Jacob Hoggard was known around Vancouver as the singer/daredevil for popular local rockers Hedley, who had quickly made a name for themselves as an incendiary live band whose offstage exploits were just as unpredictable as their show, but whose gutsy, anthemic songs were the real attraction.

He was also known as a guy who never turned down a bet, including (but not limited to) eating things off the floor for money. So when his bandmates bet him $150 to audition for TV’s Canadian Idol, he had a reputation to protect. And, says Hoggard, “It was either spend a summer working construction or appearing drunk on television.”

However, he was not prepared to actually be chosen as a contestant. And considering he’d occasionally perform on the show half-sloshed in a skin-tight latex bodysuit, he was definitely not expecting to make it to the finals, which he did handily, courtesy of a new legion of fans. But by that point the joke had become surreal.

So he said thanks, but no thanks, and promptly posted a note on his blog asking his fans to vote him off the show, which they mercifully did.

Besides, the country probably wasn’t ready for an Idol who had up until that point had been focusing on drinking beer and stealing cars. “The whole thing was awesome fun,” he says. “I was a born attention-seeker. And live national television, as I found out, totally milks that craving.”

So he returned home a hero of sorts, anxious to get back to Hedley, but came back to find his bandmates had already moved on: applying to colleges, getting day jobs, and generally getting on with their lives.

Fortunately, three guys from another local Vancouver band—bassist Tommy Mac, guitarist Dave Rosin and drummer Chris Crippin—needed a new singer and reached out to Hoggard. Things clicked immediately and the reinvented Hedley reworked old songs, wrote new songs, and sharpened their sound. “Tom was a total metalhead and I was listening to stuff like Jimmy Eat World at the time, but somehow it worked,” says Hoggard.

In short order the band recorded a demo, got signed to a record deal in Canada, and found two established producers who wanted to work with them: Gggarth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Trapt) and Brian Howes (Hinder, Closure, DDT).

And suddenly the band had a Platinum album in Canada, producing three chart-topping singles including the infectious rock anthem “On My Own,” sweeping power ballad “Trip” and high-voltage screamer “321,” earning two Juno nominations in the process. And the album goes deeper yet; the sneering riff-rock of album opener “Villain,” acoustic stunner “Gunnin,” and pounding classic rock closer “I Dont Believe It.”

Website:  www.hedleyonline.com

Considering the band members’ backgrounds in two of alternative rock’s most influential bands, it’s not surprising that Audioslave’s self-titled, Rick Rubin-produced debut album has been one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated releases. The album — which features cover art designed by Storm Thorgerson, best known for his distinctive ’70s work with Pink Floyd — retains elements from the band members’ previous musical incarnations, including the thunderous interplay of the power-trio axis and the powerful vocal wail and soul-baring lyrics that were Cornell’s Soundgarden trademarks. But the album boasts a broader musical and emotional palette that marks Audioslave as a distinct entity. For instance, the political lyrics that were a RATM trademark are absent, although social issues do crop up on such tracks as the album’s first single, “Cochise,” titled in honor of the rebellious Apache chief of the same name.

Given Audioslave’s big-name pedigree and the media scrutiny that’s accompanied every phase of its short history, it’s not surprising that various observers continue to speculate about the collective’s long-term future. Morello, for one, doesn’t seem concerned.

“This is a band, not a one-off,” says the guitarist. “I understand where people could wonder about what’s going on, and no one knows what the future holds. But I couldn’t be happier. From the moment we got together with Chris, it felt like a runaway train, an incredible, liberating burst of creativity.”

"I knew these guys had quite a bit up their sleeves," says the Anaheim-born, UCLA grad, who majored in music theory and composition. "But, I had no idea it would turn into working on this kind of blockbuster."

Davis, currently hard at work in his Calabasas home studio on the final film, The Matrix Revolutions, which opens in November, has seen his music scoring for the series turn into a cottage industry. In addition to the three films, the 46-year-old composer provided the soundtrack for The Animatrix, nine animé shorts based on the movie and released on DVD by Warner Home Video, and the “Enter the Matrix” video game.

The Matrix showcases Davis’ ability to combine traditional movie orchestration with a pulsing, tribal electronic score (featuring rockers by Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Rage Against the Machine, P.O.D. and Deftones), underlining the movie’s blend of futurism and primitivism. He collaborated with Ben Watkins of the rock band Juno Reactor on The Matrix Reloaded’s two set pieces: the freeway chase and the "Burly Brawl" sequence where Neo battles multiple Agent Smiths.

"Our approach was for there to be no seams between the different musical styles," says Davis, whose scores for the series evoke avant-garde, post-modernist, new music composers like John Adams, minimalists Steve Reich and Philip Glass and even art-metal rockers Nine Inch Nails and Tool.

Indeed, the music for the climactic battle scene in The Matrix Revolutions will include a choir singing psalms from ancient Hindu texts in the original Sanskrit. "It will shed another light on the philosophies the Wachowskis want to convey," he explains.

Despite his success on The Matrix, Davis remains committed to continuing to compose outside film and TV. He is currently completing an opera, Rio de Sangre, to be performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 2005.

"Scoring a film, I have to parlay my time in terms of minutes written per day," he says. "When I’m writing concert music, it’s more like days per minute. It’s a real luxury to be able to jump back and forth between the two."

Country singer and BMI songwriter Faith Hill was a big winner at the 43rd annual Grammy Awards, presented February 21 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Hill, a first time winner, took home Grammys for Best Country Album (Breathe), Best Female Country Vocal Performance ("Breathe") and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals ("Let's Make Love" with husband Tim McGraw).

Controversial rapper Eminem, whose over-hyped performance with Elton John brought the audience to its feet, also made his presence known with two wins in rap categories, including Best Rap Album for his Marshall Mathers LP and Best Rap Solo Performance for "The Real Slim Shady." He was also recognized for his featured performance on producer Dr. Dre's "Forget About Dre."

BMI songwriter and lengend, Paul Simon was honored with the MusicCares Man of the Year award.

Other notable winners included veteran singer Shelby Lynne who won for Best New Artist, noting that it took "13 years and six albums to get here," as well as the Foo Fighters, Shakira, Toni Braxton, Macy Gray, B.B. King, Dolly Parton, Bela Fleck, Sting and Creed.

BMI's 2001 Grammy Winners (Alphabetically)

Dave Alvin
Best Traditional Folk Album
Public Domain - Songs From The Wild Land

Asleep At The Wheel
Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal
"Cherokee Maiden"

Baha Men
Best Dance Recording
"Who Let The Dogs Out"

Beach Boys
Lifetime Achievement Award

Beenie Man
Best Reggae Album
Art And Life

Steve Berkowitz
Best Historical Album
Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five And Hot Seven Recordings

Toni Braxton
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
"He Wasn't Man Enough"

Alison Brown
Best Country Instrumental Performance
"Leaving Cottondale" (with Béla Fleck)

Eric Clapton
Best Traditional Blues Album
Riding With the King (with B.B. King)

Chick Corea
Best Instrumental Arrangement
"Spain For Sextet & Orchestra"

Sheryl Crow
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance
"There Goes The Neighborhood"

George Crumb
Best Classical Contemporary Composition
"George Crumb: 70th Birthday Album, Star-Child"

Eminem
Best Rap Solo Performance
"The Real Slim Shady"
Best Rap Performance By A Duo or Group
"Forget About Dre"
Best Rap Album
The Marshall Mathers LP

Brian Eno
Record of the Year
"Beautiful Day"

Gloria Estefan
Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album
Alma Caribeña

Béla Fleck
Best Country Instrumental Performance
"Leaving Cottondale" (with Alison Brown)
Best Contemporary Jazz Album (w/Flecktones)
Outbound

Foo Fighters
Best Rock Album
There Is Nothing Left To Lose
Best Short Form Music Video
"Learn To Fly"

Faith Hill
Best Country Album
Breathe
Best Female Country Vocal Performance
"Breathe"
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals (with Tim McGraw)
"Let's Make Love"

Fred Jerkins III
Best R&B Song
"Say My Name"

Macy Gray
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
"I Try"

Rodney Jerkins
Best R&B Song
"Say My Name"

Shelby Lynne
Best New Artist

Jars of Clay
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
If I Left The Zoo

Elton John
Best Musical Show Album
Elton John And Tim Rice's Aida

Michael Kamen
Best Rock Instrumental Performance
"The Call Of The Ktulu" - Michael Kamen Conducting The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

B.B. King
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
"Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't (My Baby)"
Best Traditional Blues Album
Riding With The King (with Eric Clapton)

The Legends
Best Tejano Album
�Qué Es Música Tejana?

John Lennon
Best Long Form Music Video
"Gimme Some Truth - The Making Of John Lennon's Imagine Album"

Joe Lovano
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
52^nd Street Themes

Taj Mahal
Best Contemporary Blues Album
Shoutin' In Key

Arif Mardin
Trustees Award

Tim McGraw
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals (with Faith Hill)
"Let's Make Love"

Pat Metheny
Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
"(Go) Get It"

Edgar Meyer
Best Classical Crossover Album
Appalachian Journey

Chris Montan
Best Musical Show Album
Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida

Thomas Newman
Best Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual
Media
American Beauty

Mark O'Connor
Best Classical Crossover Album
Appalachian Journey

Eddie Palmieri
Best Salsa Album
Masterpiece/Obra Maestra

Dolly Parton
Best Bluegrass Album
The Grass Is Blue

Rage Against The Machine
Best Hard Rock Performance
"Guerilla Radio"

Tim Rice
Best Musical Show Album
Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida

Riders In The Sky
Best Musical Album for Children
Woody's Roundup Featuring Riders In The Sky

Brian Setzer Orchestra
Best Pop Instrumental Performance
"Caravan"

Shakira
Best Latin Pop Album
Shakira - MTV Unplugged

Tia Sillers
Best Country Song
"I Hope You Dance"

Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti (Creed)
Best Rock Song
"With Arms Wide Open"

Sting
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
"She Walks This Earth"

Jimmy Sturr
Best Polka Album
Touched By A Polka

Temptations
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album
Ear-Resistable

The Who
Lifetime Achievement Award

John Williams
Best Instrumental Composition
"Theme From Angela's Ashes"]]> 2001-02-21T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233468 Artists, Method Man, Rage Against the Machine, TANG, Wu-Tang Clan, Musical Styles, Urban, Musicworld, Feature

''Wu Tang is one big family,'' says Steve Rifkind, president of Loud Records. ''Them together is pure energy. It's family, it's love.'' Loud Records is the home of the New York-based rap collective Wu Tang Clan. And Wu Tang really is like a family - a very large family. Comprising nine members, the group operates as a single unit and as individual artists. Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Ol' Dirty Bastard are Wu Tang members who have garnered acclaim as solo artists. Method Man's 1994 Tical album and Ghostface Killah's 1996 Ironman CD were both deemed artistic triumphs by many critics. The drawback to all this individual activity is that Wu Tang itself has only released three albums since it formed in Staten Island, New York in 1993. The latest, entitled The W, was unleashed on the public this past November. Wu Tang tracks draw their imagery from martial arts movies, stark urban life and Nation of Islam ideology. Some have placed the group in the same heady hip-hop pantheon occupied by rap trailblazers Public Enemy and N.W.A. The connection to the latter West Coast rap outfit is particularly apt since N.W.A. also served as a launching pad for numerous solo careers, including those of Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. The W isn't nearly as groundbreaking as Wu Tang's 1993 debut album, Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers). But it is much more cohesive than the outfit's sprawling second album, a double CD effort titled Wu Tang Forever. It's also possesses a grit that's lacking in much of today's spit-shined rap. If Wu Tang Clan is a family then RZA is like its reigning big brother. "They call me the nucleus of the group because I have a common denominator with each one of them," he recently told a reporter from the Los Angeles Times. "Before they knew each other, they definitely knew me." RZA, 29, met most of the clan while he was living in various housing projects in Staten Island. He also produces most of Wu Tang's music. Like many families, the Wu Tang Clan has had its interpersonal problems. A few years ago, a much-ballyhooed tour with Rage Against the Machine dissipated due to internal strife that gripped the group. Ol' Dirty Bastard has had run-ins with the law and recently spent time in a halfway house. Also, Ghostface Killah had to push back the release of his second album due to serving jail time on a parole violation. Nevertheless, Wu Tang Clan did manage to come together to record The W while living communally for three months in Los Angeles. "I'm dealing with a group of masters here," RZA told Rolling Stone. "I don't need to call anybody else when I've got these niggas. I'm the happiest producer in the world."

]]> 2000-11-30T17:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233581 Artists, Kittie, Mercedes, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The, Musical Styles, Rock, Musicworld, Hitmaker One of the year's most significant indie-label success stories is Kittie, a hard-rock combo comprising four girls from London, Ontario, ranging in age from 16 to 18. On their debut album, Spit, the fearsomely precocious quartet plays dense, aggressive glam/goth/metal, inspired as much by Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath as it is by Hole and L7.

Sonically imposing, lyrically provocative songs like "Brackish," "Choke," "Paperdoll" and "Do You Think I'm A Whore?" demonstrate a musical originality and emotional complexity that belies their blunt titles, while singer/guitarist Morgan Lander's whisper-to-a-howl vocals, Fallon Bowman's ferocious guitar work and the inventive drumming of Morgan's sister Mercedes Lander shatter any lingering stereotypes about hard-rock being man's work.

"It's all just completely natural; we don't really try to sound like anything, it just happens," says Morgan. "This is just what's normal for us."

The band came together in 1996, when guitarist Fallon and drummer Mercedes met in gymnastics class and bonded over a shared affinity for Nirvana and Silverchair. The two began jamming, and were soon joined by Mercedes' younger sister Morgan. By the time the band scored a deal with Ng/Artemis, they'd already won a supporter in Rage Against the Machine/Red Hot Chili Peppers producer Garth Richardson, who was behind the console for Spit. Bassist Talena Atfield joined last fall, replacing original member Tanya Candler.

Spit has won considerable favor in the male-dominated hard-rock community, having recently toured with Slipknot and performing as part of Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest.

"If people want to understand, they have to come and see us," says Morgan. "We're loud and we're aggressive and we're in your face because it gets the point across. You can't switch off the sound of someone screaming."

BMI Winners:
Outstanding Group - Rage Against the Machine
Outstanding Album - Supernatural, Santana
Outstanding Single - "Smooth," Santana featuring Rob Thomas
Outstanding Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album - The Battle of Los Angeles, Rage Against The Machine
Outstanding Rock/Pop album - Astro Lounge, Smash Mouth
Outstanding R&B Album - Bitter, Me'Shell Ndegeocello
Outstanding Debut Album - Nasty Little Thoughts, Stroke 9
Outstanding Male Vocalist - Steve Harwell, Smash Mouth
Outstanding Guitarist - Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine
Outstanding Bassist - Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Outstanding Songwriters - Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan, Third Eye Blind
Artist of the Year - Rage Against the Machine
Arthur M. Sohcot Award for Public Service - Rage Against the Machine
Arthur M. Sohcot Award for Excellence - Michael Kamen

BMI's Barbara Cane and Tracie Verlinde greet and congratulate Smash Mouth on their two California Music Awards for Outstanding Rock/Pop Album and Outstanding Male Vocalist. Left to right: Smash Mouth's Greg Camp; BMI's Barbara Cane; Smash Mouth's Steve Harwell and Paul De Lisle; and BMI's Tracie Verlinde.		Feature (11/99) Smash Mouth: California in a Can Web Site SmashMouth.com
BMI's Barbara Cane, Nadine Condon and Tracie Verlinde join in the celebration with Stroke 9 after they won the Outstanding Debut Album at the California Music Awards. Left to right: BMI's Tracie Verlinde; Stroke 9's Eric Stock, Greg Gueldner and John McDermott; BMI's Barbara Cane and Nadine Condon; and Stroke 9's Luke Esterkyn.		On the Scene (12/99) Stroke 9 Web Site Stroke9.com
Shown congratulating Me'Shell Ndegeocello (center) on her Tower Records California Music Award for Outstanding R&B Album are BMI's Barbara Cane and Tracie Verlinde.		Feature (10/99) Me'Shell Ndegeocello: "Bitter" is a Sweet Success Web Site Meshell.com
Congratulating Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine for his Outstanding Guitarist award and Rage's five California Music Awards are (l to r): BMI's Tracie Verlinde; Morello; BMI's Hanna Bolte and Barbara Cane. Photos by Billy Douglas		On the Scene (10/99) Rage Against the Machine Web Site RATM.com