This week in break-ups: Beady Eye! Live!

* Ed Kowalczyk is spending the month of March touring solo around the US. Part of the dates are his regular Open Wings Broken Strings dates, featuring solo acoustic stuff. For this run, the guy from Tonic and the girl from Sixpence None the Richer will be opening up.

* Oasis-minus-Noel-Gallagher are calling themselves Beady Eye, and their first album comes out at the end of the month. The first single, "The Roller," did not chart as well as expected when it came out in Britain earlier this year.
Listen for yourself:


* In case you hadn't heard, the White Stripes (who just barely qualify for this blog, their first album having been released on a tiny indie in June 1999), broke up. Look for Jack White in about 40 other bands.

* Staind's Aaron Lewis has a solo album coming out soon. It's supposedly a country record. Now let us never speak of this again.

This week in break-ups: Live! Red Hot Chili Peppers! Fuel!

* Apparently John Frusciante quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers a year ago, and forgot to tell anybody. The Chilis reformed with some other guitarist for a tribute concert honoring Neil Young. Meanwhile, Flea turned up over the holidays playing the Simpsons theme on Fox and backing up Josh Groban for a performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the BCS Championship Game and is now part of Atoms for Peace, Thom Yorke's backing band, which is touring the US in April.

* That Live hiatus may be a lot longer than anybody realized. Guitarist Chad Taylor has taken to his blog and accused lead singer Ed Kowalczyk of stealing from the rest of the band. The non-Kowalczyk members of Live are in a new band called the Gracious Few, with Kevin Martin of Candlebox on lead vocals. Kowalczyk is doing a solo acoustic tour with Art Alexakis and the chick from Sixpence None the Richer.

* Fuel haven't been heard from since 2007 or so, and now ex-lead singer Brett Scallions and bassist Jeff Abercrombie have started a band called Refueled, which tours around and plays Fuel's songs off the first three (successful) albums. Meanwhile, Scallions' replacement, Tornyn Green, has joined a new band. Which would make one think that Fuel are no more.

This week in break-ups... the Verve (again)

* The Verve, who got back together in 2007, have broken up, again. This makes the third time, and once again, the problem is that everybody else in the band apparently hates Richard Ashcroft. The guitarist and bass player have started a new band with the lead singer of Goldfrapp, and Ashcroft is presumably returning to his milquetoast solo career. In the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure how big a loss this is; last year's reunion album, Forth, didn't exactly set the world on fire.

* Noel Gallagher quit Oasis after a screaming row with brother Liam in Paris; this conveniently came at the end of a year-long world tour and just before a scheduled hiatus. Apparently, Noel smashed up Liam's acoustic guitar during the fight, Liam didn't invite any of his band members to his wedding, and Noel is angry about Liam's clothing line. Liam appears to want Oasis to continue, and semi-hired guns Andy Bell and Gem Archer (all the non-Gallagher original members of Oasis have been gone since 2000 or so) are supposedly willing to carry on. The Times of London predicts the band will turn into Britpop's first heritage act, touring around festivals and state fairs playing the old hits.

* That Red Hot Chili Peppers hiatus just keeps on stretching out. Fresh off his supergroup Chickenfoot, drummer Chad Smith now has a solo project called Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats. Their new album is all prog-rock instrumentals (get an autographed copy here, or if you'd rather, try to win a copy here). Here's an interview with Smith where no mention of the Chili Peppers is even made. That can't be a good sign. Meanwhile, Flea played bass for Thom Yorke's solo shows in Los Angeles recently.

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.

This week in break-ups... Harvey Danger

* Harvey Danger, who I'm pretty sure broke up at least once before, are calling it quits again. They'll do a few farewell shows in August and then hang it up. Good to see they're not flagpole sittas. Huh? Am I right?

*New Order, who aren't really a '90s band, have broken up and reformed without bass player Peter Hook. Instead, they've added Alex James from Blur and are calling themselves Bad Lieutenant. I assume this means the Blur reunion is short-lived. Expect to see a Bad Lieutenant album in October.

Here's New Order's one big '90s hit, "Regret."

This week in break-ups... Smashing Pumpkins

* Jimmy Chamberlin, the one non-Corgan original member of the Smashing Pumpkins, has left the band. This is the first time he's done so of his own accord (he was kicked out due to a heroin addiction in '96, but came back to the fold eventually). Corgan still plans to record and tour as the Smashing Pumpkins.

* Nothing concrete, but John Frusciante just released a solo album, and Chad Smith is now drumming for Chickenfoot, the new supergroup featuring Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, and Michael Anthony. And I haven't heard much from Flea or Anthony Kiedis in awhile. Are the Chili Peppers still together?

* Don't expect to see more Rage Against the Machine dates this summer, as Tom Morello has a new band called Street Sweeper that'll be opening up for Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction.

This week in break-ups... Blind Melon loses a lead singer

So Blind Melon's second lead singer (the guy with the creepy Shannon Hoon tattoo) is now Blind Melon's ex-lead singer, according to their blog. The band fired him right before embarking on a lengthy US tour, which is now cancelled. According to one of the commenters on this post, a new lead singer may have already been settled on.

Blind Melon's comeback album For My Friends charted at #133 earlier this year, but didn't spin off any hit singles. They just finished a tour of Canada.