There’s a lot going on in BRMC’s world, which is good news for fans and the betterment of music in general.

First up, I’ve admittedly been inexcusably negligent in reporting herein about the new Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Live DVD/CD/Bonus Material release. There are some great packages available on the band’s website, all of which are worth your coin. These days when everyone and their PR rep says so and so is famous for their live show, it’s rare to find a band where it’s actually true. This is one of those bands.

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Whatever Happened to Rock and Roll (Punk Song) LIVE

That’s not to say fans of the studio are to be left out in the cold. The band has a new album, Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, tentatively scheduled for a March 9th release date. Touring drummer Leah Shapiro will be handling duties behind the kit, giving reassurance to those who caught her strong performance on last year’s dates that the backbeat is in good hands. Baby 81 is close to perfection so I’m excited to see what comes out of the hat next.

Tour dates are also coming together. Sadly Florida is not represented as of yet, but there’s plenty here to start making travel plans for:

February 2010
26 – Sacramento, CA – Harlow’s
27 – Reno, NV – Knitting Factory
28 – Las Vegas, NV – Wasted Space @ Hard Rock Hotel

March 2010
2 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre
4 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
5 – Seattle, WA – Showbox @ The Market
6 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
7 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
9 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
13 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
14 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex
18 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
20 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
21 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
23 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
24 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
25 – Chicago, IL – Metro
26 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom
27 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
30 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
31 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues

April 2010
1 – Toronto, Ontario – Phoenix Concert Theatre
2 – Montreal, Quebec – La Tulipe
3 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
5 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
6 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts
7 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Small’s Theatre
8 – New York, NY – Webster Hall

As a bonus: I was at the notorious STP concert in Tampa a little over a year ago to interview Peter after BRMC’s opening slot and took advantage of the opportunity to snap some concert pics. Here are some of the best shots:

MP3: Red Cortez – End Of An Error

I wish every person in the world was like Aimee Allen. She’s rambunctious, engaging, friendly, authentic, and generally all-around awesome. After releasing one of my favorite albums so far this year, she hit the road with Sugar Ray and Fastball. A week ago Sunday she played St. Pete, braved the horrendous humidity, and laid down a solid half hour of dancing, singing, and good times, all without stopping moving once. We managed to slow her down for a few minutes after her set to chat about weather appropriate clothing, turning off the TV, and staying grateful.

Keath: Welcome to summers in Florida – if the sun doesn’t disengrate you, the humidity will sweat you dry.

Aimee: (laughs) I had no idea what I was getting myself into, whatsoever.

Keath: You came out in a zipup and I was thinking “Oh Lord, she’s going to melt up there!”

Aimee: Yeah, I lost that pretty quick (laughs)!

Keath: So how is the tour going?

Aimee: It’s going great! It’s everything I’d hoped and more. A tour with Sugar Ray – it’s a celebration!

Keath: The album is kinda laid back and then you get out there and you’re all “woo!” It’s a nice, new feel.

Aimee: Yeah, the thing is, live, especially being out with Sugar Ray and Fastball, you can’t come out and do some mellow set. Sugar Ray is the Jimmy Buffett of our generation. People come out to party, have a good time, and smile. We don’t want to bum them out – we want them to dance! That’s what we do, that’s the goal.

Keath: Are the songs taking on a new feel that way? Since you’re the songwriter, how religiously do you stick to what’s on tape?

Aimee: I’m very palatable .. no, pliable .. i’m both pliable and palatable (laughs)! I just feel like you get one shot, so you take the band you’re touring with and change the sound for the crowd. For example, if I was to do some cafe I wouldn’t be (stadium rock pose) “Everyone get the fuck up!” This is a summer tour and all my songs I recorded acoustic and performed acoustic, so it’s not that far – just picked up the tempo a bit.

Keath: Now you play guitar on the record, but not live. Do you prefer running around?

Aimee: I don’t like the crutch of it. I could do it, be like “oh, look, I can play it!” but I prefer to be the frontwoman, dance, engage the audience, and not get caught up in it. It’s like taking away your security blanket.

Keath: It is! You lose your shield. That’s what struck me about the album – it comes across very mellow musically but lyrically it’s very intense. There’s no protection there.

Aimee: Totally! It’s very autobiographical, it’s my life story. If I have one album to tell the world my life’s story, that’s it. It’s a little happiness. It’s not a lot of happiness but it’s an attempt at a lot of happiness. The music is very upbeat, reggae influenced pop music, but the lyrics are very dark, and that’s why it’s not a lot happiness (laughs). It’s a fucking great attempt!

Keath: So how are you feeling these days?

Aimee: I’m feeling great! I’m actually happy! So I think my next album might reflect that.

Keath: You’d have been totally justified coming out with something really dark, so it’s so awesome that you came out with a positive album. I have a three month old daughter and it’s really great to have albums like yours so I can say “this is how you should look at things.”

Aimee: There’s nothing that a child can’t hear on my album, which was a big goal of mine. My grandmother and mother haven’t been able to hear any of my music, and none of my nephews and nieces have been able to hear it. So I went in to make an album for everybody, not just for those “really pissed off females who are angry at their fathers records.” This is definitely a departure, and I’m really stoked it’s family friendly. I accomplished my goal!

Keath: It’s a whole new audience!

Aimee: Yeah!

Keath: Speaking of which, do you see any Ron Paul people out in the crowd? Holding signs maybe?

Aimee: There’s very few Ron Paul people, believe it or not. I was expecting that, but it’s few and far between.

Keath: You have a long line of new people at the merch booth. (FYI: Aimee signs CDs at the merch booth after her sets – stop by and say hello!)

Aimee: Yeah, that’s very good (laughs)! You know, I did that for the election and the election is over. It doesn’t mean I don’t believe in it anymore, but if people want me to get up and … I don’t know what they want from me but it’s not going to happen.

Keath: What I love about reading interviews with you is you’ve been talking about learning to be grateful for everything. All this week it’s been pretty stressful, so I’ve been doing a little “What Would Aimee Allen Do?”

Aimee: (cheers) Alright!

Keath: (laughs) I’m trying to learn how!

Aimee: You gotta force yourself! Think, “Alright, if I’ve had the worst day ever, what can I do to force myself right now to think about what I’m grateful for.” Even if it’s just your arms and legs – start there, spend a good ten or twenty minutes. “I can breathe, I can speak words.” Just start with the basics.

Keath: It’s difficult because negative thoughts are so pervasive.

Aimee: And they will eat you alive! And they do! They do eat me alive sometimes, unless I force myself to be grateful. And that’s the only way out. It’s like a horrible, skipping record of “I hate myself, I want to die” and I’m like “No, wait a minute – life is good! Stop!” and you gotta break the fucking record. As hard as it is to do.

Keath: And everytime you turn on the TV, they’re selling the insecurity to get you to buy something or selling the negativity to get you to tune in.

Aimee: Right! That’s why I don’t watch television anymore. I really have switched it off. I’ve detached myself from mainstream media and from television because, frankly, for my own physical and mental health, it’s not conducive to being happy.

Keath: So do you have any tips for everyone at home?

Aimee: Oh yeah, I got lots of tips! (laughs) Here’s one: exercise, even if you don’t feel like it. And the best way to motivate yourself to exercise is to think about how awesome your legs are and how weird it’d be if you didn’t have the ability to walk. If it was taken away from you, if someone said to you “you will no longer be able to walk” and really feel what that would be like. That’s what I do – it motivates me to walk. So I walk kinda fast and then I’ll be “maybe I’ll run, maybe I’ll won’t.” Then I’ll want to run, and it’s not a fear thing, like “Oh, if I don’t run I’ll get fat!” I only work out for my own brain, to get rid of some of the negative looping of insanity and neurosis.

Keath: That’s a good point – so many gyms sell exercise as anti-fat rather than pro-health.

Aimee: It’s good for your brain! (laughs) It helps you stop counting the tiles in your floor!

All photos are from Aimee’s set at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, FL, August 16, 2009.

Aimee Allen “On Vacation” video

Essential Links:

Buy A Little Happiness digital with an exclusive track at Amazon. You can also buy digital at iTunes and eMusic.

Buy physical at Amazon.

Keep up to speed at Aimee Allen’s Website and MySpace.

Catch Aimee on tour with Sugar Ray
Aug 24 2009 8:00P Cains Ballroom Tulsa , Oklahoma
Sep 11 2009 8:00P Showbox at the Market Seattle , Washington
Sep 13 2009 8:00P Humboldt State University – East Gymnasium Arcata , California
Sep 14 2009 8:00P Empire Events Center Sacramento , California
Sep 15 2009 8:00P Grand Ballroom San Francisco , California
Sep 16 2009 8:00P The Catalyst Santa Cruz
Sep 19 2009 8:00P Pozo Saloon Santa Margarita , California
Sep 20 2009 7:00P Ventura Theater Ventura , California
Sep 22 2009 8:30P Rialto Theater Tucson , Arizona
Sep 23 2009 8:00P The Marquee Phoenix , Arizona
Sep 24 2009 8:00P House of Blues Las Vegas , Nevada
Sep 25 2009 8:00P Hard Rock San Diego , California
Sep 26 2009 8:00P House of Blues Los Angeles , California

I’m glad vocalist Gary Cherone is back with Extreme. While the Van Halen experiment was an interesting diversion, I think Cherone is at his best when paired with guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. The contrast between the former’s showmanship and the latter’s musicianship is what elevates Extreme from a hair band casualty to a still relevant group producing one of the best, if not the best, albums of their career.

You don’t have to be a guitar wonk to like Extreme, but it certainly helps – realizing how difficult it is to play like Nuno Bettencourt adds another dimension to Saudades de Rock. Taking “Flower Man” as an example: the song starts as a simple punk pop riff, but little flourishes thrown in quickly surpass what a typical punk pop band can play. And the guitar solo? Forget it. Trying to dumb Bettencourt down with a lesser riff is akin to trying to push a hunk of styrofoam underwater – it just keeps popping back up to the top no matter how hard you push.

None of this would matter, of course, if it weren’t for Cherone’s innate bombastity. His yang to Bettencourt’s yin gives Extreme its balance. From the opening seconds of “Star,” Cherone aims to blow out Roger Daltry, bring the “fun” to Bettercourt’s “skill.” Not that Cherone can’t stand up and be counted – his prowess as a lyricist has been continually demonstrated over Extreme’s discography, mostly in terms of reaching perhaps further than he should have, but in a market of safe regurgitation and trend chasing, ambition is always welcome.

There’s always a danger of overthinking when reviewing albums. Honestly, tracks like “King of the Ladies” work best if you don’t dwell too much on them. It’s fun and yes, more than a little dumb. “Slide” gives bassist Pat Badger a chance to shine, and new drummer Kevin Figueiredo puts in a consistently excellent performance on every track. I’m a sympathetic audience, having a weakness for songs like “Take Us Alive” and “Slide,” exercises in how-fast-can-you-play adrenaline and sing-a-long choruses. Taking a break from typical guitar theatrics is the piano led “Ghost,” gorgeous with its alternating build and release of intensity. I fear that at some point young music fans lost the ability to enjoy bands like Extreme un-ironically, which is a shame because this is an album worth loving.

Recommended Tracks: Take Us Alive, Ghost

Pictures are from Extreme’s performance at House of Blues, August 8, 2008. These guys are flat out amazing live.

There’s a player with songs from the album, but it autoplays when loaded so I’m putting it, along with other goodies, below the cut.

Here’s a great acoustic version of Ghosts, recorded at Radio Deejay in Italy.

You can buy Saudades de Rock at iTunes and Amazon.

Keep up to date at Extreme’s official site, twitter and their MySpace page.

There’s some upcoming concert dates:
Aug 1 2009 8:00P Toad’s Place (Extreme only) New Haven, Connecticut
Aug 2 2009 7:00P Crocodile Rock Allentown, Pennsylvania
Aug 3 2009 7:00P Bourbon Street Ballroom (Extreme only) Baltimore, Maryland
Aug 5 2009 7:00P Jaxx (Extreme only) W. Springfield, Virginia
Aug 6 2009 7:00P Starland Ballroom Sayerville, New Jersey
Aug 7 2009 7:00P Hampton Beach Casino Hampton Beach, New Hampshire
Aug 8 2009 7:00P House of Blues (Extreme only) Boston, Massachusetts