Welcome back to indie rockers Rogue Wave

Feb. 28, 2010

Welcome Back to Indie Rockers Rogue Wave
After a long and quiet hiatus for indie-pop/rock band Rogue Wave - due to the kidney transplant of drummer Pat Spurgeon - the band is back and ready to go, with a brand new album, Permalight, on the way next week. Permalight, which was produced by Dennis Herring in Mississippi, will be released on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label on March 2, and Rogue Wave plans to make up for the lost time with an extensive tour of “the U.S. and beyond” - already-confirmed dates include shows in Brooklyn NY (3/2), Philly (3/4), Nashville (3/9), Minneapolis (4/15), Chicago (4/17), and Tucson AZ (4/24)...
It’s a musical set in 1950s Mississippi - it tells a frightening tale of brotherly ghosts - and it’s a collaboration between “Small Town” rocker John Mellencamp and writer Stephen King. Titled Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, the play, which has been in the works for about 10 years, isn’t just crafted by a couple of famous artists, but will also feature several others in the lead roles, among them Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, and both Mellencamp and King themselves, who will all star in the first run of the musical when it debuts in Atlanta, Georgia in September of this year. If you can’t get to Atlanta for the play itself, you’ll at least be able to snag the soundtrack album, which is set to be released prior to the show’s premiere...
Grammy-winning, much-acclaimed Cuban band Los Van Van, most often referred to as “the Rolling Stones of Salsa,” have finally returned to the U.S. after a long absence due to tense Cuban-American relations, and will now embark on a 70-concert U.S. tour beginning this April. The band members were granted performance/cultural-exchange visas through the Obama administration...
And Cold War Kids are heading back into the studio this month to record their third album, which will serve as the follow-up to their 2008 release, Loyalty to Loyalty. The band will work behind the boards in Nashville with producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse). No date has yet been given for the new album’s release (it’s estimated to be ready in mid-summer at the earliest), but fans can check out CWK’s Behave Yourself, a four-song EP that was just released last month, in the meantime...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
Stuck in a rut with your music-listening? Then check out TuneGlue, a new online mini-map-app that’ll direct you to some new bands/musicians. Simply type in a band or artist that you currently like, and TuneGlue will suggest similar artists for you to check out at http://audiomap.tuneglue.net...

MINI BUZZ:
U2 are at it again, climbing back on the tour bus/plane/limo in support of their latest album, No Line on the Horizon; the band will kick off this particular trek in California on June 6, making stops in Minneapolis (6/27), East Lansing MI (6/30), Toronto (7/3), Chicago (7/6), and Philly (7/12) before heading overseas...
Field Music will tour North America in support of their latest album, Measure (just released February 15); the band will play shows in Minneapolis (3/15), Madison WI (3/16), Chicago (3/17), Toronto (3/19), and NYC (3/23)...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day will be among the acts taking the stage at a giant concert in China this April 17 when the first annual Show of Peace will take place in Beijing...
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are prepping their suitcases for a tour in support of their newest album, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo, which will arrive March 9 on Vagrant Records; their tour will take them through Denver (3/2), Dallas (3/18), Chicago (3/25), Milwaukee (3/26), Minneapolis (3/27), Cleveland (3/31), and Toronto (4/1)...
The newly-revived Lilith Fair has just entered a partnership with ABC Entertainment to help feature the tour’s tunes on ABC TV shows; the deal will also represent ABC on the tour itself via the ABC Music Lounge, which will give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the trek...
In spite of all those breakup rumors, Wolf Parade are still together, and are already working on writing songs for what will be their third album, one that they hope to have completed by early this spring...
And completed now and ready to be added to your CD collection are this week’s new releases... ON CD: Past Lives’ Tapestry of Webs... Jamie Cullum’s The Pursuit... Tindersticks’ Falling Down a Mountain... and former 10,000 Maniac Natalie Merchant’s Leave Your Sleep... ON DVD: The Human League: Live at the Dome ... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

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