 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Other winners included Alicia Keys (Best New Artist Tour), George, Washington's the Gorge (Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue), Los Angeles' Greek Theatre (Red Rocks Award for Best Small Outdoor Venue), Dallas' American Airlines Center (Best New Major Concert Venue), Los Angeles' Staples Center (Arena of the Year) and Las Vegas' the Joint (Nightclub Venue of the Year). ... Our Lady Peace lead the list of nominees for this year's Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent to the Grammys, with five nominations, followed by Nickelback and Leonard Cohen with four and Sum41 with three. Nickelback, Sum41, Barenaked Ladies, Alanis Morissette and Nelly Furtado will be among the performers at the Juno Awards ceremony April 14 in St. John's, Newfoundland. ...

N.E.R.D., the hip-hop group comprising superproducers the Neptunes and rapper Shay, put a modern-day funk spin on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in the Hype Williams-directed video for their next single, "Rock Star." The trio's debut album, In Search Of ... is due March 12. ... Speaking of Hype Williams, the director will release "The Hype Williams Video Collection" on VHS and DVD on April 30. The collection features 10 of Williams' vintage clips for the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, Craig Mack, LL Cool J, Ja Rule, Jay-Z and Nas, with the DVD boasting bonus features such as running commentary by Williams, a behind-the-scenes glimpse at a shoot and interviews. ... Donnie Wahlberg, the ruffneck member of late-'80s boy band extraordinaire New Kids on the Block, may get another chance to work his acting chops on the small screen. Having surprised critics with subtle turns in films such as "The Sixth Sense" and "Ransom" and HBO's "Band of Brothers," rapper-turned-actor "Marky" Mark's big bro has been cast as a detective in the pilot for the NBC cop drama "Boomtown," according to The Hollywood Reporter. ...

Sting's 2002 Rainforest Benefit Concert will take place at New York's Carnegie Hall on April 13, with a lineup to be announced in the coming weeks. Ticket prices range from $150 for a single rear balcony seat to $50,000, which covers a private first tier box that seats 16, two backstage passes, two reserved tables at the party, acknowledgement in the evening's program, Rainforest Foundation membership, and 16 concert mementos. ... Mick Jagger recently shot the video for "Visions of Paradise," the second single from his album, Goddess in the Doorway, with director Dave Meyers (Janet Jackson, Dave Matthews Band). Actress Jennifer Jimenez ("Blow") stars. ... Bonnie Raitt will launch a three-month tour on March 30 in Madison, Wisconsin, to promote her upcoming 16th album, Silver Lining, due April 9. She will perform her latest single, "I Can't Help You Now," on "The Late Show With David Letterman" on April 24. ...

02.11.02

Judging by the title of Korn's long-awaited fifth album, the follow-up to 1999's Issues will be positively peerless: Untouchables, produced by Michael Beinhorn (Aerosmith, Marilyn Manson), is scheduled for release May 14, their publicist said. Korn are rehearsing for a South American tour that begins March 14 in Venezuela, and North American dates are expected soon. ... While their Latin Grammy Awards performance was canceled (along with the ceremony itself) in the wake of September 11, Destiny's Child will get to perform with singer/guitarist Alejandro Sanz after all — at the 44th annual Grammy Awards on February 27. Train and Alan Jackson were also added to the event as performers, while Kid Rock, the Dixie Chicks and comedic actors Kevin James ("The King of Queens") and Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond") will present awards. ... Neither Destiny's Child nor Dave Matthews Band will be going home empty-handed come Grammy time, as Rock the Vote will honor the bootylicious trio and the huggable jam band with this year's Patrick Lippert Award for their activism and efforts to educate young people about political issues. The Goo Goo Dolls, Glenn Lewis and Nelly Furtado will perform at the ceremony, which will be co-hosted by Beyoncé Knowles' lil' sis Solange and will take place the day before the Grammys (February 26) in Los Angeles. ...

Jamie Foxx will host LIFEbeat's UrbanAID 2 charity concert, featuring previously announced acts P. Diddy and the show's headliners, Jay-Z and R. Kelly. The April 9 event is focused on raising awareness of HIV prevention. ... Title TK, the Breeders' first album since 1993's Last Splash, will hit stores May 21. Sisters Kim and Kelley Deal and their new band, currently in the midst of a club tour, will launch another outing in the summer, according to Elektra Records. ... the Who have lined up 18 dates in the U.S., kicking off June 28 in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Cafe and winding up August 31 in Wantagh, New York, at the Jones Beach Amphitheatre. The seasoned survivors will hit Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and more along the way. ... Before they tour Mexico, Argentinean fusion-rock collective Los Fabulosos Cadillacs will play a one-off U.S. show at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheatre on April 4. ...

Henry Rollins, X frontwoman Exene Cervenka and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer will share the bill next month in Los Angeles to benefit three young Arkansas men convicted of murder. The show, set for the Troubadour on March 8, will benefit the legal defense fund of the West Memphis Three, whose case was chronicled in the 1996 documentary "Paradise Lost." ... Funky franchise Fishbone and their Familyhood Nexperience collective will release The Friendliest Psychosis of All, the follow-up to 2000's Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx, on February 19, the same day they play the Winter Olympics Ice Village in Salt Lake City. The EP features contributions from the Fishbone fellas Norwood Fisher, Walt Kibby II and Angelo Moore as well as Primus bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia; peculiar GN'R guitarist Buckethead; and funk godfather George Clinton. ... Rhett Miller, frontman for the alt-country outfit Old 97's, has announced plans to begin recording his first solo album. ...

That '80s show: Depeche Mode have announced a "One Night in Paris, the Exciter Tour" pay-per-view concert debuting Friday, March 8 on iN, TVN, Echostar and DirecTV. Directed by Grammy-nominated photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn, the show was recorded at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy during the band's 2001 Exciter world tour. ... On Wednesday, an L.A. Superior Court judge ruled that ex-Ratt vocalist Stephen Pearcy must stop using the band's name and logo and also ruled that Pearcy must hand over all the money he earned while billing himself as "Stephen Pearcy and Ratt" to his former bandmates, who have also been touring as Ratt. Ironically, the decision stemmed from a suit Pearcy filed last year to gain sole ownership of the name; the judge determined that Pearcy's claims against his former comrades were without merit because he vacated the band of his own accord, leaving guitarist Warren DeMartini and drummer Bobby Blotzer as the sole holders of the Ratt trademark.

• P!nk
• Adema
• Cypress Hill
• Linkin Park
• U2

Linkin Park's Chester Bennington
Photo: Zachary S. Kimble

MADISON, Wisconsin — With an hour-long set of material from their best-selling Hybrid Theory and choice unreleased tracks, Linkin Park commanded the attention of a sold-out Alliant Energy Center audience Saturday with all the confidence of an act that sold more albums than any other in 2001.

Which, of course, they did, besting Shaggy and 'NSYNC with their darkly melodic mix of hip-hop and hard rock (see "Got Charts? Linkin Park, Shaggy, 'NSYNC Are 2001's Top-Sellers"). And while they promise to soon record the follow-up to the 4.81-million-plus selling Hybrid Theory, they've apparently still got some energy to work out on the road with their Projekt Revolution Tour, which also features Cypress Hill and Adema. (Click for photos from the tour's launch.) From the opening power chords of "By Myself" to the set-closing "Crawling," Linkin Park blasted through their hour-long show with the energy of young punks and the precision of seasoned road vets.

Wearing a dark blue T-shirt and baggy plaid pants, and sporting a brunette 'do instead of the shaved head we've seen of late, lead singer Chester Bennington jumped from monitor to monitor as he delivered vocals alongside lyricist MC Mike Shinoda. The tandem vocal team kept the crowd engaged for the 60-minute show — prowling, prancing and pouncing all over the stage, which extended into the audience with circular platforms on each side.

And Linkin Park took their "we're one of you" ethos one step further, making clear early in the show that they wanted the crowd of nearly 8,000 to have fun, but safely. "I see a lot of you f---ers crowd-surfing and moshing out there," Bennington said, flouting the venue's "no moshing" policy. "We love that. Just show each other some respect," he said. "And there are some strong women here tonight. When they crowd-surf, that is not an invitation to grab their [breasts]."

The audience obliged, keeping the general-admission floor moving throughout. Most of the show saw the band offering up studio-faithful versions of such hits as "Crawling," "In the End" and "Papercut." The group did, however, whip out a couple of rare numbers as well, such as the vinyl-only "Step Up," which saw Shinoda leading the crowd through a thundering call-and-response of "Who can rock a rhyme like this?"

Aside from two silver statues of the "man-fly" figure that graces the cover of Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park's stage was free of adornments, keeping the focus on Bennington and Shinoda. The vocalists didn't confine their antics to the stage, either; Bennington sang most of "In the End" perched atop a fan's shoulders in the pit.

Adema, fronted by Korn singer Jonathan Davis' half-brother Marky Chavez, kicked things off with a 30-minute set that included their radio hit "Giving In." The crowd didn't really come alive, though, until Cypress Hill took the stage, with their 45 minutes of heavy beats and pro-pot posturing. With live percussion, bass and guitar augmenting DJ Muggs' intense mix, the group showcased new material from its Stoned Raiders album as well as such older faves as "How I Could Just Kill a Man" and "Insane in the Brain" (see "Cypress Hill Launch Another Two-Pronged Attack With Stoned Raiders").

The Projekt Revolution Tour, which kicked off January 29 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, wraps up in San Diego on February 24 (see ).

For a full-length Linkin Park feature, check out "Linkin Park: Made To Be Broken."

Read about all of the shows we've recently covered in Tour Reports.

• Linkin Park
• Adema
• Cypress Hill

While on their month-long European tour, which began January 20, Slipknot will shoot their show at England's London Arena on February 16 for possible inclusion in the video for their latest single, "My Plague (New Abuse Mix)," which also doubles as the debut single off the soundtrack to the upcoming movie "Resident Evil." Performance footage may also wind up on the group's first-ever DVD, an as-yet-untitled project tentatively slated for September. ... Congratulations are in order for Mary J. Blige, who's making a different kind of beautiful music — she's engaged. Blige has been making the rounds announcing her plans to marry, though the intensely private singer hasn't revealed the date or the name of her fiancé. ...

We finally know when to expect the first full-length solo project from the Destiny's Child camp. Michelle Williams' gospel album, which is still untitled, is scheduled to hit stores on April 2, according to Columbia Records. ... The SnoCore Rock tour, which features Alien Ant Farm, Fenix TX, Adema, Glassjaw and Earshot, has added new dates in Kansas City, Missouri (March 14); Denver (March 15); and Salt Lake City (March 16). The March 1 show, which had been set for Asbury Park, New Jersey, will now be held at New York City's Roseland Ballroom; on March 11, the traveling troupe will stop in Madison, Wisconsin, and hit Minneapolis the following day; and on March 19, the trek will stop in Seattle and visit Portland the day after. ...

Nelly Furtado, Alanis Morissette and the Goo Goo Dolls have joined Dave Matthews Band, the Foo Fighters, Macy Gray and others on the list of artists scheduled to perform during the 16-night Hallmark Olympic Celebration Series. Furtado will perform on February 18, followed by Morissette on February 21 and the Goo Goo Dolls the following night. ... Before embarking on a North American tour with 311, red-hot Hoobastank will film a video in Los Angeles for their second single, "Running Away," with director Paul Fedor (Jimmy Eat World, Marilyn Manson). A feature interview with Hoobastank, "Hoobastank: But Seriously," debuts here on Friday (February 1). ...

Rapper Marz is the latest artist to sign with Korn's major-label-distributed Elementree imprint, and his next LP is expected to surface before year's end. Formerly inked to indie E-Magine Entertainment, the Chicago MC, who toured twice with Insane Clown Posse, is working with Korn's Jonathan Davis on his follow-up to last year's Lung Fu Mo She, according to his spokesperson. ... C-Murder, incarcerated since January 18 and facing a possible second-degree murder charge, will release his fourth album, Tru Dawgs, on April 30. His brothers Master P and Silkk the Shocker guest on the LP, as do Snoop Dogg, Da Brat, Bizzy Bone, Keith Murray and Mia X, among others. ...

DJ Carl Cox, who spent last summer on Moby's Area:One Tour, returns to these shores to promote his mix LP, Global (due March 5 on FFRR Records), with a 24-date North American outing starting February 15 in San Diego and wrapping up March 23 in Miami. Cox is also working on his third studio album with guests such as Roni Size, Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook, Neneh Cherry, Josh Wink, Erick Morillo and Christian Smith ... The Melvins — the "greatest band in the history of music," according to themselves — will release Hostile Ambient Takeover on April 16 through Ipecac Records, with a U.S. tour to follow. Millennium Monsterworks, a live album culled from their New Year's Eve 2000 "big band" concert in San Francisco with Fantômas, will see the light of day on April 2, also via Ipecac. ...

After his performance at E!'s Sizzlin' 16 Party Wednesday in Hollywood, Pete Yorn said he plans to release an album later this year that he recorded with producer Don Fleming (Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees), in the late '90s before he made his major-label debut, Musicforthemorningafter. Yorn was in Los Angeles filming a video for his next single, "Strange Condition," which was first included on the soundtrack to "Me, Myself & Irene," which he also scored. ... Speaking of singer/songwriters, John Mayer launched a winter tour in Florida that will keep him on the road through March 9 in Chicago. Mayer is supporting last fall's Room for Squares. ...

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Blu Cantrell will play the role of, well, Blu Cantrell in "Drumline," a movie about black college marching bands directed by Charles Stone III, who helmed the Cam'ron flick "Paid in Full." Cantrell performs the national anthem at a pivotal moment in the film, which also boasts appearances by Dallas Austin and Petey Pablo and stars Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana and Orlando Jones. ... Two singles from the upcoming "Queen of the Damned" soundtrack will be simultaneously released before the album hits stores on February 19: Static-X's "Cold" and "Forsaken," which was written by Korn's Jonathan Davis and former Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs and features Disturbed's David Draiman. ...

Pearl Jam's latest fan club single includes a cover of the Ramones' "I Just Want to Have Something to Do" by bassist Jeff Ament, John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth" and live versions of "Last Soldier" and "Indifference." The band has no plans to release its buzzed-about B-sides album any time soon, their spokesperson said. ... Collaborations with Everlast and DJs Vinroc, Apollo, Shortkut and Biz Markie, along with a Lo-Fidelity Allstars remix, have been added to the X-ecutioners' first album in five years, Built From Scratch. Due February 26, the LP also features appearances from Linkin Park, Xzibit, Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, DJ Premier, the late Big Punisher and others. ... Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child is among the performers slated for the first annual Gospel Insider Music Awards ceremony on February 15 at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Universal City, California. Kirk Franklin will co-host the event, which will be broadcast in local markets. ...

Led Zeppelin's eponymous box set, released in 1990, has received a Diamond Award from the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of more than 10 million units (the RIAA counts each disc as a unit, meaning the four-disc set sold more than 2.5 million copies). Zep now tie the Beatles as the group possessing the most diamond discs, with five each. ... The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion will release Plastic Fang, their first album in four years, on April 23. Spencer and crew plan to tour the U.S. upon its release. ... San Francisco's annual indie lovefest, Noise Pop, will launch its third annual film festival on February 27, one day after its rock-show component kicks off. Among the treats on tap are documentaries on acts such as the Clash, Soul Asylum, Radiohead and Nick Drake, an hour-long Sparklehorse video album and films scored by the Flaming Lips ("Okie Noodling") and Spoon ("Everything Hits at Once"). ...

Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks and the duo of Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora will pay tribute to Billy Joel in a ceremony and concert at the 12th Annual MusiCares Person Of The Year dinner. The event, at Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, will honor Joel for his accomplishments both as a musician and a humanitarian. ... In other Joel news, his Face to Face Tour with Elton John has added second dates in Ft. Lauderdale (March 5) and Tampa (March 11), and new shows in Uniondale, New York (March 20) and East Rutherford, New Jersey (April 6). ... Riviera, Big Head Todd and the Monsters' first studio album in four years, will be released on the band's own label on March 26. A headlining theater tour will kick off in April.

• Slipknot
• Mary J. Blige
• Nelly Furtado
• Destiny's Child
• Adema

Projekt Revolution Tour Launch, Colorado Springs, CO 01.30.02

• Linkin Park
• Cypress Hill
• Adema

• Alien Ant Farm
• Adema
• The Apex Theory
• Glassjaw

Music as a Weapon Tour Photos

• Disturbed
• Adema
• Drowning Pool
• Stereomud

Adema Photos

• Adema