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Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. have nothing to worry about, but a university known more for churning out engineers than hit music is starting its own record label. Drexel University’s MAD Dragon Records expects to put out its first CD – a compilation of eight or nine bands – next year. The student-run label will be an integral part of Drexel’s fledgling music industry program, which in only three years has grown from eight students to more than 150. Students will be in charge of artist development, production, recording, marketing, contracts and distribution, while MAD Dragon musicians – also students… Read more »

One reason A Perfect Circle resonate with such power is because the bandmembers are dedicated to their art – whether it’s catchy and commercial or sprawling and inaccessible to the mainstream. They immerse themselves in their songs, which are as much a part of themselves as a reflection of their personalities. And they present their vision in a striking and unconventional manner, singing from behind a screen, performing in near darkness and greeting the media with complete indifference. The band’s new album, The Thirteenth Step, due September 16, is textural, evocative and moody – metallic art-rock for the clinically depressed.… Read more »

Danish buzz band the Raveonettes will release their full-length debut, Chain Gang of Love, on September 2nd. The album follows the group’s acclaimed 2002 EP Whip It On, a twenty minute collection of three minute, noirish garage rock songs recorded entirely in B-flat minor, with no song featuring more than three chords. The duo – guitarist/vocalist Sune Rose Wagner and bassist/vocalist Sharin Foo – recorded the album last fall and winter with Wagner splitting production duty with Richard Gottehrer, who has worked with Blondie, the Go-Go’s and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Wagner wrote twelve of the thirteen tracks, and… Read more »

Pink believes one of the best ways to make sure fur isn’t in vogue is to make sure it isn’t in Vogue. The singer has written to Anna Wintour, asking the famously fur-wearing editor to stop promoting fur in her trendsetting magazine. Pink’s handwritten note, faxed Tuesday afternoon, urges Wintour to “modernize your magazine and stop promoting fur.” If that isn’t possible, Pink asks that Vogue at least allow organizations such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to run anti-fur ads for balance. The singer also writes that “many designers, unaware of my respect for animals, have… Read more »

The White Stripes rocker, banged up in a car crash last month, makes this perfectly clear on the band’s Website (www.whitestripes.com), posting actual footage from a surgery that inserted three screws into his broken left index finger. Really, a note from the doctor would have sufficed… But, no, White says he wanted fans who bought tickets to shows either canceled or postponed by the dinged digit to “better understand the complexity of the situation.” “A bone in the index finger of my fretting hand was shattered…making it absolutely impossible to play guitar,” White writes on the Website. “I’ve been instructed… Read more »

Original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger have something special in mind for their Aug. 24 performance at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y. The group, touring under the name Doors 21st Century with Cult vocalist Ian Astbury, will perform the Doors’ 1971 Elektra album “L.A. Woman” for the first time in its entirety. Original frontman Jim Morrison died shortly before the album’s release. The New York concert will be filmed for a DVD due for release in early 2004. The band will also play “L.A. Woman” at a Dec. 9 concert at the Zenith in Paris to commemorate what… Read more »

Lots of artists hype their songs in movie soundtracks and TV ads. Positive punkers MxPx do that too, but they’re also relying on the Bush administration to help get the word out. “Well Adjusted,” one of the songs from their new album, Before Everything and After (September 16), is being used in a TV public service announcement by the President’s Council on Drug Abuse and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. In January, the same song was used in a Diet Pepsi commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. “We thought, ‘This is great,’ ” bassist and vocalist Mike Herrera… Read more »

Ashton Kutcher was the big winner at Saturday’s taping of the Teen Choice Awards, but even his five surfboard trophies couldn’t steal the spotlight from the plethora of unusual appearances at the show. There was Kobe Bryant, accepting the Choice Male Athlete award for the fourth time just four days before his first hearing on sexual assault charges. “I’m going through some dark clouds right now,” he said, thanking his wife and fans for support. There was 5 Cent, and no, that’s not a typo. It was Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer performing his own version of “In Da Club,” adding lines… Read more »

Aerosmith and Kiss launched their coheadlining tour on Saturday (August 2) at the Ctnow.com Meadows Music Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Befitting their status as heavyweight champions, both bands came to win, but Aerosmith was declared the victor at the end of the night. Following a quick opening set by Saliva that was received fairly, if not enthusiastically, Kiss came out to their traditional “You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best” introduction and played a hit-filled 14-song set including “Detroit Rock City,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “I Love It Loud,” “God Of Thunder,” and “Rock And Roll All Nite.” However,… Read more »

Nirvana co-founder Krist Novoselic is packing up his instrument following the universal apathy displayed for Eyes Adrift, the alt-country band he formed in late 2001 with Meat Puppets guitarist Curt Kirkwood and Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh. “I quit,” he wrote in a post on the band’s official Web site. “I can’t deal. I can’t read the magazines, listen to the radio or watch music television without feeling like I’ve just come in from outer space. I just don’t get it and I probably never did.” Novoselic’s frustrations stem from being typecast as a hard rock performer, and from the recent… Read more »