A full two years in the making, the new album teams the Ukiah, CA band with producer Jerry Finn (Green Day, Blink 182). Together, they have produced a recording that combines the band’s retro-punk and new wave proclivities with Finn’s heavy-rock sensibilities. Tracks like “Love Like Winter,” “Miss Murder,” “The Interview” and “Endlessly, She Said” possess a tragic, poetic lilt that evokes both old Europe and contemporary America.

“There’s a lot more attention to detail on this record,” says guitarist Jade Puget. “We spent a long time writing it. We refused to rush ourselves. We took our time not just on every song but on each guitar part, each vocal, each bass line. We definitely didn’t rush into the studio.”

Formed in 1991, AFI (an acronym for “A Fire Inside”) toiled for years in the shadows of the rock underground. Independently produced albums like Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes, A Fire Inside, Black Sails in the Sunset and The Art of Drowning were acclaimed for their mix of dark romanticism and pure punk fury. The band’s line-up evolved over the years to include founding members Puget, vocalist Davey Havok, bassist Hunter Burgan and drummer Adam Carson.

AFI struck paydirt in 2003 when they signed with the now-defunct DreamWorks Records and released the breakthrough album, Sing the Sorrow. The disc debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, netted the band a 2003 MTV2 Viewers Choice Award, and earned accolades from such august publications as The New York Times, Spin, Revolver and Alternative Press. USA Today named “Girl’s Not Grey” one of the top singles of 2003.

Sing the Sorrow sold over a million copies and helped make AFI goth/emo forerunners. “I was completely in awe then and still am now,” says Burgan of the band’s success. “It all seemed to have come naturally from our efforts andhonestly that’s really hard for me to comprehend.”

A similarly surprised Puget is philosophical: “As long as you make the record you want, sales don’t matter. We have our music and our fans. Everything else is subject to the whims of the marketplace.”

“People always ask me what the difference is being on the big label and all that. Extra packets of peanuts on Southwest Airlines, that’s about all I got going for me,” Green laughs. “Honestly, the biggest difference is the recording budget. Before, when we’d go in the studio to make the record, we had to have the whole thing planned out, had to have the songs written and arranged before we went in the studio. This time, we got to go in there and enjoy the writing process and the arrangement process and spend some extra time and money.”

As his notoriety continues to grow, with Wave on Wave doing quite well on the Billboard country charts and his three most recent Houston shows bringing in 140,000 fans, Green’s integrity and honesty as an artist are ever more important. San Antonio-born, Waco-raised and Austin-based, he has managed to marry Texas music with college rock, fashioning a sort of Robert Earl Keen-meets-Hootie and the Blowfish sound that is fresh and unpretentious. “It’s nothing but our band doing what we do,” Green says. “That’s where so many singer/songwriters and other bands go wrong. Instead of just trying to write what comes out, they try to write for a genre. What we do, we write what we write. If you can make it fit on a radio format, great. If not, we’re still gonna be alright.”

The Rock Boat Concert Cruise 2003 is a four-day rock n' roll sea cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, from August 28 to September 1, 2003. Confirmed to set sail are BMI artists Sister Hazel, Cowboy Mouth, Dexter Freebish and Angie Aparo, as well as the Pat McGee Band, Tonic, Edwin McCain, The Dave Matthews Cover Band, Chuck Carrier, David Ryan Harris, Chrystina Lloree, Bain Mattox, Courtney Jai, Cary Pierce and Alex Woodard, with more to be added.]]> 2003-08-11T18:00:01-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233364 Artists, Honestly, Hyde, Williams III, Hank, Williams Jr., Hank, Williams, Hank, Musical Styles, Country, Rock, Musicworld, Hitmaker As the grandson of seminal country legend Hank Williams and the son of veteran hell-raiser Hank Williams Jr. , Hank Williams III comes by his rebellious nature honestly. "I've got a Jekyll and Hyde personality, both onstage and off," admits the artist. "And musically, there's no question that I love rock &' roll as much as I love country."

Those musical and personal extremes are reflected on Hank III's second album, Lovesick, Broke & Driftin', on which the brashly charismatic upstart sticks to a stark, stripped-down sound that enhances the swagger of honky-tonk tunes like "Whiskey, Weed and Women" and "Mississippi Mud," while spotlighting the darker lyrical edge of such numbers as "Walkin' with Sorrow" and "Cecil Brown."

The third-generation iconoclast launched his country-music career in a characteristically unconventional manner. Although he'd been raised on hard rock and played in a variety of teen punk combos, he accepted an offer to perform as the featured act in a Hank Sr. tribute show in Branson, Missouri.

Hank III quickly proved himself a natural. After winning a deal with Curb Records, he released his 1999 debut album, Risin' Outlaw, which he now dismisses as over-produced and unrepresentative of his musical vision. For Lovesick, Broke & Driftin', Williams took hold of the creative reigns, co-producing the album and writing 12 of its 13 songs. The remaining tune is a manic reworking of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City."

"Most of the songs on Lovesick were written at times when I was feeling vulnerable and a bit blue," Williams says, "so I had no qualms about writing what I felt at the time. For some reason, in my songwriting I've always been attracted to gloomy, darker scenarios and this one is no different."

Although Curb has marketed him as a country artist, Hank III's live shows offer an unpredictable mix of honky-tonk and raw, propulsive rock, delivered in varying proportions depending on the venue. He's played the country circuit as well as sharing stages with such left-of-center rock acts as Beck, the Melvins and the Reverend Horton Heat, and has recorded a rock album that he hopes to release later this year.

"As far as songwriting goes, I'll never compete with Hank Williams Sr.," Hank III concludes. "I just try to do my own thing. But I totally respect the legacy and am well aware of its place in history and what it means to people. Hell, it means a lot to me."