'90s stars at Sundance

If you're going to be at the Sundance Festival in Park City, Utah this month, be sure to make time for the music. Among the acts scheduled to be in attendance are Goo Goo Dolls frontman Johnny Rzeznik, ex-Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson, and the Gin Blossoms.

Solo albums and side projects update

Lots of your '90s favorites are working on side-projects and solo albums right now. Here's a round-up:

* Paul Doucette, drummer and now guitarist in Matchbox 20, has a new solo album under the name The Break and Repair Method. Tracy Bonham helped out on it. Matchbox are recording a new album soon, to be released at the end of 2009.

* Robby Takac, bass player from the Goo Goo Dolls, is involved with an electronica/dance project called Amungus. Didn't see that one coming.

* Black Lab singer Paul Durham has released an album of covers on Amazon.com's mp3 service under the name Mirror Ball Associates.

* Mike Doughty of Soul Coughing fame has a new solo album. Two of the guys from Semisonic helped out on it. He's on tour now.

* The dude from Sister Hazel just put out his first solo album. Sister Hazel is working on a new album to be released in 2009.

* J.R. Richards from Dishwalla is working on a solo album with John Mellencamp's drummer and the guitarist from Ednaswap, among others. Look for it in 2009.

Links roundup

Sometimes stuff just doesn't warrant a full post. To wit...

* A reflection on Beck's varied career, over at Idolator. I've never really been able to get into Beck. Sure, I liked the Odelay stuff, I enjoyed "Debra" ironically, and I sort of liked the newer singles when I heard them on the radio, but I don't own a Beck album. I've never seen him live. I probably won't buy his greatest hits, and if I never hear "Loser" or "Where It's At" again, I'd be OK.

* Third Eye Blind may be close to finally putting out a fourth album, says this (fairly-old) post by their new guitarist. As far as original members go, they're down to Stephan Jenkins and the drummer. I didn't like much of the third album or the non-"Never Let You Go" parts of the second album, so...

*A celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Billboard Modern Rock charts, along with some nice YouTube videos. I especially liked "I'll Be Your Chauffeur," from 1990, which I'd never actually heard before.

* There's a nice interview with Robby Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls over at Alternative Addiction. They've just built a studio, put out an odds-and-sods album, and are writing the next album. The first taste is a track called "Real," which was part of the AT&T promo for the Olympics:

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.