Search Results for: POP-ROCK

Alanis Morissette is tidying up her next album, tentatively titled Under Rug Swept, for release in February, and she’s giving fans a little taste of her new material online. As previewed on a recent tour, Morissette’s new songs hark back to the provocative pop-rock of 1995’s Jagged Little Pill and steer away from the moody, Eastern-influenced sound of 1998’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Lyrically, she takes a more reflective, mature stance without abandoning the raw, confessional sentiments that endeared her to fans in the mid-’90s. The Canadian singer/songwriter wrote and produced the new disc without the help of Glen Ballard,… Read more »

Rob Thomas’ pre-Matchbox Twenty recordings are finally seeing the light of day, thanks to a former bandmate who spent a half a decade trying to put “the nail in the group’s coffin.” Don’t Play With Matches, the only studio album by Tabitha’s Secret (which featured Matchbox Twenty bassist Brian Yale and drummer Paul Doucette as well as Thomas), is due for October 9 release. Guitarist Jay Stanley – who, along with guitarist John Goff, parted ways with the band in 1995 – fought a five-year legal battle to get the album released. “It’s about putting the past behind me, putting… Read more »

Smash Mouth’s enterprising front man Steve Harwell has teamed with Sound Management CEO Robert Hayes, Tambourine Music president, Scott Kellner, and veteran rocker Jack Blades to form Spun Out Records. With a combination of 30 years experience in the entertainment industry, Hayes and Kellner will control business operations, while Harwell and Blades will handle A&R and creative elements. Spun Out has already signed San Francisco’s pop-rock band, Fuse, rap-rock-funk band Triple Seven, hard rock band Soul Circle and twelve-yearold country pop-singer, Brittany Breed, the winner of Ed McMahons’ “The Next Big Thing.” Blades has twenty successful years in the business,… Read more »

Try as they might to display a more mature side as songwriters and lyricists, the members of Green Day – a third, fourth or maybe even fifth-generation punk band – are still working the same schtick that powered them to rock supremacy in the mid-1990s. It’s snotty and obnoxious, a blur of three- and four-chord rockers strung together in a manner that puts exclamation points after every barre chord and chorus. But when it’s working, Green Day is far and away the head of the class. Green Day delivered an involving, career-spanning show that included five tunes from the new… Read more »

Hollywood recording artists Youngstown have landed a slot opening for Jessica Simpson on the latter’s upcoming “Dreamchaser” tour beginning August 8 at the Bell County Expo in Belton, Texas. “Down For The Get Down,” Youngstown’s eagerly awaited sophomore album, is scheduled to hit stores on August 7th. Produced by Julian Raymond (Fastball), Oliver Leiber (BBMak) and Guy Roche (Christina Aguilera, Aaliyah), “Down For The Get Down” fully delivers on the promise of trio’s 1999 smash debut, “Let’s Roll.” The disc is best described as pop with punch, blending harmony andattitude with sweet, sincere ballads and in-your-face bounce. Billboard praised the… Read more »

Though making last year’s Return of Saturn was a long, often straining process for No Doubt, the band has learned to loosen up for its successor. As the Southern California pop-rockers work to get it out by year’s end, they continue to take a free-form attitude, collaborating with producers from all over the musical spectrum, including reggae, hip-hop, electronica and new wave. “I think this [album] is going to be our happy road,” said guitarist Tom Dumont. No Doubt, who spent two years on Return, have already laid down tracks for the still-untitled disc with red-hot production duo the Neptunes… Read more »

Alanis Morissette has returned to the jagged little sound that made her famous. The Canadian singer debuted eight new songs during a show Friday night, providing a generous preview of her next album, which is sitting in limbo while she fights a contract dispute with Maverick Records. Much of the new material harked back to the edgier pop-rock of Morissette’s 1995 smash, Jagged Little Pill, and steered away from the moody, Eastern-influenced sound of its follow-up, 1998’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Accordingly, the two-hour performance – the first of two consecutive nights at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre – was… Read more »

Sugar Ray recently had a chance to live out their dreams – or at least their dream videos – when the pop-rockers shot a clip for the single “When It’s Over.” “Each guy has their dream sequence – like if they had the video of their choice, what would it be?” drummer Stan Frazier explained on the set of the video shoot over the weekend. Guitarist Rodney Sheppard steps into Bruce Lee’s shoes and kung-fu fights basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; DJ Homicide chills in a strip club featuring imagery pulled from his favorite hip-hop videos; bassist Murphy Karges rocks out… Read more »

Trek’s organizers say band pulled out; group’s spokesperson says contract was never signed. Say it ain’t so – Weezer have dropped off the Vans Warped Tour, according to a spokesperson for the summer skate-punk trek. The band’s Geffen publicist, however, said on Friday (April 6) that Weezer were never officially on the bill in the first place, despite an announcement by tour organizer Kevin Lyman Productions in early February. “They had the offer, but they never confirmed it,” Dennis Dennehy said. “The band apologizes for psyching anyone up inadvertently,” a posting on Weezer’s Web site said Friday. An earlier post… Read more »

Fourth album said to feature electronica, hard R&B, even country. ‘NSYNC have titled their fourth album after something they know a lot about: Celebrity. The follow-up to last year’s No Strings Attached – which sold a record-setting 2.4 million copies in its first week – is due June 26. Jive Records hopes to have a first single out by the end of April, a spokesperson said. Though there’s no word on the title, it’s promised to be an uptempo track. The group’s members recently said their new album will dip into such genres as electronica, hard R&B, “straight-up dance music”… Read more »