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Los Angeles’ Smile Empty Soul have plenty to smile about. The band’s self-titled debut is officially #1 on Billboard’s New Artist Chart and New Alternative Artist Chart, outselling buzz bands such as Hot Hot Heat, Rooney, Interpol and Fountains of Wayne. The band’s pulverizing, intense debut which was released on Lava Records May 27th, explores a variety of current topics and already, its become one of the most sought after alternative records this year. Smile Empty Soul’s album is fueled by the compelling and controversial lead track Bottom of a Bottle. The song is currently the #10 alternative track in… Read more »

It’s hard to imagine that Danny Wood was ever part of a boy band. We’re talking about a guy who’s muscular enough to keep the Hulk in line. The singer, in fact, has grown up in more ways than one since his days as one of the five members of New Kids on the Block, which scored 13 hits on The Billboard Hot 100 – three of them No. 1s – between 1988 and 1994. Wood endured a painful but ultimately successful custody battle for his son in the late ’90s, as well as the death of his mother from… Read more »

Even the most heartbroken among us would benefit from distancing themselves from the pain every once in a while. For Tyson Ritter, a reprieve from his songwriting muse helped make “The Last Song” such a pleasure to pen. “I got inspired to write something that wasn’t about an all-girl topic,” the All-American Rejects singer/bassist said. “Every other song [on the band’s self-titled debut] is about one girl, so to put a song on the album that wasn’t about her, that made it a little extra special.” The second single off The All-American Rejects is one of Ritter’s favorite tracks, inspirational… Read more »

Eddie Vedder has found plenty of material in mortality over the years. His band, Pearl Jam, was born of a heroin overdose more than a decade ago. Rival songwriter Kurt Cobain of Nirvana committed suicide while at the height of popularity. Two of Pearl Jam’s biggest hits, “Jeremy” and “Last Kiss,” deal with teen death. Now comes renewal, an appropriate topic as the lead singer and his bandmates re-emerge from their most proximate shock: the deaths of nine fans trampled during the 2000 Roskilde festival in Denmark. “Riot Act,” released Nov. 12, is Pearl Jam’s first studio album since the… Read more »

“Surreal” is about the only word to describe it when that kid you remember from “Gremlins” and “Goonies,” all grown up now, is rocking out in the middle of a record store. And surreal it was when Corey Feldman and his band played for a bewildered crowd numbering less than a hundred recently at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard. As fans and curious shoppers waited (and waited), a drummer, a guitarist, a bassist named Pharaoh and a keyboard player (none of whom would look lost at a construction site) along with two backup singers crowded onto a makeshift stage, where… Read more »

Could George Michael’s latest single and video, “Shoot the Dog,” actually be a shot in the foot? Never one to shy away from controversy, Michael has outdone himself with the animated clip, his first foray into the world of political satire, in which he takes on President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Queen Mum. In the song, Michael criticizes British foreign policy – at least when it comes to dealings with the Middle East – as being too closely aligned with that of the U.S. The video depicts Bush as an idiot and Blair as… Read more »

The “boogeyman of rap” is busting his gun, pistol-whipping one of his cheating mate’s lovers, contemplating other grisly forms of violence and taking a leak on the White House lawn – and that’s just by the midpoint of The Eminem Show. Yes, ladies and gents, “Shady’s back,” as he proclaims in his first single, “Without Me,” and Eminem still has a lot to vent. As soon as the curtain opens on Em’s third solo album, it’s clear all of the rapper’s frustrations that have been building up over the last two years since The Marshall Mathers LP are going to… Read more »

Adhering to the number one rule in showbiz – the show MUST go on – South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference is gearing up for an impressive 16th year. With that in mind, make arrangements soon to be in Austin, Texas from March 13 – 17, 2002 for a productive, enlightening, and overwhelmingly musical week. SXSW is proud to announce that Robbie Robertson will deliver the keynote address opening the 16th annual conference on Thursday, March 14, 2002 at the Austin Convention Center. Robertson’s esteemed career includes his role as guitarist and songwriter for popular rock group The… Read more »

Chris Blackwell knew he wanted to be a part of the documentary 1 Giant Leap as soon as musicians Jamie Catto (Faithless) and Duncan Bridgeman played him the rough demos of songs they’d written for the program. The same man whose gut feeling led him to sign Bob Marley and U2 to his Island Records imprint heard what the two musicians had to offer and gave them the green light. “I loved the music of it,” says Blackwell of the documentary due out in March. “I loved the way the music was put together. I loved the different influences of… Read more »

Being the most vocal member in a group called Naughty by Nature, it’s no wonder Treach isn’t shy about exposing himself. Last year he shot simulated sex scenes for an online adult movie, and for his role as a hit man in this spring’s “Love and a Bullet” he shot a full-frontal nude scene. But apparently baring all is limited to clothing. The man who built his star by being down with “O.P.P.” and writing on ladies’ kittens is a little more inhibited when it comes to the 411 on his personal relationships, especially the rumors that he has been… Read more »