Has Garbage been Trashed?

March 22, 2006

Has garbage been trashed
That thing that Garbage fans have been worried about has finally happened - the band is now on a hiatus of “undetermined length.”  But all is not lost, at least not as long as Garbage songstress Shirley Manson has something to say about it.  Manson has just begun work on her first solo album, and has already completed a track with UK film composer David Arnold, who she previously worked with on the theme song for the James Bond film “The World is Not Enough.”  Manson, who’s reportedly very enthused about her solo project, has no timetable for the album’s release, and isn’t at all convinced that her solo album means the end of Garbage as we know it - with all of the band members off doing different things (including drummer/producer Butch Vig, who’s going back into doing some production work), Manson feels it’s more of a much-needed break from their last “crazy decade” of working together, and that the band is far from broken up...
 
Alt-pop band The Goo Goo Dolls are prepping to release their eighth studio album this spring, with most of the songs written by singer/guitarist Johnny Rzeznik, who did his songwriting not in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, but in his actual hometown of Buffalo, New York.  The tunes were recorded with Alanis Morissette producer Glen Ballard back in L.A., along with, of course, Goo bassist Robby Takac and drummer Mike Malinin.  Eleven tracks will be included on the finished product, with “Better Days” hitting radio soon as the first single;  the album itself will hit stores on April 18 on Warner Brothers Records...
 
Also heading into the studio are My Chemical Romance, who have reportedly just begun work on a new disc (already!) with producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Michelle Branch, and the abovementioned Goos).  They’re currently recording at the Paramour, a hilltop mansion in L.A., and plan to keep at it until April 10, when they’ll transfer operations to a studio in Burbank.  Although no song titles have been released yet, word has it that the record is likely to become something of a concept album, much like Green Day’s last effort - and they do already have a tentative title, which is The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance...
 
Get set for a minor retro tour de force - new wavers Blondie, recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, are teaming up with a band that’s being called the “New Cars,” which will feature two of the original Cars members, Elliot Easton on guitar and Greg Hawkes on keyboards.  Rounding out the New Cars will be bassist Kasim Sulton, former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, and, strangely, singer/guitarist Todd Rundgren.  The Blondie/New Cars Road Rage 2006 Tour Presented by VH1 Classic will begin on May 12 in Mississippi, and will continue until July 1 - and if you order your tix online, you’ll also get a free five-song download of songs from both the New Cars and (thankfully) Blondie...

MINI BUZZ:
Madonna’s upcoming summer tour is going to be planned to “put her as close to the people” as possible, according to Maddie’s tour director, Jamie King - she’ll be playing, surprisingly, mostly smaller venues and club dates...
Beck has recorded two cover versions of the Nick Drake songs “Parasite” and “Which Will,” both from Drake’s 1972 album Pink Moon - both tracks can be heard as streaming audio on Beck’s official site, www.beck.com...
Sonic Youth have finished their 20th album, which was recorded at Sear Sound in New York - the disc, titled Rather Ripped, will be released on June 13...
Brit singer-songwriter James Blunt has lined up 18 shows in the form of a North American club tour that begins this week...
Finnish rock quartet H.I.M. are hopping on the tour trail, too, with a tour schedule that will begin in May and will take them through Toronto (5/15), Detroit (5/16), Chicago (5/17), and St. Paul, MN (5/22)...
And congrats going out to Tenacious D frontman Jack Black, who married his girlfriend, musician Tanya Haden, last week...
 
ON CD:  Flee the Seen’s Doubt Becomes the New Addiction... SheDaisy’s Fortuneteller’s Melody... Prince’s 3121... Lantern’s Desert Ocean... NOFX’s Never Trust a Hippy... and Swedish singer/songwriter Nicolai Dunger’s Here’s My Song: You Can Have It... I Don’t Want It Anymore... ON DVD:  Chick Corea’s Rendezvous in New York: Chick Corea & Gonzalo Rubalcaba Duet... Symphony for the Devil - The World of Type O Negative... The Black Crowes: Freak N Roll Into the Fog... and Bad Religion’s Live at the Palladium... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
 
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions about this column or your fave musicians?  Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!