This week in break-ups... Nine Inch Nails, Live, and more

* Nine Inch Nails have announced their "final shows" later this year, though it's not clear if this means they're breaking up. Plus, could Trent Reznor break up with himself?

* In the "staying broken up department," Soundgarden are apparently not getting back together, no matter what the lead singer of Shinedown tells people. They may, however, be working on a b-sides album or a box set, Chris Cornell says.

* Ex-Cranberry Dolores O'Riordan has a new album out August 25, and will be touring in the U.S. this fall. And even though the band got back together for a one-off recently, don't expect a larger reunion. That's probably an OK thing; as good as some of the singles off the first two albums are, the Cranberries had really worn out their welcome by the time they broke up.

* Speaking of wearing out your welcome, Live, who are lucky they have any fans left after the abomination that was 2001's V, are going on a two-year hiatus. Ed Kowalczyk's doing a solo album, and some of the guys are rumored to be doing some sort of side project with the lead singer of Candlebox. While still huge in Belgium and the Netherlands, Live's been dealing with diminished returns in the US for a decade now, and super-fan Chris Daughtry's public support wasn't able to goose their career that much a few years back.

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

News bites: Alanis Morrisette, Candlebox, Liz Phair, Extreme

Again, thanks to Tied to the '90s reader Chris for the tips.

* Alanis Morissette, fresh off a long tour opening for Matchbox 20, has a new single, "Underneath." Her album Flavors of Entanglement comes out on June 10, and if you go here, you can get it with five bonus tracks, six lyric art cards, and a big fat Alanis Morrisette autograph. Anyone else think of Alanis everytime How I Met Your Mother does the Robin Sparkles gag about the ex-Canadian teen pop star?

Alanis will also be on the Today Show Friday (May 23), then plays European festivals all summer.

*Candlebox, who reunited for some shows a couple of years ago, have a new album out July 22 called Into the Sun. The first single, "Stand," is now available on iTunes and is not a cover of the 1989 REM hit (if anything, the guitar riff sounds like "You," their second hit). It's their first album of new material since 1998's Happy Pills (a greatest hits came out in 2006).

Here's their last big rock hit, 1998's "It's Alright." I honestly do not remember this song at all, and I was living in Oklahoma City 10 years ago, where there was only an active rock station, and Candlebox came on tour (I specifically remember this because Feeder opened, and we contemplated going. I now realize that Feeder rule, and I should have gone).


* Liz Phair has left Capitol Records after two adult-pop albums, and signed with Dave Matthews' label, ATO. The first release will be a 15th-anniversary edition of her debut, Exile in Guyville, out June 24. She will reportedly perform the album in its entirety at a show in New York the next night. A new studio album will follow in the fall.

I never really liked Exile to Guyville, but the follow-up, Whip-Smart, was pretty good, and I really liked the single "Supernova."


* And finally, Idolator reports that Extreme are back together, with a new album to be released this year. And yes, Extreme had their biggest hit in 1991. The band's last album was 1995, after which lead singer Gary Cherone famously joined Van Halen for an album and lead guitarist Nuno Bettencourt not-so-famously joined Perry Farrell for an album.