Sara Quin -- one-half of the musical sister duo Tegan and Sara -- admits that she is both excited and nervous about their upcoming string of concert dates, a back-and-forth shuffle between their own headlining shows and stops on the Cyndi Lauper-led True Colors human rights concert tour. "Pretty much for the last three years, all we've done has been playing to our own crowds," she tells Spinner. "That is easy. In a weird way, you become weakened. You come out on stage and everyone loves you, you barely have to do anything. Even though I know the True Colors crowd is going to be amazing, I'm terrified because we haven't done any support stuff in so long. To support the tour and what it represents, though, you can't go wrong."

The band wanted to participate in last year's string of concert dates -- a series designed to raise awareness about discrimination against the gay, lesbian, bi and transgender communities -- but were in the studio recording their latest CD, 'The Con.' Quin admits that she followed the action on tour religiously. "I felt jealous," she jokes, "because I saw [Gossip frontwoman] Beth Ditto hanging out with Rosie and Cyndi Lauper and I wanted that love, I wanted the sunshine on me." Tegan and Sara have made plans to shake their set up significantly for the human rights tour. "We're gonna strip it all down and do pretty much alternative versions of everything. It could end up being really cool or a disaster. I want to give this crowd a different look at us -- to have people hear the songs in a different way."

When their touring dates are finished, Sara jokes that their summer will contain "beverages and bikinis," but in truth, they will be hard at work on other projects. "Tegan and I are both writing furiously for the next record," she says. "I have always felt like I was squeezing songs out of me slowly, but lately I've been writing a lot. We recently played a show with Death Cab For Cutie, where we talked with [guitarist/producer] Chris Walla who worked on our last record. We're pretty much signed up to work on our next record with him again."

Scar Jo isn't the only actor showing off her music skills. While in L.A. last week for the premiere of 'Iron Man,' Terrence Howard -- best known for his Oscar-nominated work in 'Hustle & Flow' as well as the Best Picture-winning 'Crash' -- held a listening party for his upcoming debut album, 'Shine Through It,' which is scheduled for release in late September.

Howard played the role of gracious host for the intimate gathering of nearly 25 guests at the Sony/BMG offices in Santa Monica, even at one point refilling guests' plastic cups with wine while they enjoyed the music. Before playing the album, Howard, who played air instruments and sang along to the 11 songs, recalled how he grew up listening to Cat Stevens, Carly Simon and Karen Carpenter, and the impact of hearing Louis Armstrong's classic 'It's a Wonderful World.' "I tried to take it back to that in my music," he said.

The album opens with 'Love Makes you Beautiful,' which carries a dramatic '70s feel alongside a folk-tinge, while other selections feature a decidedly pop sound. But 'Shine Through It' goes well beyond that, with the jazz instrumental 'It's all Game,' a song Howard said was done in one take, and 'Mr. Jones' Lawn,' a track that marries Outkast and Cat Stevens, if you can imagine.

Singer-songwriter Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons was in Vancouver this past weekend to attend and perform at a three-day academic conference designed to gather together leaders in the world of transgender and intersex research. While Hegarty's been hard at work in the studio, he told Spinner that he came "out of a cave to get to this event. We flew out for this. Other than that, I'm in a kind of sequestered phase."

Performing a half-hour musical set for the enthusiastic audience, the songs chosen were primarily culled from his 2005 album, 'I Am a Bird Now,' and included 'For Today I Am a Boy' -- a track documenting conflicting gender emotions -- and 'Hope There's Someone,' a moving ballad about isolation that had many conference members in tears. Hegarty -- a longtime gender bender and trans advocate -- contributed his time to participate in the event and explained that he was delighted to be in attendance. "Everyone here is donating their time to come here and to learn," he said. "That's why I'm here -- to hear the myriad of experiences and to hear the voices of the transgender experience."

Taking a moment in between conference panels, Hegarty offered up a few pieces of information about his next CD, which he has named 'The Crying Light.' "A crying light is the idea of a kind of sanctuary -- a safe place where you can let go and open into the present without guard, where you can experience your life passing in a vivid, very awake way," he said. "The crying light is about a safe place."

Pearl Jam has re-teamed with producer Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC), for their ninth studio album. Guitarist Mike McCready confirmed the news to Seattle radio station KISW last Thursday. O'Brien oversaw 1993's 'Vs.' and 1994's 'Vitalogy,' which sold 7 million and 5 million copies, respectively.

"We are working on a new record right now, so we are in the process of writing a bunch of new songs," McCready said of the follow-up to Pearl Jam's 2006 eponymous effort. "[Brendan O'Brien] is back with us right now so we are working on songs with him. We will try to do a record sometime this year, but that's about all we got. We've got about four or five tunes ready to go right now. They are just in the early phases."

Although McCready wouldn't commit on a release date, he said, "We won't give you a 'Chinese Democracy,'" riffing on the long-delayed Guns N' Roses album. McCready was promoting a Seattle benefit he participated in over the weekend to benefit the Crohns & Colitis Foundation.

Toronto-based Metric have been exploring separate terrain in recent years, with front woman Emily Haines releasing an acclaimed solo album and the rest of the quartet working in various projects. But the foursome are set to end a three-year drought between studio albums this fall. They told Spinner at Coachella, where they tested out new material, that the band is close to finishing the album. "We're gonna go home and get back in the studio," guitarist Jimmy Shaw said. "We should be done in four weeks or so, and then we'll be mixing."

Among the songs the band is excited to play live is 'Satellite Mind,' which is very personal to Haines. "I told Jimmy that I needed this certain vibe and he created for me this music," she explains. "I had to take a very depressing trip to Los Angeles for a funeral. While I was there, I became totally inspired to write this song. I wrote it in my hotel room at five in the morning, and then on the airplane. Then, as soon as I got off the plane, came straight to the studio and laid down the song. That's a favorite one for me."

The group is working with producer Gavin Brown, who, as Shaw explains, brought out a different vibe in Metric. "I had a feeling he was going to allow us to translate in a way I don't think we have," Shaw says. "If anything, the record is a little more dance-y and a little more airy than the last one. The last one had a bit more of a guitar/bass edge to it. Having found him made us not go more in that direction."

Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. recently took home an award from British magazine 'NME' as Best Solo Artist for his 'Yours to Keep' solo debut. And the guitarist turned singer/songwriter tells Spinner he plans to keep the momentum going with a second solo effort, 'Como Te Llama,' ('What's Your Name?') due July 8.

Hammond, who says he plans to tour from July to January, is already thinking breaking out some new material live. "It's such a different record," he says. "There are songs called 'Rocket,' 'Victory at Monterey' and 'GFC. I really can't wait."

The songs should translate to the stage well as he wrote with the live show in mind. "I remember being on stage and wanting to have different kinds of songs," he says. "When you go and tour your first record you only have your 11 songs and a few covers, maybe. You're craving new songs. I write everyday. Slowly it starts to come out -- all the experiences you've had. At the end, you have this product that's from music influences, movie influences, life influence, playing live ... everything."

Indie rock faves the Hold Steady will release their fourth studio album, the optimistically-titled 'Stay Positive,' in July, though the band's label, Vagrant Records, has been mum so far on date confirmation.

Honing new material in the band's Greenpoint, Brooklyn rehearsal space, the Craig Finn-fronted band spent the bulk of the past winter perfecting the follow up to 2006's 'Boys and Girls In America' at Hoboken, NJ's Water Music and Wild Arctic studio in Queens, New York. Guests on the sessions include former Guided by Voices guitarist Doug Gillard and Lucero's Ben Nichols.

The 11-track album boasts titles like 'Both Crosses,' 'Slapped Actress' and the set-launcher, 'Constructive Summer.' Describing the new disc, Finn told Uncut, "I believe it captures a band hitting their creative peak, as well as enjoying each other's creativity and company."

In advance of the disc, the Hold Steady will play a brief tour next month, anchored by an appearance at All Tomorrow's Parties on May 11.

Paul Weller -- the former frontman for '70s/'80s sensations the Jam -- will release his ninth studio album, '22 Dreams' on June 24. The effort will feature an array of Britpop guests including Oasis' Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer, and Blur co-founder Graham Coxon, among others.

Counting 21 tracks, '22 Dreams' will be preceded in the by a Double A-sided single, 'Echoes Round the Sun'/'Have You Made Up Your Mind' on May 26. 'Echoes' is the first-ever songwriting collaboration between Gallagher and his boyhood hero Weller. The Modfather and Gallagher previously recorded together in 1995 as part of the supergroup, the Smoking Mojo Filters, which also included Craddock and Paul McCartney performing the Beatles' 'Come Together' on the Warchild Charity Album 'Help'.

Weller has only one North American date confirmed thus far. He will perform alongside the likes of Gallagher's Oasis, Stereophonics and the Weakerthans on September 7 in Toronto's Island Park, on the second day of the Virgin Music Festival.

This past Tuesday, as the Pennsylvania primary vote was underway, Greg Gillis -- better known as electronic producer and mash-up DJ Girl Talk -- was feeling the vibe. "I'm never out in the streets during daylight," he tells Spinner on the phone from his Pittsburgh home. "It seems more festive today than normal."

Gillis doesn't get out much during the day anymore, with a busy schedule of performing at venues around the country while simultaneously working on a follow-up to his 2006 breakout album, 'Night Ripper.' If all goes as planned, the new record, tentatively titled 'Feed the Animals,' should be completed by June. "I'm building it in specific chunks," he says. "Tying those pieces together is gonna be a big effort." While his style of frenzied sampling and genre jumping will remain intact, some changes can be expected. "It's an evolution of ['Night Ripper''s] sound. It's more accessible and more extreme on the detail end of things. I'm not as focused as jumping around from song to song. It's still very fast-paced."

Your Vegas do not hail from their titular city, or anywhere else in the United States for that matter. They're five lads who sound like they're from across the pond because, well, they are. On the Leeds-bred band's debut LP, 'A Town and Two Cities,' singer Coyle Girelli emotes not all that unlike Bono, and his band's bombastic anthems nod to, as the front man tells Spinner, the "epic sounds of rich tones and delays" boasted by some UK behemoths, including Bono's U2.

So what's with his band's moniker, then? "We tried to find a name for two months and even played gigs under various titles, but if we could use the name in England, we couldn't necessarily use it in America," Girelli groans. "We opted for 'Your Vegas' -- which was the title of a song with all this Americana imagery I wrote for my previous band -- mainly because no one else had it."

Fortunately, naming the album came more easily for the quintet. "The title refers to the fact that we're from a little town outside Leeds, then we moved to Leeds and then we relocated to New York where we finished the album," Girelli explains. "Plus, it's a take off Charles Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities.' So, if you imagine the album like part of a book, consider chapter one written."

The Offspring have confirmed completion of their first studio album in five years. Titled 'Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace' the follow-up to 2003's 'Splinter' is due out June 17.

"After over a year of recording, I'm happy to announce that we are finishing up our CD this week," frontman Dexter Holland announced. "We've worked really hard on this and I think it's some of the best stuff we've ever done. Our first single is called 'Hammerhead.'"

The song is slated to impact radio in early May.

In advance of the disc's release, the veteran punk outfit will headline the KJEE Summer Round Up on May 18, with kindred musical spirits Pennywise in the support slot. Other dates have yet to be confirmed, although the band promises it will be touring extensively this summer.

It's just after 10 AM in New York City, but Brooklyn's We Are Scientists are out of town, across the pond once again wooing fans on tour in England.

Frontman Keith Murray is chipper thanks to news that his second album, 'Brain Thrust Mastery,' is dropping on Astralwerks May 13. Murray recorded the effort with bassist Chris Cain and then-drummer Michael Tapper last summer up in Sausalito, California, with Foreign Born bassist turned WAS producer, Ariel Rechtshaid.

"We did a lot of work with Lucas Film and Pixar," Murray jokes, referring to the neighboring Marin County-based businesses, before turning somewhat serious. "Sort of a point [of going there] was there was not really a lot going on in Sausalito. There was a lot of hiking, my tennis game really took a turn for the better by the end of the recording session. It was a pretty helpful little recording period."

In just over a week, Manchester England's emotive rock quintet Elbow will reach a milestone. The combo, fronted by Guy Garvey and his smoky dulcet tones, will issue their fourth album, 'The Seldom Seen Kid,' April 22.
It's a major feat as few non-platinum selling UK acts have managed to release four albums in America.

"It's a funny one," Garvey tells Spinner of their impending Geffen release. "I remember years ago, when we were doing the first album, it was like, 'What are we gonna call it?' and I said, 'Why don't we call it 'Disc 1 of 4.' I couldn't imagine being this far into our career [back then]. I'm really glad we have though and I'm really glad everybody's still into it enough."

In fact, the band was into making a fourth album quite a bit, absconding away to their own backyard -- Manchester, UK -- where keyboardist Craig Potter took over production duties. "[It's] certainly a labor of love," Garvey says. "It feels like it used to do, in the old days. It's a lot easier to feel that 'us against the world' thing if there's virtually no one else in the room."

In the last few months, everyone it seems has joined Facebook. Well, almost everyone.

While some of his musician buddies and friends may have hit up the popular portal, the Futureheads guitarist Ross Millard remains defiant.

"The thing about it is, I'm not fundamentally opposed to these social networking things," Millard explains to Spinner. "MySpace -- that was fine -- you upload your tunes and you kept in touch with people, but Facebook? It just seems to have amplified it by a hundred million times. The band, they can't spend two minutes without going on their mobile phones to check their Facebook to see if such and such's status has changed, I've poked somebody -- what is it on about? I don't understand why people would want to be part of that."

For someone who isn't on it, Millard, currently in the middle of a tour across the UK, knows a heck of a lot about the Web site. And as Spinner found out, he might actually be an expert from afar.

"Another one of the things that baffles me? All these blooming clubs like 'I Want To Bring Back Doogie Howser Club,' and stuff like that," he laughs. "All these little societies -- powerless societies I might add."

Fans of the locale shouldn't hold it against the spectacled axeman for his views. He needs something to rage against. After a year the band spent in the doldrums, things are buzzing at Futureheads central with their third album, 'This Is Not the World,' due May 27.

Music has certainly been a voice for change. Just ask Tomas Young, the Iraqi war veteran, who was shot in his first week of service and paralyzed. He's since become an outspoken critic of the war, and, with the help of Eddie Vedder, assembled the 'Body of War' compilation.

Among the artists featured on the two-disc is Tom Morello, who credits this album as being the standing example for his reasoning behind becoming the Nightwatchman. "To play whatever role I can in ending this awful war I feel is a duty," Morello tells Spinner. "And I've never served under fire, nor has President Bush, Dick Cheney or Bill O'Reilly for that matter. But Tomas Young has and it's the voices of Iraq Veterans Against the War who do not get interjected into mainstream debate until now. If my song in any way helps their voices to be heard, then that was definitely a good day at the office."

While getting to work with Vedder, who Young says is a hero of his, as well as Morello and Serj Tankian is an honor, Young hopes to accomplish much more with 'Body of War.' "It has been a great experience to meet people that I looked up to and listened to their music as a kid, but to be perfectly honest, I would give it all up in a second," he says. "I'd like people to let the government know that we won't stand for this anymore and figure out a way to get our guys home. It's just not worth it if nothing positive comes of it."