Opiate for the Masses
Photo: Century Media

If you listen very closely to Opiate for the Masses' latest LP, Manifesto, which dropped this week, you may hear some slight snoring.

That's because the album, which is the band's first in three years, was tracked in guitarist Jim Kaufman's home studio. Kaufman is a dog lover, and his two bulldogs were a constant presence in the studio during the recording sessions.

"You can probably hear them on several of the tracks on the record, because they sleep all the time and snore, and the microphones picked that up all the time," explained Opiate's newest member, Anna Kjellberg, who has played bass for Drain STH, Hanzel und Gretyl and, for one tour back in '06, Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen's Revolting Cocks. "They're a pretty big part of the album, actually."

But the canines would never have made the record if Kjellberg had not replaced Ryan Head last year. Opiate for the Masses — who are on the road with the reunited Filter through August 8, and will join Sevendust, Drowning Pool, and Nonpoint for the GrindCo Tour on August 10 — had actually been sitting on the effort for several months before it was decided they'd update the opus, with Kjellberg rerecording all the bass parts.

"It was kind of a weird procedure to get this album together," she said of the set, which features a cover of Portishead's "Wandering Star" ("We thought it was a really cool song," she said, "and I think we did make it our own, even though it's still true to the original in many ways"). "When I joined the band, they basically had a finished album, and they all, including me, felt that we needed to update it a bit and add some songs and take others away. We basically ripped up the mixes and started over with a second producer. So we wrote three songs together that we added onto the album, and I retracked the bass on all of the songs, so, really, there were two editions of the album.

"I think the record is more solid and more uniform than the previous album," the bassist continued. "It is a lot more straightforward and more cohesive. All of the songs fit together really well. The melodies are still there. Opiate always had very melodic songs. It's still heavy, and there's still lots of guitars, but you still have the choruses and all that."

Kjellberg said she's looking forward to working on the follow-up to Manifesto so she can be there from start to finish. "I am very much a songwriter, and I love to be involved in the whole songwriting process," she said. "I'm glad I got a chance to be as involved as I turned out [being] on this record, because I came into the band at such a late stage. We actually have a studio in the back lounge of our bus. We're not jumping on it yet, but when the time comes, and the inspiration comes, we can start tracking those ideas."

For Kjellberg, the Opiate experience has been drastically different from those she'd had with her previous bands, because this time around, she's playing side-by-side with her husband of five years, drummer Seven Antonopolous.

"When Opiate decided to change bass players, it was [frontman Ron Underwood] and [Kaufman] who suggested they should bring me in," she said. "Seven and I discussed it thoroughly: Was it a good idea or not, to be married and be in the same band and be on tour together? But it's actually working out really well. He's my best friend, and we're lucky to be able to do this together. It's easier than I think we both thought it would be. We talked so much about it, because we didn't want to risk our marriage, and we didn't want to be that annoying married couple in the band. It would be a nightmare for the other guys, to have a married couple bickering at each other all the time. But we don't. It works really well."

But the couple's wedding rings do little to dissuade third parties from making their moves. "We know where we are in this relationship, and we're both very aware, of course, that there will be guys hitting on me and there will be girls who will hit on Seven," she said. "That's part of the job. As long as we don't do anything, there's no reason to get jealous that other people find my husband attractive. I can't blame them."

While Kjellberg gets her fair share of male groupies, she said they're not nearly as upfront as their female counterparts. "These girls come to a show with a purpose," she said. "They know which bandmember they want, and they go for it. They dress not-so-much and go for it, and they get it. Girls come more prepared for that. Guys are much more polite. They'll bring you gifts, flowers ... it's a different approach. They don't come up and suggest that you go to the back lounge with them — girls will. Guys send love letters, and they're more creepy about it, actually. I think that's because, for a guy, it's more intimidating to approach a girl who can play an instrument, goes out on tour, and does the things they wish they could do."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Sad news to report this week, as Paul Stitt, the former lead singer for 1990s metallers Angellic Rage, was shot to death during a liquor-store holdup in Las Vegas on July 8. Stitt was working as a clerk in the store when two men, wearing baseball caps, entered the business, guns drawn. Police believe the gun may have fired accidentally, striking Stitt in the head. Police are now reviewing surveillance footage of the murder and hope the tape will help lead them to the two gunmen. ... Opeth will be touring this fall, with High on Fire, Baroness and Nachtmystium along for the ride. That tour is set to commence September 16 in Buffalo, New York, and runs through October 26 in Baltimore. ...

Calling all Maggots! On July 18, MTV will be filming a new episode of "FNMTV," during which Slipknot's video for "Psychosocial" will make its world premiere. Interested in being part of the taping? Well, if you live in or around the L.A. area, head on over to 1Iota.com and sign up for free tickets. Make sure to enter "Slipknot" in the comments box when making your ticket request. ...

Did Lemmy Kilmister break a German law by wearing a Nazi cap? Seems there's an investigation into a picture of the Motörhead frontman that appeared in a German newspaper before the band's July 5 performance at "Wacken Rocks Seaside." In Germany, "anti-constitutional propaganda" is illegal. ... A September 30 release date has been set for Trivium's forthcoming album, Shogun. Look for the effort to feature 11 tracks, including "Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis," "Into the Mouth of Hell We March" and "Like Callisto to a Star in Heaven." Whatever. ...

Clutch will be teaming up with the Sword for a spate of gigs this fall. The first has been booked for September 19 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and the trek is expected to wrap October 9 in Sacramento, California.

• Opiate for the Masses
• Opeth
• Slipknot
• Portishead
• Filter

Death Cab for Cutie
Photo: Ben Ritter

So far, 2008 has been a rather pop- and R&B-heavy year — with the likes of Mariah Carey, Madonna and Janet Jackson all releasing new material. We're nearing the halfway point and, up until now, only two rock records have occupied the Billboard Top 200's peak position: Radiohead's In Rainbows, which started the year off on top with 122,300 copies sold, and Jack Johnson's Sleep Through the Static, which spent three weeks at #1, selling 374,600, 180,000, and 105,000, respectively.

Perhaps we need to look to Bellingham, Washington's Death Cab for Cutie to turn the tide. Thanks to the indie pop-rock outfit's new one, Narrow Stairs, we now have a third rock record dominating national album sales. The disc also becomes the band's sole offering to bow at #1, selling close to 143,600 copies during its first week in stores. Comparatively, Death Cab's previous effort, 2005's Plans, debuted at #4, generating around 90,000 week-one scans.

Overall, though, next week's chart will feature several new releases from some of rock's heaviest hitters, but on average, the SoundScan numbers don't lie: Rock doesn't sell as well as the other genres. That's not to say rock is dead. Jason Mraz's We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things makes its debut this week at #3, selling 73,000 units — following Frank Sinatra's Nothing But the Best collection at #2 with about 99,100 scans. Coming in at #12 with 28,000 sold, it's 10 Years' latest, Division. The reunited Filter's independently released Anthems for the Damned also impacts next week's chart, opening at #42 with 12,600 sold.

But one of the week's best-sellers couldn't be further from the rock aesthete. Duffy, the British singer/songwriter who has been dominating the U.K. charts, sees her Rockferry debut at #4 on the chart, with 70,900 copies snatched up. That means that the top four albums on next week's sales chart are new releases — something that hasn't happened for some time.

The rest of the top 10 is rounded out by the usual suspects and one other new release: at #10 with 36,600 sold is Keith Sweat's Just Me. Leona Lewis' Spirit climbs one spot to #5, with 62,300 scans, while Mariah Carey's E=MC² drops one spot to #6, selling another 58,600. Neil Diamond's Home Before Dark falls six chart places to #7, generating 53,400 in second-week sales, and Madonna's Hard Candy slips five spots to #8, with 53,300 sold. Toby Keith's 35 Biggest Hits follows at #9, with 40,800 scans.

The soundtrack to "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" enters next week's chart at #26, having sold 15,700 units in its first week. Following at #40, selling 13,200 copies, is Truth, the latest from R&B act Cherish. Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back in Time: The Best of 1980-1989 enters the chart at #59, with sales reported at 11,000. Foxy Brown's Brooklyn's Don Diva debuts at #83, with 8,810 sold, and just two spots down, the Old 97's' Blame It on Gravity enters at #85, with 8,780.

Southern hip-hop artist Boondox's Krimson Creek bows at #113, selling 6,200 units, and with 4,900 scans, Dokken's Lightning Strikes Again comes in at #133. Emmure's Respect Issue trails at #141, with 4,800 sold. And lastly, entering at #195 with 3,500, is Cinematic Sunrise's Coloring Storybook and Long Playing Record.

• Death Cab For Cutie
• Jason Mraz
• Duffy
• 10 Years
• Filter

Filter
Photo: MTV News

Before Tuesday's release of Anthems for the Damned, the last time we heard new music from Filter was back in 2002, with The Amalgamut, a record that touched upon some political themes and ideas, but wasn't as explicit as, say, a Rage Against the Machine LP. But that's all changed.

A lot has happened in the time since Filter first went on hiatus — affording the band's frontman, Richard Patrick, the opportunity to team up temporarily with Stone Temple Pilots' Dean and Robert DeLeo for Army of Anyone. Patrick quit smoking and drinking, opting instead to live a healthier life — not only for himself, but for his wife and 1-month-old daughter, Sloan.

Now that he's substance-free, Patrick has had more time to contemplate the current state of affairs. Living clean has also helped the singer find his voice again, which has given the band's live sets a more focused feel. Patrick admits that Anthems for the Damned is by far the most political he's ever gotten, and he hopes his sentiments will help to inspire others, he said.

"The world is a pretty crazy place, and as soon as I got healthy and realized that I was going to live for a lot longer, I just started focusing my lyrical point of view on the realities of this planet," Patrick explained. "Humans really need to remind themselves that it's just a little world in a vast ocean of space, and maybe we can create happiness and not war.

"I was [always] very inward as a person — I was a drug addict and an alcoholic, and it's all about you when you're in that situation," he continued. "As soon as I started getting healthy, I realized it's bigger than me, and my part in this world could affect other people, or at least start a conversation geared toward change. It seems rock music is the only [place where that's happening]. I'm not hearing that coming from hip-hop necessarily, and rock is the perfect format to express those ideas. My idols are John Lennon and Bono, and they have never held back. As I got older, and I'm a father now, I worry about the world we're leaving for our kids, and it's important for me to use whatever platform I have to express the simple sentiment that we need to make this place a little bit better for each other."

In case you were wondering, Patrick likes both Senators John McCain and Barack Obama in this fall's presidential election, because "a six-day-old corpse would be better than what we have now."

The video for the album's first single, "Soldiers of Misfortune," takes his political message one step further. Toward the end of the clip, it depicts an American flag engulfed in a pool of oil. "We used imagery [like that] to support our view that maybe the Iraq war wasn't about freedom and democracy, but oil and greed, and the people involved in that — the soldiers over there — they're actually the soldiers of misfortune," Patrick said. "Frank Cavanagh, Filter's former bass player, is in Iraq now, and he's found himself in this situation where he's doing what he's told, because he's a soldier — but I don't know if he necessarily agrees with why he's over there. So, the video is about that phenomenon, of being caught up in something that's bigger than you."

This latest incarnation of Filter — Patrick, guitarist Mitchell Marlow (formerly of He Is Legend), bassist John Spiker (Tenacious D) and drummer Mika Fineo (Red Skeleton) — is "absolutely the best version," Patrick said enthusiastically, and he claims they've never sounded better live. Perhaps that's because instead of finding pals he could party on the road with, Patrick sought talent.

"In Filter's past, it was like, 'Hey, let's go get drunk.' It was almost a Replacements ethic — definitely a drinking kind of crazy, rock-and-roll punk-rock ethic, where talent wasn't necessarily the [reason] of why a person was in Filter. Now talent is the main reason, and this summer, it's all about really delivering the goods."

Filter has performed some live gigs in recent months, and Patrick said that he's now able to delve deep into the band's catalog and sing the way he used to be able to do only in the studio before. "I wasn't very healthy during Title of Record's touring cycle, so I couldn't do songs like 'Skinny,' " he recalled. "It was almost out of my range because I used to be drunk and smoke cigarettes all the time. Now that I'm healthy, those notes are very attainable. There are amazing moments on stage now which I never really got in the old versions of the band, and this band is delivering that."

Patrick said he thinks longtime fans will really latch onto Anthems for the Damned, because "the quality of music is there." He said he would never have dreamed of resurrecting the band if the material he'd written for the effort didn't match the quality of his previous offerings.

"Once that standard was met, it was really about delivering it on the road," he said. "In many situations, I've painted myself into a corner by singing so high and so hard in the studio that when I bring myself out on the road, it's really tough. But now that I'm healthy, I'm hitting those notes every time."

• Filter

Filter's Richard Patrick
Photo: Andrew Pinter

The last time Filter — the epic-sounding industrial maelstrom fronted by Richard Patrick — released a new album was more than five years ago, with the band's third studio offering, 2002's The Amalgamut. After that, Patrick spent time sorting out various personal issues and later teamed up with ex-Stone Temple Pilots Dean and Robert DeLeo to form Army of Anyone. That band, now on hiatus, released its self-titled debut last year, and Patrick said he'd love to "do more records with them in the future."

But while many people may have assumed Filter were long dead and very-much buried, Patrick claims that's not the case and never has been. In fact, not once during these last five years has Patrick ever given up on Filter — instead, he's been working on songs off and on for about four years now. And he thinks the tracks he's come up with — around 25 in all — take Filter's anthemic style to a whole new level.

"I'm not straying from that classic Filter sound," Patrick told MTV News in his first interview since announcing Filter's return earlier this month. "But, because I'm a little older and a little wiser, [the sound has] definitely evolved. The first two or three songs are just straight-up industrial powerhouses, and then it goes into the huge-sounding stuff that people are kind of familiar with."

Patrick said it was playing old Filter material during live sets with Army of Anyone that convinced him that the band had to be resurrected.

"But this is not a comeback," he clarified. "Filter's my legacy. It's just like Al Jourgensen with Ministry. This is something I took very seriously, something I quit Nine Inch Nails to do, and it has allowed me so much freedom as an artist. I would never turn my back on the thing that has always been the #1 thing in my life. And the core fans that I have, they're expecting a great record. I knew I'd have to return with the goods, and I'm absolutely convinced that that's what I have with this record."

Titled Anthems for the Damned, Filter's fourth effort could be in stores as soon as late March, Patrick said. The rocker tracked the entire LP in about two weeks, with producer Josh Abraham (Slayer, Velvet Revolver) behind the boards. Patrick also called on several of his musician buddies to assist with Anthems, including ex-Limp Bizkit/ current Black Light Burns guitarist Wes Borland, and hired-gun drummer Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, NIN).

Filter's fourth opus will also feature former Marilyn Manson/ Rob Zombie guitarist John 5, who wrote two of the album's tracks with Patrick and Borland.

"I started mingling with L.A.'s people, and John was someone I've known for years," Patrick explained. "I met him through Manson, and in May, I called him and said, 'Let's do a Filter record,' and he was like, 'Absolutely.' He came over, and we worked a few songs out. With Filter, there's a formula — a structure. There's a certain amount of things you have to know, and John sort of instantly knew what I needed and wanted for the record. It's the magic of collaboration."

Patrick also revealed that Anthems for the Damned is a highly political venture.

"I'm having a look around, as a person, and I look at us humans and I just think, 'What are we going to tell people? How are we going to explain ourselves in 100 years when the planet's f---ed up and you can't repair it?' " said Patrick, who added that he and his wife are expecting their first child, a daughter, in February. "Every song is just so anthemic; it just has this hugeness to it, that I was just like, 'These are anthems for the damned.'

"We are guilty — all of us — between the war in Iraq and the environment," he continued. "We're damned, if we don't fix this. With this record, I'm just throwing my hands up in the air, going, 'I guess we're just going to f--- this sh-- up, and ruin the planet.' It's a little less optimistic and more inspired by frustration and anger toward what we're doing. It comes from a way darker place, and it's heavy — the first three songs are really heavy, and I'm proud of that. I miss that in music. I don't want to pigeonhole myself, but it's almost like a heavy U2 record."

• Filter

Army Of Anyone
Photo: The Firm Music

Filter frontman Richard Patrick's life has changed considerably within the last four years. He's sober — and has been ever since September 28, 2002, when he checked himself into rehab for alcohol addiction. He's married, having tied the knot with longtime girlfriend Tina Johnson back on October 29. He's moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. He's signed to a new label, and his new band, Army of Anyone, will release its self-titled debut this week. And soon he'll be singing Stone Temple Pilots covers on the road.

For Patrick, change has been a good thing, and the singer says he's looking forward to leaving his past behind so that he can focus on his future with some clarity — something he has been unable to do for years.

"When I checked myself into rehab, I didn't know how much my life was going to change, and every single day I'm surprised," he explained. "I don't really remember my 20s. I remember doing some arena gigs, and I remember screaming a lot. Some platinum records showed up on the wall and it was nice. But everything is new for me now, so I don't have any standard."

Army of Anyone — a band that also features drummer Ray Luzier, formerly of David Lee Roth's band, and a pair of ex-Stone Temple Pilots, guitarist Dean DeLeo and bassist Robert DeLeo — represents, in many ways, a slate that has been wiped clean for Patrick (see "Army Of Anyone Want To Be Judged By Their Fifth Album, Not Their Debut"). And even though both Filter and Stone Temple Pilots — at their respective heights — were selling out arenas, he said that when his band hits the road this weekend for its first headlining run of small clubs, there won't be a major adjustment period for him. He barely remembers the times Filter played stadium shows.

"This is now the experiment, the new way that I live my life, and on every single level it's always different than I'd imagine it," he said. "Everything we do is like a new thing for us, so it's totally fresh every time you open your eyes. These club shows are going to be f---ing amazing. Filter had played some amazing shows in clubs, and everybody wants to play stadiums at some point in their lives. But we're just happy to be showing up to radio stations at 6:30 in the morning and setting up an acoustic drum kit and some acoustic guitars and screaming into their mics."

Of course, Patrick wasn't planning on starting a new band when he first met with the DeLeos to collaborate on a track for Filter's fourth album. It just sort of ended up that way (see "The Newest Supergroup: STP's DeLeo Brothers Join Filter Singer In Army Of Anyone").

"I was told Robert and Dean wanted to work with me on the record, and we were going to write a song together," called "A Better Place," which appears on Army of Anyone. "They came over, and the next thing I know, I'm in a new band. I interrupted the fourth Filter record to do this. I did not need this. Starting this band pissed off some people at my former label. But I had to make a record with these guys. That's how powerful it was."

Patrick wouldn't state one way or another whether Filter's fourth would ever surface. "[Army of Anyone] is my priority, but at the same time, I certainly wouldn't want to call something gone or dead or over," he said. Still, he says he doesn't regret his decision to put Filter on hold for Army of Anyone. And while there are some rock and roll all-star projects that come across as just an obvious unification of two distinct bands, he feels Army have a sound of their own.

"The key is to keep it fresh, to keep it new," he said. "There are one or two moments where it sounds like Richard Patrick screaming over Stone Temple Pilots, and I love those moments. 'Generation' is a song, to me, that really sounds like the perfect identifiable blend between Filter and STP. There was a very conscious effort on our part to strive for a new sound, and I think we found it."

Because working together was so effortless, Patrick said he anticipates the band's second album might not be that far away.

"We're the kind of guys that live one day at a time," he said. "It's really important that you keep churning out great music. I think it would be in our best interest to constantly come up with great music and [be] releasing great music. This is the band to do that. [The DeLeos] have 50 songs each, just in their brains, and then they have 100 more on micro-cassettes that they've kept the last 10 years. So there's no shortage of material."

The band, which will perform on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" on November 20, will kick off its inaugural headlining tour November 18 in Philadelphia. The trek will makes stops in 19 cities — including Boston, Atlanta and Miami — before wrapping up December 19 in Cleveland. Patrick said Army of Anyone will perform Stone Temple Pilots and Filter material on the tour, such as STP's "Interstate Love Song" and Filter's "Take a Picture" and "Welcome to the Fold." He also said the band plans to release a DVD, with footage captured in the studio during the recording of the album, in the coming year.

• Army Of Anyone Are Ready For Battle

• Army Of Anyone
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Filter

Army of Anyone
Photo: EMI

LOS ANGELES — With their first single, first album and first tour right around the corner, what are Army of Anyone most looking forward to?

"The fifth record," answered Dean DeLeo, the former Stone Temple Pilots guitarist who formed the band with his brother/ STP bassist Robert, Filter singer Richard Patrick and drummer Ray Luzier.

"With two different entities getting together and doing something, there are always opinions about that," Robert DeLeo interjected. "But it's going back to what I originally said on the first STP record, when there was a lot of criticism on that. It was, 'Wait till our fifth record and then say what you're going to say.' And I think [that idea] applies to this [project] as well. It's our first record, our first attempt at getting something together. And like Dean said, our fifth record, that's what we're really looking forward to."

That's not to say Army of Anyone aren't enthusiastic about their self-titled debut, especially since they've been talking about it for nearly a year (see "The Newest Supergroup: STP's DeLeo Brothers Join Filter Singer In Army Of Anyone").

Now the band finally has a release date (November 14) and single ("Goodbye"), which happens to be the last track the band wrote together — penned in "five minutes," according to Dean.

"It's a song about loss and dealing with the ending of things, you know, how everybody has to go through that at some point in their life," Patrick said of the aggressive tune. "I've lost a lot of friends lately. I don't know what's going on. And there's a full range of emotions that go behind it, like grief and then just anger, and then you feel sad and just kind of dealing with that."

For the video, Army of Anyone enlisted director Scott Speer, a 24-year-old newcomer whose credits include Switchfoot's "Stars" and Teddy Geiger's "For You I Will (Confidence)."

"When he walked into the meeting, I thought, 'Great, someone's junior manager is in here. When's the director get here?' " Patrick joked on the set. "And then he goes, 'I am the director.' But he's got a vision and he's talented and he knows his way around the camera."

From many, many angles, Speer filmed Army of Anyone performing in front of a backlit white wall emblazoned with their circular logo.

"This is actually not the video shoot; this is the eye test we're giving today," Robert joked on the set, pointing to their logo. "I was really hoping that our first time onstage together wasn't faking it, but that's what we're kind of doing today."

Still, even lip-synching and playing unplugged guitars can be a challenge when it's been five years or so since your last video shoot. And it took a few takes for Army of Anyone to warm up. "Eventually you're like, 'Oh yeah, I have cameras and people and a microphone. OK, it all makes sense,' " Patrick said.

Army of Anyone blame the delay of their debut, originally scheduled for early 2006, on family events (children, weddings, etc.) as well as their decision to replace the original mixes of the recordings with ones by engineer Ken Andrews (Pete Yorn).

"He has a little ProTools rig set up in his backyard, and we just went in there and did it that way, getting out of these big, huge ridiculous studios and going in and just doing it on the computer," Patrick said. "It's pretty bold that we did that for our debut album, and if the technology wasn't absolutely right, we wouldn't do it. But it was really wonderful working like that."

The album will be the first release from Firm Music. The label is a new division of Army of Anyone's management company, the Firm, the powerhouse behind Kelly Clarkson, Snoop Dogg and Korn. And the record deal, which gives the band far more royalties than a typical record label would, could vastly change the music industry. (Mandy Moore has already signed a similar deal.)

"The CD industry is fighting and struggling, but the music business is kickin' ass," Patrick explained. "And the thing is, when there's this struggle of trying to maintain bottom lines and all the things that [labels are] trying to do, things get a little crazy. So we just said, 'Why not just have the managers go right to distribution and just put out the record that way,' because the managers are in charge of everything and they make money off of everything. It's easier and it's not so chaotic."

"Our biggest proponent is now our label," Dean added. "And that's a good place to be, man. The other side's been good to us and, you know, we've climbed that ladder. But I'm not so willing to climb ladders anymore."

• Filter
• Stone Temple Pilots

Army of Anyone
Photo: MTV News

LOS ANGELES — "We should probably just let down the cover now," former Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo deadpanned during a break from recording at Swing House Studios earlier this week. "Thursday nights we get together at my place, we have a little card game, and I actually won Filter in a card game. So Rich really had no other option than to do this with us."

This is Army of Anyone, rock's latest supergroup, featuring Filter's Richard Patrick on vocals, Dean and his bassist brother Robert DeLeo and Ray Luzier, from David Lee Roth's band, on drums. And while the band might not have come together exactly as Dean says, it is sort of true that Patrick had no choice.

"The first musical experience we had," Patrick recalled, "they came over to the little studio in my guest house and it was like Siamese twins — they had guitars growing out of 'em. Literally moments later, [Dean] was like, 'Yeah, I think I wrote something on the way over here,' and boom, it was like the most beautiful music I'd ever heard. Within moments, we'd written this gorgeous song and we looked at each other and it was just like, 'Yeah, this is where it's at, right here. This is what we want to do.' "

The song, titled "A Better Place" and set to be released on the band's debut album (which is slated to come out on Columbia in early 2006), kick-started a jam session that lasted some 12 hours.

"We called it the 'Around the World Jam,' 'cause we went to Mexico, we went to Brazil, we went to Pittsburgh, a little polka, a little bossa nova, a little rock and roll, a little punk — we just blended it all in," Robert DeLeo recalled. "Just to be able to do that, to play together with someone and be able to establish that, is a thing on its own."

The musicians, who knew each other from touring with their previous bands, also jelled on a personal level.

"We all knew what we wanted and where we were in our lives separately, and to me that was the first step in getting together and actually calling this a band, which is a big commitment," Robert explained. "It's one thing writing music together and going through those motions, but actually committing to being a band is a huge thing."

Especially when neither Filter nor Stone Temple Pilots ever officially broke up. In fact, since 2002's The Amalgamut, Patrick has been working on and off on the follow-up, although he clearly stated, "This band is my priority right now" as he sat with his Army of Anyone bandmates.

As for STP, "Personally, I wrapped things up with my past a while ago and I don't know whether this signals the end, but it definitely signals a beginning," Robert said. "And I think we're all here because of that beginning."

And for Patrick, Army of Anyone marks not just the beginning of a new band, but a new life: He's making music totally clean.

"I can't believe how I survived on the planet for so long, the way I was living my life before — before this day, actually," he said pointing to a tattoo on his arm with the date he went sober, September 28, 2002. "It's been the most exciting thing in my life. I'm so glad I really have a second chance, and I'm going to take full advantage of it."

Patrick also quit smoking and believes it's done wonders for his voice. And then there's the songwriting.

"Your brain turns on when you get sober, so there's songs that are really personal, there's songs that are political ... I'm really, really proud of these lyrics," he said. "Lyrics were always the thing that I did at the end of the song, but now I really focus and make them perfect."

Army of Anyone, a name Patrick said comes from "the naive hippie thing" of wishing the world was all on the same team, are recording their as-yet-untitled debut with Bob Ezrin, the mastermind behind Pink Floyd's The Wall and Alice Cooper's early hits. The music sounds just like a fan of Filter and STP would want it, with Patrick's soaring vocals elegantly balanced with the instantly recognizable DeLeo riffs.

"I know it seems kind of like the trend to do the supergroup kinda thing," Patrick said, referring to Audioslave and Velvet Revolver. "But for us it's just the natural progression of where we want to go with our lives. And it's about chemistry."

Dean then explained that trend.

"How do you come from Guns N' Roses or Rage Against the Machine and find somebody to fill those shoes, with musicians that are that seasoned?" he asked. "You get Scott [Weiland], you get Chris [Cornell], you get Rich. Everybody kinda has to come into it at the same level where everybody else is. And we fortunately have the luxury of doing that with one another."

• Filter
• Stone Temple Pilots

Wes Borland
Photo: MTV News

Keep it on the down low. That's how they do it in the underworld, and that's how they did it on the "Underworld" soundtrack.

For the past six months, Danny Lohner — a producer, multi-instrumentalist and member of Nine Inch Nails — has been quietly bringing together artists like David Bowie, ex-Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland, Filter mastermind Richard Patrick, A Perfect Circle members Josh Freese and Maynard James Keenan, and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante.

"We were basically trying to put together the most crazy combination of people who had anything to do with really cool, darker rock," Borland said.

The guitarist appears on the soundtrack as part of Damning Well, a supergroup of sorts that also includes Lohner, Freese and Patrick — whom Borland had earlier hooked up with to record a song intended for either the soundtrack of "The Matrix Reloaded" or "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life." That song never surfaced, but the Damning Well's "Awakening" is one of 19 tracks on the soundtrack to "Underworld," a vampires-meet-werewolves flick starring Kate Beckinsale (see "Kate Beckinsale's Next Film Mixes Vampires, 'Matrix,' Leather Pants").

Consider the pedigree of Damning Well — a past that includes work with everyone from Bizkit, NIN and the Vandals to Evanescence, Avril Lavigne and Mondo Generator — and you've got one of the most intriguing combinations since Travis Barker and Tim Armstrong teamed up for the Transplants.

The same holds true for the bulk of the "Underworld" soundtrack, due September 2. "Bring Me the Disco King (Loner Mix)" pits Bowie with Frusciante, Tool/APC's Keenan, singer Lisa Germano and actress Milla Jovovich. "Pucifer" is a Keenan/Lohner joint, while the "remix" of APC's "Weak and Powerless" is more a revision that retains Keenan's vocals but adds new music by Borland, Lohner and Freese. New tracks by Skinny Puppy, Helmet's Page Hamilton and Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano also appear.

"It's just a bunch of unusual things that you don't get to hear very often," Borland said. "It's like Lollapalooza '92," a reference to the lineup that paired the Chili Peppers and Ministry with Ice Cube and Pearl Jam.

Borland said the soundtrack's production was more fun and relaxed than most albums because much of it was recorded in the artists' home studios, without the intrusion of handlers and record-label execs. Works-in-progress CDs and Zip disks were taken from house to house and augmented at each stop. When someone couldn't track their parts locally, as was the case with Bowie, they e-mailed their files to Lohner. It all made for an experience that was closer to a group science project than a compilation album.

"We all kept parking behind each other," Borland laughed. "All these cars crammed into this little driveway. It was just a trip going through that every night. Everyone was helping each other out, too. Like, 'John needs you to run an errand real quick' or 'You're blocking Milla's car in, you gotta move.' It was great having no bullsh-- around. Just a bunch of people getting to know each other and hanging out. And listening to what one person was doing and going, 'Oh, I can add to that' or 'Why don't you do this?' "

The home-studio, DIY approach also explains how the project was kept under wraps for so long. It's rare that a member of a multiplatinum band can moonlight with another project without anyone reporting on it, but it actually happened when Amy Lee took the mic. The Evanescence singer was set to appear on two songs, though her contributions had to be scrapped because of record-label red tape.

"The whole thing was kept very private," Borland explained, "and not even intentionally. When we've spoken casually about it, they're like, 'Oh, I haven't heard anything about that. Weird that there's been no gossip about it.' Until now."

"Underworld" soundtrack track list, according to Lakeshore Records:

• The Damning Well - "Awakening"
• Puscifer f/ Maynard James Keenan, Danny Lohner - "REV 22:20"
• Page Hamilton - "Throwing Punches"
• Milla - "Rocket Collecting"
• Renholder - "Now I Know"
• David Bowie f/ Maynard James Keenan, John Frusciante - "Bring Me the Disco King (Loner Mix)"
• Skinny Puppy - "Optimissed"
• Renholder - "Down in the Lab"
• A Perfect Circle - "Judith (Renholder Mix)"
• Johnette Napolitano - "Suicide Note"
• Dillinger Escape Plan - "Baby's First Coffin"
• Trust Company - "Hover (Quiet Mix)"
• Renholder - "Falling Through the Sky"
• A Perfect Circle - "Weak and Powerless (Tilling My Grave Mix)"
• Finch - "Worms of the Earth"
• Lisa Germano - "From a Shell"
• Renholder - "Death Dealer's Descent"
• The Icarus Line - "On the Lash"
• Sarah Bettens - "All of This Pass"

• Nine Inch Nails
• David Bowie
• Filter
• A Perfect Circle
• Red Hot Chili Peppers

Bruce Springsteen
Photo: Danny Clinch

Bruce Springsteen is reliving his glory days.

The New Jersey rock legend and his E Street Band will debut at #1 on next week's Billboard 200 with The Rising, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (August 7). In the past few weeks, Springsteen, who will perform at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, has been paying the cost to be the Boss with a media frenzy, including a live performance on "The Today Show."

The Boss' reunion opus with his musical compatriots sold over 525,000 copies in its first week to take the top position. Springsteen's numbers far surpass his closest competitors, Linkin Park, whose remix album, Reanimation, sold 270,000 copies since its release on July 30 to debut in the #2 seat next week.

While rock will rule on next week's chart, hip-hop will continue to flourish. With "Hot in Herre" showing no signs of cooling down and popularity of "Dilemma" growing each day, Nelly's Nellyville sold 244,000 copies to maintain its #3 position for the second week in a row. The Eminem Show continued to roll on the road to 5 million and will hold fast to its #5 slot. Eminem, who just released "Cleaning out My Closet" as the second single from his Show, saw just a minor sales drop-off: He sold 176,000 copies compared to 193,000 the previous week.

Sandwiched between the MCs with the million-dollar tongues will be Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 10, featuring a hodgepodge of hits from acts such as Britney Spears, Ja Rule, Jennifer Lopez and Aaliyah. The compilation will drop two places to #4 with 180,000 albums sold.

"Angry American" Toby Keith will spend his second week on the charts underneath Eminem. The country artist, who debuted at #1 this week, will take the most significant plunge of all the artists still in the top 10 (Lil' Wayne, Mario and Boyz II Men will all drop out); he'll come in at #6 with almost 174,000 records sold, compared to 338,000 the previous week.

With Let Go selling just shy of 112,000 last week, Avril Lavigne actually sees an increase in sales while dropping one spot on the albums chart to #8. Fellow spunky siren Amerie will debut at #9 with All I Have. Amerie's sales (89,000) reflect how she keeps it short and sweet: She was featured on the recent Usher Evolution Tour during Nas' set and raked in less than 10 minutes stage time, while her single, "Why Don't We Fall in Love," clocks in at less than three minutes. The Red Hot Chili Peppers will drop two spots to round out the top 10 after selling 76,000 more of their latest, By the Way.

Def Leppard's 10th studio album, X, won't crack the top 10, having sold just over 71,000 copies to land at #11. Filter's The Amalgamut will start off at #32 after selling 32,000 copies, and Beth Orton's Daybreaker moved over 28,000 records to come in at #40. Darius Rucker's platinum-selling days as part of Hootie & the Blowfish are seemingly long behind him, as his long-talked-about solo debut, Back to Then, will make its Billboard bow at #127 after selling 9,300 units in its first week.

Other notable debuts next week will be Dr. Dre protégé Knoc-Turn'Al, whose EP L.A. Confidential Presents Knoc-turn'Al will chart at #74 (16,000 sold), and Reggae Gold 2002, a compilation of dancehall hits such as Tanto Metro & Devonte's "Give It to Her" and Sean Paul's "Gimme the Light," which will come in at #184 (6,100 sold).

• Bruce Springsteen
• Linkin Park
• Amerie
• Filter
• Def Leppard

This week Bruce Springsteen, the E Street Band, and their new album, The Rising, are poised to deliver a musical response to September 11, starting with, of course, the band's version of "My City of Ruins," which Springsteen played at the "America: A Tribute to Heroes" telethon last year.

Following in the Boss' wake are a bunch of less somber, more indulgent releases, starting with Linkin Park's Reanimation, yet another addition to the seemingly never-ending list of artists who won't stop tinkering with their own, previously released material. While the group prefers to call it a "reimagination" of songs from Hybrid Theory, it's a remix album.

Next up is wrestler Chris Jericho's metal outfit Fozzy, complete with alter egos (more to stroke!) and a mock backstory of how the group came to be. Their second album, Happenstance, finds Moongoose McQueen and gang a bit more serious about their own music, though they still rock out with classic covers like Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules."

The third exercise in vanity is obvious just by scanning the list below, where you'll find it nearly impossible to ignore one particular band who, following in Pearl Jam's footsteps, decided to simultaneously release 19 live albums — one for each of its shows from its most recent tour.

More traditional releases this week come from newcomers Amerie and Lamya who both issue their debut albums, All I Have and Learning From Falling, respectively, in addition to the soundtrack to the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Top Dog/Underdog," which features tracks from both of the show's stars, Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright, plus contributions from DMX, Jay-Z and the Wu-Tang Clan.

Also look for new music from Filter The Amalgamut and X, the first release from Def Leppard since 1999's Euphoria. Feels good just thinking about it.

Out Tuesday, July 30:

• The American Foxes - Cotton Candy (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
• Amerie - All I Have (Columbia)
   Read: "Amerie Makes 'Em 'Fall In Love' With Debut Single, Nas Track"
• Brazil All-Stars - Rio Strut (Milestone)
• Cattle Decapitation - To Serve Man (Metal Blade)
• Datcyde - Positive Climb: The Mixed CD (D&D)
• Deep Forest - Music Detected (Sony/Red Ink)
• Def Leppard - X (Island)
• Disco Biscuits - Bisco Lives II (Hydrophonic)
• DJ Bam Bam - Do You Like it Hard? 100% Pure Hardhouse (Topaz/ Warlock)
• DJ Venom - Raise the Volume (Surge)
• The Enemies - Seize the Day (Lookout!)
• Fear Factory - Concrete (Roadrunner)
• Filter - The Amalgamut (Reprise)
• The Flipsides - Clever One (Pink & Black)
• Diana Fox - Running on Empty (Prisoners of Dance)
• Fozzy - Happenstance (Megaforce)
   Read: "WWE's Chris Jericho Explains Fozzy's Metal Legacy"
• Halo Friendlies - Get Real (Tooth & Nail)
• Knoc-Turn'Al - L.A. Confidential Presents (Elektra)
   Read: Knoc-Turn'Al Album Won't See Light Of Day Yet"
• Lamya - Learning From Falling (J)
   Read: "You Hear It First: Lamya"
• Linkin Park - Reanimation (Warner Bros.)
   Read: "2Na But No Neptunes On Linkin Park Remix LP — Here's Why"
   Buy Now: Reanimation (Warner Bros.)
  
• Michael Manson - The Bottom Line (A440)
• Kathy Mattea - Roses (Narada)
• Maysa - Out of the Blue (N-Coded)
• Mountain - Mystic Fire (Lightyear Records)
• Graham Nash - Songs for Survivors (Artemis)
• The Natural History - The Natural History (Star Time)
• Beth Orton - Daybreaker (Heavenly/ Astralwerks)
   Read:
• Greg Osby - Inner Circle (Blue Note/ Metro Blue)
• Pina Kollars - Quick Look (Real World)
• Dave Pirner - Faces and Names (Ultimatum Music)
• Plankeye - Wings to Fly (BEC/Tooth & Nail)
• David Poe - The Late Album (Epic)
• Willy Porter - Willy Porter (Six Degrees)
• Question - Vital Energy (Lightyear Records)
• Darius Rucker - Back to Then (Epic)
• Kevin Salem - Ecstatic (Future Farmer Records)
• Karen Clark Sheard - 2nd Chance (Elektra)
• James Alan Shelton - Song for Greta (Rebel)
• Shimmer Kids Underpop Association - The Natural Riot (Hidden Agenda)
• Sinch - Sinch (Roadrunner)
• Snot - Alive (Hip-O)
• Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - The Rising (Columbia)
   Read: "Springsteen, E Street Band On The Rise After 18 Years"
   Buy Now: The Rising (Columbia)
  
• Stepa - Stepa (Locomotive)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Ann Arbor, MI April 14, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Atlanta, GA April 20, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Atlanta, GA April 21, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Austin, TX April 4, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Austin, TX April 5, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Austin, TX April 6, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Birmingham, AL April 19, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Chicago, IL April 12, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Chicago, IL April 13, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Columbus, OH April 16, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Dallas, TX April 8, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Louisville, KY April 17, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Nashville, TN April 18, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: New Orleans, LA April 27, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: New Orleans, LA April 28, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Omaha, NE April 10, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Orlando, FL April 24, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Pompano Beach, FL April 23, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• The String Cheese Incident - On the Road: Tulsa, OK April 9, 2002 (Sci-Fidelity)
• Linda Thompson - Fashionably Late (Rounder)
• Tierra - Sangre de Reyes (Locomotive)
• Ralph White - Trash Fish (Terminus)
• The Wildwood Valley Boys - Back Country Road (Rebel)
• Various artists - Brazil 5000 (Shadow)
• Various artists - Cabana Beach Club Vol. 2 (Streetbeat)
• Various artists - Nationwide R.A.N.: United We Stand (Realizme Ent.)
• Various artists - Rhythm + Grooves: Groove Is in the Heart (Time Life)
• Various artists - "Signs" soundtrack (Hollywood)
• Various artists – "Top Dog/Underdog" soundtrack (MCA)
   Read: "Jay-Z, DMX, Wu-Tang, Mos Def Bone Up 'Topdog/Underdog' LP"
• Various artists - The Very Best of This Is Acid Jazz (Instinct)
• Yes - In a Word: Yes (5 CDs, Rhino)

• Eve - Eve-olution (Ruff Ryders/ Interscope)
   Read: "Eve, Alicia Keys Team Up For Some 'Gangsta Love' "
   Buy Now: Eve-olution (Ruff Ryders/ Interscope)
  
• Trick Daddy - Thug Holiday (Slip-N-Slide/ Atlantic)
   Read: "Trick Daddy Celebrating Thug Holiday In August"
   Buy Now: Thug Holiday (Slip-N-Slide/ Atlantic)
  
• Various artists - Mali Music (Honest Jon's/ Astralwerks)
• Various artists - "XXX" soundtrack (2CDs, Universal)

• Brad - Welcome to Discovery Park (Redline)
• Slum Village - Trinity: Past, Present and Future (Priority/ Capitol)
• Keith Sweat - Rebirth (Elektra)

• Lady May - May Day (Arista)
   Read: "Lady May: Savage Hip-Hop Straight From the Suburbs"
• Maná - Revolución De Amor (Warner Music Intl.)
• Murderdolls - Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls (Roadrunner)
   Read: "Corey Taylor Insists His Other Band Is No Slipknot Jr."
• Orbital - Work 89-02 (FFRR/ WSM)

• Erykah Badu - TBD (EP, Motown)
• Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash - Distance Between (Ultimatum)
• BBMak - Into Your Head (Hollywood)
• Beenie Man - Tropical Storm (Virgin)
• The Black Crowes - The Black Crowes Live (V2)
• Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (Nettwerk/ Capitol)
• The Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony Is a Dead Scene (EP, Epitaph)
• Dixie Chicks - Home (Open Wide/ Monument/ Columbia)
• Gus Gus - Attention (Moonshine)
• Aimee Mann - Lost in Space (Superego)
• Mudhoney - Since We've Become Translucent (Sub Pop)
• Ms. Jade - Girl Interrupted (Beat Club/ Interscope)
   Read: "Ms. Jade's 'Big Head' Is Meant To Move Your Big Butt"
• Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)  Read: "Queens Of The Stone Age Flex Their Star Power"
• Silverchair - Diorama (Atlantic)
   Read: "Silverchair Craft U.S. Diorama, Plan New York Dates"
• Stone Sour - Stone Sour (Roadrunner)
   Read: "Corey Taylor Insists His Other Band Is No Slipknot Jr."
• Trina - Diamond Princess (Slip-N-Slide/ Atlantic)
   Read: "Diamond Princess Trina Recruits Tweet For 'No Panties' Single"
• Viva Death - Viva Death (Vagrant)

• Christina Aguilera - TBD (RCA)
• Cassius - Au Rêve (Astralwerks)
• Ladytron - Light & Magic (Emperor Norton)
• Nine Days - So Happily Unsatisfied (Epic)
• OK Go - OK Go (Capitol)
• Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance (Century Media)
   Read: "You Hear It First: Shadows Fall"

• Linkin Park
• Bruce Springsteen
• Amerie
• Filter
• Fozzy

• Filter