Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Bad Company takes to the road behind new live album
Bad Company, led by original singer Paul Rodgers, mounts a tour in late May, following the release of its new live set, “In Concert - Merchants of Cool.”
Bad Company, led by original singer Paul Rodgers, mounts a tour in late May, following the release of its new live set, “In Concert - Merchants of Cool.”
Set for release on May 21, “Merchants of Cool” features 12 classic Bad Company tracks recorded during the band’s seven-date January tour of the western U.S. The album also contains two new studio tracks, titled “Joe Fabulous” and “Saving Grace.”
The group is simultaneously releasing a companion concert video in DVD and VHS formats. The DVD houses 17 songs, as well as behind-the-scenes footage, a photo gallery, band interviews and more, according to Sanctuary Records.
The video captures guest performances from guitarists Slash (Guns N’ Roses) and Neal Schon (Journey, Planet Us).
In addition to Rodgers, Bad Company’s current lineup includes original drummer Simon Kirke, longtime guitarist David “Bucket” Colwell and new bassist Jaz Lochrie, who previously was a member of Rodgers’ solo project.
The upcoming tour marks Rodgers’ fourth with the group since 1999’s reunion outing, which featured the band’s complete original lineup: Rodgers, Kirke, guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Boz Burrell.
Bad Company toured the U.S. last summer as part of a triple-bill that also featured Styx and Billy Squier. Bassist Rick Wills replaced Burrell on that run.
Formed in 1973, Bad Company gained commercial success with its ‘70s-era hits “Can’t Get Enough,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Rock and Roll Fantasy” and others. The group’s original lineup disbanded after releasing 1982’s “Rough Diamonds.”
Ralphs and Kirke formed several subsequent incarnations of Bad Company that featured former Ted Nugent singer Brian Howe, then Howe’s replacement, Robert Hart, as well as Wills and Colwell.
In Brief: TLC survivors to go forward as a duo
Plus news on Jane’s Addiction’s new album and the latest accusation against R. Kelly.
Plus news on Jane’s Addiction’s new album and the latest accusation against R. Kelly.
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TLC‘s Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, in an interview published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday (4/29), said that she and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins plan to go forward as a duo in the wake of the death of member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes.
Thomas said that she and Watkins plan to finish the uncompleted fourth TLC album, which the trio began recording last summer and release it by the end of the year.
“As for Lisa being replaced--never,” Thomas said. “You can’t replace a TLC girl.”
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Perry Farrell told MTV News that after a month in the studio, Jane’s Addiction has nearly finished the recording of a new album. The album--reportedly titled “Hypersonic,” features Farrell, drummer Stephen Perkins, guitarist Dave Navarro and bassist Martyn Le Noble (who replaces original member Eric Avery). Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Aeromith) is producing. The album is expected to be in stores in the fall.
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Grammy Award-winning R&B artist R. Kelly, already the target of two lawsuits claiming that he had sex with girls under the age of 17 as well as criminal investigations in those matters, reportedly was hit with a third such suit on Monday (4/29).
Q&A: Bob Mould
Husker Du toured relentlessly during the ‘80s, sharing the indie crown with their Minneapolis cohorts the Replacements. Taking their name from a child’s board game, Husker Du’s punk-pop-hardcore hybrid influenced countless bands before the trio imploded in 1988.
Husker Du toured relentlessly during the ‘80s, sharing the indie crown with their Minneapolis cohorts the Replacements. Taking their name from a child’s board game, Husker Du’s punk-pop-hardcore hybrid influenced countless bands before the trio imploded in 1988.
Bob Mould quit Husker Du to pursue a solo career as a post-punk troubadour, but by 1992 found himself in another band, Sugar, an outfit that was wedged somewhere between the sonorous din of Husker Du and Mould’s more confessional solo stuff.
Unfortunately for fans, that association didn’t last long. Mould shape-shifted again, proclaiming that he was abandoning loud electric performances and was taking a job as a writer and director for World Championship Wrestling. He toiled backstage for nine months until the muse demanded he get back to the business of making music. He returned with a renewed vigor (and a taut new body), writing three albums for release this year.
SoundSpike: I’ve been reading in other interviews that you’re underfed, slimmed down, buff. What happened? Was it turning 40 or just working with the fit wrestlers?
Bob Mould: Underfed? I’ve never eaten more in my life as I do every day now.
Are you working out more?
Yeah, I go to the gym almost every day.
What spurred your fitness kick?
Being off the road. In the end of 1998, I looked terrible. I felt terrible. I was run down. I was probably 20 pounds heavier than I should have been. And I just looked [at myself and said], “I gotta start taking care of myself or I’m gonna end up being in the doctor’s office, and I don’t like going to the doctor.” So I just, you know, joined the gym and took to it right away. It was a fun social experience. [Now] my whole day is based around that, my routine is built off of going to the gym.
You’re releasing three albums this year. Do you tend to write all the time? Do you have a notebook by your bed?
I try to write every day. I’m always taking mental notes, and I’m finding that as I get older, I really have to take written notes.
Especially if you tend you get your best thoughts while you’re exercising.
I always do whenever I’m doing cardio, something comes into my head, “Oh, my God, I have to remember this now,” and if I don’t write it down, I never do.
When you worked for World Championship Wrestling, did everyone know who you were? Were you readily accepted?
No, only a handful of people knew. Or maybe one or two people actually knew. Then word got out, and I think that led to a quicker acceptance as an outsider. I had 20 years experience on the road in the entertainment business, where people could look at and go, “He understands how difficult this is for all of us.” So that was, I think, the part that allowed me a quicker rapport with the wrestlers than a strict outsider would have.
Did you have any odd experiences working with wrestlers?
I always knew how demanding the business was on the performers, but on a Monday night show when we would have 11 segments, invariably four or five people would get hurt pretty badly. As soon as they come behind the curtain--that’s where I would sit directing the show--they’d be yelling for the coach, for the doctor to come and stitch ‘em up: “I think I broke three fingers.” And even after all the injuries, they would show up for work the next day. And people look at wrestling and say, “Oh, it’s all fake.” It couldn’t be more real. Which part of this is fake? I don’t understand.
Do you feel insulted when people say that it’s fake?
Yeah. It’s a horrible thing. The blood is real. There’s nothing fake about it. People think, “Oh, it’s all choreographed.” Of course it’s choreographed. Of course it’s predetermined. It’s much like modern dance, it’s much like modern theater. Granted, it attracts a more lowbrow audience and some components of the product are geared for that, but essentially when you take away the T-and-A and all of the crap that I don’t care for, you’re left with the guys doing their dance out there. There couldn’t be anything more real.
You’re not touring with a band right now. What do you miss most about being on the road with a band?
Nothing. The more people you add to the equation, the slower the entire process gets. A tour can only move as fast as the slowest person. I sometimes miss the interaction with other musicians, [but] I find myself not afraid of offending a bandmate by writing on a particular topic that they might not be comfortable with.
Do you always sing with your eyes closed?
A lot ... because I’m just trying not to let anything distract me. I’m trying to get the idea out. I mean, some songs are more fun to look out and project, but some songs I’ve just, I gotta look inside. I couldn’t do that with Husker Du. People used to throw so much stuff, you had to be looking all the time.
What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever been hit with?
A sandwich filled with rocks.
Oh, that’s so ugly.
Yeah, well, that’s those European festivals.
Yeah. That and the spitting used to really get me.
Spitting was bad, a lot of spitting. And they still did that in France up through ‘93, spit all the time. I used to say, “Come on--I’ve got, like, four more weeks on the road, I don’t want your cold.”
I read in Mojo that you tried to buy the name back from Husker Du. What are you going to do with it?
I didn’t try to buy the name back from Husker Du. That was a bitter ex-bandmate who distorted the truth. I mean, the writer’s only gonna write what they’re told. I offered to buy the catalogue of Husker Du. I have no interest in using the name, I just wanted to gather up all the pieces of the catalogue, so that I could get everything reissued and everyone could make some money.
When you mentioned the Husker Du stuff: one of the reasons I stay away from all of that is I would never, ever entertain the notion of wanting to re-form that band, for any reason. There’s things that are moments in time, there’s things that are moments in your life and emotions in your life that you can never revisit and do them justice.
I agree. It’s like the Clash reforming.
Exactly. I would have no interest in seeing the Clash again, because I know how much stuff happened there. You can’t undo those kinds of damages.
Like a divorce.
As for the Husker Du thing, no. That was a very calculated business move to try to get everybody to once again cooperate to do business. Not to re-form, not to own, not to anything. Just try to get it so that we could actually get some money back from the labels that have been screwing us. Like SST, you know.
It’s been funny. The other two band members had an attorney that’s been taking care of everything for the last 2 years, so it was my attempt to be like, “Hey, can I try to do this for a little bit? It hasn’t been working so good. Can I try? I got a really good attorney over here.”
So that kind of stuff--when I hear [things like the Mojo story], I’m like, “You know what? Wallow in your own poverty. I mean, I got my own life. See ya.”
You’ve said that you often wrote songs in your sleep, or you sequenced the album in your dreams. You didn’t dream the end of Husker Du did you?
No, I didn’t dream it. Nobody could’ve created that nightmare. It was [ugly], and 1987 was one of the worst years of my life. It was just a long, never-ending stretch of horrible depression, and people dying, and people dying slowly that are still living, and it just, you know, it was one of those years where I knew I couldn’t make anything better, so why should I stay around and make it worse for myself? Life is too short.
Who’d play Bob Mould in “The Bob Mould Story”?
Michael Chiklis [star of the TV series “The Shield"].
Oh, that’s good!
Michael Chiklis is a hottie.
Do you have a motto, or something that inspires you, gets you out of bed in the morning?
My partner that I’ve been with for twelve years.
What’s your secret for success?
Secret for success: just staying true to the muse, just following the instinct.
Greatest misconception about you?
That I’m a straight guy.
Really.
Some people think, “He’s gotta be straight.”
It’s rather heartening that you don’t need to go back into your past.
Yeah. The documents are there. The proof is there. I’ve been there. It’s fun to get over that fear of failure and just like jump in headfirst to new things. It’s been really, really fun.
Click here to read a review of Bob Mould’s new album, “Modulate.”
Cher maps out cities for farewell tour
Cher, whose recording career began in 1965, is mounting her final tour this summer.
Cher, whose recording career began in 1965, is mounting her final tour this summer.
The three-month run kicks off in Toronto in mid-June and then makes stops in 50 U.S. cities. Most venues have not yet been confirmed.
Dubbed Living Proof - The Farewell Tour, Cher’s outing backs her February release “Living Proof,” which features the hit single “A Song for the Lonely.” The song is available for download in mp3 format on her official website, as is a streaming version of the song’s companion music video.
Cher’s setlist will include material from throughout her nearly 40-year career, according to organizers.
A portion of the proceeds from the tour will be donated to the Children’s Craniofacial Association, according to a press release.
Throughout May, Cher will pop up on a number of television shows, including “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Dick Clark’s American Bandstand 50th Anniversary,” “Will & Grace” and VH-1’s “Divas Las Vegas.” Showtimes and dates are posted at Cher’s website.
Cher, who celebrates her 56th birthday on May 20, first rose to fame in the mid-’60s with partner and then-spouse Sonny Bono. She went on to a solo career that went through several cycles of prominent commercial success, the most recent of which occurred in 1998 thanks to the No. 1 hit single “Believe,” featured on the album of the same name.
The song “Believe” garnered Cher the 1999 Grammy award for Best Dance Recording.
The Rolling Stones to reveal tour plans
The Rolling Stones are expected to announce during a press conference in New York next week plans for their long-rumored 40th anniversary tour.
The Rolling Stones are expected to announce during a press conference in New York next week plans for their long-rumored 40th anniversary tour.
Publicists sent a brief announcement to a handful of media outlets on Tuesday (5/1) which said that a lunch-hour event with the Rolling Stones was planned for May 7, but the press release didn’t include further specifics.
Various fan sites--including It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll, the Rolling Stones’ European fan club website--report that the tour is expected to open in September in North America, and that about 40 shows in 15 cities are planned through February of 2003. Speculation is that the tour will visit 25 other cities around the world later in 2003.
The Rolling Stones last toured in 1999 to back their 1998 live album, “No Security.” According to Pollstar, that tour grossed $66.7 million over 34 dates. The band was the top-grossing band of the ‘90s, taking in nearly $751 million on 12 million tickets sold, according to Amusement Business.
The band’s willingness to push the envelope on ticket prices is part of the reason for its astronomical concert grosses. The average ticket for “No Security” cost about $110, according to Pollstar.
“No Security,” was recorded during the band’s 1997-98 tour behind “Bridges to Babylon,” which is the group’s last studio set.
The Rolling Stones formed in 1962, and released their first single in 1963.
Album Chart: Kenny Chesney takes over top slot
Country-music fans flocked to record stores last week and bought a total of nearly a quarter-of-a-million copies of Kenny Chesney’s latest album, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.”
Country-music fans flocked to record stores last week and bought a total of nearly a quarter-of-a-million copies of Kenny Chesney’s latest album, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.”
With sales of about 235,000 copies, according to industry sources, Chesney’s first new studio album in more than three years easily bests albums from the three divas who dominated the top of the chart last week. It will debut at No. 1 on the forthcoming Billboard 200 album chart.
Ashanti’s self-titled debut, which spent the past three weeks at No. 1, sold about 90,000 fewer copies than Chesney’s latest, and drops to No. 2. Sheryl Crow’s “C’mon, C’mon,” which just missed a No. 1 debut of its own last week, slips from No. 2 to No. 4.
Sandwiched between is Celine Dion’s “A New Day Has Come,” which stays put at No. 3 for a second consecutive week, and is followed by the “Now That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 9” hits compilation, down one place to No. 5.
Star Wars devotees gave the forthcoming movie’s soundtrack a Top 10 debut; the album, which sold about 73,000 copies, enters the chart at No. 6.
The domino effect knocks the remaining Top 10 entries down a notch or two. “The Scorpion King” soundtrack drops two spots to No. 7, while the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack, Josh Groban’s self-titled debut and Pink’s “Missundaztood” each slip one spot, placing them at Nos. 8, 9 and 10, respectively.
Just missing a Top 10 debut is Cee-Lo’s “Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections,” which trails the No. 10 entry by less than 700 copies, and comes in at No. 11. Close behind is Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” which debuts at No. 13.
Numerous debuts follow further down the chart, with Elvis Costello’s “When I Was Cruel” at No. 20, Big Moe’s “Purple World” at No. 29, Michael Bolton’s “Only a Woman Like You” at No. 36, RL’s “RL-ements” at No. 53, Pet Shop Boys’ “Release” at No. 73 and Paul Westerberg’s “Stereo” at No. 81.
Lauryn Hill, OutKast, the Roots link for resurrected Smokin’ Grooves tour
The Smokin’ Grooves tour, which served as hip-hop and R&B’s answer to Lollapalooza through the mid-’90s before going dormant, regroups this year with a bill that features Lauryn Hill, OutKast and the Roots.
The Smokin’ Grooves tour, which served as hip-hop and R&B’s answer to Lollapalooza through the mid-’90s before going dormant, regroups this year with a bill that features Lauryn Hill, OutKast and the Roots.
The three-week run kicks off on the West Coast in mid-July, and wraps up on the East Coast in early August.
Hill is hitting the road behind her May 7 release, “MTV Unplugged No. 2.0,” a double album featuring her two-hour performance on MTV2’s March 10 episode of “Unplugged.” A companion DVD/VHS release surfaces on June 11.
The acoustic album, which features new material, is the follow-up to Hill’s multi-platinum 1998 solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” The album garnered the former Fugees member five Grammy awards, including Album of the Year.
OutKast continues to back its December 2001 hits package, “Big Boi and Dre Present ... OutKast,” a compilation of previously released songs that also features three new tracks.
“Stankonia," OutKast’s 1999 release, spawned the group’s breakthrough hit “Ms. Jackson.” In February, the song won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, while the album took the Grammy for Best Rap Album.
A new OutKast track titled “Land of a Million Drums"--featuring Killer Mike and Sleepy Brown--turns up on the June 4 “Scooby-Doo” motion-picture soundtrack.
The Roots release “Phrenology” this summer, the follow up to 1999’s “Things Fall Apart.” The latter album’s track “You Got Me,” which features R&B singer Erykah Badu, took the 1999 Grammy award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
“The Roots Come Alive,” the group’s first live collection, was also released in 1999.
The last Smokin’ Grooves package hit the road in 1998 with a lineup that included Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Busta Rhymes and Wyclef Jean (Hill’s former Fugees bandmate). The Fugees were on the bill of the first Smokin’ Grooves tour, which took place in 1996.
K’s Choice, “Almost Happy” (Epic)
It’s been four years since this Belgian quintet released its previous album, “Cocoon Crash,” and six since its sophomore effort, “Paradise in Me.”
It’s been four years since this Belgian quintet released its previous album, “Cocoon Crash,” and six since its sophomore effort, “Paradise in Me.”
If you don’t recognize the group by name, you likely know the latter album’s hit single, “Not an Addict"--a catchy yet not-too-poppy song that, thanks to the vocals of lead singer Sarah Bettens, one might have thought was performed by, say, Concrete Blonde. Bettens’ husky voice is in fine form on “Almost Happy,” particularly on the album’s title track.
The two-disc set features one album of soothing, well-produced, slow-tempo pop-rock that college girls will surely be listening to by candlelight while drinking wine and commiserating over ex-boyfriends. The second, more raucous disc contains a great-sounding live set, featuring “Not an Addict,” that those same girls will be blasting at 2 a.m. while calling their ex-boyfriends after drinking too much wine.
A very listen-able, if not overly remarkable, effort.
The Tragically Hip gear up for summer tour
Canadian rock heroes the Tragically Hip travel through the U.S. and their native country from June through October to back their latest release.
Canadian rock heroes the Tragically Hip travel through the U.S. and their native country from June through October to back their latest release.
The quintet’s itinerary includes a mix of festivals, clubs and theaters, and will include some Canadian arena dates as well.
Though the group is very successful in Canada, it has yet to find major chart success in the U.S. It has built a large live following in some U.S. markets, however, especially those bordering Canada.
“In Violet Light,” the band’s eighth album, is due in stores on June 11. Most of its 11 tracks were recorded in the Bahamas with producer Hugh Padgham (the Police, David Bowie, Phil Collins). The Hip and Mark Vreeken, the band’s longtime soundman, recorded and co-produced the album’s lead track, “Are You Ready,” and one other song at the band’s home studio in Bath, Ontario.
Zoe/Rounder will release “In Violet Light” in the U.S., and Universal will issue the album in Canada.
The Hip’s previous album, “Music @ Work,” was released in 2000, and entered the Canadian album charts at No. 1. It peaked at No. 139 on the Billboard 200 U.S. album chart.
In 2001, the group’s singer-lyricist Gordon Downie released and toured behind his solo album “Coke Machine Glow.”
In Brief: New Pearl Jam album a step closer to release
Plus news on Mariah Carey, the death of songwriter Otis Blackwell, and the most “spun” songs of the week.
Plus news on Mariah Carey, the death of songwriter Otis Blackwell, and the most “spun” songs of the week.
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Pearl Jam has finished the recording of its forthcoming album and will begin mixing soon, according to the band’s official website. “Stay tuned for details on the release date and upcoming tour info,” says a notice posted on the site.
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Billboard Bulletin reports that Mariah Carey will form a new label with the Island Def Jam Music Group. Carey took a nearly $30 million buyout and parted ways with Virgin Records in January after her first album for the label, “Glitter,” sold poorly.
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Songwriter Otis Blackwell died of a heart attack in Nashville on Monday (5/6). He was 70. Among the songs he penned were the Elvis Presley hits “Return to Sender,” “All Shook Up,” and “Don’t Be Cruel” and the Jerry Lee Lewis hits “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless.”
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The most-played songs on the radio for the week of April 29-May 5, according to Boadcast Data Systems:
Pop: “Foolish,” Ashanti
Rock: “I Stand Alone,” Godsmack
Alternative: “Seein’ Red,” Unwritten Law
Urban: “Foolish,” Ashanti
Country: “My List,” Toby Keith