Well, at least in some parts of the country summer has arrived with a BANG! Hot weather and broken air conditioners have a tendancy to make for short tempers, so check out some great new music from several favorite bands. We're still getting summer tour schedules every week, so make sure to check back often, either with your favorite artist covered in this issue, or in Late Breaking News. Right now we have the latest schedule of bands and dates for Lollapalooza.
This month's Feature Artist, The OFFSPRING, has been enjoying the fruits of their wildly successful album, "Ixnay On The Hombre," and has been touring like crazy since they kicked off their first North American Tour in two years on February 25, 1997. They finally made it back out west, and I'll be reviewing their concert this month. We got some great pics and they do put on a fun show. Unfortunately, the band doesn't do interviews with E-zines, so we just have the concert review and a re-print of the album review we ran earlier this year.
The talent displayed by new bands we've covered over the past several months continues to amaze me! This month we have two more heavy hitters in our Debut Albums - DARLAHOOD and SUMMERCAMP. Although DARLAHOOD'S album has just been released, and SUMMERCAMP'S isn't due in stores until June 17th, they're already on major tours. DARLAHOOD is touring with "Collective Soul," while SUMMERCAMP is playing on the Second Stage at Lollapalooza. Not too shabby for bands with brand new albums!
Another new column is being introduced this month for all those C&W fans out there. Since I'm the resident metal expert, our Staff Writer, Donn Jehs, is lending his expertise to this column. We're still a little light on releases in our new columns until we establish more contacts, but we'll try to bring you the latest and greatest as fast as we can get our hands on them.
If you haven't visited us in a while, please note the format of the magazine cover has also been changed to let you, the reader, go directly to certain articles by clicking on the picture, instead of having to get there through the Table of Contents. Some features will still have to be accessed through the Table of Contents (New Releases, World Beat, etc.), but there is now a direct link to the Table of Contents on the cover. The good old arrow is still at the bottom of the cover too, so you have several options to access the magazine.
In July look for an interview with David Arkenstone (Windham Hill) and a review of his new album, reviews of both the OZZ FEST '97 and LOLLAPALOOZA tours, a slightly late review of the VERVE PIPE-TONIC-K'S CHOICE concert (it doesn't happen until 7/11 and we publish on 7/10) and as much new music and news we can come up with.
As always, we'd love some reader feedback, so please send your comments, questions, or anything else you can think of to ACCESS to the MUSIC ZONE at marellg@doitnow.com
See You In Cyber Space!
Mary Ellen Gustafson, Editor
