Sponge is bouncing back. The Detroit-based alternative hard rock band was dropped by their previous record company, Columbia, and they lost their manager when Seattle music maven Susan Silver retired early last year. But Sponge is now set to return with a new album next year on the new BMG-distributed Beyond label. Their management is being provided courtesy of the Beyond-affiliated Left Bank group. The move makes them roster and label mates to Blondie, Motley Crue and Yes.

Sponge had been in the process of recording a third album, this time with help from hotshot producer Kevin Shirley, when Columbia pulled the plug, and the majority of that material is expected to be included on the pending CD, although the band apparently later recorded additional tracks. Shirley is best known as the producer of the latest albums by Aerosmith and Silverchair.

A Beyond spokesperson confirmed that the company had signed the band and that a new CD was recorded and due out in March,

but declined to release any details.

Sponge debuted in 1994 with "Rotting Pinata," a near million seller. They followed it up with "Wax Ecstatic" in the summer of 1996 which sold a respectable but comparatively disappointing quarter million.

The band last made news when they headlined last year's R.O.A.R. tour by default after Iggy Pop was forced to pull out with a shoulder injury. At that time singer Vinnie Dombroski was arrested and fined for repeatedly using obscenities onstage (see [article id="1434565"]"Sponge Singer Soaked For Dirty Language"[/article]).