Strike a Match

July 25, 2007

Matchbox Twenty haven’t had an album out since 2002 (More Than You Think You Are) due in part to singer/frontman Rob Thomas’ success with his solo work; but now the band is ready to get back at it, so they’ve popped into the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite to work on some new tracks for their upcoming retrospective album. The greatest hits collection - which will also include several of the new tracks - has been humorously titled Exile on Mainstream, and you’ll be able to snag a copy for yourself on October 2nd, when the album hits stores on Atlantic Records; Thomas says that the band is writing the new tunes together as a band for the first time, so it will be interesting to hear what transpires...

The perfect play-along disc for your next summer campout is being put together by E! Entertainment Television and the Nettwerk Music Group - namely, Simple Life Camp Songs, which is a collection of classic singalongable campfire tunes as revamped and re-recorded by a wide range of indie and pop bands. All proceeds from sales of the album will go to the Children’s Miracle Network, and the disc will also serve as a companion album of sorts for the wacky TV series The Simple Life, in which celeb divas Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie “work” (and we use that word very loosely) as summer camp counselors. Musicians included on the Camp Songs album will include Sixpence None the Richer’s Leigh Nash (singing “Hole in the Bucket”), The Submarines (“Clementine”), Kinky (“My Bonnie”), and Gill Landry (“On Top of Old Smokey”), among others...

Maroon 5 are set to kick off a national tour to help promote their latest release, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long - and, in a bit of a strange move, the more mainstream pop-soul Maroons have asked crashing Swedish retro-indie-rockers The Hives to go along on the tour as their support band. Hmm. Is Adam Levine trying to put his ego aside in order to get a little cooler by association? You’ll be able to judge for yourself by catching this mismatched duo in Auburn Hills MI (9/29), Rosemont IL (10/2), Toronto (10/4), or Washington DC (10/16); both bands will stay on the road until mid-November...

The Foo Fighters have been hard at work on their upcoming sixth album, on which frontman Dave Grohl says that he’s attempting to mix the likes of No Means No with... Steely Dan. The change in sound may surprise fans, as there are still the typical number of 4-piece rocker songs, but there are also several with orchestrated sections and more challenging rhythms. Tracks set for inclusion include “Erase Replace,” “The Pretender,” “Long Road to Ruin,” “The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners,” “Statues,” and “Let It Die” - and the album itself, dubbed Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace, will hit stores on September 25th on RCA...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: Eisley fans, stroll on over to the band’s MySpace at www.myspace.com/eisley, where they’ve posted several new clips in anticipation of their new album’s release on August 14th....

MINI BUZZ:
Target is set to be the sole physical retailer for the new album by Collective Soul; the new set, titled Afterwords, will be out on August 28th, and the only other place you’ll be able to get it will be as a download on iTunes...
Indie rockers Matt Pond PA have completed writing their new album, and lost a few bandmates in the process; but Pond himself is pressing on, and will release the band’s seventh disc, Last Light, on September 25th...
Panic! at the Disco are rumored to be recording a cover version of the N*Sync song “Space Cowboy”...
U2’s legendary 1997 Popmart tour, which until now has never been available on DVD, has just been remixed and remastered, and will be released in two formats (one single-disc version and a double-disc version with all kinda extras), both in 5.1 SurroundSound; you’ll be able to find a mart at which you can purchase your own copy on September 6th...
Aussie band Silverchair, promoting their new and much-anticipated set “Young Modern,” are teaming up with Powderfinger to traverse Australia for a tour that’s already sold out its first five shows, meaning more dates will soon be added...
Prince has annoyed his record label by securing a deal with British newspaper The Mail to give away a whopping 2 million copies of his new album to the papers’ readers before the album’s official July 16th release date...

And officially being released this week are these discs... ON CD: Yellowcard’s Paper Walls... Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga... Minnie Driver’s Seastories... The Rocket Summer’s Do You Feel... Ben Jelen’s Ex-Sensitive... and The Magic Numbers’ Those the Brokes... ON DVD: ...Sublime: The Ultimate Bundle... Rock the Bells... The All-American Rejects: Tournado... and Jill Scott - Live in Paris... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com