Your BTE update

After briefly hitting the Top 10 (on iTunes at least), Better than Ezra's new album Paper Empire debuted at #62 this week, their highest placement since their first album, Deluxe (you know, the one with "Good" on it).

And now the band's on tour all summer. Dates below:

May 29 & 30 - House of Blues, New Orleans
June 2 - Flytrap, Tulsa
June 3 - Whiskey Roadhouse, Council Bluffs, IA
June 5 - Fort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth
June 6 - House of Blues, Houston
June 7 - House of Blues, Dallas
June 9 - Soul Kitchen, Mobile, AL
June 11 - Culture Room, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
June 12 - Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, FL
June 13 - House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista, FL
June 14 - Variety Playhouse, Atlanta
June 16 - 9:30 Club, Washington DC
June 17 - Trocadero Theatre, Philadelphia
June 18 - Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY
June 19 - Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, New York City
June 20 - Paradise Rock Club, Boston
June 23 - House of Blues, Cleveland
June 24 - Pioneer Court, Chicago
June 25 - The Vogue, Indianapolis
June 26 - 4th Street Live, Louisville
June 27 - House of Blues, Chicago
June 28 - Summerfest, Milwaukee
July 9 - Alive at Five, Stamford, CT
July 10 - Bottle and Cork, Dewey Beach, DE
July 11 - NorVA, Norfolk, VA
July 12 - The National, Richmond, VA
July 14 - Rex Theatre, Pittsburgh
July 15 - Emerald Theatre, Mount Clemens, MI
July 17 - Snowden Grove Amphitheater, Southaven, MS
July 19 - 3rd and Lindsley, Nashville
July 24 - Kansas City Live, Kansas City
July 25 - The Pageant, St. Louis
July 30 - Alive @ Five, Stamford, CT
August 12 - The Independent, San Francisco
August 13 - Music in the Park, San Jose, CA
August 21 - Power Plant Live, Baltimore
August 22 - Downtown Live, Raleigh, NC

And for fun, here's Taylor Swift covering BTE's "Our Last Night:"

Better than Ezra's big comeback

As I write this (Thursday morning), Better than Ezra's Paper Empire is the #7 album on the iTunes charts. Yesterday, it was #3 (this from a band whose five previous albums peaked at #35, #64, #129, #110, and #84 on the Billboard charts). The album got a featured review at allmusic. Entertainment Weekly is streaming one of the tracks, "Just One Day" (listen here). Bands like the Fray name-check them as an influence, and Kevin Griffin wrote a song with American Idol winner David Cook.

Does the great '90s retro revival start here? While you ponder that, check out BTE's new video, "Absolutely Still":

Breaking... McNabb leaves Better than Ezra

Geez, I leave the site alone for a couple of weeks because it seemed like nothing was going on in the world of '90s music, and look what I missed.

You may remember this blog's semi-breathless (and soap-operatic) reporting of goings-on in the Better than Ezra camp. At the time, speculation was that bass player Tom Drummond was unhappy. Well, Tom's back in the fold, but drummer Travis McNabb is leaving to play with multiplatinum country superstars Sugarland full time. Here's the statement from BTE's website:

EVERY NEW BEGINNING IS ANOTHER BEGINNING'S END

Fans and friends, we want to let you know that after 12 great years with Better Than Ezra, Travis McNabb is moving on to pursue other opportunities in music. You probably are aware that Travis has been touring with Sugarland for the past year and a half. We will miss Travis dearly and wish him nothing but success and happiness in the years to come. He will remain a close friend of the band and will continue to serve on the board of the band’s charity – The Better Than Ezra Foundation. Travis’ last show with the band will be this Sunday in Metairie.

That said, it is with great excitement that we welcome Michael Jerome to the band. We've been friends with Michael for awhile and have been a fan of his drumming. Michael has toured with the likes of Richard Thompson, John Cale, and New Orleans' own, Pleasure Club. He brings with him a great musical sensibility and an explosive live show.
In May Better Than Ezra will release our seventh studio album, Paper Empire. We are thrilled with how it sounds and can't wait for you to hear it. Looking forward to touring with new music, new gags and of course, new dance moves! Thanks so much for all your support over the years…many more to come!

See you on the road in '09!
Kevin and Tom

McNabb joined the band in time to record their second major-label album, 1996's Friction, Baby (ongoing legal disputes with original drummer Cary Bonnecaze have prevented the re-release of the band's cassette-only debut album, Surprise, which now goes for princely sums on eBay). For a great example of his prowess, watch him in this live clip of "Desperately Wanting":

(I always liked that maracas trick... sorry about the terrible sound quality).

Drummond, McNabb, and Kevin Griffin will cross paths again when Better than Ezra and Sugarland both perform at the New Orleans Jazz Fest later this spring. BTE's new album Paper Empire comes out May 12 on MRI Records, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Both McNabb and Jerome play on the album, and the first single "Absolutely Still" should hit radio (probably AAA and Adult Top 40) in March.

Interestingly enough, according to this post on BTE's messageboard, Jerome briefly played drums for the Toadies, and was also in Pop Poppins and Course of Empire, two fairly-minor Dallas acts in the '90s.

* Thanks to readers Chris and Siyabonga for the tips!

New BTE in 2009

We've reported several times with National Enquirer-like histrionics about the goings-on in the Better than Ezra camp... Kevin Griffin's possible solo album, people missing from public service announcements about hurricane awareness, etc. etc.

But now comes word from Griffin's myspace page that a new BTE album is coming in spring 2009 (although it's not finished recording yet).

Griffin also did an interview with Alternative Addiction in which he states that half the album is finished, with the rest to be recorded in January. The album could come out in May, although a few tourdates have already been announced for March.

Here's 1996's "King of New Orleans," which hit #5 on the modern rock charts.

Your American Idol goes '90s update

As we previously reported here, American Idol winner David Cook has been working with an all-star cast of alt-rock luminaries, including members of Collective Soul, the Nixons, and Our Lady Peace. The first single, "Light On," was co-written with Chris Cornell. The album is out in two weeks, and while the complete list of songwriting credits isn't available, we do know that one track, "Avalanche," was co-written with Kevin Griffin of Better than Ezra.

Also wanting to get in on the action is AI runner-up David Archuleta; he's got a cover of Robbie Williams' "Angels" on his album, out next week. It's a little treacly.

I have managed to ignore every American Idol alum thus far (though the missus likes Carrie Underwood, and I enjoy Butch Walker's take on "Since U Been Gone"). I might have to buy this David Cook album, though.

More signs of trouble in BTE camp?

When last we checked in with Better Than Ezra, lead singer Kevin Griffin was posting a solo track to his Myspace page, even as the band was announcing from the stage that a new BTE album should be out soon.
Since that time, two more tracks have made it to Griffin's Myspace, and they're quite good: "Who's Gonna Love the Loveless" in particular is very strong. Even more interesting, the song is listed as from the album TBA, on Control Group Music.
The Control Group is a Seattle-based label that has put out albums by Super Deluxe, among others, as well as vinyl for The Killers, Vendetta Red, and Kings of Leon.

And now intrepid fans on the BTE messageboard have noticed that bass player Tom Drummond doesn't have Griffin listed in his Top 8 friends on Myspace, and Griffin doesn't have Drummond in HIS Top 8 friends! And then two new PSAs were posted on BTE's main website urging people to get ready for hurricanes. Griffin and drummer Travis McNabb appear in the ads, but Drummond does not.

(cue overly-melodramatic music) Stay tuned for another episode of... As the Band Turns...

Seriously, though, it should be noted that the band could clear this up really quickly by posting something on their website along the lines of "hey, we're still together, we've got an album coming out in the fall, and we hope you like it." But this is a band that updates its website roughly every three years, so...

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...

Better than Ezra on a (semi-permanent) break?

Coming on the heels of the quiet announcement that their fan club has shut down and drummer Travis McNabb's recent touring with Sugarland, someone on the Better than Ezra messageboard found a pretty good source that indicates lead singer Kevin Griffin is making a solo album.

What this means for Better than Ezra, one of my top 3 favorite bands of all time, is unclear. They've never been the type to release information via their website, so the only thing that can be gleaned there is that they've only played New Orleans dates in the last few months. It's known that Griffin moved out of New Orleans post-Katrina, while the other two guys in the band stayed. The last two record labels they were on (Beyond Records for 2001's Closer and V2 for 2005's Before the Robots) both went bankrupt, which has to be a demoralizing experience. And Griffin has built up a lucrative second career as a songwriter for hire, working with Howie Day, Graham Colton, Meat Loaf, and Blondie, among others. If he is working on a solo album, there's no indication (other than in the comments section) on his MySpace page.

Here's hoping that Griffin pulls a Matchbox 20, does his solo thing, and then triumphantly returns back to his old band.
Here's "Live Again," off of 1998's criminally-underrated How Does Your Garden Grow? It's a perfect example of just how great this band is live (trust me, I've seen them somewhere between seven and nine times).