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“Honest Men” by The Gracious Few

The band Live sold millions of records in its day, which was most of the 90s. But by the end of the decade, things had become stale and after three more albums, things had become too unstable to continue. One story that’s making the rounds is that singer Ed Kowalczyk had too much control over who made money from songwriting—not to mention the time he demanded a $100,000 “lead singer bonus” for an appearance at a European festival.

So screw Ed. He’s out. The three remaining guys have merged with two members of Candlebox to create a new band called The Gracious Few. Their self-titled debut album was produced by Jerry Harrison, the ex-keyboardist for The Talking Heads.

The first single is called “Honest Men”—and with the Candlebox influence, it obviously rocks harder than anything Live ever did. Give it a listen. 

“Miami” by Foals

Foals are English. Oxford. Although you’d never know by listening to them, they descended from a pretty serious math rock band called “The Edmund Fitzgerald”. Five guys. They’re already well-known across Europe and now Sub Pop will see what they can do about North America. The album is called Total Life Forever and a track entitled “Miami” is worth your time.

“I Said Alright” by The Vinyl Stitches

Next we have The Vinyl Stitches. They’re a garage-y band from London whose sound has a lot in common with old-school swamp-rock bands like The Cramps mixed with the kinks. There’s a song called “I Said Alright” that could have been released in 1966. It’s all very sinister and dangerous-sounding—which is to say “good”.

“Carry Me Home” by We Are The In Crowd

Song number four is from We Are The In Crowd. They are from Poughkeepsie, New York and are named after the Berenstain Bears. Five people. Tay, the singer, tours with her collection of sock moneys. They’re on the road with the Warped Tour now, so they must be going over well. Cool sound. Give a listen to a track called “Carry Me Home”.

“Tattva” by Kula Shaker

Finally, Kula Shaker. Alan had forgotten about these guys until someone mentioned them in a meeting. They were strange in the sense that they were a psych-rock band who broke through in the age of Britpop. They did all right for a while—but then there was a scandal involving a swastika, which led to some major over-exposure and the band collapsed in 1999. They, however, regrouped in 2004 and are still together—although Alan says he hasn’t really been paying attention.

So instead, let’s go back to the first record which just went by the letter K. It was a huge hit, beating the Oasis record of most copies of a debut CD sold in one week. A big part of that had to do with a single called “Tattva”.