MARK WILLS SCALES NEW HEIGHTS
(Nashville) -- Mercury recording artist MARK WILLS is looking at some impressive stats from his vantage point at the top of the country music charts. With his current single, '19 Somethin' at #1 for the fourth consecutive week, Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) reported 6,317 spins - making the Wills single the most played song for a single week in BDS's 13-year history.
The single penned by EMI Nashville/Sea Gayle Music's Chris DuBois and BMG writer, David Lee, shows no signs of slowing in its four-week history as the #1 country music single in the nation.
The success of '19 Somethin' has set Wills on a steady pace of media and television appearances. He recently taped the 'Wayne Brady Show' in California, as well as the highly popular game show 'Wheel Of Fortune,' during a taping stint in Nashville ñ airing in February.
On February 10th, Mark Wills will do a live guesting on CMT's 'MWL Star.' Fans are being invited to have an interactive part in Mark's appearance by submitting questions and comments to him on CMT's official website (www.cmt.com).
HONKY TONK TAILGATE PARTY TOURî RE-LAUNCHES IN 2003
(Nashville) -- One of the most consistently successful tours in recent country music history re-launches in April with the return of three name headliners and the addition of a fourth.
"THE HONKY TONK TAILGATE PARTY" will hit the road for a full concert schedule with returning artists Rhett Akins, Wade Hayes, and Daryle Singletary. New to the bill this year will be Chad Brock.
Noted Joey Lee of Buddy Lee Attractions, responsible agent for the tour: "The Tailgate Party was a tremendously successful tour last year with both promoters and audiences. We saw a demand to bring it back this year and feel that the combination of Rhett, Wade, Daryle, and Chad will bring home a great tour."
THE BLOOD BROTHERS RELEASE LIVE DVD,
ANNOUNCE MORE TOUR DATES
Avant-hardcore band THE BLOOD BROTHERS will bring their abrasive,
passionate, and engrossing brand of punk music to DVD on February
4, 2003 when they release "Jungle Rules Live." Filmed
on September 27, 2002 in front of a packed and rabid hometown
audience at the ten-year anniversary of the Old Fire House, the
band's local teen center in Seattle, "Jungle Rules Live"
encapsulates the fiery intensity that makes The Blood Brothers
so compelling and unique. Get the full story, plus upcoming
SMILEZ & SOUTHSTAR just keep getting hotter and hotter every single week. Once again, for the THIRTEENTH consecutive week, their second single "Tell Me," is rocketing up the Urban and Crossover charts - this week, the band is #2 on Billboard's New Artist chart, having spent an incredible 27 weeks on the chart!!! "Tell Me" is #18-bullet on Radio & Records' Rhythm Chart, #15-Bullet on Billboard's Rhythm Chart, and #10 on Billboard's Rap Chart. The track's promo video is also all over BET (it hit the #1 spot!) and has just been added to MTV rotation!! The duo has also been featured on Rap City, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Soul Train, 106th & Park, and the Ricki Lake Sho
LISA GERMANO TO RELEASE "lullaby for liquid pig" Already lauded by such artists as Peter Gabriel, Neil Finn, and David Bowie for her beautiful and groundbreaking music, Lisa Germano offers her most daring album to date as her debut on the Ineffable/iMUSIC label. Scheduled for release on April 15, 2003, "lullaby for liquid pig" combines exquisite, unsettling tracks with lyrics whose blunt honesty is rare even among the most adventurous songwriters. http://lisagermano.com/
SNOCORE 2003 ANNOUNCED ARTISTdirect, the most comprehensive music company on the Internet, announces SnoCore 2003, America's first and only winter-season, road-show celebration of cutting-edge rock and the snow-sports lifestyle. The tour kicks off on February 11 in Albuquerque, NM, and will play at least thirty-one dates before it winds up on the east coast in late March. As with each previous SnoCore tour, this year's live music lineup was selected to assure killer performances by the most vital emerging bands. Featured acts include Sparta, Glassjaw, Hot Water Music, and Dredg -- each known for its own brand of uncompromising, high-risk, hardcore rock. For complete info on SnoCore 2003, log onto http://snocore.artistdirect.com/?lbl
LEISUREWORLD - HOT New Band, VERY HOT First Single. We don't take leisureworld's first single "I'm Dead" to radio for another week, and already nearly 50 stations have already added it to their playlists! "I'm Dead" has already blown up at major alternative and rock stations in Boston, Detroit, Madison, Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas and Madison. leisureworkd is the hardest-rocking Canadian band to invade American in many years, and "Double Wide Double High" is the band's volcanic debut which will be released on April 15, 2003. Piss off your colleagues. Make the neighbors call the cops. Doesn't matter -- you've got to hear our new band leisureworld at its best, which means at full blast.
February 4, 2003 - "Boomslang"
- Johnny Marr + the Healers (iMUSIC)
Using the word "legendary" to describe Johnny Marr isn't
hyperbole. In fact, NME, the UK's most-read weekly music magazine,
named The Smiths (Marr's former band) the "Most Influential
Band in British History." And while The Smiths may have influenced
music on the whole, Johnny Marr's distinctive style has influenced
enough guitarists to land him resolutely in the Guitar Hero catageory.
Radiohead, Blur, Oasis, Suede, The Pixies, Elliot Smith, and The
Stone Roses are among those who've gone on the record with their
collective respect for Johnny and his abilities. Revered as a
guitarist, Johnny was named as one of the all-time greatest guitarists
in a 2001 list that included Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jimi
Hendrix. Johnny may be driving the "Boomslang" project,
but with the Healers, he's assembled a gifted collection of musicians:
he's joined in the band by Zak Starkey (yes, the son of Ringo
and current Who drummer), and Alonsa Bevan (Kula Shaker). "Boomslang"
includes 11 new songs, each written by Marr, and for most people,
it'll be the first opportunity to hear Johnny Marr + The Healers.
February 4, 2003 - moe. - "Wormwood"
(iMUSIC)
"Wormwood" is right in tune with what has made moe.
one of the top draws on the concert circuit, and solves a puzzle
pondered by countless bands that have never been able to marry
their performing and recording sides without some sort of compromise.
It is a live/studio hybrid, as much the product of meticulous
editing and overdubbing as risky, go-for-it improvisation. There
is a sizzle in the rhythm, a sense of tension and focus in the
solos. The concert feel is there, tugging at the taut fabric that
the band wove over the drum tracks and through the spaces that
separate each song. This is moe. at a place where they've never
been onstage...and, at the same time, in the studio. (CD Advances
available NOW.)
(tentative) February 18, 2003 - The Blood
Brothers - "Jungle Rules, Live"
DVD (ARTISTdirect)
To fully experience The Blood Brothers, you must see them live
in concert. God forbit, if you can't make it to one of their shows,
the next best thing is "Jungle Rules, Live," The Blood
Brothers' explosive DVD. Filmed on September 27, 2002 in front
of a packed and rabid hometown audience at the ten-year anniversary
of the Old Fire House, the band's local teen center in Seattle,
"Jungle Rules Live" encapsulates the fiery intensity
that makes The Blood Brothers so compelling and unique. "Jungle
Rules Live" features eleven live-in-concert tracks, as well
as three audio-only bonus tracks - "Ambulance vs. Ambulance"
and "USA Nails" from "Burn Piano Island, Burn,"
and "Meet Me at the Water Front After the Social" from
the band's recent indie release, "March On Electric Children."
As Jason Pettigrew, the Editor-in-Chief of Alternative Press recently
commented, "Anybody who does not revel in the majesty that
is The Blood Brothers is not to be trusted. They were so good
[last night], I shed tears."
March 4, 2003 - "The Rutland Isles"
- Eric Idle (iMUSIC)
Join Nigel Spasm as he visits the legendary islands that lie at
the West Pole. The Rutland Isles are a chain of extinct masonic
islands in Melanoma, created millions of years ago when Norway
rammed into Costa Rica and then went south for the weekend. There
are over 498 thousand of them. These virgin islands, so far untouched
by television, are so remote that they have not yet been visited
by British men in shorts. Now Nigel Spasm has changed all of that.
In his classic 168-part documentary, Nigel visits these weird
islands and presents an aural portrait of the people, the flora,
the fauna, and the sheep of The Rutland Isles. iMUSIC and BMG
are proud to present a CD sampler of two of Nigel Spasm's classic
radio documentaries. (Eric Idle, of course, was a member of the
legendary Monty Python group, as well as one of the "pre-fab
four," The Rutles.)
March 4, 2003 - Folk Implosion - "The
New Folk Implosion" (iMUSIC)
Lou Barlow is arguably the most
prolific songwriter of his generation. The last Folk Implosion
release, "One Part Lullaby" (Interscope/1999), received
across-the-board rave reviews. Rolling Stone called it "wonder-filled,"
Details gave it an "A," and CMJ New Music Monthly dubbed
it "a glistening pop explosion." John Davis, Lou's former
partner in Folk Implosion, left the band shortly after the release
of "One Part Lullaby." Barlow, along with Folk Implosion
members Russell Pollard (Sebadoh) on drums and Imaad Wasif (Alaska
and Folk Implosion) on guitar, have been in the studio with Aaron
Espinoza (Earlimart, Grandaddy), Mickey Petralia (Beck, Eels,
Luscious Jackson), and Wally Gagel (Eels, Folk Implosion, Sebadoh,
Juliana Hatfield) who are all producing tracks.
March 18, 2003 - "Burn Piano Island,
Burn" - The Blood Brothers (im recordings/ARTISTdirect Records)
Put your antennae up for The Blood Brothers, one of the very hottest
new bands out there today. The Blood Brothers have been part of
the Northwest hardcore-punk scene since 1997 when the members
were still in high school. Over the past four years, the band
has developed a formidable nationwide underground buzz while touring
across the country. They have completed recording their ARTISTdirect
Records' debut -- "Burn Piano Island, Burn" -- with
super-producer Ross Robinson (KoRn, Limp Bizkit, At The Drive-In)
which will be released on March 18, 2003; The Blood Brothers are
all YOUNG kids, and make some of the most intense punk music I've
heard in a LOOOONG time. They have gotten some of the most amazing
press I've ever seen a new band get. The Village Voice reviewed
their indie CD and wrote, "If this is the sound of youth
decaying, then stick a dead teenager in my ear." NME wrote,
"Utterly deranged. But deeply, deeply compelling." This
IS the sound of youth.
March 18, 2003 - "Da Undaground
Heat Vol. 1 Hosted by Jamie Foxx" - MC Lyte (iMUSIC)
When MC Lyte hit the scene in 1988, it wasn't just her gender
that took the nascent hip-hop world by storm. It was her style
- her fierce rapping, her empowering message, and the way she
wrapped her rhymes around distinctive beats. By the time her first
album, "Lyte as A Rock", had run its course, Lyte had
already become a legend. She was nominated for a Grammy Award
and her single "Ruffneck" had attained gold sales status
- the first Gold single by a female MC. "Da Undaground Heat
Vol. 1" - which was recorded in a mere four days - was made
at Jamie Foxx's Foxx Hole studio. Foxx hosts the album, and shares
the mic with Lyte on "Where Home Is."
(tenative) April 15, 2003 - "lullaby
for liquid pig" - Lisa Germano (Ineffable/iMUSIC)
Already lauded by such artists as Peter Gabriel, Neil Finn, and
David Bowie for her beautiful and groundbreaking music, Lisa Germano
offers her most daring album to date as her debut on the Ineffable/iMUSIC
label. Scheduled for release on April 15, 2003, "lullaby
for liquid pig" combines exquisite, unsettling tracks with
lyrics whose blunt honesty is rare even among the most adventurous
songwriters. Though enhanced by contributions from Finn, Johnny
Marr, Wendy Melvoin, former eels drummer Butch, and other guests,
"lullaby for liquid pig" owes its existence, from financing
to the smallest musical details, entirely to Germano, who completed
the project between periods of label affiliation. It would be
so easy to say that "lullaby for liquid pig" is a record
about alcohol, but as Germano herself is learning as she talks
about the album, it's just not that simple. "Lullaby for
liquid pig" is about relationships, it's about all those
thoughts that rush through your head in the middle of the night,
keeping you from sleep as you try to figure our why you're so
alone.
(tentative) April 15, 2003 - "Double
Wide Double High" - Leisureworld (41 Records/ARTISTdirect
Records)
Originally formed in Toronto, Leisureworld is a band whose raw,
barbed beats and snarling vocals became way too hot for that town's
sleepy music scene, a band whose debut single, the teen anthem
"I'm Dead" has already blown up at major alternative
and rock stations in Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis and Madison
prior to even signing a major record deal, and a band whose raucous,
sweaty gigs leaves kids slamming off each other and into the walls.
"It's simple: four-on-the-floor, flat-out, guitars/bass/drums
and gutbucket vocals. My lyrics are intentionally juvenile. I'm
not Bono. I'm not carrying any banners. There are no hidden messages
here. Bare-bones, meat-and-potatoes rock & roll: That's what
we do. That's all we need to do." - Patrick Worthington,
Leisureworld
Crank up "Double Wide Double High," Leisureworld's volcanic
debut. And we do mean up. Piss off your colleagues. Make the neighbors
call the cops. Doesn't matter -- you've got to hear Leisureworld
at its best, which means at full blast.
(tentative) April 15, 2003 - "The
Game of Breath" - Stagga Lee (ARTISTdirectRecords)
Gambler. Slick dresser. Heartbreaker. Killer. You remember the
original, mythical Stagga Lee of story book and fifties' song
fame? This Stagga Lee isn't a legend...not yet. Give the man time,
though, with his debut album on ARTISTdirect, "Game of Breath,"
he's already on his way. This Stagga Lee is less about image and
more about substance. You can hear it throughout his debut CD.
Born and Bred in New York, Stagga dropped out of high school and
served time in the army in Georgia and South Carolina but after
returning to New York he began to chase down opportunities to
perform and in time created his first musical demos. It was around
this time that he met producer Max Perez, and then Robert Clivilles
(C+C Music Factory), with whom Perez works at C+C Music Enterprises,
the New York-based production house whose clients have included
Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, and Luther Vandross.
A partnership was formed. Today, with the video for his debut
single, "Roll Wit M.V.P.," established in the regular
rotation on BET's UnCut, Stagga can look out across his neighborhood
-- he still lives in the house where he grew up -- and imagine
better times just around the corner. "All I ask is that you
close your eyes and listen to what I'm doing. I think that each
person's life has a soundtrack, and I just want to add to that"
"That's what life is: Whether you're spitting rhyme or talking
business, it's all a Game of Breath."
(tentative) May 20, 2003 - "Mastermind"
- Pokafase (ARTISTdirect Records)
With the release of "Mastermind," Pokafase is about
to expose the world to the underbelly of the thriving Phoenix
rap and hip-hop scene. Phoenix, better known as a winter playground
filled with golf courses, sprawling cityscapes, non-stop air conditioning
and the ever-present cacti, is about to be revealed as something
very different. Pokafase has been an integral part of the local
Phoenix hip-hop scene for the better part of the past decade,
most notably as a member of the group Know Qwestion. He is already
well-known in many rap circles, and can count among his early
supporters Guru, Kool G Rap, Eminem, and D-12's Proof. Pokafase
has a voice like a weapon, a staccato style that he uses like
a machine gun to spit rhymes that include equal measures of irony
and social observation. "There is a real and budding scene
out here," says the prolific rapper of Phoenix. "It's
a good one, it's not Compton, but it has a character of its own."
(CD advances available soon.)
May/June, 2003 - "Rise From Ruin"
- Poverty (ARTISTdirect Records)
As William S. Burroughs once said, creativity truly does come
from a series of shocks. Poverty, a 23-year old white rapper who
has been homeless nine of the past thirteen years, has more potential
subject matter compressed into his young mind than most of us
have over our entire lives. Poverty is one of the most compelling
storytellers you'll ever encounter, and his extraordinary tale,
what he thinks, what he feels, who he is, where he's been and
what he's seen, is found in his rhymes and lyrics. Producers who
worked on the album include the legendary Erick Sermon, underground
phenom Alchemist, and other underground names such as Ty Coon
and D.S.P.
TBA/2003 Phats Bossi
West Coast born and bred MC Phats Bossi has an unusual pedigree
for a hip-hop artist. Of Nigerian decent, his can trace his lineage
back to the Royal Family of the African nation Togo. Phats' debut
album is autobiographical in spirit as it vividly recounts his
unique story of growing up on the mean streets of South Central
L.A.
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