Greenville's free alternative weekly

By Sean Rayford

By Sean Rayford

Bringing on the comets

Craig Pfunder of VHSor Beta wandered in the front door of the New Brookland Tavern in October of 2005 like a lost child at the S.C. State Fair. “You gotta be kidding me” he mumbled as he looked around the small West Columbia club.

The band’s tour with headliner’s The Bravery was regularly packing houses three times the size of New Brookland and Pfunder wasn’t expecting such an intimate venue. It’s been almost two years since we had the chance to watch the Louisville band (now a threesome) melt our moons in live fashion but alas, a new record is on the way.

Bring on the Comets, the band’s third LPis slated for a summer release Aug. 28 on Astralwerks records. The LP, Recorded in Asheville, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee with the help of producer Brandon Mason (Secret Machines, David Bowie) will be preceded by a 12” release featuring “Can’t Believe a Single Word” and “Burn It All Down.”

INTERPOLATBIGDAYOUT Interpol will be kicking off yet another tour this summer to support their new disc, Our Love to Admirewhich will be filling end up in all the cool peoples’record collections July 10.

The New York City boys will kick the tour off July 19 in Rochester, New York, and although the new dates fail to travel into the southeast, the band will be playing Atlanta June 2 as part of the “99X Big Day Out”

NEWFIREWORKS FOR J.E.W.

Back in September Arizona’s Jimmy Eat World was taking their time working on their follow up to Futures. After bouncing in and out of the studio for almost a year Singer Jim Adkins says the band have finally set a mixing date of May 28 although a release date or album title are still unavailable.

Adkins has also recently been debating the possibility of giant banana suits for the band to decrease questions about emo. The new album by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Against Me!) and could possibly sell at least 300 copies.

VANS+ MAIDEN: RUN TO THE HILLS

For those of you who have always wanted to skate, skip or run from the cops with the power of Iron Maiden’s metal icon, Eddie, the time is now.

The shoes which feature artwork from Maiden’s 1980 release Killers have been released by Van’s and can be on you feet for less than $50.

NEW FOUND GLORY BACK FROM THE SCREEN

Remember how awesome it was to hear New Found Glory covering the Neverending Story theme song?

In September the band will be releasing a second installment of their “From the Screen to Your Stereo” EP. No songs have been announced for the release and fans can suggest titles through the band’s MySpace page.

PUMPKINS SALES CRASH SERVER

Demand for online ticket sales for the Smashing Pumpkins nine date string of shows at the Orange Peel in Asheville recently caused a sever crash and sales were suspended until the tech team could come to the rescue.

Ticket sales for the shows (June 23-July 5) resumed on Monday, May 21 and are available at ticketweb.com

POT SMOKERS IN WU-TANG?

Grammy Award winning rapper Method Man was simply trying to enjoy a Thursday night, driving around New York City with his best friend Mary Jane, when a toll booth cop quickly put a stop to the man’s fun on May 17.

Bridge-and-tunnel officer Donald Johnston spotted the rapper’s 2005 green Lincoln en route to Manhattan from the Battery Tunnel and stopped the vehicle because of an expired inspection sticker.

When the windows rolled down the officer smelled an aroma associated with marijuana and spotted drug paraphernalia inside.

Method Man then admitted that he had almost 28 more grams of the illegal substance under his seat and was taken into custody without incident.

FLYING BOTTLES OF ORANGINA

At one time Scott Stapp was the most hated man in radio rock while fronting the Grammy Award-winning post Pearl Jam wannabe band.

The Tallahassee-based band, once known as Naked Toddler, has sold over 25 million records, of which over half now flood used CD bins from Bangkok to Calgary.

Stapp recently continued on his fast track to regaining the love of the music world after allegedly chucking a bottle of the Orangina (the sweet nectar of the gods with 12 percent juice and 2 percent pulp) at his wife and former Miiss New York, USA.

Fortunately Stapp never played ball in school and missed his wife’s head. The only damage was a broken bottle and sticky wall at their home in Boca Raton Sunday, May 20.

The singer’s defense attorney argued that the Orangina bottle was not a deadly weapon and the charges were reduced.