Happy Grunge Day: Pearl Jam To Reissue 'Vs.' And 'Vitalogy'

Eddie Vedder and the guys are keeping fans busy this year. After all, it's the 20th anniversary of Pearl Jam, so lots of celebrating is in order.

First, there was the live album, "Live on Ten Legs," which dropped on Jan. 18. Then, the announcement that Pearl Jam is toying with the idea of putting on their own music festival somewhere in middle America this summer. And now, the band is re-releasing its legendary 1993 and 1994 albums, "Vs." and "Vitalogy," in four expanded editions on March 29. Preorders are available via Pearl Jam's official website.

All editions will feature the original albums remastered, plus some b-sides and bonus tracks. Both will be available in vinyl ($19.98-$24.98) or CD ($9.98).

Each album will also be released in new commemorative, vinyl editions on April 12, in commemoration of Record Store Day 2011 (April 16).

Sad Sounds: The White Stripes Split

According to Jack White's Third Man Records website, the The Detroit rock duo The White Stripes has announced that its officially breaking up. As expected, fans are posting a bevy of feedback on the band's official Facebook page.

Here's the full statement:

The White Stripes would like to announce that today, February 2nd, 2011, their band has officially ended and will make no further new recordings or perform live.

The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health.

It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.

Meg and Jack want to thank every one of their fans and admirers for the incredible support they have given through the 13 plus years of The White Stripes' intense and incredible career.

Third Man Record will continue to put out unreleased live and studio recordings from The White Stripes in their Vault subscription record club, as well as through regular channels.

Both Meg and Jack hope this decision isn't met with sorrow by their fans but that it is seen as a positive move done out of respect for the art and music that the band has created. It is also done with the utmost respect to those fans who've shared in those creations, with their feelings considered greatly.

With that in mind the band have this to say:

"The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful."

Sincerely,
Meg and Jack White
The White Stripes

Album Tease: Foo Fighters Announce April 12 Release For New Album

The Foo Fighters have finally announced a release date for their forthcoming 7th studio album, and the LP, which is still untitled, will be out April 12. Judging by last weekend's Santa Barbara performance, we're probably looking at an 11-song tracklist.

In the meantime, Dave Grohl and the guys have released another album teaser: a 39-second snipped of "Miss the Misery." Hear it via FooFighters.fm or by clicking the Soundcloud player, below.
Teaser 2 by Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters tentative tracklist:

1. Bridge Burning
2. Rope
3. Dear Rosemary
4. White Limo
5. Arlandria
6. These Days
7. Back & Forth
8. Matter of Time
9. Miss the Misery
10. I Shoulda Know
11. Walk

(Photo by Thomas Rabsch.)

Album Of The Week: RED's 'Until We Have Faces' No. 1 On iTunes Rock Chart

Red makes fierce hard rock, with a silver lining

The guys of hard rock band RED drop their new album, “Until We Have Faces,” Tuesday, Feb. 1, and the buzz is heavy. In fact, the album just hit No. 1 on the iTunes Rock Chart, for all genres of rock.

The follow-up to their Grammy-nominated “End of Silence” and “Innocence & Instinct” albums, the new album, produced by Rob Graves, pulls no punches and shows a much heavier, more mature Red.

RED first got together in Nashville in the mid-2000s. After taking a few years to write and record a demo, the band generated enough fans and online hype to get label interest and inked to Sony.

At the heart of RED’s music is a deep, guttural faith. Band members are Christians, but it’s hard to tell from the heavy, fierce tracks, packed with lurching riffs and angst-fueled vocals.

Themes are universal: fear, anger, loneliness.

"Until We Have Faces" touches on "finding your identity." Still, the guys keep it ambiguous.

“Keeping certain things ambiguous is always a priority for us,” guitarist Jasen Rauch said, chatting with Audio Ink Radio. “Not that we want to mask what we are talking about, but we want the songs to allow room for growth in the listener.

“People come up to us and say our song ‘Pieces’ got them out of depression or stopped them from killing themselves. But then, someone else will say they wanted that song played at their wedding. Those are two very different perspectives.”

In the end, camp RED --- which includes Rauch, Michael Barnes (vocals) and brothers Randy (bass, piano) and Anthony (guitar) Armstrong --- is all about staying connected with the fans.

“Being close to our fans is something we always wanted,” Rauch said.

Here's a teaser for the new album, via Youtube:

Video: Foo Fighters Debut New Songs

Finally! No more 28-second teasers from Dave Grohl and the guys. The Foo Fighters played a surprise show at the 300-capacity Velvet Jones nightclub in Santa Barbara last night (announced last-minute on Twitter) and played their entire forthcoming album- all 11 tracks.

Check out the video and set list from the Foo Fighters' show, below.



Setlist:

(New tracks)

Bridge Burning
Roope
Dear Rosemary
White Limo
Arlandria
These Days
Back & Forth
Matter of Time
Miss the Misery
I Shoulda Know
Walk

(The rest of the set)

All My Life
Times Like These
Generator
My Hero
Learn to Fly
Watershed
Up in Arms
Big Me
Enough Space
Monkeywrench
Hey JP
Everlong
Pretender
I’ll Stick Around
This is a Call

Interview: John Cooper of hard rocker Skillet sticks to his roots

Skillet set to play first annual Avalanche Tour with Stone Sour, Theory of a Deadman, more

In the song, "Hero," Skillet vocalist and bass player John Cooper croons about losing faith in the muddied world.

"Every time I turn on the TV, it's like, 'Really? Another sex scandal?'" he said. "This is absurd, from wars to violence going on all the time. It's a scary time to be alive, and it's an easy time to lose your faith."

Skillet makes no secret of its faith. It's rare when a Christian rock band can cross over to the mainstream, but Skillet has done just that: charted on rock radio without denying the roots that got it there in the first place.

The Grammy-nominated rocker band is on the first annual Avalanache Tour, which kicks off in kicks off March 24 in Chicago and wraps up May 8 in Jacksonville.

Cooper was kind enough to chat with Audio Ink about the band's No. 2-selling album and how Skillet's song landed on WWE.

AUDIO INK: Is it true music was forbidden in your house growing up?

Cooper: Not all music, but anything with drums. Drums and guitar were the devil's instruments. My mom was a piano teacher and voice teacher, so she loved music, just a certain kind. Classical, hymns and opera were okay. When I first heard Christian music, I felt vindicated, like, "It's not the drums that's evil."

AUDIO INK: You guys are huge in both the mainstream and faith-based scene.

Cooper: Thanks. I think I'm so adamant about not wanting to get rid of my Christian stance because it helped me so much in my early life. I'm not embarrassed about it, and I'm not silent about it in interviews. If people ask, "Are you a Christian band?" my response is, "Yeah. I love it."

AUDIO INK: Your latest full-length, "Awake," debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Why do you think so many fans relate to this album?

Cooper: I think it's because Skillet has a lot more fans than just Christian music fans. We are a Christian band, but we work very hard at writing songs about issues that, in my mind, everyone can relate to: atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims. I see that in bands like U2 and Switchfoot. Those bands have done a good job of having positive and hopeful messages, without alienating certain people.

AUDIO INK: What's it like being in a band with your wife Korey (keyboard, guitar)?

Cooper: It's awesome. She's my go-to person to lean on when it comes to making the set flow and making songs sound better. She'll do keyboard programming and songs will come to life. Personally, it's nice on the road, because it makes the whole band feel more stable. We have our kids on the road, and it feels like a big family traveling and loving each other and having fun.

AUDIO INK: Your song, "Monster," was No. 4 on the active rock chart last year and featured on WWE wrestling. How awesome was that?

Cooper: It was awesome. "Monster" is a song a lot of stations said they would never play because it came from a Christian band. But the song kept doing better and better, and eventually, most of those people ended up playing the record.

~Anne Erickson, Gannett/LSJ/NOISE

Alt-rock band hits 20 years, new record

By Anne Erickson

Coming up on its 20th anniversary, alternative rock group Cake will drop its sixth studio album, "Showroom of Compassion," on Jan. 11. It's the guys' first release since 2004's "Pressure Chief" and will come out on their own indie label, Upbeat Records. Produced and engineered by the band at their own solar-powered studio in Sacramento, Calif., the disc already has a Top 10 alternative hit in "Sick of You."

NOISE caught up with Vince DiFiore (trumpet/euphonium/keyboards) - who along with John McCrea (vocals), Xan McCurdy (guitar/synthesizer) and Gabriel Nelson (bass/guitar/rheem/bandalero) make up Cake - to talk about the group's new album.

NOISE: You're coming up on the 20th anniversary of Cake. Is that crazy to you?

DiFiore: It is. We started in the fall of '91. It seems about right, but it does go by fast, no matter what age you are. It makes certain things better. With this album coming out, I feel so much more cognizant of the process. I'm been through it before, so I'm much more aware of what it really means and how not to take it for granted.

NOISE: You have a new album coming out on Jan. 11, "Showroom of Compassion." Were you guys writing and recording during the 7-year break between albums?

DiFiore: We really never stopped being a band. We toured two and a half years on "Pressure Chief," and then after that, we slowed down our touring, got off our label and put out a b-sides and rarities record on our own. Then, we started making this album, and from the very first time we were introduced to these songs three years ago, they felt like they were something of value that deserved that sort of nurturing.

NOISE: The album's first single, "Sick of You," cracked the Top 10 in alternative almost immediately. Surprised?

DiFiore: I guess we had all hoped for that, and it was something we had seen in the past with songs like "Never There," "The Distance" and "Short Skirt, Long Jacket." We didn't assume that could happen again; but low and behold, it did. As the reality unfolds, it always seems a little surreal.

NOISE: What's the concept behind the album?

DiFiore: Ultimately, it's a collection of different songs, and it's an examination of what thrills and captivates us in real life. It's about the common experience in these exciting and marvelous times we're living in.

NOISE: Going back to, "Short Skirt, Long Jacket," did you ever think that song would become so legendary?

DiFiore: No. I guess it is, though. It's really had a resurgence, with it being on the Nano commercial and the theme for TV show, "Chuck." It was a great surprise.

Originally published by Gannett Media

Guitar Edge Xclusive: Taddy Porter

As the lead guitarist of Stillwater, Oklahoma-based Taddy Porter, Joe Selby seems bent on updating ′70s Southern rock n’ roll for the new millennium.

On the band’s self-titled debut, out June 29 (digitally released on June 22), Selby makes a dirty racket with scruffy, riff-driven, hard rock tracks. Produced by Memphis-based Skidd Mills (Saving Abel, Saliva), the album wanders stylistically from gentle acoustic blues to vertiginous up-tempo rock. And it’s working: The album’s single, “Shake Me,” is scoring with mainstream radio, and it sits at No. 30 on the active rock chart right now.

“‘Shake Me,’ was a unique experience for us,” Selby said. “We were fiddling around with ideas, and we ended up writing and recording ‘Shake Me’ in one day. I think we spent eight hours on it, which was pretty crazy. We blinked, and it was there. The next thing you know, it’s our single, and it’s taken us to where we are now.”

Guitar Edge caught up with Selby backstage at the hot, sweaty Rock on the Range 2010 to talk gear, the new album and his take on the Southern rock revival.

What music influenced you growing up?

When I first started listing to music, I was all about The Red Hot Chili Peppers. “Under the Bridge” was my favorite song as a kid, so John Frusciante was a big influence before I even picked up guitar. Early ′90s rock like Soundgarden, Nirvana, The Chili Peppers—that’s the first stuff I really remember getting into. Then later, when I started playing guitar and listening more to music, it was more of the classic stuff like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and all of the bands in the late-′60s, early-′70s rock era.

Who are some of your favorite guitarists?

The first guy I really liked was Kirk Hammett. I was in seventh grade, so I was really into Metallica when I first started getting into guitar. But after that, my mom got me into Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page. Eric Clapton is one of my top guys now, and I also like Freddy King. All of the blues players. Jeff Beck is amazing. But if I had to pick my top few, they’re Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Freddie King.

How did coming out of Stillwater, Oklahoma, affect your sound?

For one thing, there’s not much to do in Stillwater besides play in a band. [laughs] As far as the musical influence, there’s a big country scene there. I’m not into it so much, but that kind of rubs off on me, because I’m around a lot of top-notch guitar players who play that style. There’s also a really good indie scene, and even though we’re a rock band, we really like some of the bands on the indie circuit. The first band I remember us all getting into was The Black Keys. There’s a big following for bands like The Black Keys, The White Stripes, and The Raconteurs in Stillwater, so that influenced who we are as a band.

Do you think there’s a resurgence of Southern rock, with bands like The Black Keys and Kings of Leon paving the way?

Yes, definitely. The more we travel around, the more I think the classic sound is coming back. We see more and more bands that are in the same vein as us. I think that’s the next step for music. I think things are coming around full circle, and the evidence is seeing all of this new music coming out that sounds classic from bands like The Black Keys.

Let’s talk about your upcoming self-titled album. How did the ideas come together for the release?

We were a fairly new band when we started writing this album. I was teaching guitar lessons at a guitar shop [Daddy O’s] in Stillwater, and Andy [Brewer, vocals/guitar] came in for a lesson, and we started jamming together. We just started playing everyday, and we didn’t have a set thing we were going for. We were just playing what we liked: little riffs and different ideas like that. It just happened. We just wrote some songs we liked, we started playing and recording them, and we started seeing this pretty awesome reaction from people.

How did you get the distorted tones on the album?

My main amp is a Rivera Quiana 2x12. It’s 60 watts, and it’s a combo amp. That amp is really awesome in that it has awesome distortion, so the dirty channel sounds really good, and if you click it to the clean channel, there’s another distortion on that channel. So, you can have the clean sound and mix that dirty, or you can click it to the dirty channel. I don’t like using distortion pedals; I like using amp distortion, so that’s what I really like about this amp. On the album, I got most of the tones with the Rivera, and then we mixed it with a Marshall head—the Silver Jubilee reissue, which is my Holy Grail of amps right now, if I can ever get an original. We used those amps for most of the sounds.

So what’s your most trusted guitar, and why?

Definitely my 1960 Classic Reissue Les Paul. I play almost every song with that, and it has a tapered neck on it, which I love. It’s light, which is good for me, because I’m not a big guy. It’s my favorite guitar I’ve ever owned.

Do you have any playing advice for our readers?

My biggest tip is to always try to have an equal balance between learning other guitar players’ material and writing your own stuff. It seems to me like it’s a teeter-totter. There are some people who write a lot of their own stuff but don’t play as well, and then there are other guys who work on the technical stuff but aren’t amazing songwriters. You should find a balance. And practice, practice, practice.

By Anne Erickson, Guitar Edge

Interview: Saving Abel rocks USO tours

Many fans credit Saving Abel's music with helping them get through tough times. They relate to personal lyrics in songs like "18 Days," "Drowning (Face Down)" and "Addicted."

Saving Abel's rock songs speak to the men and women in the armed forces, too. The Mississippi guys just wrapped up an USO tour of the Persian Gulf in February, in which they visited eight military bases, playing seven concerts for soldiers in Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.

Now back in the states, Saving Abel just released its sophomore album, "Miss America," out last Tuesday, choc full of crunchy, post-grunge rock and soulful, Southern-fried ballads.

Saving Abel headlines the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series aftershow on Sunday, June 13, at the Michigan International Speedway.

Bass player Eric Taylor checked in with NOISE about the band's new album and the USO Tour.

NOISE: You just wrapped up a USO tour in the Persian Gulf. How was that?
Taylor: It was really fun getting to hang out with the men and women of the military and seeing how they live. We slept in the same place as them, ate the same food - it was a really great experience.

NOISE: Do you feel like it's your duty as musicians to give back by entertaining the troops?

Taylor: Absolutely. What we feel - and we don't shove it down anybody's throats - but we feel they're over there fighting for our freedom. We're just asking for people to support them, not the war. (They) are sacrificing so much.

NOISE: You're playing the Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 13. Excited?

Taylor: We're lucky - we've had the opportunity to do a lot with NASCAR. We've met a bunch of the drivers, so every time NASCAR calls, we jump on it. It should be fun to hang with fans and watch some good racing.

NOISE: Let's talk about the album. Why did you choose the title, "Miss America?"

Taylor: Well, we chose that title when we were overseas. We have this song, "Miss America," and it's a soldier writing home to his mom and dad and wife. While we were over there, we said, "Let's finish this up." We all agreed it should be the title, and it's the first time all five of us have agreed on something that quickly. In the song, it's, "I miss America." America is also known as the lady, so that term can be used different ways.

NOISE: When you listen to the album, what stands out to you most?

Taylor: We pinned down our sound. On this album, you can really hear the Southern rock. It shows Saving Abel isn't afraid to get up and play some rock and roll. I'm most proud that we've grown as writers and musicians, and we can sit back and listen and think, "Wow, we've constructed that. We've improved that much."

By Anne Erickson, Gannett LSJ

Interview: Jade Puget, guitarist in A.F.I.

East Bay punks AFI (A Fire Inside) entertain with energy, fire and breakneck speed.

"When we go out there, we each give it our all," guitarist Jade Puget says, chatting from a Providence, R.I. gig. "I could never imagine just standing there, playing songs. It's just not what we do."

AFI has been a significant part of the underground hardcore punk scene since 1991, but it wasn't until 2003 that the band struck gold - literally - with the gold-selling, "Sing the Sorrow." The album painted a dark, gothic portrait, deflecting strains of rock, punk, hardcore and metal, plus enough catchy melodies to make a few pop hits. Next came 2006's "Decemberunderground," which hit No. 1 on Billboard.

Now following the release of 2009's "Crash Love," AFI is as busy as ever, with a summer that packs Lollapalooza (August 6-8 in Chicago) and a tour with Green Day in August. On Thursday, June 3, the band headlines Grand Rapids' Orbit Room.

NOISE caught up with Puget to talk "Crash Love," Lollapalooza and Green Day.

NOISE: AFI is one of the major acts on Lollapalooza this year. Are you excited?

Puget: Yeah, we're definitely looking forward to Lollapalooza. Davey (Havok, vocals) always says one of the first concerts he ever went to was Lollapalooza in '91, and a lot of what he was inspired by was that first Lollapalooza.

NOISE: What are you most looking forward to at Lolla?

Puget: Just playing, really. There's a lot of history with that festival, so it's just going to be fun. We just played a series of festivals in Australia with Jane's Addiction (Perry Ferrell of Jane's Addiction founded Lollapalooza), so it will be cool seeing those guys again.

NOISE: You're on tour with Green Day in August.

Puget: Yeah, we've known those guys a long time. We came from the same scene they did - both bands started in the East Bay scene. From their very first record, when they were still a small local band, I listened to them. So, I've been a fan for almost 20 years now, so for me, it's exciting. I think musically we don't sound the same necessarily, but I think we're coming from the same place.

NOISE: What was the defining moment, when you knew AFI was going from an underground punk band to something bigger?

Puget: There was a certain moment when we started stepping outside of the underground world we lived in. All of a sudden, we were signed to major label, our record (2003's "Sing the Sorrow") came out and was No. 5 on the charts, we won an MTV VMA and we had a hit song on the radio. All these things we never expected all happened on the same record. It was a whirlwind.

-Anne Erickson, Gannett NOISE

Interview: John Cooper of hard rocker Skillet

In the song, "Hero," Skillet vocalist and bass player John Cooper sings about losing faith in the world.

"Every time I turn on the TV, it's like, 'Really? Another sex scandal?'" he said. "This is absurd, from wars to violence going on all the time to the earthquake in Haiti. It's a scary time to be alive, and it's an easy time to lose your faith."

Skillet makes no secret of its faith. It's rare when a Christian rock band can cross over to the mainstream, but Skillet has done just that: charted on rock radio without denying the roots that got it there in the first place.

The Grammy-nominated band brings its "Awake & Alive Tour" on Friday, May 21, to the MSU Auditorium in East Lansing. Joining Skillet are fellow faith-based hard rockers RED and The Letter Black.

Cooper was kind enough to chat with us about the band's No. 2-selling album, his faith and how Skillet's song landed on WWE.

NOISE: Is it true music was forbidden in your house growing up?

Cooper: Not all music, but anything with drums. Drums and guitar were the devil's instruments. My mom was a piano teacher and voice teacher, so she loved music, just a certain kind. Classical, hymns and opera were okay. When I first heard Christian music, I felt vindicated, like, "It's not the drums that's evil."

NOISE: You're one of the few Christian rock bands that didn't abandon the genre after getting mainstream success.

Cooper: Thanks. I think I'm so adamant about not wanting to get rid of my Christian stance because it helped me so much in my early life. I'm not embarrassed about it, and I'm not silent about it in interviews. If people ask, "Are you a Christian band?" my response is, "Yeah. I love it."

NOISE: Your 2009 album, "Awake," debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Why do you think so many fans relate to this album?

Cooper: I think it's because Skillet has a lot more fans than just Christian music fans. We are a Christian band, but we work very hard at writing songs about issues that, in my mind, everyone can relate to: atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims. I see that in bands like U2 and Switchfoot. Those bands have done a good job of having positive and hopeful messages, without alienating certain people.

NOISE: What's it like being in a band with your wife Korey (keyboard, guitar)?

Cooper: It's awesome. She's my go-to person to lean on when it comes to making the set flow and making songs sound better. She'll do keyboard programming and songs will come to life. Personally, it's nice on the road, because it makes the whole band feel more stable. We have our kids on the road, and it feels like a big family traveling and loving each other and having fun.

NOISE: Your song, "Monster," was No. 4 on the active rock chart last year and featured on WWE wrestling. How cool was that?

Cooper: It was awesome. "Monster" is a song a lot of stations said they would never play because it came from a Christian band. But the song kept doing better and better, and eventually, most of those people ended up playing the record.

Interview: Andy Brewer of Taddy Porter talks the 'Southern sound'

Andy Brewer embraced the "Southern sound" early on.

"I remember as a kid driving to go fishing with my dad and hearing Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers, and loving it," said the singer for Stillwater, Okla.-based rock band Taddy Porter.

"I remember the songs sounded pretty and explained what we were doing at the time. I was just fishing with my dad, and it all fit together. I like holding onto the nostalgia of that."

He's not alone. Southern rock is entering a new era of appreciation. Just look at the upswing of Southern-flavored bands on the radio: Kings of Leon, Blackstone Cherry and the Black Keys.

Soulful groups like Taddy Porter are hotter than ever.

"I think Southern rock has been around for awhile, but it wasn't really prevalent in today's music, except for country," he said. "But now, I hear lots of bands coming up that have a Southern sound. It's great."

Taddy Porter, which plays shows in both Grand Rapids and Flint this week, has a fuzzy-warm success story that starts with the guys playing tiny, 10-person shows in Oklahoma and ends with them landing a tour with major-label rockers Saving Abel.

That tour was a turning point.

"When we were out with Saving Abel, they brought big crowds," Brewer said. "We were the opening band and didn't think we would get a positive reaction because we're a different genre. But they dug us."

MySpace plays and Facebook fans went up. Way up.

"After that, we realized this was something special and that we could get to a point where we could hold the crowd in our hands a little bit," he said.
On the agenda now: Finishing up the band's yet untitled full-length, due out in April or May.

The album's debut single, "Shake Me," harnesses a close-to-the-bone, gritty blues-rock sound with heart.

Also on the horizon: Rock on the Range this May. The two-day hard rock, alternative and metal fest is held every year in Columbus, Ohio, and the 2010 lineup includes the Deftones, Slash, Limp Bizkit, Rob Zombie and, yes, Taddy Porter, among others.

It's an honor. Even for a Southern guy.

"I had actually never heard of the festival until I found out we were on it, because we're not from around there," he said, laughing. "But I researched it, and the acts that play it are major. Plus, it's just a huge show."

By Anne Erickson, Gannett NOISE/LSJ

Interview: 'Addicted' to Saving Abel

After Saving Abel first recorded the hard-hitting song "Addicted," the Corinth, Miss., guys thought it was good, but set the demo aside because it didn't seem to fit the band.

"If you go back and listen to our initial indie release, we sound more like a Matchbox 20-meets-Wallflowers band - really poppy," guitarist Jason Null said, chatting by phone from a Nashville recording studio. "So when we came up with this bit of heavy rock, we couldn't use the song."

When Saving Abel started getting serious label interest, Null remembered the song and brought it back. And it's a good thing he did. "Addicted" climbed to No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock chart last year, breaking the band on the national scene and landing the guys tours with major players like Nickelback, Hinder and Papa Roach.

Null says "Addicted" shaped the direction of Saving Abel's sound and the route the guys took musically. Now their mindset is heavier and edgier - full of brash lyrics, catchy melodies and seismic guitar riffing.

"I can remember Skidd (Mills, the band's producer) playing the song for us after we had tracked it, and we just kind of looked at one another and were confused for a second," Null said, laughing. "We were like, 'Is this really us? Is that where we're going as a band?'

"We really thought that song was going to be great for us from the beginning."

Hard rock, by its nature, is a tough, in-your-face genre, and Saving Abel's music is no different. Part pop metal, part fist-pumping rock, the group connects with heavy music fans and adds enough ballads ("18 Days") to go co-ed.

Saving Abel got together in 2004 with Null, lead singer Jared Weeks, guitarist Scott Bartlett, bassist Eric Taylor and drummer Blake Dixon. In typical rock-story fashion, the guys held day jobs while recording music on the side and promoting the group one hole-in-the-wall gig at a time.

"The last job I held right before I signed the record deal was a manager for K-Mart stores," Null said.

Even after the guys recorded tracks and booked shows, they still needed a name. Null finally came up with "Saving Abel" during a late-night reading of the Bible.

"I was up working on some band stuff, and I was online, and it must have been a line from some sort of Christian magazine, but I can remember it read, 'There was no saving Abel from his brother Cain.' And those two words together just jumped out at me," he said.

As Saving Abel's members can surely attest, being in a platinum-selling rock band has its obvious advantages. But it's also a lot of work.

That said, Null says all the touring, all the late nights and early mornings, all the press demands, all the head-numbing pressure - it's all worth it.

"I think I can speak for everybody in the band when I say that this is what we've always wanted to do: tour and play music for a living," he said. "It's like in anything that you do: You get tired sometimes, but I'd much rather be tired and be playing music for a living."

The common thread of Saving Abel's 2008 self-titled debut is the lyrics, which come straight from the guys' personal experiences. That includes "Addicted."

"Jared, our singer, wrote that about his high school sweetheart in Corinth," Null said. "They had broken up and got back in touch after a few years had passed and just hit it off.

"I can remember he came in one night and was excited that he ran into her. Evidently, they had a good night together, because he sat down and was like, 'Man, I have this melody in my head.' "

Null considers the band's current single, "Drowning (Face Down)," a personal song, as well.

"'Drowning' was one of those late nights with the band writing in the basement, and at the end of the night we were winding down and playing some stuff. The guitar lick intro you hear on that song is something I've been playing since I was a kid and never did much of anything with it," he said.

"But in all, the song is about life's up and downs."

By Anne Erickson, Gannett LSJ

A rockin' zombie calendar with yours truly

So, I usually stick to purely professional posts on this blog: band interviews, music news, etc. But, I'm making an exception today. I was asked to model for a zombie calendar, of all things, this year. This morning, the photographer and I were interviewed on WQTX-FM (92.1) in Lansing, Mich. about the release, and we had a blast.

Here's the creepy pic.
It doesn't get more rock 'n' roll than this.