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Ludo are on the rise: After putting out a couple of indie releases, the St. Louis pop-punks are enjoying the major-label high life. Today Buzznet is rolling out an exclusive clip from the gang. Watch the video.

Charlotte Sometimes has spent the better part of '08 acquainting herself with music lovers – after spending the first part of her career putting out her own EPs, she squeezed out her major-label debut, Waves and the Both of Us, early last month. Now it's time for her to get some serious exposure, on this summer's Warped Tour. More.

Chicago's 1997 have their sights set on the future: The six-member pop-rock collective will only be on the Warped Tour for a short spell (June 20-July 3) but is hoping for big things, as keyboardist Alida Marroni recently told Buzznet. Read more.

Say what you will about Protest the Hero, the dudes are both brutal and brutally honest. The Canadian squad is sure to be one of the louder acts on Warped Tour this summer, so we hit up frontman Rody Walker, who had some hilariously sarcastic and incendiary things to say about the trek. What did he say?

As you're well aware if you read our interview yesterday with Zacky Vengeance, a little band called Avenged Sevenfold have a DVD on the way. Want a taste of it? You've come to the right place. Watch it here.

We're willing to guess that you're a wee bit excited about a certain summer festival tour. One that involves cooking tasty BBQ, drawing straws and ... oh yeah, rocking out.

We're talking about the Warped Tour, of course, and if you're as excited about it as we are, you don't want to wait until the June 20 kickoff in Pomona, California, to get the party started. So in the spirit of getting pre-psyched, we're catching up a bit ahead of time with bands that will be hitting the pavement for the best hootenanny pop-punk has to offer.



First up are Set Your Goals, the San Francisco melodic hardcore five-piece you probably know best for their "cover" of Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz's "Put Yo Hood Up" on this year's Punk Goes Crunk compilation. The band also hit up London's Give It a Name festival last month, playing alongside 30 Seconds to Mars and Paramore.

In fact, Set Your Goals have a friend in P-more, as Hayley Williams told the following to Buzznet in an interview in early May:

"I'm a big fan of a lot of heavier music. I've been listening to stuff like H20, and Set Your Goals' new album, Mutiny!"

Mutiny!, Set Your Goals' debut, dropped way back in July 2006, although the album got another look when a deluxe edition of it dropped late last month. Expect the band to continue to mine that release on Warped this year, although with another album slated for next year, maybe some new material will be in store.

As far as what else the band has planned for Warped, expect them to be chowing down on Boca burgers, messing around with squirt guns and ... catching up on some summer reading. Don't believe us? Read out first  "Warped Tour Warmup" installment, with Set Your Goals singer Matt Wilson.

Buzznet: Share some highlights, good or bad, of past Warped Tours you've played or attended.

Matt Wilson: Last year we did 15 dates on the Warped Tour in our van with 10 people. BAD IDEA. There was no air conditioning and way too many people. I'm glad we'll have a bus this time around, I don't think we could survive it in our van! My favorite part of each day was watching Killswitch Engage play, even though their [tour manager] would never let anyone onstage :(

Buzznet: Which bands are you most looking forward to seeing perform? Who do you think will blow up after Warped?

Wilson: I'm excited to see Anberlin, All Time Low, The Bouncing Souls, Just Surrender, Paramore and The Dillinger Escape Plan. After Warped I think A Cursive Memory, Just Surrender and Broadway Calls will definitely blow up. They all deserve it!

Buzznet: What will you be doing to kill time on the tour bus?

Wilson: I plan to catch up on some books I've started reading recently, as well as lots of snacking and Xbox 360.

Buzznet: What's the best way to cure the heat while touring with Warped?

Wilson: Last year I found that most people dealt with the heat by wearing next to nothing, sunglasses, flip-flops, bringing squirt guns, staying hydrated and hanging out by the misting fans all day haha.

Buzznet: How has Warped evolved over the years in your opinion?

Wilson: I don't think it's as diverse as it once was. For a while there were way too many bands, but I think they've done a good job of slimming it down and keeping it somewhat diverse by swapping bands out throughout the tour so that wherever you catch The Warped Tour, it's a slightly different lineup.

Buzznet: List a few items on your rider that we might not expect.

Wilson: We put boxer briefs and socks on our rider just in case someone decides to be generous. We've only gotten them once, but it was much needed and tremendously appreciated!

Buzznet: Do you have anything unusual planned for your set, whether it be cover songs, tracks you normally don't play?

Wilson: That's top secret ... you'll just have to wait and see ;)

Buzznet: Are you planning any props, backdrops, screens or anything else in terms of stage setup?

Wilson: We might have a banner, nothing too crazy. Most of our budget for Warped is going toward our bus.

Buzznet: What's the best part about playing Warped?

Wilson: Hanging out at the band BBQ at the end of each night and just relaxing, meeting fellow tourmates and eating Boca burgers!

Buzznet: Any tips for people going for the first time?

Wilson: Bring flip-flops and a bike. Both will prove to be invaluable. Other than that, stay hydrated!

Keep checking back for more "Warped Tour Warmups" in the coming weeks. And don't miss these pics of Katy Perry, Beat Union and more at the Warped Tour kickoff show on April 11 in West Hollywood, California – click on the image below to check 'em out.



Get psyched for summer with Buzznet's Warped Tour 2008 gallery.

[Click on picture to view the rest.]

See which females will be rocking out on Warped this summer:


[Click on picture to view the rest.]

And see which acts are hopping on the trek for the first time:


[Click on picture to view the rest.]

Find out which Warped artists are out of their twenties:


[Click on picture to view the rest.]

Warped Tour dates:

6.20: Pomona, CA @ Pomona Fairgrounds
6.21: San Francisco, CA @ Pier 30/32
6.22: Ventura, CA @ Seaside Park
6.25: Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion
6.26: Las Cruces, NM @ N.M.S.U. Practice Field
6.28: Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA
6.29: Denver, CO @ Invesco Field
7.1: St. Louis, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7.2: Kansas City, KS @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7.3: Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center
7.5: San Antonio, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7.6: Houston, TX @ Sam Houston Race Park
7.9: Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheater
7.10 : Orlando, FL @ Central Florida Fairgrounds
7.11: Tampa, FL @ Vinoy Park
7.12: Miami, FL @ Bicentennial Park
7.13: Jacksonville, FL @ St. Johns County Fairgrounds
7.14: Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7.15: Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7.16: Washington DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
7.17: Cleveland, OH @ Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City
7.18: Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park
7.19: Toronto, ON @ Downsview Park Allen Road
7.20: Montreal, QC @ Parc Jean Drapeau
7.23: Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts
7.24: Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
7.25: Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
7.26: Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
7.27: Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
7.28: Englishtown, NJ @ Raceway Park
7.29: Pittsburgh, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
7.30: Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
7.31: Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
8.1: Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheatre
8.2: Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
8.3: Minneapolis, MN @ Canterbury Park
8.5: Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
8.6: Calgary, AB @ Race City Speedway
8.8: Boise, ID @ Idaho Center Amphitheatre
8.9: Seattle, WA @ George Amphitheatre
8.10: Portland, OR @ Columbia Meadows
8.13: Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center
8.14: San Diego, CA @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
8.15: San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
8.16: Sacramento, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre Lot
8.17: Los Angeles, CA @ Home Depot Center

Win Warped tix on Buzznet right here!

Get your Warped fix with our nonstop coverage right here.

As G-Unit prepares to release the most anticipated group rap album this year (due June 24), Lock and Load, the group's original trio of rap superstars — 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo  — have gotten back to the basics in their career as solo artists and as a group, to find the perfect balance between their mixtape roots and their current commercial success. More.

Camp Freddy feature some of the biggest names in rock and have performed over 100 shows in five years, but if you don't have your finger on the pulse of L.A.'s Sunset Strip – or on the radio dial, tuning it to Indie 103.1 – you've probably never heard of them. But with a just-completed five-week residency at West Hollywood, California's Roxy Theatre, and an album and tour on the way, that may very well change.



Camp Freddy's all-star lineup includes Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction), Billy Morrison (The Cult), Donovan Leitch (son of singer Donovan), Chris Chaney (Jane's Addiction) and Matt Sorum (Velvet Revolver, Guns N' Roses). With a roster like that, one might wonder how the band has kept itself covert for so long.

Well, you have questions, and Buzznet has answers: We caught up with Camp Freddy during one of the installments in their residency. The typically star-studded show featured Slipknot's Corey Taylor, Cypress Hill, Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray), Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) and many others.

"It's sort of been a secret, weird little kind of community," Sorum told Buzznet's Leah Cevoli. "So we hired my publicist, Mitch Schnieder, who does [Velvet Revolver], and said, 'Let's tell the world about this.' "

And is there ever something to tell the world about. As jaw-dropping as the above names are, they're only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to talking about Camp Freddy's guest list. Recent shows have also seen Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, Slash, AFI's Davey Havok and more performing with the group, and Billy Idol performed with Camp Freddy on the final night of their residency.

So let's backtrack for a minute: How did this all-star action come about? As Sorum described, the germ of the band – which only plays cover songs – came about as a fun side affair for the five musicians who became its core (Navarro; Morrison; Sorum; Leitch, Jr.; and Chaney).

"Someone offered us to play this little party down at the Standard Hotel. We had so much fun, and people wanted to jump up onstage, and all these musicians were there and it turned into this, like, jam," Sorum revealed. "A couple weeks later, [party promoter] Brent Bolthouse asked us to play this party for, like, some, like, PlayStation thing. So we invited all our friends to come jam – Slash, Duff McKagan from my band, Perry Farrell came down from Dave Navarro's band ... Sebastian Bach showed up from Skid Row, and there was Ronnie Wood from The Stones, the drummer from The Strokes [Fab Moretti]. We had this amazing night."

That "amazing night" grew into a litany of one-off shows that featured original singer Scott Weiland and led to a weekly Saturday radio show on L.A.'s Indie 103.1 in which the bandmembers talk about their love of music and back it up by playing their favorite selections.

It's also hard to mistake the artists the guys are passionate about – The Stooges, Kiss, Van Halen ... after all, they're a cover band. So does that mean that we'll never be able to hear original Camp Freddy material?

"We're not doing any writing. It's a cover band," Sorum insisted. "Everybody's got other gigs going on and stuff, so we've just done a bunch of covers and it's been worked on and it's coming together slowly."

But don't fear, Sunset Strip sweethearts, there is a "but" ...

"... But there is a record. There's a lot of music done, but we're just adding vocals and we wanna put it out eventually ... we have it," Sorum added, saying that one of the causes of the delay is trying to clear the rights for such high-profile artists as the ones Camp Freddy are involving.


[Click on picture to hear about Camp Freddy's upcoming LP.]

The band has toyed around with the idea of touring. "I mean if people want it, and they wanna hear it and they dig it, cool. If we go out there and it get to a point that it's not feeling right anymore, it's probably when you say, 'enough's enough, you know?

You are probably asking yourself, "How can a band record and tour without a lead singer!?" Camp Freddy is still working out the kinks of vocal duties, as Sorum revealed, "If you get superstar type people singing, a lot of times business wise it can be difficult."


[Click on picture to find out more on the band's residency.]

For more on Matt Sorum, don't miss him talking about the possibility of Axl Rose fronting Velvet Revolver, who have been in the hunt for a new singer:


[Click on picture to watch Sorum's reaction about Axl Rose.]

If a band has gone on tour, chances are it has had at least one bad encounter with a flat tire, overheating engine or worse. Hit the Lights are no exception – as the band recently informed Buzznet, they suffered a similar setback ... but didn't miss a gig. What happened?

Rappers hail from all over the place in Southern California: Compton (Dr. Dre), Long Beach (Snoop Dogg), South Gate (Cypress Hill). But Malibu? No, this isn't a Jamie Kennedy joke. More.

An EP, short for "extended play," is supposed to be a release that is too long to qualify as a single but too short to be a full-length album. Looks like Relient K haven't gotten that memo yet – the band is planning a 26-track "EP" that will run almost 70 minutes. Go on.

Tune in to "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" this evening to catch The Raconteurs playing "Many Shades of Black" – and hang tight till the fall, when the band will play more dates. Rock on.