The second album by enigmatic alt-metal supergroup A Perfect Circle is tentatively scheduled for release September 30. The disc will be the first to feature ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White (a.k.a. Twiggy Ramirez), who replaced Paz Lenchantin in February. The band's 2000 debut, Mer De Noms, went platinum. ...

Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean's mother Denise — who acted as the band's publicist and fan-club coordinator during its beginning stages — is putting out a book this December about her experiences with her son's group. It's called "Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction and Ultimate Triumph," and Denise told MTV News that the book will also contain several previously unpublished pictures. She plans to do a book tour in November. ... For those who can't get enough of "Times Like These," three different videos for the Foo Fighters single will be available on the "Low" DVD/EP, due July 1. The clip for the title track, which was directed by Jesse Peretz and features Jack Black, will be available exclusively on the disc. ...

The U.S. finals of the Air Guitar Championship are taking place Saturday at the Roxy in Los Angeles, and what better way to tune up your imaginary axe than with The World's Greatest Air Guitar Album, a double-disc set that hits stores Tuesday (June 24). Queen guitarist Brian May served as the album's music director, overseeing the inclusion of such riff-riddled tunes as Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way," Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" and Blur's "Song 2." ... Barenaked Ladies are in the finishing stages of prepping their follow-up to 2000's Maroon. Frontman Steven Page mastered the disc, titled Everything to Everyone, in New York on Monday, and the band is trying to decide which of its 16 to 17 new songs should ultimately make the record. Song titles include "War on Drugs," "Chimpanzees," "Aluminum," "Celebrity," "Shopping" and "Maybe Katie." ...

Sonic Youth canceled two of their concerts with Wilco this week — in Boston on Monday and Wallingford, Connecticut, on Tuesday — due to a family illness. Though their remaining shows this week and next in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., were in limbo for a while as well, the band now says that the gigs will go on as planned. "We're sorry for any confusion or disappointment this whole situation has caused," guitarist Lee Ranaldo wrote on the group's Web site. "It obviously couldn't be helped." Mission of Burma substituted for Sonic Youth in Boston. ... Our Lady Peace and 3 Doors Down will join forces for a summer tour beginning July 5 in Muskegon, Michigan, and ending September 18 in Spring, Texas. OLP are promoting Live, a collection of favorites recorded in January and February at various Canadian shows and due July 1. ...

Travis Meeks, the 24-year-old leader of the Kentucky band Days of the New, has spent the last few weeks in a rehab program battling addiction to crystal meth and other substances, his manager said. With roughly a month clean and sober under his belt, Meeks will be released from treatment July 1 and plans to perform at the SouthGate House in Newport, Kentucky, on the Fourth of July. ... The Flaming Lips and the Roots are among those slated for the sixth annual Berkshire Music Festival, taking place August 15-17 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Medeski Martin & Wood, the Greyboy Allstars and Particle are also on the bill. ...

Three of Raphael Saadiq's performances, (July 2-4), each with a 12-piece band, will be preserved for posterity on a live album and DVD. The live LP is slated for October, while the DVD is expected next year. In February, Saadiq will follow up last year's Instant Vintage studio album. ... Natural Selection, Fuel's first LP in three years, is slated for a September 23 release. The 11-track follow-up to Something Like Human was co-produced by Michael Beinhorn (Korn, Marilyn Manson) and will be prefaced by the single "Fall on Me." A fall tour is in the works. ...

Spiritualized's Amazing Grace will finally materialize September 9 on frontman Jason Pierce's Spaceman Records, distributed by Sanctuary Records. The 11-track follow-up to 2001's Let It Come Down had been finished for some time, though getting a distributor for the project proved difficult after ties were severed with Arista Records. ...

06.23.03

Mary J. Blige and Usher have been added to the list of presenters for Tuesday's BET Awards, airing live at 8 p.m. ET from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. Mo'Nique, star of the UPN comedy "The Parkers," is hosting the show, which will include performances by 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Nelly and others. On the eve of the BET Awards, Da Brat will headline a party for Smooth magazine at Hollywood hotspot Club A.D. ...

Ruben Studdard, who will also appear at the BET Awards, and Clay Aiken are now set to release their debut albums on the same date: August 19. Aiken's single outsold Studdard's when they were released simultaneously last week. ... And in other "American Idol" news, creator Simon Fuller is planning to make "World Idol," which will feature winners from different "Idol" shows from around the globe competing against each other for the "World Idol" title. ...

Wes Borland is recording four songs with frequent Nine Inch Nails collaborator Danny Lohner for the forthcoming Kate Beckinsale vampires-versus-werewolves movie, "Underworld," and is also working with the Crystal Method and Filter's Richard Patrick on material that may turn up elsewhere. The former Limp Bizkit axeman recently returned from London, where he met with several potential vocalists for the still singer-less Eat the Day. "We have it narrowed down to a short list of U.K. vocalists," Borland wrote on the band's Web site, "and we'll be flying them out one a time over the next few weeks." ...

A fetish for fashion inspired Eve to found a clothing company. Fetish by Eve, a clothing line for juniors and women, is expected to launch in select stores this fall. ... Actress and Janis Joplin fan Renée Zellweger has been tapped to portray the late rock singer in the biopic "Piece of My Heart." Filming is scheduled to begin early next year after Zellweger, who will also co-produce the flick, wraps the sequel to "Bridget Jones's Diary." Others who were reportedly contending for the part include Brittany Murphy and Melissa Etheridge. ...

Michelle Branch covers "Strange" and Norah Jones offers a rendition of "Why Can't He Be You" for Remembering Patsy Cline, an 11-track tribute to the country legend due September 9. Others paying homage to the singer, who died in a plane crash 40 years ago, include Amy Grant, k.d. lang and Diana Krall, who covers Cline's most well-known song, "Crazy," which was written by Willie Nelson. ... Dido has set a September 9 release date for her second album, Life for Rent. "White Flag" is the first single. ...

SWV's Tamara "Taj" Johnson and Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George have announced that they will be married in the summer of 2004. ...

The Mars Volta will embark on a U.S. headlining tour starting at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles on July 1 in support of their Rick Rubin-produced full-length debut, De-Loused in the Comatorium, which features contributions from Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. The band, which includes former At the Drive-In members Omar Rodriquez and Cedric Bixler, previously pulled out of a tour with the Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg following the death of friend, frequent collaborator and former De Facto member, Jeremy Ward. ... The debut album by Slipknot percussionist Shawn Crahan's side project To My Surprise is slated for an October release on Roadrunner Records. Produced by Rick Rubin, the LP was recorded in Los Angeles earlier this year. ...

The Rolling Stones will headline a free outdoor concert July 30 in Toronto aimed at repairing the city's economy in the wake of a SARS outbreak there earlier in the year. The show will be held in the docklands area of the city and will feature several opening acts. ... Politically conscious melodic hardcore band Boy Sets Fire have parted ways with bassist Rob Avery, replacing him with former guitar tech/ My Hero Died Today member Robert Ehrenbrand. The long-running Delaware group will resume touring in support of Tomorrow Come Today, their first album for the Wind-Up label, later this month. ...

• A Perfect Circle
• Backstreet Boys
• Foo Fighters
• Sonic Youth
• Days of the New

System of a Down
Photo: Sony/Columbia

System of a Down, Monster Magnet and Buckcherry will headline Des Moines, Iowa's inaugural Big Ass BBQ on May 27.

The festival is sponsored by Lazer 103.3 (KAZR-FM). The rock station, along with syndicated jock Mancow, had hosted a festival called the Lazer Luau in past summers, but the location and name were changed this year.

The Big Ass BBQ, which will also feature Days of the New, Kittie, Spineshank, Skrape and From Zero, will be held at Waterworks Park.

• System of a Down
• Monster Magnet
• Buckcherry
• Days of the New
• Kittie

Tantric's Hugo Ferreira
Photo: MTV News

The band formerly known as three-quarters of Days of the New have reformed as Tantric with a major label record deal, a new album due early next year, and a U.S. club tour set for January.

Guitarist Todd Whitener, drummer Matt Taul and bassist Jess Vest were bona fide rock stars barely out of their teens when they formed Days of the New with singer/songwriter Travis Meeks in Jefferson, Indiana, and striking platinum with their self-titled debut album in 1997.

It went downhill from there.

The group chalked up a history of band brawls, missed shows and cancelled tours with the mercurial Meeks at the forefront. An appearance in Florida was shelved due to Meeks' injuries after a fight on the tour bus (see "Days Of The New's Travis Meeks Tells Fans He's Dropping Bandmates"), and a tour with Finger 11 was suddenly cut short when Meeks abruptly decided to go home (see "Days Of The New Cancel Tour"). A major showcase concert in New York met the same fate.

The situation culminated with Meeks firing his former friends in November 1998, but the split turned out to be a blessing for Whitener, Taul and Vest.

"The day he fired us," Vest said, "we were cutting our first demos for this same [Tantric] material." The songs had no vocals, but that was soon to change, Vest said.

Enter Hugo Ferreira.

The Detroit native was fresh out of the band Merge, who were well acquainted with Days of the New. He passed an audition, and by March, he had moved to Louisville to work on demos with his new bandmates, at first under the moniker Carbon 14. They eventually decided that numbered bands were played out and changed the name to Tantric, in reference to Buddhist sexual practices.

It was a long way from their former life. Instead of touring with Metallica and accepting record awards, "the bass player was working at Hooters cooking wings, the guitarist was picking up what he could, and you don't want to know what the drummer was doing," Ferreira said with a laugh.

"We were beyond broke," he continued. "All I had was a TV and a VCR, and I sold them to pay for the U-Haul to move to Louisville. I was tending bar at some cheesy beach club and winning karaoke contests singing Frank Sinatra songs competing against toothless drunks with names like Billy Bob Joe.

"I lost weight, I had the Ethiopian thing happening, with the skinny arms and the stomach thing happening." But it was worse for his bandmates, Ferreira said. "These guys really had to swallow a lot of pride." Eight months later, Tantric's demos caught the ear of Maverick Records. A deal was struck that gave the group healthy advances and budgets to record an album in Nashville with producer Toby Wright (Alice in Chains, Primus). The record was completed in October.

Maverick has scheduled the self-titled album for release February 13 and has posted a preview single, "Breakdown," on the Maverick/Tantric Web site (www.maverick.com/tantric).

According to Vest, the group has plenty of strong material left over for future use.

Meeks, meanwhile, continues to work under the Days of the New name with a revolving door of musicians. Days of the New released another self-titled album in August 1999, and a new album is in production.

Vest preferred not to comment on his former bandmate, but he did say that he ran into Meeks at a local nightclub once and the meeting was cordial, albeit brief.

Tantric tour dates:

• 1/05 - Memphis, TN @ Newby's
• 1/06 - Springfield, MO @ Juke Joint
• 1/07 - Omaha, NE @ Ranch Bowl
• 1/09 - Kansas City, MO @ The Hurricane
• 1/10 - St. Louis, MO @ The Galaxy
• 1/12 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
• 1/13 - Cedar Rapids, IA @ 3rd Street Live
• 1/14 - Indianapolis, IN @ Birdy's
• 1/16 - Chicago, IL @ Double Door
• 1/18 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Intersection (New Music Night)
• 1/17 - East Lansing, MI @ Rick's
• 1/19 - Detroit, MI @ Emerald Theatre
• 1/20 - Cleveland, OH @ Blind Lemon
• 1/22 - Cincinnati, OH @ Top Cats
• 1/24 - Atlanta, GA @ Smith's Ole Bar
• 1/25 - Birmingham, AL @ The Nick
• 1/26 - Nashville, TN @ The End
• 1/27 - Louisville, KY @ Phoenix Hill Tavern

• Tantric
• Days of the New

Days Of The New has just completed recording a new album in its hometown of Louisville, and the fruits of the band's labors will be in stores in late September if all goes according to plan.

The group's management confirmed to MTV News that the album, like the previous two, will simply be called "Days Of The New," although it will most likely be referred to as "the red album." Days Of The New's 1997 debut boasted an orange cover, while the 1999 follow-up was a "green" release. The band's trademark image of a tree has remained constant.

The record once again has been a near-solo project on the part of DOTN mainstay Travis Meeks, with few of the (many) previous musicians he's worked with remaining on board for the new effort. The band's label, Outpost, has also been phased out, and the group is now signed directly to Interscope.

Sound-wise, DOTN management told MTV News to expect a combination of the hard rocking debut and the more acoustically inclined second LP. One of the thirteen new tracks is close to ten minutes long, the group's manager said, and features a 30-piece symphony orchestra conducted by Meeks.

Meanwhile, Meeks will finally be seeing the release of his cover of The Doors' "The End" on a long-awaited, long-delayed tribute album now scheduled for November 18. The track was recorded with Meeks and the surviving members of the Doors in June of '98 (see "Doors Tribute With Manson, STP, More Due In Summer")

• Days of the New
• The Doors

Days of the New is currently wrapping up production on a video the group shot in its hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, for its new single, "Enemy," late last week.

• Days of the New

Days of the New frontman Travis Meeks is returning in August with a new lineup of his band and a new album.

According to manager Rick Smith, the group's second self-titled LP will be hitting the streets August 31. The first single, "Enemy," is scheduled for release on July 22.

The group will also have a song called "Rough Day" on the pending soundtrack to the animated feature "Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2" (see "'Heavy Metal' Sequel Soundtrack Nabs Monster Magnet, Zombie, And Axl?").

As previously reported by MTV News, the young Meeks dropped his previous bandmates and began working on the group's follow-up solo (see "Days Of The New's Travis Meeks Tells Fans He's Dropping Bandmates").

Smith told MTV News that the core members of the new Days Of The New are backup singer-percussionist Nicole Scherzinger, lead guitarist Craig Wagner, and drummer Ray Rizzo. Wagner and Rizzo were previously with a Louisville-based modern rock group called the Java Men, and Scherzinger is best known for her local theater work. A bassist and a second guitarist will be added before the band tours.

The group is expected to head to Europe in September before embarking on an extensive tour of the States until the summer of 2000, although a spokesperson for the band's label says those plans are still tentative.

Sources who have heard the group's new tracks remark that they have more of a pop feel, marking a change from the hard rock found on the band's 1997 debut (which, oddly enough, was also self-titled).

Meanwhile, Meeks' former bandmates have remained together and formed C14, a group which, according to its manager, is keeping Days of the New's original hard-rock sound alive. Guitarist-vocalist Todd Whitener, drummer Matt Taul, and bassist Jesse Vest have teamed up with the Detroit singer Hugo Ferreira (formerly with the band Merge) to form the new group, whose name is the scientific abbreviation for radioactive Carbon-14. The group has already recorded 14 songs together and is scheduled to cut another five in the near future. A label deal is pending.

• Days of the New

Outpost Records has finally confirmed that Days of the New has indeed split apart as first reported by MTV News last June. (see "Days Of The New's Travis Meeks Tells Fans He's Dropping Bandmates"). The label had previously denied the reports with the hope that singer Travis Meeks would change his mind about his decision to fire bandmates guitarist Todd Whitener, drummer Matt Taul and bassist Jesse Vest. Meeks is the group's primary songwriter.

Outpost also confirms that the Meek-less trio is staying together under a new name and is looking for another singer. Meeks himself has been working on finishing up what amounts to a solo album with producer Scott Litt, to be released under the Days of the New moniker most likely in the late Spring or early summer. The album's working title has been "Days of the New 2" and sees Meeks himself providing most, but not all, of the instruments. According to a spokesperson for the label, some of the tracks were done with all or some of the original members, others feature no original members.

The record is expected to be a departure from Days Of The New's straight ahead hard rock debut. The new effort incorporates a female vocalist, symphony orchestration and world beat instruments among other oddities.

Meeks has been playing with various other musicians since cutting short a club tour last fall, which proved to be his last outing with his old band (see "Days Of The New Cancel Tour"), but who will be in the band when he's ready to tour this summer is anybody's guess.

• Days of the New

Monster Magnet, Green Day, Collective Soul, Days of the New and Third Eye Blind are among the alternative rock artists who have agreed to suit up for the soundtrack to "Varsity Blues," the upcoming film starring "Dawson Creek's" James Van Der Beek and Oscar-winner John Voight.

• Loudmouth - "Fly"
• Green Day - "Nice Guys Finish Last"
• Foo Fighters - "My Hero"
• Collective Soul - "Run"
• Fastball - "Are You Ready for the Fallout"
• Third Eye Blind - "Horror Show"
• Janus Stark - "Every Little Thing Counts"
• Van Halen - "Hot for Teacher"
• Simon Says - "Ship Jumper"
• Monster Magnet - "Kick Out the Jams"
• Black Lab - "Black Eye"
• Days of the New - "Two Faces"
• Sprung Monkey - "Thunderstruck"
• Redd Kross - "Teen Competition"
• Caroline's Spine - "Varsity Blues"

• Collective Soul
• Days of the New
• Monster Magnet

Days of the New have cancelled the remainder of their tour after singer Travis Meeks apparently "got on the bus and went home" following the band's show in Dallas last Thursday night.

• Days of the New

Travis Meeks is giving his handlers--and his Days of the New bandmates--grey hair.

According to a note on their official website posted late last month, Days of the New were going to be making an announcement last week concerning their future. That announcement never materialized. What appeared on the page instead was the note: "Hey everybody... We're one big #!@$%# happy family!!!"

The line or two that followed indicated that it was business as usual for the band, and that Days of the New were working on a new album with producer Scott Litt while on a break from touring with Metallica.

Calls to the band's label, Outpost, just prior to the posting had revealed that both the label and the band's management had been unaware of the never-made -but-promised announcement. Meeks has long been telling fans (much to the chagrin of his handlers and the rest of the group) that he plans on continuing on without the services of the other players. The label has long denied the reports, saying that, "Travis just talks."

Well, Travis is still talking. In the latest chapter, Meeks has posted a rambling message on a fan board where he apologized for "giving people the impression that Days of the New was a band " and "promoting it as a band format."

"It wasn't truly a band format," types Meeks. "É it is my fault for leading you on and setting you up to get attached to the prior members."

As far as the next album goes, he tells his followers he's been playing all the instruments himself and that only one other bandmember appears sparingly on the record, which also features an unnamed female vocalist. The CD is due out early next year.

• Days of the New