Hives guitarist Nicholaus Arson posted a message on the band's Web site this week explaining why the band severed a seven-year relationship with Burning Heart Records/ Epitaph to sign a reported multimillion-dollar deal with major-label conglomerate Universal Music Group. Arson claimed there were "extremely serious issues" with their former label, and explained that the group "did this simply to control our own destiny and regain the control over our work we once enjoyed with Burning Heart Records." ... The first single from Pearl Jam's still-untitled seventh album will be "I Am Mine," which goes to radio September 17. The full disc will follow November 12. ... The third album by Icelandic atmospheric art-experimentalists Sigur Rós, due out October 29, will have no title and no track list. The CD booklet will be made of see-through cellophane paper and will be completely blank, though album credits will be available on the band's Web site. ... Irish pop group the Corrs gleefully gave up one of their sisters Thursday when drummer Caroline Corr married Frank Woods in a candlelit church in the village of Deia. U2's Bono and the Edge flew in for the celebration. ...
Seventy-five albums have made the "Longlist," the first step in determining the recipient of the second annual Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music, an honor bestowed on albums released in the U.S. that have sold less than 500,000 copies by the August 19 cut-off date. The first-round nominees, which include the latest albums by Andrew W.K., Beth Orton, Björk, Cee-Lo, Clinic, DJ Shadow, the Flaming Lips, Guided by Voices, Eels and Wilco, were chosen by a panel of judges, or "listmakers," consisting of Iggy Pop, Beck, Mos Def, the Neptunes, Spike Jonze and Lars Ulrich. The list gets pared down to 10 albums by the week of September 19, and the winner will be announced October 29. ... The soundtrack to "Once More With Feeling," last year's Emmy-nominated musical episode of TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," is set for release September 24. The LP offers the 10 songs featured in the November 6 episode, for which series creator Joss Whedon wrote music and lyrics, as well as unreleased tracks, including a demo of the poignant "Going Through the Motions" sung by Whedon and his wife, Kai Cole. ...
08.22.02
Michelle Branch is heading to Chicago this weekend to shoot a video with Carlos Santana and director Paul Fedor for Santana's upcoming album, Shaman, due October 22. Branch sings on a pop/rock song called "Game of Love," written by ex-New Radicals leader Gregg Alexander and producer Rick Nowels. ... "Well, I guess this is growing up" is right. Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus and his wife, Skye, welcomed baby Jack, their first child, into the world on August 5. ... Weezer will support Guns N' Roses at England's London Arena on August 26, according to the band's Web site. ... Who are the best bands in the world? According to British metal mag Kerrang!, they're Sum 41, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slipknot, Linkin Park and Nickelback, who are all up for the Best Band in the World award at the Kerrang! Awards 2002, which will be awarded August 27. ...
Underworld, who are returning with their latest, A Hundred Days Off, on September 24, have lined up a U.S. mini-tour that begins October 14 at Chicago's Riviera Theater. The "Born Slippy" kings then hit Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac, Michigan, on October 15, New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on October 18 and San Francisco's Warfield on October 20 before winding up at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A. on October 21. ... Following a September tour of the U.K., Jerry Cantrell will return home for a 24-date headline tour that begins October 10 in San Antonio and ends November 15 in New Orleans. Cantrell is currently opening for Creed. ... Six Feet Under, featuring former Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes, will support Hatebreed on a string of dates in September. The trek kicks off September 9 in Houston, Texas according to the death metal group's Web site. ...
Metallica welcomed two fans from the Make a Wish Foundation, their families and two of their friends into the San Francisco studio where they're recording their new album, played them two new tracks and hooked them up with a ton of free swag, according to the group's Web site. Lars, Kirk, James and producer/temporary bassist Bob Rock also invited their new friends to jam with them for over an hour, rocking out on "Enter Sandman," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Sad But True," "... And Justice for All," "I Disappear" and the rarely aired "Dyer's Eve," and Lars sent them all off with handfuls of classic hard rock CDs after one of the kids expressed an interest in Iron Maiden. ... Original Pirate Material, the garage-flavored, Mercury Music Prize-nominated album by the Streets (a.k.a. 21-year-old Mike Skinner), will arrive in America October 22 through Vice Records.