SUGAR RAY ****

Sugar Ray is a pop rock band from Orange County, California. The band gained fame in the late 1990s with such hits as "Someday," "Every Morning," "Fly," and "When It's Over."

 

 

History

Formation and Lemonade and Brownies (1990-1996)

Prior to Sugar Ray, in the late 1980s, Rodney Sheppard and Stan Frazier had been together in a band under the name The Tories. Later additions Murphy Karges and Mark McGrath changed the band's name to "Shrinky Dinx". After signing with Atlantic Records, the name was changed to Sugar Ray upon threat of lawsuit from the Milton Bradley Company, maker of the Shrinky Dinks toy.

The band's debut album, Lemonade and Brownies, was released in 1995 and though it failed to produce a major hit single it did earn them recognition in alternative circles. Their early work was strongly influenced by funk metal, hip-hop, punk, and alternative rock. This first album leaned on experimenting with those many influences, combining genres.

After they gained fame with the 1997 album Floored in 1998, the single "Mean Machine" off Lemonade and Brownies was featured in the PlayStation game Road Rash 3D, and it's Nintendo 64 counterpart Road Rash 64.

Floored (1997-1998)

Sugar Ray's first mainstream hit came in the summer of 1997 with their song "Fly," which was released on the album Floored and featured reggae artist Super Cat. "Fly" was notable for not sounding anything at all like the rest of the tracks on the album and received frequent radio play, resulting in a number one rank on the Billboard's Hot 100 List. As a result of the success of "Fly," Floored sold well and was certified double platinum. However, by the end of 1997, critics were skeptical that Sugar Ray could put out another successful song and labeled them a one-hit wonder. The same year, Sugar Ray was featured in the movie Father's Day, starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. Floored featured a strong nu metal influence and was the band's last "heavy" album before they moved into a more adult contemporary direction.

14:59 (1999-2000)

Their 1999 album 14:59 was the reply to these accusations, with the title implying that their 15 minutes of fame were not quite up — their "fame clock" reading 14:59. "Every Morning," which received widespread comparisons to "Fly," rose to similar success during the spring of 1999, reaching No. 3 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Their follow-up single "Someday" received extensive airplay later that year as well and reached No. 7 in the U.S. 14:59 outsold its predecessor and was certified triple platinum. Another Billboard hit, "Falls Apart," gained popularity as well.

 

Sugar Ray (2001-2002)

In 2000, Sugar Ray did a cover version of John Cale and Brian Eno's "Spinning Away" for the soundtrack to "The Beach." Their 2001 self-titled album Sugar Ray produced another hit with "When It's Over," which failed to reach the same level as their previous singles.

In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003-2005)

Sugar Ray's 2003 effort In the Pursuit of Leisure, and the first single from that album, "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)," received a lukewarm reception. The album also contained the band's cover of Joe Jackson's famous "Is She Really Going Out With Him?". In 2005, Sugar Ray released a greatest hits album, with three new songs, "Shot of Laughter," "Time After Time," and "Psychedelic Bee".

 

Music for Cougars (2006 - present)

After releasing their Greatest Hits album, in 2005, the band went into a period of relative inactivity for a number of years, with Mark McGrath starting a new job as an anchor on the television show Extra. In January 2006, Sugar Ray was released from their recording contract with Atlantic Records. An exception to this was during mid 2007, with their inclusion of the previously unreleased song "Into Yesterday" on the Surf's Up movie soundtrack, and a brief tour in Asia in August 2007 where they headlined SingFest, the nation's first international music festival.

Sugar Ray appeared on the May 18, 2008, on the season 3 finale of American Dad, titled "Spring Break-Up," as themselves, playing "Fly" at a Spring Break party. They also starred in the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie as themselves performing the song "Words to Me."

An announcement came the next day, on May 19, 2008, that the band would be entering the studio to record their first album of new material since 2003. It was also announced that the band signed a new record deal with Pulse Recordings and that the new album should be released in the summer of 2009.

On March 6, 2009, Mark McGrath posted an update on Facebook announcing that a new album, titled Music for Cougars, was on the way. It was released on July 21, 2009. The first single was "Boardwalk."

On August 22, 2010, Sugar Ray's Twitter page announced that Craig 'DJ Homicide' Bullock has left the band.

Sugar Ray released on their blog a song called "Down With Whatever" that was previously unreleased. Also on their blog, they make mention of new music before planning another tour.

CAKE ***

Cake is an American alternative rock band from Sacramento, California. Noted for their idiosyncratic approach to music, Cake became popular in the late 1990s with their album Fashion Nugget, which spawned several singles, with "The Distance" being the highest-charting single. Cake's musical style is characterized by lead singer John McCrea's half-sung, half-spoken vocals and lyrical wordplay. The band has switched out several members in the years since its first album, Motorcade of Generosity, in 1994. Their sixth full-length album, Showroom of Compassion, was released on January 11, 2011, and debuted at the number 1 position on the Billboard 200; a first for the band.

History

Cake was founded in 1991 and composed of vocalist/songwriter John McCrea, guitarist Greg Brown, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, bassist Shon Meckfessel and drummer Frank French. Shon Meckfessel soon left and was replaced by Gabe Nelson. In 1993, the band released its debut single, "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle". Although self-released, the single managed to hit number 31 on the US Modern Rock Tracks. After the moderate radio success of their first single, Cake released their debut album titled Motorcade of Generosity. Eventually, Cake signed a deal with Capricorn Records, who in turn released the album nationally on February 7, 1994. Some time after this deal Gabe Nelson and Frank French left the band.

On September 17, 1996, Cake released their second album, Fashion Nugget. The album produced the single "The Distance", which "dominated alternative radio that fall".The next single released from Fashion Nugget was a cover of Perren and Fekaris's "I Will Survive".

Cake released their third studio album, Prolonging the Magic, on October 6, 1998. This album contained the single "Never There" which reached number 1 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks.

On July 24, 2001, Cake released their fourth full-length album titled Comfort Eagle. This was Cake's first release under Columbia records. The lead single "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was a major hit on alternative radio stations, climbing to number 7 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks, and is now the theme song to the TV series Chuck. It was also used as the background music for an Apple iPod Nano commercial launched in September 2010.

Cake's fifth album, Pressure Chief, was released on October 5, 2004. It contained the singles "No Phone" and a cover of the Bread song "The Guitar Man".

Cake released a compilation, B-Sides and Rarities, on October 2, 2007. It features covers of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", Barry White's "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up," Singleton, Snyder & Kaempfert's "Strangers in the Night" and Piero Umiliani's "Mahna Mahna", as well as live versions of Cake songs "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" and "It's Coming Down". Rarities is the band's first album on its own label, Upbeat Records.

In 2008 the band removed their studio (Upbeat Studio) from dependence on Sacramento, California's power grid by installing a system of solar panels. The band subsequently announced that their upcoming studio album will be "recorded using 100% solar energy."

A new studio album titled Showroom of Compassion was released on January 11, 2011, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Album Chart with 44,000 copies sold. John McCrea describes the album's sound as "very different" from previous Cake records, also indicating that he will be playing piano much more than usual. The album was released on Upbeat Records. Cake had previously released a new song from the album in September 2010, called "Sick Of You".

Member changes

Damiani left the band in 1997, replaced by Gabe Nelson. Greg Brown left in 1998, replaced by Xan McCurdy. Brown and Damiani continued to work together when they formed the band Deathray. Todd Roper left the band to focus on parenthood after recording Comfort Eagle, and subsequently also joined Deathray, before that group disbanded in 2007. Drummer Paulo Baldi joined Cake in 2003 during the second "Unlimited Sunshine Tour". (See Band lineup for more)

Musical style

Although Cake's music is often classified as alternative rock or indie rock, it combines multiple musical genres, such as ska, funk, rockabilly, pop, jazz, rap, and country. Cake's music features droll, often esoteric lyrics rife with word play and syncopation, catchy distorted guitar riffs (courtesy of guitarist Greg Brown until 1998, and bass player Victor Damiani until 1997), prominent use of a Moog, and a solo trumpet (played by Vince DiFiore).