This week in reunions...

* The Red Hot Chili Peppers gave the impression that they were on "semi-permanent hiatus" after Stadium Arcadium, but now they're thinking about getting Justice (the French techno duo) to produce their next album (according to the Sun, Britain's third- or fourth-most reputable tabloid newspaper). So... I dunno. Does that even count as a reunion?

* Sixpence None the Richer got back together for a set at the Cornerstone Christian-music festival earlier this month after six years apart and are working on a new album. They've had three Top 100 hits; two were covers. Can you name them?

Last week in reunions...

This is very old news, apparently, but I was sorting out old e-mails, and found the item that Jane's Addiction reunited for a show with all four original members (which had never happened before). Where was I? Oh, right, the other side of the country. If you're so inclined, pictures of the gig are here.

A pre-reunion took place with Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Flea, and Travis Barker (of Blink-182) in an impromptu Jane's-covering supergroup.

Also back together are Swervedriver, who I saw in the spring of '98 with Hum. They were unimpressive. This also qualifies as old news, because apparently they played Coachella.

Better than Ezra - as the band turns

Is Kevin Griffin doing a solo album? His Myspace account certainly seems to be set up that way, with a new song that doesn't sound like a demo (it's good, too, like some of the softer ballads that closed out the band's late '90s albums). But uncorroborated reports from a Kansas City show at the end of May indicate that a new BTE album may be coming in the spring.

Has Griffin shelved his solo work? Pulled an Art Alexakis and turned it into full-band material? Will it be on a label (BTE has bounced from Elektra to Beyond to Sanctuary to Artemis the last four albums, and those last three labels are now defunct), or self-released? Stay tuned for the next exciting bout of speculation on... As the Band Turns...

This week in reunions...

* Rage Against the Machine, as previously noted, are touring this summer, but apparently not working on any new music together. Frontman Zack de la Rocha finally (after 10 years) will release an album July 22 called One Day as a Lion. Oh, wait, it's an EP. So it's taken him 10 years to do five tracks. Wow. You can listen to collaborations with Trent Reznor and DJ Shadow that have already appeared here. Meanwhile, Tom Morello will release his second solo album, The Fabled City, on September 30. To recap: since RATM broke up the first time, Morello has made three Audioslave albums and two solo albums. De la Rocha has put out a soundtrack contribution, an online-only single, and an EP.

* Shudder to Think are back together for the first time since 1998 for nine shows scattered throughout the summer and fall, including appearances at August's Virgin Festival in Baltimore, September's Virgin Festival in Toronto and October's Virgin (sorry, Voodoo) Festival in New Orleans. Get all the dates here. Don't remember Shudder to Think? Here's a taster, "Nine Lives."



* Sadly, it doesn't look as if the Get Up Kids (who broke up in July 2005) are getting back together anytime soon, what with keyboardist James Deewees releasing a new album with Reggie and the Full Effect and (maybe) joining My Chemical Romance, former lead singer Matthew Pryor doing kids' music with the Terrible Twos, and guitarist Jim Suptic rocking out Replacements-style with the Blackpool Lights. But hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

Win Fastball tickets

Visit this site if you want to win some tickets to see '90s bands. Right now, they appear to have contests to win Fastball tickets in Little Rock and Ours tickets in Atlanta.

Barenaked Ladies singer busted for drugs

Say it ain't so, singing-not-rapping guy from the Barenaked Ladies!

Steven Page's coke and pot bust in northern New York earlier this week may not bode well for the band's new kiddie music turn.

Could YOU be Courtney Love's bass player?

Courtney Love is looking for a bass player and holding quasi-open auditions, according to this article.

Hm... I can play bass. And I know the chords to "Doll Parts"... "Violet," too...
I wonder if the new album will be loud and violent, like the first solo album, or glammed up, like late-'90s Hole?
Here's "Malibu."

Oasis to release (at least) three more albums

The first single off Oasis' new album, "The Shock of the Lightning," will be out September 29 in the UK, meaning it will probably go to radio in the US in early September.

And they've reportedly signed a new three-album deal, meaning there should be at least two more after this next one. Idolator's got a nice, snarky wrap-up of Oasis' last three albums, with some YouTube clips.

I was an Oasis apologist during the fallow years at the turn of the millennium, and it was nice to see them turn things around with 2005's Don't Believe the Truth. Here's hoping this new one makes two in a row.

This week in reunions...

* Chester Bennington of Linkin Park swears he is not replacing Scott Weiland in Velvet Revolver. Steve Isaacs of Panic Channel, the band that half of Jane's Addiction is in now, says he's not taking the gig, either.

* Meanwhile, the DeLeo brothers basically admit they're doing the STP reunion for the cash, while Weiland spits loogies behind (or perhaps between?) them.

* The reunited Toadies have added a bunch of new dates, beginning August 21 and ending September 26, all west of the Mississippi.

* The Smashing Pumpkins are still operating at half-original-member capacity (James Iha and D'Arcy are quite out of the picture), but that's not stopping them from re-releasing their debut album Gish in a box-set format and planning a Gish tour sometime in 2009, and doing a 20th anniversary tour this year. The only date announced so far for the "20th anniversary tour" is a casino in Hammond, IN on August 9.

Candlebox on tour

As mentioned previously, Candlebox (with 3 of 4 original members), are back on tour. And what a tour it is: eight dates in Texas, eight dates in Florida in the month of August. Those boys are going to sweat.

So where have they been for 10 years? Alternative Addiction has the scoop. Apparently the release of a best-of in 2005 led to talk of a reunion tour, which took place in 2006 (I have a buddy who heard about the Candlebox reunion show on the radio while drunk, bought the tickets online, then couldn't remember and was completely flummoxed when Candlebox tickets showed up in his mailbox). They've been working on this new album (entitled Into the Sun) for more than a year.

So where's the fourth original member, bassist Bardi Martin? I'm not sure. Wikipedia says he played with the band on their reunion shows two years ago, but has since left. The guy appears to have a Facebook page, though; somebody be friends with him and tell us what's up! Meanwhile, the current bass player is Adam Kury, not to be confused with Adam Curry, the MTV VJ.

If you visit their website, by the way, or iTunes, you'll see that they've already got five songs off the album available for individual purchase.

Candlebox tourdates:
July 11 - Quaker City Raceway (Ribs&Rock Festival) - Salem, OH
July 12 - Headwaters Park (Three River Festival) - Fort Wayne, IN
July 15 - Bogart's, Cincinnati
July 16 - Kickers, Clarkesville, TN
July 17 - Center Stage, Atlanta
July 19 - Xclamation Festival, Modesto, CA
July 21 - The Viper Room, West Hollywood, CA
July 25 - The Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA
July 26 - Gateway Golf Center (Rockin' on the River) - Clarkstown, WA
July 27 - Knitting Factory, Boise, ID
July 29 - Bluebird Theatre, Denver
July 31 - Midnite Rodeo 3, Abilene TX
August 1 - The Palladium Ballroom, Dallas
August 2 - Warehouse Live, Houston
August 4 - Scout Bar, San Antonio
August 5 - Whiskey River, Waco TX
August 6 - Dos Amigos, Odessa, TX
August 8 - The Pavilion at Concrete Street, Corpus Christi, TX
August 9 - Grahams, San Angelo, TX
August 11 - The Rev Room, Little Rock
August 12 - Soul Kitchen, Mobile, AL
August 13 - The Swamp, Fort Walton Beach, FL
August 15 - Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, FL
August 16 - Ricochets, Fort Myers, FL
August 17 - Captain Hirams Resort, Sebastian, FL
August 19 - Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale, FL
August 20 - Mojo Room, Port St. Lucie, FL
August 22 - House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista, FL
August 23 - Free Bird Live, Jacksonville, FL
August 24 - The Music Farm, Charleston, SC
August 27 - Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach, NH
August 28 - Thursday at the Square, Buffalo NY
August 29 - Crocodile Rock, Allentown, PA
September 2 - Chameleon, Lancaster, PA
September 3 - Magic City Music Hall, Johnson City, NY
September 5 - Northern Lights, Clifton Park, NY
September 6 - Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ
September 7 - The Recher Theatre, Towson, MD
September 9 - The Norva, Norfolk, VA
September 10 - Amo's Southend, Charlotte, NC

Alanis fat?

Occasionally I take a look at my Google analytics scores, and one of the most popular searches that people use to get here is "fat Alanis." Another popular one is "is Alanis fat?" By the way, Google doesn't answer questions, just so you know.

So I got to wondering: has Alanis Morrissette gained some weight? She hasn't been on the cover of the Enquirer Kirstie Alley-style or anything. Here's her most recent single, "Underneath."


Nope, doesn't look to be heavy. Apparently, the queries come from this article from May, where Alanis blames a record executive for eating disorders in her past. But just because somebody used to have an eating disorder, that doesn't make them fat now.

So let's settle this one now: Alanis Morrisette is not fat. But Arnel Pineda might be.

Dandy Warhols on tour

The Dandy Warhols are back and embarking on a fall tour, says Filter (the magazine, not the band). Their new album, Earth To The Dandy Warhols, comes out August 19.

I always sorta liked this band, even after that documentary Dig showed them to be giant poseurs. They were always much bigger in Europe than over here, kinda like Fun Lovin' Criminals and, since 1998 or so, REM.

Dandy Warhols tourdates:
September 9 - First Avenue, Minneapolis
September 10 - Barrymore, Madison, WI
September 12 - Vic Theater, Chicago
September 13 - Kool Haus, Toronto
September 14 - Club Soda, Montreal
September 16 - Wilbur Theatre, Boston
September 17 - Terminal 5, New York City
September 20 - TLA, Philadelphia
September 22 - 9:30 Club, Washington DC
September 23 - Variety Playhouse, Atlanta
September 26 - Liberty Hall, Lawrence, KS
September 27 - Gothic Theater, Denver
September 28 - Belly Up, Aspen, CO
October 3 - The Wiltern, Los Angeles
October 4 - Warfield, San Francisco
October 5 - The Roseland Theater, Portland, OR

Here's 1997's "Not if you were the Last Junkie on Earth:"

From the Cutout Bin: Pee Shy - Who Let All the Monkeys Out?

Welcome to From the Cutout Bin, where we dig up old CDs that have been forgotten for whatever reason and can now be found in the dollar (or quarter) bin at your local used CD store (if your community still has a used CD store). This installment features 1996's Who Let all the Monkeys Out?, by the unfortunately named Pee Shy.

When I was in college (the tail end of the '90s), the people I knew who worked at our college radio station were really, really into this band. In fact, I was going through some boxes in my closet this weekend, and found that they were #1 on the WTUL Top 10 one week. Yet I don't remember ever hearing a single song of theirs until I popped this dollar purchase into my computer.

And... it's cute, if a little bit twee. Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna fame produced it (his only producing credit until 2006, according to allmusic). The band featured a lot of odd instrumentation: clarinets, accordions, trumpets, and saxophones can be found wherever you look, but there's hardly any guitar, bass, or drums. And there are three extremely odd spoken-word interludes which sound like they could have been broadcast as essays on NPR.

It turns out Pee Shy came from Tampa, home to other alt-rock also-rans Sugarspoon and the Hazies (all of whom got signed and put out debut albums in '96). According to this article, co-leader Cindy Wheeler used to run a bookstore in one of the hipper parts of Tampa; her partner in crime Jenny Juristo had an off-kilter radio show on the lower end of the FM dial.

This album did have a chance: it came out in 1996, a year after Jill Sobule's left-field hit "I Kissed a Girl," which was also quirky and twee. And it was the second release from Mercury affiliate Blue Gorilla: the first release was Joan Osborne's Relish, which made enough money to ensure adequate promotion for Pee Shy.

But maybe it was just too weird. As of November 1996 (seven months after its release), Who Let All the Monkeys Out had only sold about 1,000 copies, and it's hard to imagine it sold that many more after that date. Pee Shy moved to New York City, recorded a second album, Don't Get Too Comfortable, which made #2 on the college radio charts, got played on Melrose Place, and even got a little airplay on KROQ. But that was it, and the band broke up towards the end of 1998.

Pee Shy made at least one video to promote this album, for the song "Little Dudes." I can't embed it (thanks, Universal!), but you can view it here. Wait... is this song about 30-something women doing teenage men? Pee Shy correctly anticipated the cougar craze!

So, if you see this album selling for one crisp dollar, is it worth your time? Yes, if only because it's currently going for $3.25 on Amazon.

This week in reunions...

* According to the New York Times, Stone Temple Pilots' current tour isn't going so well. Idolator (via shock-radio hosts Opie and Anthony) says that one of the DeLeo brothers engaged in a screaming match with Weiland's closed bus door, then attempted to have Weiland's assistant fired. The tour (maybe) goes through the end of August.

* The reunited Verve are offering a free single, "Mover," on their website until July 7. Their reunion album, entitled Forth, comes out August 19. The first single, "Love Is Noise," can be heard on their Myspace page. And it's tons better than Richard Ashcroft's execrable solo slop.

* Marky Mark says he's not getting back together with the Funky Bunch. This is not stopping members of the Funky Bunch from sitting by their phones, just in case.

* Limp Bizkit may be ripe for a comeback, given that Chris Martin of Coldplay recently declared himself a fan. But that's probably not going to happen, given that Fred Durst is acting (did you see him on the House season finale?) and directing Ice Cube movies and Wes Borland is putting out covers albums with his new band Black Light Burns (hear them do "Hungry Like the Wolf"!)

Happy 4th of July!

Why not celebrate with some baseball and some Goo Goo Dolls?


The Goos have a new single, "Real," on iTunes beginning June 7. An odds-and-sods CD/DVD compliation comes out in August.

New Travis single

Scottish soft-rockers Travis have a new 3-track single, the J. Smith EP, available online now. I got my copy at their website (it comes in digital or 10-inch vinyl), though it is also available on iTunes. Based on an initial listen, "J. Smith" is a bold attempt in a new direction, "Get Up" wasn't that great, and "Sarah" was a typical beautiful Travis ballad.

As their 1997 classic is the namesake for this here blog, I figured I should give 'em a little love.

The three tracks are a taster for a full album to follow this fall. Travis are playing European and Asian festivals this summer.

Foo Fighters to tour with Supergrass

The Foo Fighters have announced that Supergrass will be joining them for their summer US tour. Foo Fighters are currently riding their third Top 10 modern rock single off of last year's Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace. Supergrass, meanwhile, haven't had a modern-rock charting single since 1997's "Cheapskate," which skated into the lower reaches of the Top 40.

They remain quite popular in Europe, however, and just released a new album, Diamond Hoo Ha.

Foo Fighters / Supergrass tour dates:
July 9 - Key Arena, Seattle
July 10 - Rose Garden Arena, Portland OR
July 14 and 15 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
July 17 - Ford Center, Oklahoma City
July 19 - Kemper Arena, Kansas City
July 20 - Scottrade Center, St. Louis
July 22 - Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI
July 23 - Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
July 25 - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland
July 26 - Peterson Events Center, Pittsburgh
July 28 - Blue Cross Arena, Rochester
July 29 - Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ