The producers of the 30th annual American Music Awards may want to expand the seven-second delay to a full 60 seconds. Organizers have announced that Ozzy, Sharon and the rest of the Osbourne clan will host the show, set to air live on ABC on January 13. ... Kelly Osbourne will celebrate the launch of her debut album, Shut Up!, with a show at New York's Irving Plaza on November 26, the night of the album's release. In a brilliant bit of synergy, the Ozzy offspring will also show a sneak preview clip of the season premiere of "The Osbournes," whose second season debuts that same night on MTV. ...

Monica and Mario will perform at the Equitable Auditorium in New York on Friday to celebrate the creation of the Department of Recorded Music at New York University. Clive Davis, an NYU alum and the J Records head who discovered both artists, made the department possible with a $5 million donation. ... UPN's "Haunted" will have a bit of punk attitude over the next two weeks. In addition to Blink-182's Mark Hoppus dropping in Tuesday night, Green Day leader Billie Joe Armstrong will pop in to play a high-rolling gambler on a mysterious winning streak during the November 12 episode. ...

The man who inspired both late Beatle John Lennon and Who guitarist Pete Townshend to play guitar, Lonnie Donegan (born Anthony Donegan), has died, according to the Associated Press. Donegan, 71, known for such songs as "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On the Bedpost Over Night)" and "Rock Island Line," introduced "skiffle" music to the U.K. in the 1950s, a mixture of jazz, folk, blues and American cowboy music that uses a combination of conventional and unconventional instruments such as kazoos, washboards and jugs. Both Lennon and Townshend started out in skiffle groups, called, respectively, the Quarrymen and the Detours. ...

Rocket From the Crypt have scrapped a planned two-week, 14-date U.S. tour in support of their album Live From Camp X-Ray that was slated to kick off on November 22 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The group is still scheduled to play a November 15 date with Sprung Monkey and the Classified in El Cajon, California, and a hometown show on December 8 at Cane's in San Diego. ... Pete Yorn recruited the Sweet Inspirations, Elvis Presley's backing group during his famed 1969 Memphis sessions, to sing on a cover of the King's "Suspicious Minds." Producer R. Walt Vincent recorded the track in his Culver City, California, studio last week for possible inclusion on Yorn's next album. ...

An anthology of songs from Rush, The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits (1974-1987) is slated for release on January 28. The 15-track album will features classics such as "Tom Sawyer," "New World Man" and "Closer to the Heart." ... Sammy Hagar recently told the Contra Costa Times that he plans to start recording a concept album about world affairs on par with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon with his all-star band, Planet Us, in January. The group, which features Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Journey guitarist Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo, has already recorded their first two songs, "Vertigo" and "Peeping Through a Hole." ...

11.01.02

Papa Roach are looking for an unknown band to play a show with them at the Rock the Rockies show on January 25 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Following an online vote to narrow the choices, Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix and a panel of music executives will choose the band to open the show at the Steamboat Ski Resort. ...

The Los Angeles all-star band Camp Freddy (Jane's Addiction/ ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro, former Cult bassist Billy Morrison, ex-Guns N' Roses/ Cult drummer Matt Sorum and singer Donovan Leitch) were joined by an impressive list of guests for their pre-Halloween show at the Ivar bar Wednesday night. Sitting in on covers of songs by David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Queen were Rolling Stone Ron Wood, ex-GN'R guitarist Slash, Puddle of Mudd singer Wes Scantlin, Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell, ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez, Macy Gray and Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti. ...

It really isn't over until it's over. The Fox network is developing a reality series for next summer tentatively called "Second Chance," which will give former pop stars a chance to perform in front of a panel of judges in an attempt to regain their idol status. "American Idol" producer Simon Fuller will, of course, be behind the show, whose launch is dependent on which fallen idols creators can get to sign up, according to a Fox spokesperson. ... Once they've wrapped dates opening for Box Car Racer and completed a string of December radio shows, the Used will hit the road again for a North American headlining tour in January. The dates are scheduled to begin with a January 3 date in Salt Lake City and are currently scheduled to run through a January 20 show in Seattle. ...

Jewel recently spent a few days writing songs with hot producer Linda Perry (Pink, Christina Aguilera, Courtney Love) that may end up on the Alaskan songstress' next album. The pair first hooked up for a cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit "Sweet Home Alabama" for the soundtrack to the Reese Witherspoon film of the same name. ...

With two Russian cosmonauts and a Belgian space tourist on board, the Soyuz rocket blasted off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday and docked with the International Space Station on Friday. Lance Bass was supposed to be on board as well, but after failing to come up with the Russian space agency's $20 million fee, he was replaced by cargo. ... Coolio embarked on his third USO tour on Friday and will visit U.S. troops stationed in the Balkans until November 10. The rapper, whose El Cool Magnifico was released October 15, will perform free shows and sign autographs for soldiers. ...

• Kelly Osbourne
• Monica
• Mario
• Green Day
• Rocket from the Crypt

Rocket From the Crypt
Photo: Chrissy Piper

The world of Rocket From the Crypt, says frontman John Reis, is full of "contradictions, lies and half-truths."

It's no surprise then that the band's new Live From Camp X-Ray is not a live album, nor, obviously, was it recorded at Camp X-Ray, the detainment facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. military holds suspected Al Qaeda members captured in Afghanistan.

And given lyrics about fear of attack (the anxious opener, "I'm Not Invisible"), air-raid sirens being the sounds of summertime ("Can You Hear It?") and violent paranoia ("Outsider"), it's tempting to assume the swaggering, seething 28-minute album is a spittle-spraying statement about post-9/11 America, but that'd only be half the truth.

Much of X-Ray's intensity, Reis said, came simply from listening to a lot of great punk rock recently — bands like the Clone Defects, the Vibrators, the Wipers and Crime. The rest was born of frustration.

"It's a bummer that our reaction [to 9/11] is to go and kill people," he said. "This vengeance attitude is wrong, but by the same token I can understand people who aren't that bright, they wanna get some kind of results.

"I wanted to take a stance," Reis said of the angry music and in-your-face album title, "and I wanted it to be a little more powerful than just, 'Oh, I don't feel good today. I feel glum because planes crashed into buildings.' "

X-Ray's themes of alienation and frustration are familiar topics for the San Diego sextet, Reis noted, "but in light of everything that's happened I think it's kind of brought it out even more."

And it's not just politics that Reis, a.k.a. "Speedo," and his bandmates — guitarist ND, bassist Petey X, drummer Ruby Mars, trumpet player JC 2000 and saxophonist Apollo 9 — vent about on their seventh studio album. On the ricocheting "Bucket of Piss" Reis sneers, "Masochist wanted/ Inquire within/ Your time's worth nothin'/ So punch the clock in/ ... No one cares about you/ So go spit in some food."

"It's a really weird thing to be singing about, [but] ... I hate bad service at restaurants. I hate the fact that people don't care about what they're doing," he said, explaining that much of the blame is on the shoulders of those who've transformed the service industry into mostly low-wage, benefit-free jobs consisting of robotic tasks.

Lamenting the ignorant masses on "Dumb Blind and Horny" — which matches a charging, Ramones-y guitar foundation with velvety backing vocals and a saxophone freak-out climax — Reis angrily describes how "Idiots in heat cruise stucco caves/ Fight for a rotten piece/ Claw their way to the bottom rung/ Just to ride in the back seat."

"Bring Us Bullets" is a surging wave of drums and guitars that tosses about tambourines, horns and a few elongated "whoaaah"s before giving way to one of the most panicked-sounding guitar solos ever laid to tape. Between sarcastically singing, "Shoop, shoop" and demanding ammunition, Reis decries the living conditions faced by the Kumeyaay Indians.

Though there are successful, casino-owning Kumeyaay in San Diego County, there are others south of the Mexican border living in huts with little electricity, no running water and no help from their rich Stateside namesakes. Rocket From the Crypt played a benefit show to buy blankets for them one winter.

"We drove the blankets down there, and the people were so excited that anyone just cared about them, much less knew about them. So people were thrilled, and we just started talking to them. We were talking about, 'Hey, the next time we come down there, is there anything you want us to bring?' And the first thing a guy said was, 'Yeah, bring bullets.' Then it got kind of quiet, and he's like, 'Oh, oh, oh ... for hunting.' "

It took the band less than a month to write and record the 10 songs on Camp X-Ray, which hit stores last week. The therapy session was captured at the group's recently finished Drag Racist studio, which allowed the band to make an LP that was "a little meaner sounding" and had "more of a bottom end" than 2001's Group Sounds (see "Rocket From The Crypt Strive For Group Sounds On New LP").

"It definitely has more of a thud to it, which was something we were really trying to achieve. We were trying to get down. That was at the forefront of our minds."

You can see Rocket From the Crypt get down on "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn" Monday night at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.

Rocket From the Crypt tour dates, according to Vagrant Records:

• 11/22 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Club
• 11/23 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero
• 11/24 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
• 11/25 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 11/26 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 11/29 - West Hollywood, CA @ Roxy Theatre
• 11/30 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
• 12/1 - Eugene, OR @ W.O.W. Hall
• 12/2 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
• 12/3 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Cafe
• 12/4 - Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan
• 12/5 - San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
• 12/7 - Pomona, CA @ Glass House
• 12/8 - San Diego, CA @ Canes

• Rocket from the Crypt

Rocket From the Crypt's <br> <i>Group Sounds</i>

SAN DIEGO — "I'm increasingly caring less and less about what other people think," Rocket From the Crypt frontman John "Speedo" Reis says.

He shifts in his booth seat, waiting for a hamburger at the 19th Hole, a greasy spoon smack in the middle of the San Diego Municipal Golf Course. Surrounded by middle-aged golfer stereotypes come to life, Reis is provided a bit of anonymity in his punk-rock band's hometown.

Anywhere else — save for the U.K., where the band took off like, well, a rocket in the mid-'90s — and he wouldn't have to worry about being recognized. But it wasn't supposed to be that way.

Rocket From the Crypt's bombastic mix of thunderous punk rock with a piercing horn section was supposed to shoot them straight to the top, but Stateside the band never graduated from college radio the way Interscope had wagered.

Without a trace of the bitterness one might expect, Reis said he no longer entertains thoughts of breaking big. "If it was gonna happen, it would've happened by now." Freed of weighty expectations and a contract the band fought to get out of, the group is ready to get back to the gritty punk rock that first inspired legions of fans to ink the band's logo on themselves.

Group Sounds, the band's sixth studio album, hits stores Tuesday on Vagrant Records. Noticeably absent on the new disc is the glitzy pop sheen that producer Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Black Crowes) put on 1998's RFTC. Instead the band chose to use the raw vibe of 1995's vinyl-only Hot Charity LP — a favorite among longtime fans — as a reference point. During one session, for example, the bandmembers played live in the studio, arranging themselves around a single mic to get the proper mix.

Rocket's recording approach, as well as the title Group Sounds, reflects a belief in the importance of the musicianship found in bands, Reis said.

"Lately, a lot of people are moving away from making music. They're kind of putting together sounds, and cutting and pasting these things, and there's this movement away from the sound of a band playing together. Records don't sound like bands, really, anymore. ... We really think this record sounds like a band playing together." As if to prove the point, the album starts out with three seconds of an isolated guitar that gets obliterated by the sonic blast of all the band's members jumping in at once on "Straight American Slave," an indictment of Americans who accept certain people only in their entertainment but not in their neighborhoods.

"Say hello to my little friend/ ... Has a face that the world adores/ But lives a life that belongs in hell," Reis sings.

"A lot of it comes from my frustration with the fact that in this country you can have a gay person on TV, but usually only if he's played by a straight person," he said. "It's like you have these people who are religiously opposed to the advancement of the human race because they're living in medieval times, but yet they ... watch TV and laugh at it and rejoice in something they're flatly opposed to. 'Ha, ha, this is funny, this is fine, because it's not real.' I think that's really sad." Another track, "Venom Venom," is built around a deep bass groove and repetitive, hypnotic lyrics. Middle Eastern-sounding flourishes showcase the band's horn section of sax player Apollo 9 (Paul O'Berine) and trumpet player JC 2000 (Jason Crane), who gradually build up to a sexy, snaky brass climax.

"A lot of people don't understand why we have horns. They say, 'How can you have horns if you're a punk band?' But to me there's no mystery to it. The first rock 'n' roll record ever recorded had horns on it," Reis said, referring to the 1951 Jackie Brenston single, "Rocket 88." "Power comes from the majesty of the horn section. I love the width it adds to the sound, the density." Like a lot of the band's music, "Venom Venom" draws on some rather uncommon influences. "There's this amazing series of compilations put out called Ethiopiques, recorded in Ethiopia from the late '60s to '74. ... It's the most primitive, raw, crude, nasty-sounding soul music ever. The music sounds more Middle Eastern than African — a lot of those Arabic scales and stuff like that, but it's infused with like a crude early James Brown kind of approach, and it's just amazing. Those records were really an inspiration for us in making that song." The band's newest member helped inspire the band during writing of another Group Sounds track. Mario Rubalcaba, a.k.a. Ruby Mars, joined the band after drummer Adam "Atom" Willard left last year. (Because Rubalcaba was a late addition to the lineup, many of the new songs were recorded with Superchunk's Jon Wurster filling in.) Former pro skateboarder Rubalcaba has been a perfect fit, Reis said, and his background as drummer for sullen Black Heart Procession helped the band craft the album's closing track, "Ghost Shark." That dreamy, ambling song is laced with tinkling piano and lyrics about a mysterious island ritual — lines that are crooned rather than shouted.

"Mario can really slow it down pretty good, and I don't think that's something we could do as well in the past," Reis said. "So we had a little bit more confidence to try something like that, whereas maybe before we would've thought it was too ambitious." The release of Group Sounds will coincide with a two-week club tour, accompanied by in-store appearances. The band — whose lineup also includes bassist Pete "Petey X" Reichert and guitarist Andy "N.D." Stamets — will follow that with an extensive North American road trip with openers the Explosion and (International) Noise Conspiracy, kicking off March 29 in Las Vegas. For a complete itinerary, visit www.rftc.com.

• Rocket from the Crypt

Rocket From The Crypt will join Creeper Lagoon, Guided By Voices, and dozen of other acts at this year's Noise Pop Festival this month in San Francisco.

• 2/23 - Jimmy Eat World, Sensefield, crumb, Gardener @ Bottom of the Hill
• 2/24 - Imperial Teen, Push Kings, Dealership, Blanket @ Bottom of the Hill
• 2/25 - 764-HERO, Red Stars Theory, The Aislers Set, Fiver @ Bottom of the Hill
• 2/26 - Creeper Lagoon, Grandaddy, Death Cab for Cutie, Rodriguez, Glasstown @ Great American Music Hall
• 2/27 - Murder City Devils, Kingdom First, Magnolia Thunderfinger, Me First @ Bottom of the Hill
• 2/27 - Trackstar, I am Spoonbender, Thingy @ Cafe du Nard
• 2/27 - Guided by Voices, Buelah, Snowmen, Lunchbox @ Bimbo's 365 Club
• 2/28 - Fastbacks, Alien Crime Syndicate, Bracket, Bitesize @ Bottom of the Hill
• 2/28 - Rocket From the Crypt, Oranger, Sixteen Deluxe, Carlos, Elevator Drops @ BIMBO'S

• Creeper Lagoon
• Guided By Voices
• Rocket from the Crypt

In one of the niftier tours making the rounds this summer, Vegas-flavored hot rod rockers Rocket From The Crypt are currently making the rounds with thinking-man's pop purveyors Creeper Lagoon, and will soon be joined by the band who told us they'd tour if only someone would give them a ride, red-blooded rockers the Donnas.

RFTC and Creeper will continue the one-two punch they launched in mid-July, and will invite the Donnas aboard for a handful of West Coast dates in August, including a show on the Donnas home turf of Palo Alto, California. (For more on the Donnas breed of straight-ahead rock, check out our MTV News Online Feature "Meet The Donnas" from May.)

If you've sampled RFTC's recent self-titled album, Creeper Lagoon's "I Become Small And Go," or the Donnas' "American Teenage Rock 'N' Roll Machine" and want to check them out live, here's where to look:

• 7/23 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Club
• 7/24 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 7/25 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
• 7/26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Graffiti Showcase
• 7/28 - Toronto, ON @ Opera House
• 7/29 - London, ON @ Call The Office
• 7/30 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's Down Under
• 7/31 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
• 8/1 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
• 8/2 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
• 8/5 - Seattle, WA @ RKCNDY
• 8/6 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
• 8/7 - Vancouver, BC @ Starfish Room
• 8/8 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Cafe
• 8/10 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore (with the Donnas)
• 8/11 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst (with the Donnas)
• 8/12 - Sacramento, CA @ Bojangles (with the Donnas)
• 8/13 - Palo Alto, CA @ Edge (with the Donnas)
• 8/14 - Pomona, CA @ Glass House
• 8/15 - San Diego, CA @ To Be Announced

• Creeper Lagoon
• The Donnas
• Rocket from the Crypt

Atomic age punks Rocket From The Crypt are currently doing something they thought they'd never do... handling the opening slot on yet another tour.

This time out, the band is opening up for the Foo Fighters, which is pretty much the only reason the band agreed to open another tour. "We did a lot of opening up for other bands with our last record, 'Scream Dracula Scream,' not last year, but the year prior, and we're just pretty burnt on that," RFTC's Speedo told our friends in the MTV Radio Network on Thursday. "It's not what we want to do."

However, Speedo said the band re-evaluated that opinion when his old acquaintances in the Foo Fighters approached the band after a show in France and asked if RFTC wanted to join the Foos on the road. Even though Rocket From The Crypt's new album, simply titled "RFTC" won't be out until June 2, the group decided to give it a go.

"When the Foo Fighters asked us, it just seemed like a cool opportunity, because there's really not that many bands of their popularity and caliber that we would even consider going on the road with," Speedo said. "If anything, it's more of a nod to them than anything else, because we deem them cool enough. No, that's a cool thing." [2MB QuickTime]

The band has at least one headlining show on the horizon. Rocket From The Crypt will play a free concert in New York's Central Park on the Fourth of July as part of the park's annual Summer Stage series.

If you want to the catch the Foo/RFTC double bill, here's where to look:

• 5/8 - Albany, NY @ TBA
• 5/9 - Henrietta, NY @ Dome Arena
• 5/11 - Portland, ME @ State Theater
• 5/12 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
• 5/13 - Providence, RI @ Lupo's
• 5/15 - Wayne, NJ @ Patterson College
• 5/17 - Richmond @ Classic Amphitheater
• 5/19 - Louisville @ The Brewery
• 5/20 - Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room
• 5/22 - Ft. Wayne, IN @ Radio Show
• 5/23 - Chicago. IL @ World Amphitheater
• 5/24 - St Louis. MO @ Riverport Amphitheater
• 5/25 - Omaha, NE @ Radio Show
• 5/27 - Jackson, MS @ Smoking Center
• 5/28 - Colorado Springs, CO @ City Auditorium
• 5/30 - Denver, CO @ Mile High Grey Hound Park

• Foo Fighters
• Rocket from the Crypt

The Foo Fighters have charted a few more dates for their upcoming tour with San Diego rockers Rocket From The Crypt.

The Foos' Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins recently got acquainted with Rocket From The Crypt during a RFTC show at New York's Irving Plaza (which also drew Led Zeppelin alums Robert Plant and Jimmy Page).

The bands will have plenty of time to bond in the near future. As we previously reported, the Foo Fighters hit the road on April 18 in Lake Tahoe (see "Foo Fighters Joining Rocket From The Crypt For Upcoming Tour").

The U.S. run will act as a warm-up of sorts before the Foos head to Europe for the one and only European date of Ozzfest '98 on June 20 outside of London (see "Ozzy Taps Limp Bizkit, Foos, Pantera, Slayer, Others For Ozzfests").

"That'll be fun," Grohl recently told our friends in the MTV Radio Network about his Ozzfest plans. "I think that's going to be cool because I like playing tons of different kinds of shows. I don't like to stick to whatever cool festival there is every year because usually we go over there and we play like the V97 festival. Well, we might do the Reading Festival this year. It's the Beastie Boys, Supergrass... I mean, that's going to be awesome." [220k Audio File]

Here's where you can catch the Foos and Rocket From The Crypt here in the States:

• 4/24 - Memphis, TN @ Mid South
• 4/25 - Houston, TX @ Woodlands
• 4/26 - San Antonio, TX @ Sunken Gardens
• 4/27 - New Orleans, LA @ House Of Blues
• 4/29 - Pensacola, FL @ Bayfront Auditorium
• 4/30 - Birmingham, AL @ Oak Mountain
• 5/2 - Atlanta, GA @ Midtown Music Festival
• 5/3 - Nashville, TN @ Rivers
• 5/4 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
• 5/6 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
• 5/7 - New York, NY @ Roseland
• 5/8 - Albany, NY @ TBA
• 5/9 - Henrietta, NY @ Dome Arena
• 5/11 - Portland, ME @ State Theater
• 5/12 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
• 5/13 - Providence, RI @ Lupo's
• 5/15 - Wayne, NJ @ Patterson College
• 5/16 - Washington, D.C. @ RFK Stadium
• 5/17 - Richmond @ Classic Amphitheater
• 5/19 - Louisville @ The Brewery
• 5/20 - Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room
• 5/22 - Ft. Wayne, IN @ Radio Show
• 5/23 - Chicago. IL @ World Amphitheater
• 5/24 - St Louis. MO @ Riverport Amphitheater
• 5/25 - Omaha, NE @ Radio Show
• 5/27 - Jackson, MS @ Smoking Center
• 5/28 - Colorado Springs, CO @ City Auditorium
• 5/30 - Denver, CO @ Mile High Grey Hound Park

• Foo Fighters
• Rocket from the Crypt

The Foo Fighters, who are back on the airwaves with their latest single "My Hero," are about to take their show on the road.

The band has announced the first few dates of a tour that will see the band return to the States and join up with Rocket From The Crypt, who are currently working on the follow-up to 1996's acclaimed "Scream, Dracula, Scream."

Before teaming with the San Diego outfit, the Foos will play this year's Boarding Against Breast Cancer benefit, set for April 18 in Lake Tahoe.

Here's where you can catch the Foos:

• 4/18 - Lake Tahoe, CA @ Tahoe Ski Area
• 4/25 - Houston, TX @ Woodlands (w/Rocket From The Crypt)
• 4/26 - San Antonio, TX @ Sunken Gardens (w/Rocket From The Crypt)
• 5/2 - Atlanta, GA @ Midtown Music Festival (w/Rocket From The Crypt)
• 5/3 - Nashville, TN @ River Stages (w/Rocket From The Crypt)

• Foo Fighters
• Rocket from the Crypt