Bowling For Soup

Bowling For Soup's Latest Muse? A Mouse In A Burrito

21 Sep 2006 01:10:00 EDT

The Great Burrito Extortion Case, dropping November 7, inspired by story on the news.
By Corey Moss

Bowling for Soup
Photo: Jive Records

Bowling for Soup singer Jaret Reddick didn't have to look far for help explaining the band's new single recently.

"I'm watching CNN right now and the biggest story is not the war, not that the president has done four somewhat ridiculous speeches in the last few days. The biggest story in the world right now is that Paris Hilton blew .08 last night," Reddick said, referring to Hilton's bust for allegedly driving under the influence (see "Paris Hilton Arrested For Suspicion Of Drunk Driving"). "Are you freaking kidding me? It just proves the point: High school never f---ing ends. Who's sleeping with who? Who got caught doing what? That takes precedent over pretty much everything else."

And that's the idea behind the song, aptly titled "High School Never Ends."

"It's got an actual message, sort of," Reddick said of the pop-punk tune, which he wrote with Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger. "Well, I don't know if you could ever say I write songs with messages, but close enough."

"High School Never Ends," which ships to radio stations September 25, is featured on Bowling for Soup's ninth album, due November 7. The final title (there have been four contenders) is The Great Burrito Extortion Case.

"We originally were gonna call the album All My Rowdy Friends Are Still Intoxicated," Reddick said. "We were sorta working toward that with Drunk Enough to Dance and A Hangover You Don't Deserve and maybe one more, and then greatest hits becomes Bowling for Soup Goes to Rehab. That would have been funny to other people, but if you live with a joke like that constantly, it becomes less funny. It becomes more like baggage."

The band then moved on to the self-deprecating We're Not Fat, We Just Have Big Heads, but again thought the joke could get old. Reddick also toyed with I'm Gay (As in Happy), a reference to a song called "I'm Gay," before stumbling (literally) onto The Great Burrito Extortion Case.

"We were making the record in Atlanta, and every day our schedule was exactly the same," the singer explained. "The bar opened at 11, so everybody stumbled down at 10:55 and had about four drinks. One morning CNN is on and the sound is off. [Guitarist Chris Burney] looks up, and the screen says 'Burrito Extortion Case.' And if you're ever in the room with us and something that random pops up, we can talk about it for an hour, all the different things it could be. Right then, I wrote an e-mail to [the label] that said we're changing the title."

That was before Bowling for Soup even figured out what the real burrito extortion case was. "It turned out somebody put a mouse in a burrito and tried to extort money from a restaurant," Reddick said.

Along with Schlesinger, Reddick wrote The Great Burrito Extortion Case with Zac Maloy (of '90s alternative rockers the Nixons) and Butch Walker (the Marvelous 3 frontman-turned-producer) before reconvening with Bowling for Soup in Atlanta.

"It was a cool process because it was the first time we ended a tour and everyone went their separate ways and I went and wrote an album," Reddick said. "You read these interviews where bands are like, 'We just took six months and made an album,' and we're like, 'Holy crap, you took that long!' But that's about how long it took to make this one."

After recording for two weeks in Atlanta, Reddick brought the band to Maloy's Tulsa, Oklahoma, studio for two weeks and Walker's L.A. studio for another.

"That's where they're doing 'Rock Star: Supernova,' " Reddick said of the latter. "And the guys actually sang gang vocals on a Supernova song. I was tracking or working on something and they failed to let me know they were going to sing with Jason Newsted. I'm the only guy who still listens to that. I have four Flotsam and Jetsam albums in my freakin' iPod, are you kidding me! But anyway, it was a cool process because we never got bored."

Bowling for Soup have yet to shoot the video for "High School Never Ends" but they've narrowed down the concept to five different treatments.

"We set the bar so high with '1985' and made a really funny video for 'Almost,' " Reddick said of their last two singles (see "Bowling For Soup LP So Upbeat, 'It's Like Being Licked By Puppies' " and "Bowling For Soup Follow Up '1985' With 'Almost,' An Almost Love Song").

"The only hint I can say is we're not doing the obvious thing and going to a high school," he added. "The 'Almost' video was in a high school, so we've sorta been there, done that."

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Bowling For Soup

Jessica Alba, Green Day, Ciara Weigh In On 'Idol' Finale

23 May 2006 04:30:00 EDT

Alba plans family finale party; Billie Joe has a new idea for contest.
By Corey Moss

Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee
Photo: Ray Mickshaw/ Fox

Anyone who watches "American Idol" knows the show has a long list of celebrity fans.

Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, Rebecca Romijn, Rachel Bilson and Tori Spelling are among the famous faces caught by cameras at recent tapings. Even more, though, watch the show like the rest of us on their living room couches with the TiVo remote on near-constant pause to allow for maximum commentary.

Well, we couldn't score an invite to any of those viewing sessions, but we did track down a few celebs who were willing to share their pick for who's going to win this thing. And it appears there's no clear front-runner.

Jessica Alba
"Katharine is gorgeous and has a great range. She looks like an 'American Idol.' My parents like Taylor. There's a lot of popular musicians or singers that couldn't do a quarter of what those singers do on 'American Idol.' ... I'll make dinner and have my parents and some friends over and we'll watch the show. If my family had a favorite 'American Idol,' Katharine definitely is the most appropriate. I think she can sell records and she has a beautiful voice, beautiful range, and she's a beautiful girl."

Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy bassist)
"I did watch it in the past, but now I pretty much just watch 'American Inventor.' I watched the guy with the shaved head [Chris Daughtry] get kicked off, and I was like, 'Well, now the guy who looks like George Clooney is probably going to be the guy who wins.' Everyone tells me that he's the top runner, which just boggles my mind."

Green Day
Singer Billie Joe Armstrong: "I don't know, but I had an idea. I think how America votes on 'American Idol,' the next presidential election they should vote in the same way and have a massive TV show that's once a week that keeps you updated. ... The new way of voting. Screw singers. Let's go for the politicians this time."
Drummer Tre Cool: "That's a good idea, Billie. And for 50 cents a pop, all those calls could pay for all the campaigning."






	Watch the "American Idol" roundtable only on Overdrive

	Scorching-Hot Snaps From The "Idol" Finale Red Carpet
	"Idol" Season Five Performances
	Photos Of The 12 Finalists
	Check out everything we've got on "American Idol"

Tommy Mottola
"It's hard to predict. I think Taylor has this amazing vibe. He's like the ultimate entertainer. He's like a modern-day Huey Lewis and Michael McDonald, and he's got all of that wrapped up in one. Great, great singer, but really a great performer and a great entertainer. And I think Katharine, she has that magical gleam in her eye. She's got an incredible voice and she's got a presence that comes across like 'I could captivate the whole world.' So I think she has huge potential. I think both of them are really big potential stars."

Papa Roach
Singer Jacoby Shaddix: "Honestly, I like Taylor, the guy with the gray hair. I think he's badass. Is that his name? I think he's tight."
Drummer Dave Buckner: "He sang really good. I saw his audition."

Jaret Reddick (Bowling for Soup singer)
"I actually called it from the beginning. I don't want to jinx her, so I won't say her name, but I think I know who's going to win. I picked her really, really early on. I think they've given her a hard time every once in awhile, but I think she's a star."

Sophia Bush ("One Tree Hill")
"I'm in love with McPhee. I think she's great. She's wonderful! Every time she's performed, she's knocked me off my feet."

Dr. Luke (producer, Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone")
"I like the underdog in Taylor, but there's a lot of like, 'Yeah, wooh.' Not a lot of range. [Katharine's] more of a singer. I feel like I could do more with her than with him, but that's purely selfish reasons."

Mitch Allan (producer, Bo Bice's "Real World"; former SR-71 singer)
"Taylor's got soul. The guy can sing. I'd work with him in a heartbeat."

Beverly Mitchell ("7th Heaven")
"I've always been a Katharine McPhee fan. I think she's an amazing performer. She's got a great recording voice, and I think that on those aspects she's a little bit better than Taylor. I like Taylor. He's an amazing performer. I could see Taylor having his own long-lasting show in Vegas. You just want to see him. He's great to hear, but you really just want to see him because he brings such charisma to that stage."

Chris Styles (producer, 50 Cent's "Disco Inferno")
"I'm going with Taylor. Yo, I liked his energy from the first time I saw him. He looked like an underdog. No one even thought he'd go this far."

Andrew McMahon (Jack's Mannequin and Something Corporate singer)
"Well, all of us in Jack's Mannequin were rooting for Elliott because he is a good friend of our bass player, Dr. J. That being said, I'm pretty sure we've got the McPheever."

Ryan Miller (Guster singer)
"Even though Taylor had me, the McPheever's gonna take it, because in the end, America knows he's just a wedding singer. And she's purty."

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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For The Record: Quick News On Britney Spears, Katie Holmes, Paul Wall, Foo Fighters, Bowling For Soup & More

21 Oct 2005 06:09:00 EDT

Photos of Britney's baby on Internet; Katie talks pregnancy; Paul Wall shouts out Astros.
By MTV News staff report

Kevin Federline and Britney Spears
Photo: www.britneyspears.com

The pictures everyone's been waiting for — of Britney Spears and her baby — were originally believed to be sold to the highest bidder to be published in a weekly magazine, but they're now scattered on various fan sites devoted to the singer. Six thumbnail shots of Spears posing with husband Kevin Federline and baby Sean Preston can be seen at sites such as Tangiblebrit.com, and appear to have been taken from a photo shoot with Mark Liddell originally meant for People. The magazine, however, says it never had any pictures of Britney and her baby, and never purchased any pictures of Britney and her baby, despite reports to the contrary that Spears had posed for the shots but changed her mind about releasing them afterward. ...

Katie Holmes is putting together a baby room and learning how to knit in preparation for the arrival of her little Cruiser, she told "Access Hollywood" on Thursday. The actress said that the pregnancy is "a dream come true." "I feel great, I've never been so happy," she said. "I'm beaming." As is her fiance, Tom Cruise, she said. "He is just so thrilled." But all the baby news has delayed the couple's plans to get married. "We don't have a date just yet," she told the entertainment news show. "There is so much excitement going on." ... Omarion is returning to the small screen for sweeps week, reprising his role as an apprentice in a hair salon on the UPN show "Cuts." His episodes air November 3 and November 10 at 9:30 p.m. ...

The same year Houston hip-hop made its mark nationally, the city's baseball team finds itself in its first-ever World Series. Now one of those rap stars has recorded a song supporting the local nine. Paul Wall has re-recorded a two-and-a-half-minute World Series version of his single "They Don't Know" that shouts out the Houston Astros and Minute Maid Park. Three weeks ago, Wall's ex-partner, Chamillionaire, recorded an Astros version of his debut single, "Turn It Up," when the baseball playoffs started. ... U2, the Foo Fighters, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock and Norah Jones are among the performers coming together for a tribute to Johnny Cash. The show, called "I Walk the Line: A Night for Johnny Cash," will also feature Shooter Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Alison Krauss, Dwight Yoakam and Jerry Lee Lewis singing Cash songs in between video clips of his career and life and footage from the upcoming Cash biopic, "Walk the Line," due in theaters November 18. The movie's stars, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who play Johnny and June Carter Cash, will also be on hand to introduce acts. The special will be taped at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood and broadcast on November 16 at 8 p.m. on CBS. ...

On Thursday, director George Lucas made a $1 million donation to the MLK National Memorial Project Foundation in Washington, D.C. The foundation has raised $40 million of the $100 million needed to build a monument to slain civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. "Martin Luther King Jr. has inspired millions of people, and this memorial will ensure that his message endures for generations to come," Lucas said in a statement. Lucas will also be co-hosting the Bay Area "Dream Dinner" in San Francisco on November 19 in an effort to generate more awareness and money for the project. ... Joss Stone has joined up with North Shore Animal League America to help rescue and adopt pets left homeless by the recent spate of hurricanes. She's recorded a PSA urging public support for the campaign, which will be broadcast on more than 100 radio stations in the New York area. "It is so frustrating and heartbreaking that the animals seem to be the ignored victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," Stone said. "We need people to lend a hand and help these pets find loving, caring new homes." The League is also trying to reunite animals with their families by posting pictures of the pets on its Web site, searching missing pet databases, lining up foster care for unclaimed animals, and paying the cost of travel for pet owners to the New York City area for reunions. ...

When it comes to fans, there's no denying Kiss have some of the most dedicated. Some months back, members of the always-menacing Kiss Army issued a warning to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "Induct the hottest band in the world, or we will surround you." When Kiss were left off last month's list of noms, the Army took notice, and is now planning to make good on its threat by staging a protest rally around the Hall. A New York-based documentary filmmaker plans to capture the entire rally, set for August 5, 2006, on film for a future project on the Hall's snubbing of Kiss. ... On November 22, Death From Above 1979 plan to release the remix album Romance Bloody Romance, featuring songs from their debut, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, reworked by Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and producer Paul Epworth (Bloc Party). DFA do some of the remixes themselves and have included new songs, including "You're Lovely (But You've Got Problems)," and covers, including La Peste's "Better Off Dead," among the 13 tracks. The band is currently on the road supporting Nine Inch Nails, sprinkling in a few headlining dates in between gigs. ...

Bowling for Soup are rounding up all the songs they've done for movie soundtracks over the years and calling it Bowling for Soup Goes to the Movies. The collection, due November 15, will include songs from the soundtracks to "Scooby-Doo 2" and "Freaky Friday," the themes to "Jimmy Neutron" and "Gilligan's Island," and a never-before-released cover of Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself." ...

10.20.2005

Eve is four songs away from finishing her as-yet-untitled fourth album, due in February. "Swizz Beatz did a lot of stuff," Eve said Wednesday. "I'm now with Aftermath again, but Swizz is like my brother. Dre hasn't come in yet, but he will, he's the captain of the ship. It's definitely gonna sound different than anything anybody's ever heard [from me], but not in a scary way. It's just in a more mature way." ...

Eve was one of the many celebrities who hit Rock & Republic's fashion show as part of Los Angeles Fashion Week. Paris Hilton, Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham also caught the sultry show, which featured a Madonna/ Britney Spears-inspired kiss between two models. DJ AM spun at the afterparty. Also in attendance were several castmembers from "Laguna Beach," including Kristin Cavalleri, who revealed she's taking acting classes. "I like both comedy and drama, so we'll see," she said. "I've had a lot of meetings trying to decide my next career move. There's things we're talking about, but I don't want to jinx it." ... Nicole Richie doesn't think there's much hope for her and Paris Hilton to ever become friends again. Richie, who's on the cover of the November issue of Jane, told the magazine that the rift has been going on for much longer than has been reported. "We really haven't been friends in probably about two years," she said. Could there ever be a reconciliation? "No, not at this point. I know that Paris loves to talk about it and that stuff, but that's just not my style." ...

Madonna's done surprise club gigs in the past to promote her new albums, and Confessions on a Dance Floor will be no different, she promised during a recent sitdown with MTV News. She's already lining up gigs in London at G-A-Y and Camden Palace, where she played "a hundred years ago" (actually 1983, but who's counting?). But what about hitting a club in, say, New York or Los Angeles? "There could be, but I'm not going to say anything," she teased. "Shh!" ... Meanwhile, Madonna will presumably be more open when she celebrates the 60th anniversary of the United Nations on Saturday in Pasadena, California. Morgan Freeman is the honorary chairman of the event (for which Madonna sits on the committee), which is being billed as "supporting the U.N. vision" including "keeping peace throughout the world" and "encouraging respect for each other's rights and freedoms." ...

Bono rubbed elbows with President Bush during lunch at the White House on Wednesday. The U2 frontman was in town for a concert at Washington, D.C.'s MCI Center, and Bush invited the philanthropic rocker over for lunch to further discuss debt relief, AIDS, malaria and world trade, Bush's spokesperson, Scott McClellan, said. The two-hour meeting was a follow-up to the talks the duo had during the G8 Summit in Scotland this summer before the Live 8 shows. Bono and Bush ate in a private dining area off the Oval Office and the rocker received a tour of the grounds before he left. ... Michael Jackson, who was acquitted of child-molestation charges in June, has been called in for jury duty in Santa Barbara, California. A request for deferment has been filed on the superstar's behalf, his attorney Thomas Mesereau told The Associated Press, and he will most likely be let off from serving jury duty since he no longer lives in the United States. "All he has to do is show he has legal residency somewhere else and he will be exempted," Jury Commissioner Gary Blair told the AP. The singer has been keeping a low profile since his trial concluded this summer, spending most of his time out of the spotlight in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain. ...

Shooting began on the outskirts of Los Angeles this week on "Somebody Help Me," the teen horror flick starring Omarion and Marques Houston. Chris Stokes, who manages the singers and directed them in "You Got Served," is directing from his own script. ... Back in the days when he was still known as John Gillis, White Stripes frontman Jack White landed himself an apprenticeship at Detroit's Muldoon Studio, an upholstery shop run by family friend — and amateur drummer — Brian Muldoon. In addition to reupholstering couches, the two began jamming out as a guitar/drums combination (sound familiar?). Fast-forward more than a decade, and White is a platinum rock star. And to say thanks for all the upholstering advice, he produced a single for Muldoon's band, a three-piece (along with his sons Hunter and Shane) called, well, the Muldoons. White then pressed the single as a limited-edition 7-inch and sold it at the Stripes' recent homecoming gig earlier this month. Oh, and he let the Muldoons open the show, too. ...

Ryan Dallas Cook, who played trombone for Orange County ska-punk outfit Suburban Legends, was killed in a hit-and-run accident Wednesday morning. According to the Orange County Register, the 23-year-old was riding a motorcycle along the Costa Mesa Freeway in Santa Ana, California, when he hit a dark-colored Hyundai. Cook was thrown from the motorcycle and struck multiple times by oncoming cars. He was dead by the time emergency-response crews arrived at the scene; the Hyundai fled the area. ... 311 have added 14 more dates to their current fall trek, extending the run — which features the Exit and Alien Ant Farm as openers for its bulk, with Pepper, Zack Hexum, Blackalicious, Grasshopper Takeover, Shootyz Groove and Agents of the Sun on select dates — through December 14 in Los Angeles. Before this week, the tour's dates ran up through November 23 in Lowell, Massachusetts. ...

"So You Think You Can Dance" is coming back for a second season, starting next summer, FOX announced this week. ... A federal court in Los Angeles temporarily stopped a Web site from advertising that it can teach people how to legally trade music, video games and movies that are still in theaters. The site, MP3DownloadCity.com, was ordered to stop promoting its service after the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against its operator alleging that the site fooled customers into believing that for $24.95 they could legally engage in peer-to-peer file-swapping, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The FTC has warned customers who used the service to download copyrighted material that they are engaging in copyright infringement and has asked the court to have the site's operator turn over his profits and issue a permanent ban on the ads. The MPAA filed suit against six similar Web sites that "facilitate online movie piracy" last week. ...

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Bowling For Soup Follow Up '1985' With 'Almost,' An Almost Love Song

5 Nov 2004 08:34:00 EST

Band thinking of video ideas, but 'if all else fails, lots of hot chicks.'
By Corey Moss

Bowling for Soup (file)
Photo: Appio

Bowling for Soup almost wrote a sweet love song as the second single from A Hangover You Don't Deserve. Instead, the pop punks wrote a song about almosts.

"I almost got drunk at school at 14," Jaret Reddick sings in the first verse. "Where I almost made out with the homecoming queen/ Who almost went on to be Miss Texas."

In actuality, "Almost" is almost a sweet love song.

"And I almost had you," Reddick continues in the chorus. "But I guess that doesn't cut it/ Almost loved you/ I almost wished you would've loved me too."

"It's another fun little number, but it has more of a mature sound to it," Reddick explained. "It's more of a play on words than anything. It's pretty out there. It's all telltale. Miss Texas isn't from our town. Miss Wichita Falls was, though. The idea is all these things that almost happened. Man, 'almost' is really hard to say a bunch of times over and over."

"Almost" will be the follow-up to Bowling for Soup's current single, "1985" (see "Bowling For Soup LP So Upbeat, 'It's Like Being Licked By Puppies' "). The band is brainstorming video ideas now, "but they've all been bad," Reddick said. "We set the humor standard pretty high, so you can count on that."

"If all else fails, lots of hot chicks," guitarist Chris Burney added.

Speaking of almosts, the band has almost decided on the album's third single as well. It's down to "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)," "Last Call Casualty," "Trucker Hat" and "Ridiculous."

"We've always tried to put a ballad of some sort together," Reddick said of the latter. "I wrote that with a friend for his band, but his band broke up. So he broke it out. It's a ballad, but it's rockin'."

Bowling for Soup are also almost planning to release a live DVD.

"There's thousands of hours of footage to go through," Reddick said. "That's a big commitment. [Drummer] Gary [Wiseman] and I started to do it, but it lasted about 35 minutes."

The DVD will serve as a more accurate representation of Bowling for Soup, as the band has always been more about performing live than recording. "We're entertainers, and it's hard to entertain that tape," Burney said.

"We don't use a set list," Reddick added. "We have a lot of banter. I could break into an '80s sitcom song and the guys will join in. There's a lot of ad-libbing. We entertain each other as much as the audience, and that's a bold statement."

Strange things also tend to happen at Bowling for Soup shows, which should make for some interesting footage.

"We were in Columbus, Ohio," Reddick recalled. "And [bassist] Erik [Chandler] did the 'Billy Madison' line, 'Everybody who's cool pees their pants.' After the show, these two girls came up to the merch booth and stood there and peed their pants. And they were both wearing jeans!"

Bowling for Soup are spending the fall touring the States, wrapping things up December 13 in Philadelphia.

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Bowling For Soup

Bowling For Soup LP So Upbeat, 'It's Like Being Licked By Puppies'

23 Sep 2004 08:34:00 EDT

Singer calls album 'happiest collection of songs ever put on [a CD].'
By Corey Moss

Bowling for Soup (file)
Photo: Jive

Earning another Grammy nomination would be nice, but Bowling for Soup's big goal for 2004 is to meet their favorite celebrity — Nick Lachey.

"We're gonna meet him and he's going to love us," singer Jaret Reddick said. "He's funny and laid-back; we're funny and laid-back. He likes Miller Light; we like Miller Light. He's obviously into hot chicks; we're way into hot chicks. And here's the coolest thing about Nick that I'm excited about for when we become best friends: He goes on little adventures all the time! He's gonna be like, 'Hey, dude, let's go bungee jumping today!' "

Musically, pop-punkers Bowling for Soup have less in common with Lachey, but the band does salute his home state (sort of) in one of their songs, "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)."

The tune, which calls out Ohioan Drew Carey but not Lachey, is one of the many lighthearted looks at love and life featured on Bowling for Soup's seventh album, released last week.

"It's the happiest collection of songs ever put onto compact disc," Reddick bragged last week. "Seventy-one minutes of pure rock goodness."

"It's like being licked by seven puppies," added guitarist Chris Burney.

In other words, the album's title, A Hangover You Don't Deserve, is hardly fitting for a collection of tunes that includes "Shut-Up and Smile," "Get Happy" and "Trucker Hat."

"We [got the title from] talking about the various types of hangovers," Burney explained. "The most common is the hangover you actually deserve. You do a lot of drinking, come home and go to sleep and you wake up and your head hurts. Then you have the one where you drink two beers, take some vitamins, a couple aspirin, put the little sleep thing over your eyes, you go to sleep and wake up the next morning and it's like a herd of buffalo kicked you in the head. That's the hangover you don't deserve."

The follow-up to Drunk Enough to Dance (seeing a theme here?), which featured the Grammy-nominated "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" (see "Who The Hell Is The Grammy-Nominated Band Bowling For Soup?"), is highlighted by Bowling for Soup's latest single, "1985."

Like several of the 17 tracks on A Hangover You Don't Deserve, it's packed with pop culture references. "She knows every line/ 'Breakfast Club,' 'Pretty in Pink'/ Even 'St. Elmo's Fire,' " Reddick sings in one verse. "She rocked out to Wham/ Not a big Limp Biscuit fan."

"It's about a lady who is stuck in that era," the singer explained. "A lot of the references didn't happen in 1985, but it rhymed better with 'preoccupied.' ... I love the '80s. Life was a John Hughes movie. It was a really happy time. I'm glad I grew up then. As dreary as music and movies got in the '90s, I wouldn't have wanted to go through adolescence then."

"1985" is also meant to bridge the gap between parents and the "14-year-old girl who comes to our show and thinks her mom is really uncool, but [the mom] was listening to the same stuff we were, growing up," Reddick added. "And though she probably still does listen to it, most moms who bring kids to rock shows are pretty cool."

For the video, Bowling for Soup wanted to parody all their favorite '80s videos, but their budget limited them to a few.

"We knew we wanted to do the Mötley Crüe thing that was going to take a lot of money, so we went with ones that even kids would recognize," Reddick said. "The George Michael ['Faith' parody] was very easy 'cause all we had to do was rent a jukebox. We were going to hire a stunt butt for that scene, but I cast my own butt."

"I had a sit-down with the director and said, 'Man, you really gotta check out his butt. It's great,' " bassist Erik Chandler chimed in.

After touring for more than a year behind Drunk Enough to Dance, Bowling for Soup returned to Denton, Texas, and wrote some 40 songs. The band then moved in to producer Butch Walker's (Avril Lavigne, Sevendust) house in Atlanta and recorded the album in two and a half weeks.

"It was really fun to make," Reddick said. "It was really laid-back. We just hung out a lot, didn't do 16-hour a days or anything."

"You were in trouble if you didn't have a beverage in your hand by 5," Chandler said.

Hence the hangovers.

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Nelly Tops Nelly On Billboard Albums Chart

22 Sep 2004 02:56:00 EDT

It's Suit that trumps Sweat, by more than 54,000 copies.
By Joe D'Angelo

Nelly (file)
Photo: Universal

The closest competition Nelly will face on next week's Billboard albums chart comes from the St. Lunatic leader himself. Having simultaneously released two albums last week, the St. Louis MC has a lock on the #1 and #2 spots.

It's Suit that trumps Sweat, by more than 54,000 copies, according to SoundScan. The album featuring the smash single "My Place" (with Jaheim) sold more than 395,000 copies to take the top slot, while its companion moved more than 341,000 copies on the strength of the suggestive single "Flap Your Wings."

Nelly's two-album total barely pushes past the first-week sales of his last album, Nellyville, which in June 2002 also debuted at #1, with 23,000 fewer copies.

Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying will drop a notch to run a distant third, with more than 121,000 copies sold. It'll be followed by Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company, which also takes a step back, to #4. The late soul pioneer's duets album sold more than 113,000 copies.

For the fourth week straight, the immovable object that is Now That's What I Call Music! 16 will remain at #5. The more than 100,000 copies it sold last week brings its eight-week total up to 1.8 million. Ashlee Simpson will also hold on to her old place at #6, as Autobiography tacked on another 75,000 to its total.

Although it sold slightly fewer copies last week than the week prior, Maroon 5's Songs About Jane managed to climb back into the top 10 by sidling up three spots to #8 and moving more than 63,000 copies. Usher, too, will make some forward progress, as Confessions takes a two-step shimmy up to #10, with more than 61,000 copies.

The remainder of next week's top 10 finds last week's top album, Alan Jackson's What I Do, dropping to #7, with more than 71,000 copies sold; and Anita Baker's My Everything moving from #4 to #9 with more than 63,000 copies sold.

Aside from the Nellys, the next new album to make the chart is from heavy-metal vets Megadeth. The band's 10th album will land at #18. Two notches later, Los Angeles' Irish punks Flogging Molly will place at #20 with Within a Mile of Home.

While the single "1985" is keeping Bowling for Soup part of the pop vernacular a year and a half after earning a Grammy nomination for their last album, 2002's Drunk Enough to Dance, it didn't immediately translate into massive album sales for the Wichita Falls, Texas, quartet. Their fourth album, A Hangover You Don't Deserve, will debut at #37.

Other notable debuts on next week's chart include Tears for Fears' reunion album, and first in nine years, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, at #46; the TV series soundtrack Will & Grace: Let the Music Out! at #57; electronica act the Prodigy's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned at #62; Gov't Mule's Deja Voodoo at #88; the Faint's Wet From Birth at #99; and the Thrills' Let's Bottle Bohemia at #153.

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New Releases: Nelly, Prodigy, Mr. Cheeks, Megadeth, Fu Manchu, Dizzee Rascal, Bowling For Soup & More

13 Sep 2004 09:55:00 EDT

Nelly's Sweat/Suit
Photo: Fo' Real/Universal

Sweaty club patrons and slick-suited players alike will find tracks to grind to on this week's top new release.

Nelly returns with a double shot of his Southern rap, with one half of Sweatsuit heating up the party with club tracks (Sweat) and the other taking the tempo down a couple notches while upping the sexy ante (Suit). The rapper, who collaborated with Mase, Fat Joe, Remy Martin, Jaheim, Christina Aguilera, Mobb Deep and country star Tim McGraw on the LP, said he had so much great material coming out of him in the studio that he couldn't possibly limit his third album to just one disc.

Last year, Mr. Cheeks came Back Again! with a new album and just 18 months later, he's back again with Ladies & Ghettomen. Meanwhile, garage/hip-hop artist Dizzee Rascal, who won the U.K.'s Mercury Prize in 2003 and is on the Long List for this year's Shortlist Music Prize, will release his sophomore album, Showtime, this week.

On the harder side of things, the Prodigy, whose biggest release was 1997's The Fat of the Land, will release the more dance-oriented Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, which debuted at #1 on the British charts at the end of August. Sticking with the heaviness, Megadeth will release their 10th studio album, The System Has Failed, their first since 2001's The World Needs a Hero.

Van Halen are releasing their 1986 video "Live Without a Net" onto DVD. With Sammy Hagar at the mic, the band rocks through tracks like "Why Can't This Be Love?" and "There's Only One Way to Rock." In other '80s rock band news, Tears for Fears will release Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, their first studio release since 1989.

Guns N' Roses bassist Tommy Stinson, who recently put out a solo album, Village Gorilla Head, is releasing Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe from his band Perfect, which formed in 1995 but only released an EP in 1996.

Pop-punk outfit Bowling for Soup are making their oddball name more widely recognized with the single "1985" off their newest album, A Hangover You Don't Deserve, which comes out this week. "The Lyricist Lounge Show" star and underground hip-hop fixture Wordsworth drops his debut solo effort, Mirror Music. And on the indie rock side of things, the Thrills release their sophomore LP, Let's Bottle Bohemia, and Canadian duo Tegan & Sara see their third album, So Jealous, hit shelves.

Some of the other artists with albums hitting stores in this big release week are the Datsuns (Outta Sight/ Outta Mind), Fu Manchu (Start the Machine), Flogging Molly (Within a Mile of Home), Citizen Cope (The Clarence Greenwood Recordings), Har Mar Superstar (The Handler), the Zombies (As Far as I Can See), Ray LaMontagne (Trouble), Gov't Mule (Deja Voodoo) and Branford Marsalis (Eternal).

Out Tuesday, September 14:

Mindi Abair - Come as You Are (GRP)
Across Five Aprils - Living in the Moment (Indianola)
Action Action - Don't Cut Your Fabric to This Year's Fashion (Victory)
Eric Alexander - Dead Center (HighNote)
Anthony B - Untouchable (Pyramid)
The Arcade Fire - Funeral (Merge)
BeauSoleil - Gitan Cajun (Gypsy Cajun) (Vanguard)
Blackfield - Blackfield (Snapper)
Bowling for Soup - A Hangover You Don't Deserve (Jive)
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Timeless (HighTone)
Norman Brown - West Coast Coolin' (Warner Bros.)
Kasey Chambers - Wayward Angel (Warner Bros.)
Peter Cincotti - On the Moon (Concord)
Citizen Cope - The Clarence Greenwood Recordings (RCA)
Cowboy Jack Clement - Guess Things Happen That Way (DualTone)
The Datsuns - Outta Sight/ Outta Mind (V2)
Dead to Fall - Villainy and Virtue (Victory)
Dem Franchise Boyz - Dem Franchise Boyz (Universal)
Dizzee Rascal - Showtime (XL/Beggars Banquet)
Dollhouse - Rock and Soul Circus (Dim Mak)
Dub FX - Dub FX (Pyramid)
Fast Forward/ T Cells - Split (Three One G)
The Faint - Wet From Birth (Saddle Creek)
The Features - Exhibit A (Universal)
Flogging Molly - Within a Mile of Home (SideOneDummy)
Fonzie - Wake Up Call (Transdreamer)
Fu Manchu - Start the Machine (DRT)
Giant Sand - Is All Over ... the Map (Thrill Jockey)
Gov't Mule - Deja Voodoo (ATO)
The Great Jazz Trio - Someday My Prince Will Come (88's/Columbia)
Hilary Hahn - Elgar Violin Concerto/ Lark Ascending (Deutsche Grammophon)
Har Mar Superstar - The Handler (Record Collection)
Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz - Come Closer (Rounder)
John Herman - Just Ain't Right (Sanctuary)
The High Water Marks - Songs About the Ocean (Eenie Meenie)
Japancakes - Waking Hours (Warm Electronic)
Mike Katz - A Month of Sundays (Rounder)
The Knockout Pills - 1 + 1=ATE (Estrus)
Lake of Tears - Black Brick Road (Sanctuary/Noise)
Ray LaMontagne - Trouble (RCA)
Layton - Grand Design (Leftwing)
Ludicra - Another Great Love Song (Alternative Tentacles)
Mannheim Steamroller - Monster Mix (American Gramaphone)
Augie March - Strange Bird (spinART)
Branford Marsalis - Eternal (Marsalis Music/Rounder)
Mark McKay - Shimmer (Bacchus/ Toadfish)
Megadeth - The System Has Failed (Sanctuary)
Read: "Dave Mustaine, Megadeth Return To Life With New System"
Buy Now: The System Has Failed (Sanctuary)
Brad Mehldau - Live in Tokyo (Nonesuch)
Mexican Gangster - Mexican Gangster (Thump)
Mindless Faith - Momentum (Metropolis)
Joni Mitchell - Dreamland (Rhino)
Mr. Cheeks - Ladies & Ghettomen (Legal Drug Money/ Contango)
Nicole C. Mullen - Everyday People (Word)
Nelly - Sweat and Suit (Fo' Reel/ Universal)
Read: "Nelly's Double Dose Features Mase, X-tina And ... Tim McGraw?"
Nevea Tears - Do I Have to Tell You Why I Love You (Eulogy)
Dolly Parton - Live & Well (Sugar Hill)
Polly Paulusma - Scissors in My Pocket (Birdman/ One Little Indian)
Perfect - Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe (Rykodisc)
Houston Person - To Etta with Love (HighNote)
Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love (Rounder)
Prodigy - Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (Maverick)
Read: "Twista, Kool Keith, Juliette Lewis Smack Up New Prodigy LP"
Buy Now: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (Maverick)
Psyche - Legacy (Metropolis)
Mark Rae - Into the Depths (Grand Central)
Rachael Sage - Ballads & Burlesque (MPress)
Saturday Looks Good to Me - Every Night (Polyvinyl)
Coyote Shivers - Gives It to Ya. Twice (Foodchain)
Signer - The New Face of Smiling (Carpark)
Silent Force - Worlds Apart (Sanctuary/Noise)
Silkworm - It'll Be Cool (Touch and Go)
The Silos - When the Telephone Rings (DualTone)
Singapore Sling - Life Is Killing My Rock 'N' Roll (Stinky)
Scott Stapleton - A Storm Over Springtime (Undecided)
Jimmy Sturr - Rock 'n Polka (Rounder)
Tears for Fears - Everybody Loves a Happy Ending (Hip-O/ UME)
Tegan & Sara - So Jealous (Vapor/ Sanctuary)
The Thrills - Let's Bottle Bohemia (Virgin)
Sally Timms - In the World of Him (Touch and Go)
Viva Voce - The Heat Can Melt Your Brain (Minty Fresh)
Paul Weller - Studio 150 (V2)
Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts - Wake Up to What's Happening (Palmetto)
Wordsworth - Mirror Music (Halftooth)
Zap Mama - Ancestry in Progress (Luaka Bop/ v2)
Thalia Zedek - Trust Not Those in Whom Without Some Touch of Madness (Thrill Jockey)
The Zombies - As Far as I Can See (Rhino)
Various artists - Disney's Lullaby & Goodnight (Walt Disney)
Various artists - Galactic Caravan: Intergalactic Bellydance (Ark 21)
Various artists - Many Blessings (Silver Ware)
Various artists - Trance Divas (Varese Sarabande)
Various artists – Soundtrack to "Moog" (Hollywood)
Various artists – Soundtrack to "Will & Grace" (BMG SMG)
DVD: Dion - "Live" (Image Entertainment)
DVD: Godsmack - "Changes" (Rounder)
DVD: Moloko - "11,000 Clicks" (Sanctuary)
DVD: UB40 - "Homegrown in Holland Live" (Rhino)
DVD: Van Halen - "Live Without a Net" (Rhino)

September 21:

Green Day - American Idiot (Warner)
Read: "Green Day: Anatomy Of A Punk Opera"
Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama - There Will Be a Light (Virgin)
Shadows Fall - War Within (Century Media)
Keb' Mo' - Peace ... Back by Popular Demand (Sony)

September 28:

Brian Wilson - Smile (Nonesuch)
Joss Stone - Mind, Body & Soul (S-Curve)
Hilary Duff - Hilary Duff (Hollywood)
Queen Latifah - The Dana Owens Album (Interscope)

October 5:

Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays (Warner Bros.)
Cake - Pressure Chief (Sony)
Good Charlotte - The Chronicles of Life & Death (Sony) Read: "Good Charlotte Get Serious With The Chronicles Of Life And Death" 1489850
R.E.M. - Around the Sun (Warner Bros.)

'Punk Rock Holocaust!' Warped Tour Slasher Flick On The Way

2 Jul 2003 07:59:00 EDT

Division of Troma Films, makers of B-movie classic 'The Toxic Avenger,' to produce flick.
By Christina Fuoco

Andrew W.K.
Photo: Gregg Delman/MTV

And you thought Andrew W.K. was scary.

The organizers behind the Vans Warped Tour are tapping into the world of cinema by filming a "teenage slasher film" during the trek. (Click here for photos from the tour.)

"It's about a disgruntled employee," said Kevin Lyman, founder of the tour that mixes extreme sports and punk/ska music. "The guy gets fired the first day and he comes back and puts a curse on the Warped Tour. Then all these things happen."

The tentatively titled "Punk Rock Holocaust" will be shot by Backseat Conceptions.

"It's going to be a lot of shadows and lurking in the movie and mostly just staff dying at certain points of unimaginably horrible deaths at the hands of the [murderer]," Lyman said with a laugh.

A spokesperson for the Warped Tour, which kicked off June 19 in Boise, Idaho (see "Where Mouth Geysers Meet Cheesy Macaroni — Warped (Tour) Indeed"), said every band on the tour, ranging from the Suicide Machines to Andrew W.K. to Pennywise, have been asked to participate.

"We're trying to have fun and trying to remind ourselves that it is a business but to have a lot of fun this year," Lyman said.

The tour, in its ninth year, runs through August 10 at the Asbury Park Lot in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

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Where Mouth Geysers Meet Cheesy Macaroni — Warped (Tour) Indeed

27 Jun 2003 12:22:00 EDT

Performing bands included Simple Plan, AFI, Rancid, Bowling for Soup, the Used, S.T.U.N., Less Than Jake.
By Gil Kaufman

The Used's Bert McCracken performs on the Warped Tour
Photo: Jason Squires

CINCINNATI — It was as if the tattooed hand of a punk rock god reached down and anointed Andrew W.K. The hard partying rocker was enthusiastically playing his anthem "I Get Wet" as the skies opened up and a torrential downpour put an early end to the eighth stop on this year's Vans Warped Tour. He always sports a maniacal smirk and a dirty T-shirt, but even W.K., surrounded on the stage by a dozen head-banging fans, couldn't help but laugh. (Click here for photos from The Warped Tour.)

Just one week into a grueling cross-country summer trek, the ninth edition of the punk and extreme-sports tour experienced both kinds of Warped weather: intense heat and drenching rains. You would have never known it, though, from the goofy grins on the faces of the 50 pumped-up bands or the 7,000 waterlogged and sunburned fans who braved the unpredictable weather to take part in punk rock summer camp. There was Rancid's Tim Armstrong, rocking his band's afternoon set in a leather jacket, AFI's Davey Havok in vinyl pants and a long-sleeved mesh shirt, and Used singer Bert McCracken not letting a little sweat bother him as the heat made the red face-paint across his eyes drip all over his face.

Though it was inconceivably plastered with more signage than Cincinnati's new baseball stadium (not that the fans would know, since nearly everyone was wearing a shirt promoting their favorite band), what continues to separate the Warped Tour from other summer festivals is its egalitarian vibe. Indie label bands such as Rise Against, Vaux, Eleventeen and the Unseen mixed with up-and-coming major-label acts in the massive pavilion, while the Ataris, Face to Face and Rancid humbly hit the midway. Everyone got 30 minutes, regardless of whether your name was Less Than Jake, Anatomy of a Ghost or Scallywagon. Coupled with the cheap ticket price ($25), Warped might not be much of a payday for the bands, but it could teach its fellow festival tours a lesson or two about keeping fans happy.

Yes, it's cheesy to have Kraft Macaroni and Cheese on-the-go samples right next to a stage and Yoo-Hoo-branded beach balls ping-ponging across the crowd. But it's kind of cool to find bands like Simple Plan, who could easily headline the city's biggest club, playing early afternoon sets on side stages and not complaining about it. It's also cool to see veteran Irish punkers the Dropkick Murphys getting one of the most raucous receptions of the day with their bagpipe, beer-and-blitz chord sing-alongs.

The Used got things cranking early thanks to McCracken's spastic stage presence. Spewing water into the air with his mouth and making huge geysers, the scrawny singer played the part of a slightly crazed arena rocker as he got the audience to shout along to such cathartic punk ballads as "The Taste of Ink" and "Blue and Yellow."

Like many of the acts, McCracken told the crowd that the Cincinnati stop was the best one on the tour so far, in between his bouts of thrashing around the stage, stringy hair plastered to his gaunt face.

It was a totally different scene across the midway though, where AFI looked like a group of daytime ghouls who'd accidentally opened their crypts a bit early. Singer Havok, with his pasty face and jet-black hair, looked like a cross between the Cult's Ian Astbury and Elvira, and definitely like someone more used to dark clubs than bright daylight shows. As he yelped the lyrics to the band's breakthrough hit, "Girl's Not Grey," and "The Leaving Song, Pt. II," Havok repeatedly performed what was the unofficial, but mandatory mantra of the day, "who-ooh-ooh." That simple pop refrain could be heard from nearly every band on the bill, from Police-like reggae punkers Maxeen to SoCal old-schoolers Face to Face and Detroit garage rockers the Fags.

Bowling for Soup did their best to lighten things up with canned stage patter that would make Poison blush ("Look at all the great t---ies out there!"), but Rancid showed the kids how it's really done with a hit-packed set that snuck in just as the blazing sun gave way to thunderclouds. Singer Armstrong paid homage to his heroes in the Ramones by entering the stage in a black leather jacket, as well as black pants, a black baseball hat and black sunglasses, not removing the jacket until the fifth song, despite the choking heat. The band blitzed through energetic versions of "Journey to the End of the East Bay," "Ruby Soho," "Roots Radicals" and "Maxwell Murder." During the latter, bassist Matt Freeman ripped off a nimble-fingered, jazzy solo that seemed to even surprise singer/guitarist Lars Frederiksen. The band unveiled the new song "Red Hot Moon," from their upcoming album, Indestructable (August 26), and invited pal Skinhead Rob on stage to do a mid-song rap.

Once the rain began to fall, the midway offered more than mac 'n cheese, CDs and T-shirts to the punks whose liberty spikes were beginning to sag. Nearly every act took time to sign T-shirts and CDs for fans and there were dozens of booths supporting political causes and selling the usual festival fare.

Parents could even dip into the air-conditioned "Reverse Daycare" tent and sink into comfy chairs while "About Schmidt" played on a big-screen TV. With so much music, the "extreme" part of the tour — demos from professional skaters and BMX riders — was shunted off to a corner of the midway and seemed less prominent than in the past.

By the time the Ataris hit the stage around 5 p.m., the rain seemed like it was there to stay. The hard-cores held on, but if the young crowd recognized that the band was covering a Don Henley song with its punked-up take on "Boys of Summer," they didn't show it. They did, however, react wildly when spazz rockers S.T.U.N. laid waste to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall," especially when singer Christiane J. amended the lyrics to "another brick through your wall!" Huddling under the pavilion to avoid the rain, hundreds of fans watched as J. hurled his microphone across the stage, perched himself precariously on the kick drum and danced around like a disco insect to songs such as "Movement," during which he repeatedly howled the refrain, "We are just a moment away!"

Glassjaw and Poison the Well got washed out as the side stages closed early, but, in the end, there was Warped sophomore W.K., whipping the soaked crowd into a frenzy with "Party Hard," and looking up at the rain as if it were just another party favor on his nonstop summer punk bash.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

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Bowling Make Soup From Blink-182, Sum 41, Good Charlotte

20 Jun 2003 02:47:00 EDT

New single, 'Punk Rock 101,' borrows from popular pop-punks.
By Gil Kaufman

Bowling for Soup
Photo: Jive

Being nominated for a Grammy hasn't changed the boys of Bowling for Soup. At all.

The pop-punk foursome are up to their old tricks on a just reissued version of their 2002 breakthrough, Drunk Enough to Dance. The album, which spawned the Best Pop Performance Grammy-nominated single "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" and sold nearly 200,000 copies, has been augmented with a typically tongue-in-cheek take on A Flock of Seagulls' new wave staple "I Ran (So Far Away)" as well as the new tracks "Punk Rock 101" and "Star Song."

"We thought we were working on the follow-up to Drunk Enough to Dance," singer Jaret Reddick said of the tracks he wrote earlier this year. "We had a few songs done and we wanted to release an EP because it's coming up on a year that [Drunk was released], but the label didn't want us to do a new record until next year. We had an option to not release anything until then or to put some new songs on this one."

The 19-track reissue features the Wichita Falls, Texas, band's signature irreverent take on life. Reddick described the new material and the album's latest single, "Punk Rock 101," as being about "pretty much the same things we always talk about: chick stuff." The boys lampoon the entire pop-punk genre in "Punk Rock 101," employing all of the musical tricks that have made their peers famous, from Blink-182's tales of teenage angst to Sum 41's snide attitude and Good Charlotte's hip-hop-inspired breakdowns. What else would you expect from a song that features the hook "Same song, different chorus?"

As for the grunged-up A Flock of Seagulls cover, that was just a tip of the hat to one of the band's favorite tunes from the '80s, but don't think that it signals they've run out of material.

"I've got four notebooks full of stuff, and by the end of the summer I'll have most of the songs demoed and we'll be ready to hit the studio," said Reddick, 31, who hopes to begin recording in November and have an album out by April.

He described one of his new, as-yet-untitled tracks as "an angry song that talks about how a few years ago, if you heard a band on the radio everyone would say they sounded like Pearl Jam, and now they say it sounds like Blink-182. That's such an easy, non-music-lover thing to say, and it's so untrue," Reddick said. "There's lots of bands right now with similar styles, but that's what's happening in music right now. Besides, we don't sound like Blink-182 at all ... we sound like Green Day."

As for the perks of being a Grammy nominee, Reddick would only say it hasn't changed their lives much, other than a few mentions in Entertainment Weekly and a bizarre visit to "Live With Regis and Kelly." The singer is married and found out about the nomination as his wife was about to give birth to their first child, so the Grammy hasn't meant increased groupie action. Besides, he explained, "just being in a band gets you laid. There is something about being able to look like you know what you're doing when you pick up a guitar that people love."

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