Dirty Martini, the label founded in 1999 by modern rock act Lit, will on June 26 release Handsome Devil’s single “Makin’ Money,” with the band’s album, “Love and Kisses From the Underground,” due to follow on Aug. 8.
The debut set from the Orange County (Calif.) band was produced by Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff and Ed Stasium (Ramones, Smithereens).
Dirty Martini, distributed worldwide by RCA/BMG, has to date only been an imprint for Lit’s albums, beginning with the group’s debut, “Tripping the Light Fantastic.” Other non-Lit releases are planned from the label in the fall.
Meanwhile, the members of Lit began work on their next album. Due in September, the as-yet-unnamed set will be co-produced by the band with Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Sugar Ray), as was the band’s 1999 breakthrough sophomore set, “A Place in the Sun.” That album spawned the single “My Own Worst Enemy,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart, and has sold more than 1.3 million copies in the U.S., according to SoundScan.
In August, a Lit home video, “Stuck in the Middle of Everywhere,” will be issued by Dirty Martini. The release will include live performance and backstage footage, as well as videos for the songs “Four” and “The Best is Yet to Come Undone,” among others.
The band has also recorded the infamous Twisted Sister anthem “I Wanna Rock” for an upcoming Koch tribute album to the ’80s pop/metal band. Former Sister frontman Dee Snider, who previously appeared in Lit’s “Zip-Lock” video, contributes vocals to the cover.