Staind

Staind, Shinedown Unveil Their Own Summer Tour Stimulus Package

8 May 2009 03:42:00 EDT

Hard rockers' Stimulate This! tour, featuring bargain-price tickets, kicks off July1.
By James Montgomery

Staind's Aaron Lewis
Photo: Jakubaszek/Getty Images

Times are tough. Staind and Shinedown realize this, which is why they've created their very own stimulus package.

On Friday (May 8), the hard rockers announced plans for the Stimulate This! tour, a four-band bill that will be bargain priced for concertgoers feeling the pinch during the current economic downturn.

Kicking off July 1 in Peoria, Illinois, the trek also features Chevelle and Halestorm, and will make stops in more than 40 U.S. markets, including some hardest hit by the recession. Tickets will cost less than $40 — with some venues offering lawn seats for less that $10 — and each stop will also feature additional promotions, like discounts on concessions, deals at local retailers and online rebates for band merchandise.

"Wall Street got its bailout; now it's time for rock fans to get theirs," Staind frontman Aaron Lewis said in a statement. "This summer, we want to give our fans one night where they can forget about everything else and experience a great rock show."

"It's our job ... our privilege to offer our fans an escape," Shinedown's Brent Smith added. "Teaming up with these other great bands, we're doing what we can to help lift everyone's spirits in these tough times ... the power of music can do that."

For more information on the Stimulate This! tour, check out Staind's official Web site. Dates for the Stimulate This! Tour, according to Atlantic Records:

» 7/1 - Peoria, IL @ Peoria Civic Center
» 7/2 - St. Paul, MN @ Harriet Island
» 7/4 - Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
» 7/7 - Roanoke, VA @ Roanoke Convention Center
» 7/9 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
» 7/10 - Gilford, NH @ Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavilion
» 7/12 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
» 7/14 - Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion
» 7/16 - Wallingford, CT @ Chevrolet Theatre
» 7/17 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Park Convention Hall
» 7/21 - Pikeville, KY @ Eastern Kentucky Expo Center
» 7/22 - Corbin, KY @ Southeastern KY Agricultural & Expo
» 7/24 - Evansville, IN @ Roberts Stadium
» 7/25 - Dubuque, IA @ Dubuque County Fair
» 7/26 - Brookings, SD @ Swiftel Center
» 7/28 - Rapid City, SD @ Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena
» 7/29 - Billings, MT @ MetraPark Arena
» 7/31 - Rochester, MN @ Mayo Civic Center
» 8/10 - Ridgefield, WA @ The Amphitheatre at Clark County
» 8/13 - Denver, CO @ The Fillmore Auditorium
» 8/14 - Rio Rancho, NM @ Santa Ana Star Center
» 8/15 - Lubbock, TX @ Lonestar Amphitheater
» 8/18 - Laredo, TX @ Laredo Entertainment Center
» 8/28 - Toledo, OH @ Toledo Zoo Amphitheatre
» 8/30 - Philadelphia, PA @ Festival Pier at Penn's Landing

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Staind

Jonas Brothers Deny Staind A Fourth Straight Chart-Topping Debut

27 Aug 2008 01:41:00 EDT

Ice Cube, Shwayze enter Billboard chart in top 10.
By Chris Harris

The Jonas Brothers' A Little Bit Longer
Photo: Hollywood

Staind's Aaron Lewis and Mike Mushok called it last week. They knew that their latest LP, The Illusion of Progress, wouldn't be opening at #1 on next week's Billboard albums sales chart, thanks to three lads from Wyckoff, New Jersey.

The potential was there to make it four straight #1 openers, following the chart-topping success of 2001's Break the Cycle (which debuted with 716,000 sold), 2003's 14 Shades of Grey (221,000) and 2005's Chapter V (184,000). But the Jonas Brothers — whom Lewis called "Hanson 2008" — are just too imposing a force at the moment. Despite a 72 percent plunge in retail interest, the Jonases still managed to outsell the Massachusetts rockers, scanning another 146,700 copies of their latest, A Little Bit Longer, which holds for a second-straight week at #1.

Unfortunately for Staind, The Illusion of Progress clocked in at around 91,800 units, which is not only the band's poorest-performing debut, but wasn't even enough to earn them the chart's #2 slot. Instead, Staind's latest opens at #3, behind Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus, which sits at #2 with 100,900 sold, according to the latest sales figures released by Nielsen SoundScan.

Otherwise, it's a strong week for new releases, with 31 others bowing on next week's top 200. Following the "Mamma Mia!" soundtrack, which falls two spots to #4 with 87,500 sold, is Ice Cube's latest, Raw Footage, which scanned 69,800 units during its first week in stores. Only one other new release cracks the chart's top 10, and that honor belongs to Shwayze, whose self-titled debut sold 46,600 copies to enter the chart at #10.

The soundtrack to "Cheetah Girls: One World" enters next week's chart at #13 with sales reported at 34,300, while the Academy Is... bows at #17 with their latest, Fast Times at Barrington High, selling 22,500 units. Black Stone Cherry's Folklore and Superstition enters at #28 with 13,600 scans, and Family Force 5's Dance or Die follows just two spots down at #30 with week-one sales of 13,000.

Wu-Tang Clan constituent GZA's Pro Tools opens at #52, having sold 9,000 copies, with Karina's First Love following closely at #57, with sales of 8,900. The Toadies return at #59 with No Deliverance, which scanned 8,600, while Gaslight Anthem's 59 Sound enters the chart at #70 with 7,400 sold. The Walkmen's You & Me follows at #71, selling 7,300 copies, and Amy Macdonald's This Is the Life opens at #92 with 6,000 scans.

Debuting at #98 with 5,800 sold, it's Donavon Frankenreiter's Pass It Around, while the Acacia Strain's Continent enters at #107, with 5,500-plus copies snatched up. Ra Ra Riot's Rhumb Line bows at #109, selling just under 5,500 copies, and the Dandy Warhols' new one, Earth to the Dandy Warhols, follows at #128, with first-week sales reported at 4,900. The Goo Goo Dolls' Vol. 2 claims the #157 slot, on the strength of 4,200 sold, while the Human Abstract's Midheaven follows at #163 with 4,100 scans. Stereolab's Chemical Chords enters the chart at #169 with 4,000 sold, while Dance Gavin Dance's self-titled offering opens at #171 with 3,800 scans.

The remainder of next week's top 10 contains a number of this year's most consistent sellers. Miley Cyrus' Breakout slides two spots to #6 with 61,600 sold, while Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III drops one spot to #7, selling another 56,800. Sugarland's Love on the Inside follows at #8 with 56,300 scans, and lastly, coming in at #9 with 47,200 sold, is the "Camp Rock" soundtrack — which, coincidentally, includes a number of tracks by the Jonas Brothers.

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Staind Identify Their Biggest Threat: The Jonas Brothers?

21 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Rockers concede likely Billboard defeat to the Disney boy band.
By Chris Harris

Staind's Mike Mushok and Aaron Lewis at the Hard Rock Cafe on Monday
Photo: MTV News

Since 2001, Springfield, Massachusetts, rock outfit Staind have released three full-length studio efforts, and all three have entered the Billboard top 200 at #1. Three records, three consecutive chart-topping debuts: 2001's Break the Cycle, which sold 716,000 copies its first week in stores; 2003's 14 Shades of Grey; and 2005's Chapter V. With Staind's sixth record, The Illusion of Progress, dropping this week, how confident are they that they can make it four in a row?

Not very.

"It falls short of being four #1 records in a row, I think, with the Jonas Brothers' second week," guitarist Mike Mushok told MTV News on Tuesday, just hours before the New Jersey-based boy band's LP A Little Bit Longer opened at #1 on the album sales chart, with 525,000 copies gone. "Half of that is more than what we'll sell, and it's good for those guys. All I can say is, we've been here for 10 years, and this is our sixth record. I feel proud to be able to say that. If it's not #1, it's not #1 — what are you going to do?"

Well, there's really nothing Staind can do to stop the Disney-backed juggernaut from blocking their attempts at making it four straight trips to the top. They've accepted the fact that they'll probably end up finishing second to the Brothers when next week's chart numbers are revealed. With the album's first single, "Believe," slowly working its way up the singles chart and getting more spins on rock radio, Staind could pull off a miracle upset. But it's doubtful.

"It would be amazing if it happened," frontman Aaron Lewis said. "But it's just a different version of the boy-band thing all over again ... where it's not hip-hop- or R&B-based; they're playing Gibson guitars. It's Hanson 2008, with Disney behind them. ... How do you compete with that? Can we plead to the parents? 'Just one week — just hold off one week. You can buy it for your kids, just wait a week.' "

"Let them have that huge third week, not second," Mushok joked, just before the band performed at New York's Hard Rock Cafe, as part of the restaurant chain's "Ambassadors of Rock" tour.

Ultimately, Staind aren't all that concerned with sales. At the end of the day, they're just glad they've produced a record they can stand behind and be proud of. When the guys first began work on The Illusion of Progress, they went into the process with the expressed goal of coming away with their heaviest offering. But, Lewis said, it didn't quite work out that way.

"We went in and started writing, and the songs that were coming out weren't the heaviest songs, but they were really good songs," he explained. "We wrote 14 songs, and there are 13 on the album. There was only one song that didn't make it, and it wasn't because it didn't stand up — I just couldn't come up with anything to sing over it. Musically, it was one of my favorite songs on the record — I just couldn't come up with anything that was worthy of it, in a melody and lyrical sense. The songs we were writing were great songs. We couldn't cast them aside and say, 'No, those aren't heavy enough.' If we had, we'd probably still be there, writing."

Mushok — who said the band will headline a U.S. trek that begins in October, with Papa Roach and Seether as direct support — hopes fans can appreciate the tracks for what they are. "I hope they're 'happy' surprised, and that they can just realize that we wrote the best songs we could," he said. "We work very hard to grow as a band, and I think we made a pretty good step this time."

Mushok and Lewis said that being dads (Mushok of twin boys and Lewis of three girls) has affected the writing and recording process for them in extremely positive — but not always productive — ways.

"The only thing I know that really changed for me was, when I should have been upstairs in my room working on songs, I was playing with the kids," Mushok confessed. "Or, if I was upstairs working on songs, it was just like, 'OK, now I want to go play with the kids.' "

"If anything, it made it more right there," Lewis chimed in. "You're doing it, on the spot, and not really going home and working on stuff, rehearsing parts. You're figuring it out and doing it right there [in the studio]."

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Staind's Aaron Lewis Tells Fans To Expect Surprises On New LP, The Illusion Of Progress

30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 EDT

'We're big on trying not to repeat ourselves,' frontman says.
By Chris Harris

Staind's Aaron Lewis
Photo: MTV News

Rare is the band that heads into the recording studio with the expressed intention of replicating the last LP they'd released. And Staind is definitely not one of them, according to frontman Aaron Lewis.

"We're big on trying not to repeat ourselves, and grow in some way with every record we make," Lewis told MTV News — very matter-of-factly — this week from the Malibu, California, set of their forthcoming video for "Believe." "We need to feel, at the end of it, that we made a better one than the last one. I think this is our best record yet — because I'm supposed to feel that way, or else the record wouldn't be done."

On their forthcoming sixth LP, The Illusion of Progress, Staind, perhaps for the first time ever, took an experimental approach to the songwriting process, incorporating unfamiliar elements into their sound. As a result, "We grew as a band from another record's worth of time gone by, and another record's worth of touring. You learn as you go."

Lewis thinks that longtime Staind fans will be rather surprised when they hear the follow-up to 2005's Chapter V because of "how big of a step we took in some songs." He said some tracks, like "Pardon Me," "Save Me" and "Rainy Day Parade," will feature pedal-steel guitar, while one cut boasts a gospel choir. "There's also a lot of guitar solos on the record — basically, there are a lot of things that have never really been done on a Staind record before," he said.

As usual, Lewis' lyrics were largely inspired by his day-to-day existence; he calls Staind's catalog "an audio diary of sorts." While not a concept record, Lewis' lyrics largely correspond with the album's title, which the boys had settled on well before beginning work on the disc.

"It can just apply to so many things," Lewis said. "We came up with it because we were standing around, not writing a record when we should have been writing a record. We were giving the illusion of our own progress. And the title just stuck, and without any conscious thought to it at all, all the songs ended up, in some way, shape, or form, being able to be applied to the title, which is kind of cool."

Lewis wouldn't discuss the songs in any depth, just as he wouldn't provide many details about the video for "Believe," which was a cross-country endeavor. Why? "I don't want to ruin it for everyone," he said. "That'd be like telling people what the end of a movie is before they see it."

He did tell us that the video will begin with the band, piled into a clunker of a car, in their hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. In the video, the band drives across the U.S., so the clip will feature footage from that trip. The video ultimately concludes with Staind in California, and Lewis, singing his impassioned lyrics as he strolls across the sands of "the 'Bu."

"We don't really know what it's going to be just yet, but it's going to center around this journey from the East Coast to the West Coast," Lewis said. When making a video, "you always get a bunch of different treatments, and pick the one you think might be cool. But, they never end up being what the treatment says they are. I always find myself scratching my head at the end of it, going, 'Huh — I didn't really read it that way."

This summer, Staind will be hitting the road with 3 Doors Down and Hinder, and then they'll head over to Europe as the support act on Nickelback's tour there. Lewis said he doesn't mind being lumped into the same category as these radio-friendly rockers, even if Staind's first album was more metal than it was bro-rock.

"We've somehow survived in this business for over 10 years, and we're still here. We're about to embark on the next leg of this adventure we've been on — this dream I still haven't woken up from," he said. "These other bands, we're all just out here trying to do the same thing: trying to write songs people want to hear, and the powers that be want to get behind. Everybody has to group everybody into something, because they have nothing better to do. That's just how it is."

And at some point soon, Lewis hopes to issue his long-rumored solo debut but he said there's nothing definitive in terms of a scheduled release for that effort.

"The whole idea of the solo album came about because I played some solo shows, and they went over well, so I figured the solo stuff can go in the opposite direction do Staind," he said. "It's going to be more acoustic-based and not really a full band experience. But, I am pretty excited about it. It's a way for me to express my creativity in a different way."

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Staind

Fight Songs: What Do The UFC's Baddest Fighters Play To Get Pumped?

14 Dec 2006 04:04:00 EST

Eminem, 50 Cent, Korn get UFC fighters in the mood to pummel.
By Robert Mancini

Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell
Photo: Zuffa LLC

The sky drapes over the hills of California's wine country like an infant's pristine blue blanket. A trio of cats tumble through a patch of dry leaves and the sun beats down as if no one bothered to mention that it's now December. It's about as idyllic a scene as you could imagine.

Suddenly, the chop of Pantera's "Walk" tears the air like a rusty razor, surging over the surrounding hills and, not surprisingly, scattering the cats. The song is barking from an iPod docking station perched next to a mat surrounded on eight sides by chain-link fence (an Octagon, to those familiar with mixed martial arts) which has been plunked down, almost impossibly, on the side of a sloping, wooded hill.

Inside, one of the world's most dangerous men — Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell — is bouncing around the cage, spitting out Phil Anselmo's lyrics and shadowboxing in a way that makes you feel sorry for the air that surrounds him. He pushes hard, Pantera seemingly coursing through his veins and fueling his brutal dance. The song drives him — and frankly, he can use the help.

That's because some 300 miles away, the incongruous sounds of Kid Rock's "I Am the Bullgod" roar from a red barn that sits beyond the tony ski lodges and tourist traps of Big Bear, California. Inside, Tito Ortiz — a UFC legend and the man who intends to take Liddell's championship from him in just a few short weeks — is prowling his own Octagon, honing his craft against a constantly rotating cast of five different sparring partners. One man challenges Tito; they tangle and sprawl across the mat, trading fists, knees and elbows. Soon, without pause, another fresh fighter takes his place. The grueling pace goes on for 45 minutes — and this is just one slice of his eight-hour training session today. There will be more sparring, there will be weightlifting and, of course, there will be running ... miles and miles of running. Fortunately for Tito, he'll get energy boosts along the way from Kid, Korn and Eminem.

THE WORK

Most of us turn to music to help push us over our daily humps: Getting out of bed, getting to work, getting through spin class. It's no surprise then that the same strategy (and in many cases, the very same music) drives men who push themselves to the limit in a sport that demands knowledge of disciplines from kickboxing to jujitsu, and everything in between. Exactly how tough is this sport, you ask? Chuck and Tito's fight on December 30 will be the culmination of weeks of conditioning, months of training and years of study.

"In the beginning, the guys who used to fight were just jujitsu guys like Royce Gracie or punchers like Tank Abbott," Ortiz explained. "They didn't understand the whole Rubik's Cube of mixed martial arts, where you have to know jujitsu, you have to know kickboxing, you have to know wrestling. You need the cardio and the weight training. It's like a recipe. You have to put it together in the right ways and do the right things at the right time."

For Tito, fight preparation means sequestering himself in Big Bear (the thin mountain air enhances his conditioning) and pushing himself for eight hours of running, weightlifting, boxing, kickboxing and wrestling a day, six days a week. "To put a whole game plan together is really a physical challenge," Ortiz added. "The mental side of it, waking up every day, knowing what do I have to do ... To put my body through a grind session, it's painful — it's a mental torture."

Liddell, however, takes a "less is more" (yet still daunting) approach. "Honestly, I work out two to three times a day; each workout is about an hour and a half," he explained. "I've heard a lot of guys saying they train eight hours a day, but I've been with some of those guys and unless they count puttin' on their clothes and driving to the gym and talking to their friends afterward, they don't train eight hours a day. I think it's more about quality than quantity."

And for Ortiz and Liddell — two of the biggest names in a sport rapidly surging in popularity — the unique pressures are even greater. While their December 30 main event will undoubtedly be a battle, it is also expected to be the biggest mixed martial arts event in history, a new watershed for a sport that recently has been drawing more young viewers than the NBA or Major League Baseball. No pressure there, right?

"You can't really explain the energy at a place like the MGM [Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where the fight will be held] when it's sold out and it's a big fight night," Liddell said. "You can't transfer it to a TV."

"I guess it's like a cross between a boxing match and a rock concert. There's no energy like it," Ortiz agreed. "Some people do skydiving, other people get in bullrings and fight. Some people play in the World Series or the Super Bowl. I get in the Octagon and compete to see who is the toughest man in the world. Ultimate Fighting is what I do ... and I've been doing a very good job up to this point."

THE PLAYLIST

Until the moment when the crowd roars and the Octagon door swings shut, the key for both men is to remain focused and motivated. And for both, that means tucking in their headphones, picking a playlist and shutting out the world. Whether it's Liddell's morning sprints in the thick sands of Pismo Beach, Ortiz's afternoon runs through the hills of Big Bear, or either man's extended gym sessions, their music always close at hand. "There are times when I'm pushing myself and I don't think I can go harder, but then a good song comes on and I get a huge adrenaline rush and my endorphins kick in," Ortiz explained.

There's a good deal of overlap between Liddell and Ortiz's iPods, not surprising given that both deal in bold, naked aggression: You'll hear DMX and 50 Cent in both men's respective gyms. But the deeper you dig into their playlists, the more clear the distinction between the two becomes. Liddell — a soft-spoken and seemingly single-minded fighter — rocks a catalog that plays like a roadside jukejoint dream, where George Strait sits side-by-side with Suicidal Tendencies. There's the ballsy blues-rock of George Thorogood, the heartland rock of Staind, the unholy whirl of Slayer and the proud twang of Travis Tritt.

Liddell puts together a fresh playlist for each of his fights, and while the details may change, it's usually raw and aggressive. "It really helps when I'm training. It gets you fired up," he said. So as Liddell prepares to return to the Octagon, he loads his iPod with Slayer ("Angel of Death" is a favorite), Pantera (Vulgar Display of Power is in heavy rotation), Nickelback, Rancid and Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards (hang around Liddell long enough and eventually you'll hear "Skunx"). Then there's his love of country. "It's fun for me to put on a few country songs while we're training because I'm one of the few people [at the gym] who likes them," Liddell laughed.

Chances are, no one's going to challenge his monopoly of the sound system, no matter what he's playing. Much like the music on his playlist, Liddell is straight-shooting, hard-hitting and rock-solid. Unlike his music, however, he is also soft-spoken, a genial man but one who would seemingly rather be fighting than doing just about anything. His soundtrack — much like his focus — is all about the ring.

Meanwhile Ortiz — the brash character whose larger-than-life image is outsized only by his accomplishments — seems drawn to stirring and boastful anthems, hip-hop and otherwise. Where Liddell shuffles, Ortiz swaggers with the aid of Ludacris, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and his longtime friends in Korn. The soundtrack of Ortiz's youth came courtesy of the Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath his troubled parents gravitated toward, and the Cali punk that surrounded him in Huntington Beach, California. But he would eventually draw inspiration in the bold boasts and high living of hip-hop, fixating on the better life he dreamt of for himself.

He can vividly recall a college trip to Lake Havasu, Arizona, where a promise was made over Tupac's "Picture Me Rollin'." "I remember looking at [a friend] and saying, 'Watch, dude, I'm gonna make it and you're gonna listen to this song and remember me because you're going to close your eyes and picture me rolling,' " Ortiz recalled. "It's funny because it's just little things like that, like 'Rollin' in My 500 Benz' ... it's money, it's all material things. But when you come from a poor family and you don't have anything and you see everyone having all that stuff, you get really jealous of it. I had to pretty much put on an act in front of people because I didn't want them to know that I was poor. I couldn't bring them to the motel that we were staying at because my parents were drug addicts. I couldn't show them my parents because I was very embarrassed by it — I'd say, 'My parents aren't here today, they're out of town.' So I look at those kinds of things in music, and they kind of inspire me to be a better person."

For Tito, the drive he finds in his music is about more than the fight; it's about the life. He's a mogul in training, a man who can clearly see Jay-Z's blueprint ... and 50's and Eminem's. There's the fighting, but there's also the clothing line (Punishment Athletics), the lust-worthy girlfriend (Jenna Jameson) and the Hollywood aspirations (he's pondering his own reality show). "If you have the charisma to hold a camera, you're going to go far," Ortiz said. "If you're just going to fight for the rest of your life, all of a sudden you'll be 40 years old, teaching karate classes at your local dojo."

His first taste of stardom came early, courtesy of his friends in Korn as he watched them rise from backyard gigs to the multiplatinum lifestyle. "I envied them, because they had all the cars. They were making all the money. That's what drove me to get where I am, because that's what I wanted for myself," Ortiz said.

But beyond the flash and cash, the band's powerful emotional core also resonated with Ortiz, speaking to deeper themes that fuel the challenger. "I'm built on emotions, and the stuff Jonathan Davis would sing about and the emotions he would bring out ... I pretty much just fell in love with the music," Ortiz said. "When I do my runs or my training, you have to find that aggression and intensity to push yourself."

It's what drew him to his other muse, the man whose "Mosh" ushers Ortiz into the ring before every fight: Eminem. "He never took the easy way out. He always had a challenge during life ... So many people were hating on him because he was doing stuff that no one would expect him to be doing. I would see myself in that, because when I started in the UFC, I was doing a lot of sh-- that no one wanted me to do. I mean, flipping off the other guy's corner, wearing T-shirts that said some gnarly things. I was the bad boy. It was just a given that I had something in common with him. He came from a trailer park, he didn't have a father. I had parents, but they were on drugs all the time."

THE MOTIVATION

Despite their differences — in both playlists and personality — both men dig through their songs to find fire in the lyrics. "It's got to mean something to you," Liddell said. "It's got to talk to you a little bit. That's what makes music kick ass."

"There has to be some type of motivation behind it, some type of story that motivates a person," Ortiz said. "And it has to have hostility in it, because I'm about as hostile as a person gets when I step in the Octagon."

The music and the motivation reach a crescendo on fight day. In those last few moments before the Octagon door swings open, both men shut out the world and bury themselves in their music: When the going gets tough, the tough crank up their iTunes.

"If you walk with me from my hotel room down to the locker room, you've got to listen to me sing — which is probably the biggest torture anyone gets before a fight," Liddell joked. "I'll come down with my headphones and I'm usually singing along with whatever I'm listening to. I can't hear me sing, but everyone else has to listen to it."

Meanwhile, Ortiz spends the last few moments before a fight finding his emotional peak and getting ready for his "Mosh" moment. "I just want to get in the right mental mode," Ortiz said. "Physically, I've done all the work. [At that point,] it's about emotions and the mental side of it... I listen to the lyrics [to 'Mosh'] really, really closely ... about being a leader in what he believes in.

"I'm being a leader in what I believe in with this ultimate fighting," he continued. "There were people that were never going to accept us. They were saying, 'It's a brutal sport, you guys are never going to go anywhere.' I thought different. I was like, 'This sport is going to get awesome. People are going to pick it up. People are going to get educated on it. They're going to know how hard we work, and know that it is a true sport and know where we came from and where we began.' "

He pauses for a moment. "When I walk out to [that song], I have a tear that comes to my eye. It just gets me right in the heart. There's nothing more intense than just listening to that."

And that, after all, is everything you could want from your playlist.

The Essentials

Chuck's most played artists: Rancid, Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards

Tito's most played artists: Korn (old friends), Eminem

Chuck's playlist surprise: A wealth of country and a smattering of "goofy pop songs" ("That's my daughter," he laughs. "She can download whatever she wants.")

Tito's playlist surprise: Oddball reggae sing-jay progenitor Eek-A-Mouse ("Back in the day, when he used to play in Orange County at Club 5902, I went and watched — and it was awesome," he recalls.)

Chuck's training playlist
Pantera - "Walk"
George Thorogood - "Who Do You Love"
Travis Tritt - "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)"
DMX - "One More Road to Cross"
Staind - "It's Been Awhile"
Hank Williams Jr. - "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound"
Yung Joc - "It's Goin' Down"
Lars & the Bastards - "Skunx"
Slayer - "Angel of Death"
Suicidal Tendencies - "Controlled by Hatred"
50 Cent - "If I Can't"
T.I. - "Bring Em Out"

Tito's training playlist
Eminem - "Mosh"
Korn - "Good God"
Ludacris - "Move B---h"
DMX - "Damien"
Rage Against the Machine - "Know Your Enemy"
Fieldy's Dreams - "Ortiz Anthem"
Korn - "Ass Itch"
Snoop Dogg - "Murder Was the Case"
Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
Bob Marley - "Get Up, Stand Up"

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Aaron Lewis Laments 'Staind Aren't What's Cool Now'; Brings LP News

4 Oct 2006 12:49:00 EDT

Lewis has solo tour, album and reality-TV show in works; Staind retrospective due next month.
By Chris Harris

Staind's Aaron Lewis
Photo: Getty Images

It's been a little over a year since Staind's fifth album, Chapter V, landed in record stores, and now frontman Aaron Lewis has some frustrations to air and the future on his mind.

A few months ago, the band shot a video for "Everything Changes," which depicts the last day of school for a bunch of high school seniors, and the graduation bash that follows (see "Staind: Comedy Pros? Band Re-Creates High School Graduation Party For New Video").

"I thought it was a really good video, but I don't know what the hell happened to it," Lewis said, noting that he hasn't spotted the clip much on television. Staind, who've watched their last three releases debut at #1 on the Billboard album sales chart, have — in Lewis' estimation — fallen by the wayside as the trends and tastes of this generation of music fans continue to ebb and flow.

"I think nobody cares [about Staind] anymore. No one wants to see videos from us anymore. We're not the hip flavor of the moment. We don't wear jeans that are our sister's, and we don't wear our hair purposely messed up and spend more time making it look like it's messy than it would have taken to just comb it and make it look neat. And because we don't hit our snare drum 500 times in one song.

"So, we're not what's cool right now," he concluded. "Maybe we never have been."

Despite his distaste for the current musical landscape, the band will plunge back into it by recording its sixth LP, although Lewis doesn't know when yet. For his part, he said he hasn't written a single note for the effort.

"I try to keep it all bottled up so when it's time to do it, there's the proper setting and scenario and it all comes out then," he explained. "It's better that way, so when it's time to write it, it's all there, instead of having ideas slip through my fingers because they came out of my head too early."

Lewis also has plans to hit the road soon for a run of solo shows that includes a five-night stand at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun that starts December 27. He also plans to record his first solo album shortly and does have some material written for that. "I don't want to have to put it out on a particular label because I have to," he said. "I want the same fair shake as everyone else, and have anyone who's interested in it, be interested in it, and be able to paint the best picture I can paint. I've been writing songs over the years that never came to the table with Staind."

Lewis is also working on his next venture: a reality-television series called "The Crew" on which he'll serve as an executive producer.

"It's actually a watchable and true reality-TV show," he said of the collaborative effort with Craig Piligian, who executive produced "Survivor" and "American Chopper: The Series." "It's not the reality TV we've become so accustomed to. It's actually almost documentary-esque. It's about the crew that sets up the show every day, and makes sure the lights work, that our guitars are tuned — the 16 hours a day that goes into making sure that each show goes off correctly. Instead of looking for everyone's quirks and faults and pointing out their shortcomings, it's actually giving them the credit they deserve for what they do. They're the soldiers in the war."

Lewis said his TV team shot footage on the road using Staind's own road crew, and will be shopping "The Crew" to all of the networks in the coming months. If and when the show gets picked up, cameras will tail a band's crew for months, but it's unlikely that band will be Staind.

In fact, sometime next month, Staind will issue a retrospective collection called The Singles, featuring tons of bonus material that Lewis said should tide fans over "while we go away for a minute, and begin working on our next album." The disc will boast all of Staind's singles, as well as a DVD featuring the companion music videos for each track.

Some of the bonus material that's likely to make the package's final track list will be live, acoustic tunes the band recorded last month during a private concert at New York's Hiro Ballroom. Members of the band's fan club were invited to the gig, during which Staind performed a number of covers, including Tool's "Sober" and Alice in Chains' "Nutshell."

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Songs of War

22 Jul 2006 09:48:00 EDT

Videos shot by soldiers in Iraq and set to soundtracks of System, Korn, Staind and Rage are hitting the Web, providing an intense closeup of the brutal realities of combat.

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Staind: Comedy Pros? Band Re-Creates High School Graduation Party For New Video

29 Jun 2006 06:00:00 EDT

Band also has plans to tour, write songs, entertain U.S. troops.
By Corey Moss

Staind
Photo: MTV News

WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — You'd never know it from their music, but Staind are quite the comedy aficionados and consider themselves experts on "Animal House," "Caddyshack" and "Big Daddy."

Now, after working some humor into their last clip (see "New Staind Video Depicts Dark Side Of Pee Wee Football"), the rockers are paying homage to another one of their favorite laughers: Richard Linklater's 1993 film "Dazed and Confused."

The Mike Sloat-directed video for "Everything Changes" is their third for 2005's Chapter V, following "Falling."

"It's the last day of high school," guitarist Mike Mushok said of the clip's plot, which follows several students on a night of hookups and fights. "That's pretty much a huge changing point in most people's lives, when you graduate high school and you actually go off into the real world. And we're the band playing the high school party."

Singer Aaron Lewis would say only that the song is about "everything changing." He added that he always knew it was a potential single.

"It was one of the songs that we did at the end [of the album sessions]," he said. "I was messing around and we pushed 'record' on something — I threw out four or five ideas and that was one of them. It really just all fell together pretty quickly."

Staind are releasing "Everything Changes" to mainstream radio and video outlets while simultaneously pushing "King of All Excuses" to rock radio.

"['King' is] one of the heavier songs on the record, and we decided people kind of associate us with songs like 'Everything Changes,' but we also have these heavier songs," Mushok explained.

The band is currently taking a few weeks' vacation but will return to the road in Australia in July and then come back to the States in August for a trek with Three Days Grace and either Seether or Soil. Before that, Staind will play another show for U.S. soldiers, this one at a festival at the Marine Corps base at Hawaii's Kaneohe Bay, with Juvenile and a handful of other artists.

"We did three shows on three bases," Mushok said of the gigs the band performed for soldiers in Germany last March. "Two 'welcome home' shows and one show for what they call the walking wounded, which [are soldiers who,] after they got out of the hospital, go to recovery before they go back to their assignments — and it was a great experience.

"They're not the ones making the decisions, they're the ones volunteering themselves to go over and see it through, and I think that deserves all of our support," Lewis added.

While on the road, Staind will start banking ideas for their next LP.

"We're always trying to work on ideas just 'cause there's gonna come a time when you have to have songs to write, and the more stuff you have backed up the better," Mushok said. "Hopefully some of it's good. That's always the hope."

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Staind

For The Record: Quick News On Kanye West, Tool, Cam'ron, Guns N' Roses, Kristen Bell, Three 6 Mafia & More

22 May 2006 04:14:00 EDT

Kanye, Tool anchoring Street Scene; Cam shows Katt love; Axl says Hilfiger slapped him.
By MTV News staff report

Kanye West
Photo: ShowBizIreland/ Getty Images

After helping anchor Coachella and Wango Tango, Kanye West has signed on for another big extravaganza: San Diego's Street Scene 2006. Slated for August 4-5, the 22nd installment of the fest will feature Snoop Dogg, Tool, Wu-Tang Clan, My Chemical Romance, Yellowcard, AFI, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queens of the Stone Age, Bloc Party, She Wants Revenge, Sean Paul and tons more. Two-day passes can be bought starting Monday (May 22), while single-day tickets will go on sale in July. ...

Cam'ron shared some crew love at New York's Nokia Theatre early Sunday morning, coming onstage to support comic Katt Williams, who headlined a show that started a little past midnight. Williams' debut LP, It's Pimpin', Pimpin', drops on Cam's Diplomat Records later this year. ...

During an interview Friday with Los Angeles radio station KROQ, Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose discussed the run-in he had Thursday with fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger in New York. Rose said the altercation, inside the Plumm nightclub, started over a drink. "I moved his girlfriend's drink so it wouldn't spill," Rose explained, adding that Hilfiger then smacked his arm and told him to put the drink back. "He just kept smacking me," said Axl. "It was the most surreal thing, I think, that's ever happened to me in my life." Rose filled out a police complaint against the designer. Following the fracas, which took place at Rosario Dawson's birthday party, Guns N' Roses performed an acoustic set, and Axl dedicated the song "You're Crazy" to "My good friend Tommy Hilfiger" during the performance. ...

"Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell and music legend Prince have won the annual World's Sexiest Vegetarians poll put on by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway and Joaquin Phoenix were also in the running. ... Three 6 Mafia are performing live at WWE's "Friday Night Smackdown!" which will be taped Tuesday in Bakersfield, California, to air Friday on UPN. WWE: Wreckless Intent — featuring "Some Bodies Gonna Get It," the Mafia's theme song for wrestler Mark Henry, along with tracks by Saliva, Silkk the Shocker and P.O.D. — hits stores Tuesday. ...

The Arctic Monkeys will embark on their upcoming North American tour without bassist Andy Nicholson, who will miss the shows due to exhaustion. "Owing to fatigue following an intensive period of touring, Andy shall be taking a rest," the band's management said in a statement. Nick O'Malley will stand in for Nicholson on the tour, which begins in Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 27. Of course, the British press has interpreted the news to mean that Nicholson is out of the band, but a U.S. spokesperson for the Monkeys said Nicholson will rejoin them after the North American tour wraps. ...

Queen Latifah will be honored with the William "Jazz" Jones Brightest Star Award by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark at the organization's 18th annual Evening of the Stars on Monday (May 22) in New York. The gala, featuring Kenan Thompson and Miri Ben-Ari, recognizes contributions toward improving the quality of life of inner-city children and their families. John Sykes, president of network development for MTV Networks, will be presented with the 2006 Award for Caring, and one young person will receive the organization's Youth of the Year Award at the ceremony. ... Salma Hayek is hosting Wednesday's Colombia sin Minas concert, a special acoustic showcase featuring Juanes, Alejandro Sanz and Ana Gabriel. The benefit concert, held at Los Angeles' Gibson Amphitheatre, will raise money to aid children victimized by antipersonnel mines in Colombia. ...

Staind, Flyleaf, Nonpoint, Wicked Wisdom and Dope are among the bands confirmed for the JJO Band Camp 2006 festival, scheduled for August 6 at Willow Island in Madison, Wisconsin. More acts will be announced in the coming weeks. ...Primus and the Flaming Lips have been confirmed as the headliners for this year's Hedgpeth Festival, set to take place July 28 and July 29 in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. Mike Patton's Peeping Tom, They Might Be Giants, the Kings of Leon, Blue October and Minus the Bear are also on the festival's bill. ... When it comes to Las Vegas entertainers, few can fill Wayne Newton's shoes, but Toni Braxton is going to give it a try. The singer will take over for Newton as the headliner at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel and casino, she announced at a press conference Friday. "Toni Braxton: Revealed" kicks off August 3 and is set to run six nights per week through March 2007. ...

Chevelle have been forced to pull out of the first eight dates of their forthcoming tour with Nickelback and Hoobastank after bassist Dean Bernardini sustained an injury to his left hand. The canceled dates run from the tour's June 30 opener in Cincinnati though a July 26 stop set for Columbia, Maryland. The trek is scheduled to wrap up September 16 in Kansas City, Missouri. ... Me First and the Gimme Gimmes have been busy recording material for their forthcoming album. The band, featuring members of Foo Fighters, NOFX, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name and Swingin' Utters, has been working in the studio since April, putting its spin on songs written by Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks and Hank Williams, among others. There's no word yet on when the yet-untitled release will be in stores. ... Conan O'Brien will host the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air live August 27 from Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium on NBC. Emmy nominations will be announced July 6. O'Brien previously hosted the ceremony in 2002. ...

Freddie and the Dreamers leader Freddie Garrity died Friday while hospitalized in Wales, The Associated Press reports. He was 69. Freddie and the Dreamers, a British band best known for the 1965 U.S. hit "I'm Telling You Now," sparked a loose-limbed dance called "The Freddie," inspired by Garrity's bouncy onstage moves. ... Longtime Grateful Dead crewmember Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff died of lung cancer Tuesday, the AP reports. Guitarist Bob Weir called the 61-year-old, who served as president of the Dead's board of directors when the band incorporated in the 1970s, "our rock."

05.19.2006

Brandy has signed on to judge "America's Got Talent," a televised contest created by "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell, The Associated Press reports. David Hasselhoff and British newspaper editor/TV personality Piers Morgan will also be on the panel that decides the fates of aspiring entertainers vying for a $1 million prize. The series, set to debut June 21 on NBC, will be hosted by Regis Philbin. ... Staind will perform at the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500 as part of ABC's pre-race telecast, beginning at noon EST on May 28. A day earlier, the band will headline Indianapolis' annual X-103 May Day concert, which also features Three Days Grace and Flyleaf. ...

Stephen King has posted an angry rant aimed at ABC on his Web site. "Those of you who are familiar with the wonderful world of television may have noticed that 'Desperation' — probably the best TV movie to be made from my work — has been scheduled by ABC to run, not just against 'American Idol,' but against the 'American Idol' finals!" the author wrote. "Am I bitter? Hell, yes, I am bitter!" ... The name Nevaeh (pronounced "neh-VAY-ah") is proliferating faster than any baby name in more than 100 years — and, according to The New York Times, it all stems from Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., who appeared on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, whose name is "heaven spelled backwards," he explained. According to the paper, there were just eight newborn American girls named Nevaeh in 1999, and last year there were 4,457 — the fastest climb among all names in more than a century, the entire period for which the Social Security Administration has such records. ... The Dillinger Escape Plan will issue an iTunes-exclusive EP on June 13. The release will feature new versions of "Unretrofied" and "The Perfect Design," along with four covers: Nine Inch Nails' "Wish," Massive Attack's "Angel," Soundgarden's "Jesus Christ Pose" and Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You." ...

William Hung will be crowned this year's Artichoke King at the Castroville Artichoke Festival this weekend in Castroville, California. Marilyn Monroe was the first "Artichoke Queen" in 1947. ... They Might Be Giants are going to help creep up "Coraline," the stop-motion animation adaptation of "Sandman" writer Neil Gaiman's award-winning book. The band will provide songs to the film, while Dakota Fanning will lend her voice to the young girl who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an eerie alternate version of her life, complete with counterfeit parents and children sucked dry. Henry Selick ("James and the Giant Peach," "The Nightmare Before Christmas") will direct the film, which is due in 2007. ...

Warped Tour stalwarts and self-described "gypsy punks" Gogol Bordello will host a concert to benefit the Romani Jag Organization, a group that raises awareness about the struggle of Roma gypsies in Ukraine and, most recently, an increasing trend of anti-Roma police brutality. The event will be held June 9 at New York's Irving Plaza. ... Montreal stoner rockers Priestess haven't even released an album in the U.S., but that's not stopping them from heading out on tour this summer. Their debut, Hello Master, drops on June 13 and two days later the power rock quartet will hit Los Angeles' Spaceland for their tour opener. The trek wraps up July 12 in Philadelphia and will see the band on the road with the Bronx, Riverboat Gamblers and the Electric Six. ...

The Senate voted Thursday to approve a drastic hike in fines for television and radio stations that violate indecency rules. According to Reuters, the tenfold increase in fines per violation from $32,000 to $325,000 for airing profanity or sexually explicit material still pales in comparison to the bill passed by the House last year, which would push fines up to $500,000 per violation and require the Federal Communications Commission to consider revoking a station's license after three indecency violations. House and Senate leaders will now have to hash out a compromise before an increase becomes law.

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For The Record: Quick News On Guns N' Roses, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Lopez, Korn, Alicia Keys & More

19 May 2006 04:30:00 EDT

GN'R headlining fests, playing for Rosario; J. Lo reimbursing promoters for canceled tour.
By MTV News staff report

Axl Rose and Rosario Dawson at the Plumm in New York, 05.18.06
Photo: Kevin Mazur

Guns N' Roses will headline KROQ's Inland Invasion 2006 on September 23 at the Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen in Devore, California. GN'R frontman Axl Rose revealed the news Friday (May 19) during an on-air segment with KROQ hosts Kevin and Bean. It will be the band's first Los Angeles gig in more than 15 years, Rose said. And who would have imagined even a few days ago that the long-dormant yet suddenly ubiquitous GN'R would be back playing an acoustic set for actress Rosario Dawson on her birthday? The band did just that Thursday night at the Plumm in New York, showing up to play 11 cuts, including "Used to Love Her," "Mr. Brownstone" and "Sweet Child O' Mine."...

Promoters had been threatening to sue Jennifer Lopez after the singer canceled her international tour without providing a reason. But Bulgarian promoter Ivaila Bakalova told MTV News Friday that those plans have been put on hold, as Lopez has just informed them that she'll reimburse the promoters for all expenses, including advertising and supplies that had to be imported to fulfill her contract rider. "She told us everything would be OK," Bakalova said. But if she doesn't make good on this commitment, Bakalova said, the lawsuit is back on. Meanwhile, Indian show sponsor Kingfisher Airlines told MTV News it's still holding out hope that Lopez might change her mind and reschedule the shows. ...

Alicia Keys, John Mayer, Denzel Washington, Matthew McConaughey, Elijah Wood, John Travolta, Ryan Cabrera and the Bravery are among those who've kicked in items for an online charity auction organized by a group of Utah junior high school students. Olympus Junior High Schoolers have mobilized in an effort to help their hearing-impaired janitor, Terry Birch, afford cochlear implants to aid his hearing (Birch and his wife, who is deaf, already face mounting medical bills from her ongoing battle with breast cancer). Also on the block are tickets to the upcoming premiere of Jack Black's "Nacho Libre" and autographed items from sports legends including Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, Steve Young and members of the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers. You can find out more about the auction and the effort behind it at www.help-terry.org. ...

A few days after Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at a Chicago Cubs game, Korn singer Jonathan Davis threw the first pitch on Thursday at Wrigley Field. Davis also enthused Cub fans by throwing $10 bills to thousands of people to promote this summer's Family Values Tour, which will have a $9.99 lawn ticket price. Co-headliners Deftones also promoted the festival on Thursday with a free show in their home city of Sacramento, California, and Stone Sour did the same in Kansas City, Missouri. ... Brandy has signed on to judge "America's Got Talent," a televised contest created by "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell, The Associated Press reports. David Hasselhoff and British newspaper editor/TV personality Piers Morgan will also be on the panel that decides the fates of aspiring entertainers vying for a $1 million prize. The series, set to debut June 21 on NBC, will be hosted by Regis Philbin. ... Staind will perform at the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500 as part of ABC's pre-race telecast, beginning at noon EST on May 28. A day earlier, the band will headline Indianapolis' annual X-103 May Day concert, which also features Three Days Grace and Flyleaf. ...

05.18.2006

Fresh from beefing with Colonel Sanders over how he treats his chickens, Pink is turning her activist energies to the Queen of England. During her visit to the U.K. this week, Pink fired off a letter to Her Majesty requesting that Buckingham Palace guards no longer wear their distinctive hats, which are made of bear fur. Though she praised the queen for being a "modern monarch," Pink suggested that she get with the program and use faux fur instead. "Sorry to be a royal pain ... [but] apparently it takes the entire hide of one bear to make a single ceremonial hat," Pink wrote on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which provided samples of synthetic bear fur to the Ministry of Defence. Buckingham Palace said any correspondence to the queen is treated as private and is never commented upon. On Saturday Pink plays at a benefit dinner/concert for Prince's Trust, a nonprofit group aimed at helping young people who are struggling. And on July 22 she'll be joined by Train, Nickel Creek, Aqualung and Mat Kearney for Star 94's Star Fest, an outdoor concert at Atlantic Station in midtown Atlanta. Advance tickets go on sale June 3. Head to Star94.com for more information on the show. ...

Wu-Tang Clan, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Redman will headline the 2006 edition of Rock the Bells. The festival — scheduled for August 5 at NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, California — will also include De La Soul, Aesop Rock, Living Legends, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Supernatural, who will attempt to break the eight-hour, 45-minute Longest Freestyle Rap documented in the "Guinness Book of World Records." Wu-Tang will pay special tribute to Ol' Dirty Bastard, whose last show was at Rock the Bells in 2004. An additional festival in Northern California is also confirmed for August 6, although details are not yet available. ...

Alleged drunken encounters with oil heir Brandon Davis and the paparazzi notwithstanding, Paris Hilton's been hard at work finishing her forthcoming debut. Although the heiress recorded an album's worth of material with Scott Storch, Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald and Three 6 Mafia, she went back in the studio last week to do one more song, "I Want You," with producer J.R. Rotem (Rihanna, Dr. Dre). "It's an uptempo dance-club song," Rotem said. "It's very high-energy in a retro, late-disco sort of way." Though skeptics constantly disparage Paris for being, well, Paris, Rotem said she was very professional and focused in the vocal booth and had a "warm, round, soft tone" to her voice, which he also described as "very sexy and sassy." ...

Mandy Moore — who's had nothing but nice things to say about Wilmer Valderrama until now — is upset that the actor went on Howard Stern's radio show in March to brag about his long list of supposed sexual conquests — which allegedly included taking her virginity. The singer/actress tells Elle for the magazine's June cover story that the claims are "utterly tacky" and "not even true." "It hurt my feelings because I like him," Moore tells the mag. She also tackles the rumor mill on her Web site. "I am so overwhelmed by the absurdity of rumors and how on earth they could get started," Moore writes. "It's unbelievable! Earlier this week, I was apprised of a wonderful piece of gossip that I was in rehab ... nice! ... I am so saddened that people stretch as far as they do in attempting to spread gossip that, at the end of the day, is just downright hurtful." Jennifer Love Hewitt, one of Valderrama's other alleged conquests, previously told reporters that his claims were exaggerated: "I was told that we had all these very steamy encounters and I was like, 'Really! Well, I would have loved to have been there!' " ...

Chris Brown fans can take an inside look at the singer's climb with "Chris Brown's Journey," a DVD featuring footage of Brown rehearsing for a tour, hitting the 2006 Grammys and promoting his record in Japan and the U.K. The disc, in stores June 6, also includes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his videos for "Gimme That," "Run It!" and "Yo" as well as a bonus CD with two previously unreleased tracks: "So Glad" and a new remix of "Run It!" ... Cam'ron, who is offering 15 exclusive Killa Season ring tones including "He Tried to Play Me" and "Love My Life" to Virgin Mobile users, will keep one lucky winner on the phone for an entire year. The top prize in the "Cam'ron Tops You Up for a Year" contest is $600 in Virgin Mobile Top-Up cards ($50 per month for 12 months, beginning July 1, 2006.) Virgin Mobile users who purchase Cam'ron ring tones or wallpaper are automatically entered in the contest and anyone can get in the game by filling out an online form at AsylumRecords.com/virgin. ...

Ghostface Killah and sizzling art-punks Art Brut will help Blender commemorate its fifth-anniversary issue by performing at a Studio 450 party in Manhattan, New York, Tuesday. ... The Ricky Martin Foundation has teamed up with the International Organization for Migration to combat the sexual exploitation of children. Martin's foundation and the IOM signed an agreement in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday to develop the organizations' partnership, The Associated Press reports. "We are committed to ending child exploitation," said Martin, whose People for Children project has been active in anti-trafficking programs. The IOM is working on over 150 projects to raise awareness, lend support and train law enforcement worldwide. ...

Old-school Spoon fans are about to save themselves some serious eBay bucks. The Austin, Texas, indie rockers will re-release their long-out-of-print first LP, 1996's Telephono, and the 1997 Soft Effects EP on July 25. The releases will be packaged together for the price of one disc and will be available through the band's label, Merge. A video for Spoon's new single, "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine," will debut Friday on the band's Web site. ... Easy Star All-Stars, who brought you 2003's reggae version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (renamed Dub Side of the Moon), have done it again. On August 22 they'll roll out Radiodread: A Complete Reggae Version of Radiohead's OK Computer, featuring guest vocals from Toots and the Maytals, Citizen Cope, Horace Andy, Morgan Heritage, the Meditations, Israel Vibration and Sugar Minott. The band will perform the dub-ified work in its entirety at the All Good Music Festival on July 13. ...

Twenty years after their debut, Please, British dance-pop pioneers the Pet Shop Boys are releasing their latest album, Fundamental. Due June 27, the LP reunites them with their legendary '80s producer Trevor Horn. A bonus eight-song disc, Fundamentalism, will be available with a limited-edition version of Fundamental. ... Creative Technology Ltd. filed a patent complaint against Apple Computer in federal court this week claiming that the iPod's navigational menu infringes on a patent on its Zen MP3 player. According to Reuters, the suit seeks a cease-and-desist order on the sale of iPods and damages for what it calls Apple's "willful infringement of the Zen patent." Creative Technology applied for the Zen patent in 2001 — the same year the iPod was launched — and it was granted in August 2005. Apple has 72 percent of the portable MP3 player market in the U.S. to Creative's 10 percent.

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