This week in reunions... A Perfect Circle!

* A Perfect Circle, featuring members of the Smashing Pumpkins and Tool, are back together and on tour this summer.

* If you see Beady Eye on one of their few North American dates this year, don't expect to hear any Oasis songs, Gem Archer says. Not even the ones that Liam wrote?


* The Blink-182 reunion album could be out by summer, according to Rolling Stone.

* Lou Barlow just got Sebadoh back together, and a deluxe reissue of their 1994 album Bakesale comes out in June.

*And, the news you've all been waiting with baited breath for... thank your lucky stars, because after 6 long years, we finally have new Limp Bizkit music to look forward to. Gold Cobra, their first full-length album since 2003, comes out June 7.

This week in solo albums: Travis Barker?!?

* New this week: ex-Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft has a new solo album, recorded with several hip-hop producers. This probably isn't as terrible a move as Chris Cornell's album with Timbaland, just because Ashcroft's other solo work has been so soporific.

* Speaking of Chris Cornell, Soundgarden just put out a live album and are supposedly working in the studio, but Cornell is taking a break this spring to do some solo acoustic shows.  The one in my area sold out very quickly.

* Also new and in stores this week: Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker's solo album. Based on the performance I saw on Conan and the clips available online, Barker is just drumming and producing, not singing.

* Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis has a new solo album. It's supposed to be a bit "folky."

* While not a solo album per se, erstwhile Blur / Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn is working on a new opera about an Elizabethan-era astrologer which will premiere this summer in Manchester. That Damon, always out-Britishing everybody else.

*And my favorite solo album news of the week comes from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, whose second solo album will come out this summer and was recorded exclusively using ukuleles. Ukulele Songs comes out May 31. Check out the sounds of Hawaii on Vedder's solo tour; get dates here.

This week in reunions... Blink-182! STP!

* In the week's most exciting news, Spacehog are back together and working on an album, their first since 2001. Track their progress here. I like Spacehog: 1998's "Mungo City" is very under-rated. And the lead singer used to be married to Liv Tyler.


* Blink-182 are working on an album, which may or may not be out before they play a run of European shows beginning in mid-June.

* Stone Temple Pilots, who have been back together for enough time that it may not really be a "reunion" anymore, may be putting out another album this year. Scott Weiland may be putting out a Christmas album this year, too. In the meantime, the band's touring Australia in March.

* That Oleander reunion album may be out by April. Maybe.

This week in reunions... Phish! Blink! Limp! Aqua?!?

* Phish's reunion tour has begun, and the band will have a new album by the end of July. Catch a YouTube clip of one of the songs here. Wait... do Phish fans actually care about their recorded music? I thought they were all about the live show only.

* Blink-182 played a surprise mini-set at a T-Mobile party in Los Angeles. If you want to see bad cellphone footage of it, go here. If you want to read an interview with Mark Hoppus where he talks about Twitter and the tour, go here.

* Speaking of bad cellphone footage, if you want to see the Limp Bizkit reunion tour live from Latvia, go here. Early word on the European tour is that Wes Borland is really phoning it in (which isn't really that surprising).

* Aqua are back together, with a new song ... about the 1980s, which mostly just namechecks a bunch of stuff from "I Love the 80s." I think Bowling for Soup did it a bit better, but this is the band famous for "Barbie Girl," so whatever.

This week in reunions... Sugar Ray

* Jane's Addiction's tour with Nine Inch Nails only just started, and already the band is feuding with bassist Eric Avery, who stayed away from the previous two reunions. Oh, and Perry Farrell tore a calf muscle in his leg and will have to perform on crutches.

* Sugar Ray are back together; you may remember that lead singer Mark McGrath took some time out to host Extra, host a Pussycat Dolls-themed reality show, and appear on an episode of Law and Order: SVU. Their new album Music for Cougars comes out July 21, and they'll be on tour most of the summer. Listen to the first single, "Boardwalk," here.

* The Wallflowers will indeed have something to promote on their summer tour: a greatest hits album with two "previously unreleased" tracks.

* Rancid have a new album, out June 2, though I'm not sure if it counts as a reunion. Their last album was in 2003, and since then they've done a variety of side projects and solo albums. But they toured in '06. So... regardless, the new album's called Let the Dominoes Fall.

* The dates from the Blink-182 reunion tour have been released, and it starts July 24. Weezer, the All-American Rejects, and Fall Out Boy are opening on various dates.

Weezer, Blink-182 touring together this summer

No dates yet, but apparently Weezer will be opening up for the big Blink-182 reunion tour, says Buzznet.

In other news, Rainn Wilson and Rivers Cuomo have recorded a cover of the Joan Osborne hit "One of Us." Fast-forward to 4:50 or so if you want to miss all the idle chitchat:

Who do you want to see on Behind the Music?

Behind the Music is coming back. Scott Weiland and Blink-182 are already ticketed for two of the 10 episodes ordered; who would you like to see for the other 8?

The Pantheon 1: Punk revival bands

After this post on Less than Jake set off a wide-ranging discussion on the merits and ranks of various bands, it seems like a new series is needed. So here's the Pantheon: the great bands of the '90s. It's been long enough to get some critical perspective. As always, discuss and argue below:

First up, the great punk revival of 1994 and beyond:

First-tier
Green Day - uncontested champions. If Dookie's not enough, consider their triumphant return to form with American Idiot. They've collaborated with U2, covered John Lennon (with Yoko's blessing), had countless hits, and sold millions of albums while influencing every Warped Tour band that came after. Plus, I still really like "Redundant."


The Offspring - forever the Rolling Stones to Green Day's Beatles, they'll never have the same critical success even as they approach the same level of commercial success. Get extra points for Dexter Holland's tight braids back in the day, his impossible-to-imitate voice, and his Ph.D. in microbiology.

Blink-182 - Had less of an impact in the '90s than the above bands, though "Dammit" was a good single and Enema of the State did come out in '99. And now they're back.

Bad Religion - one of our posters was adamant about including this band here. I loved Recipe for Hate and Stranger than Fiction, and you have to give them props for founding Epitaph Records, which was responsible for Offspring, Rancid, etc. But I only tolerated The Gray Race, and their material after that has been fairly weak. It seems obvious that the band needed Brett Gurewitz, who ditched in '95 and came back in '02. Still, last time I was in LA, I heard them on the radio four or five times and they can still play large venues on the West Coast whenever they want.

Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves was a masterpiece, but our posters are right, they really didn't do that much either before or after that (I'm not counting Operation Ivy).
Man, "Ruby Soho" is a great song, though:


Second-tier
Face to Face... MxPx... NOFX ... Rocket from the Crypt (a lot more popular than you would think in the UK, to this day)... Pennywise (never quite got over the hump)... Social Distortion

Third-tier
FenixTX... Unwritten Law... (who knew they had an album on Epic in '96?)... Sprung Monkey... No Use for a Name (love their punk cover of "Fairytale of New York")...

This week in reunions... BLINK-182

* Earlier this week, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker claimed to be both doing solo albums, but then they appeared on stage at the Grammys just now with Tom and announced that they're back. A visit to Blink-182.com reveals that a summer 2009 tour is in the works.*

* Stone Temple Pilots are once again dormant, while Scott Weiland supports his solo album and clothing line.

**And speaking of the Grammys, how awesome was Dave Grohl drumming with Paul McCartney?

This week in reunions... Blur! Blink-182! No Doubt! Get Up Kids!

Whole lot of reunion news this week. Let's get to it...

* Damon Albarn said this afternoon on the BBC that Blur will be reforming to record new material in 2009.

*The members of Blink-182 are "talking," says Mark Hoppus, following drummer Travis Barker's plane crash. Does this mean a reunion? Probably not. Angels and Airwaves haven't failed enough for Tom DeLonge to come crawling back; they just got done opening for Weezer.

* If this post on The Get Up Kids' website is true, then the rumors of a reunion tour in '09 are also true. Awesome.

* Also gearing up to tour in 2009 is No Doubt, according to Billboard. The band is also set to put out a new album, its first since 2001's genre-hopping Rock Steady. The last time we heard much from No Doubt was the greatest-hits album in 2003 and a tour in 2004. Since then, Gwen Stefani's put out two solo records, neither of which I liked.

* Jane's Addiction, with all four original members, played another surprise show at a club in Los Angeles, their third this year. Their bassist hints that "rehearsals" have been taking place. Hm...

* The Meat Puppets, with both brothers back in the fold, are touring in December and January. Get dates here. Everybody remembers "Backwater," but do you remember the Puppets' other modern rock hit, 1995's "Scum"?

Yeah, me neither. Allmusic says it hit #28, but I'm guessing it was only there for a week based on the strength of "Backwater" and then fell off. I'm sure I've never heard that song, and I'd never seen the video until I found it on YouTube. Fairly cool video, though.

Travis Barker critically injured in plane crash

Blink-182 / +44 drummer Travis Barker was critically injured in a plane crash Friday night in Columbia, SC, hours after performing a free show as TRVSDJ-AM with Perry Farrell and Gavin DeGraw. Four others were killed in the crash.
Barker is reportedly being treated at a burn unit in Augusta, GA.

TRVSDJ-AM, which also includes DJ-AM, was the house band at the 2008 Video Music Awards. AM also survived the crash.

Blink-182 not reuniting

Live Daily has a new interview with Angels and Airwaves frontman Tom DeLonge, where he talks about his painkiller addiction, his new business venture, the Angels and Airwaves documentary (and possibly coffee table books?), and the fact that he doesn't think Blink-182 is ever getting back together.
It's too bad they didn't ask the question really on everyone's mind: when do we get a Boxcar Racer reunion?


DeLonge, of course, has two Top 10 albums with Angels and Airwaves, and Blink only broke up three years ago. I'll lay down $20 we see a Blink reunion tour by 2025.

Angels and Airwaves (also featuring former Rocket from the Crypt and Offspring drummer Atom Willard) will be bringing their punk-meets-Pink Floyd and U2 aesthetic to the Warped Tour all summer. The other two-thirds of Blink are supposedly in the studio working on a second +44 album, though some Internet chatter has indicated that label funding hasn't been forthcoming.

According to Wikipedia, the Angels and Airwaves albums have outsold the +44 album about 4 to 1, although the +44 guys have been playing Blink hits in concert ("Dammit," "What's My Age Again?", etc.)