Filter Makes Up For Absence With 'Title'

07/16/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(7/16/99, 1 a.m. PDT) - In the next six months, Filter intends to make up for laying low for the last four years with a new album due Aug. 24 called Title Of Record, a slot on the Family Values tour, and a European headlining tour.

"I apologize to all my fans for making you wait so long. I just hope the soundtrack work [Crow 2, The X-Files, and Spawn] helped satiate you," says Filter singer/ founder Richard Patrick. "The time was well spent, though. I built Filter central--a little studio in Chicago we call Ambysian Studios where we recorded Title. It's exactly the way I dreamed it, and is the ideal place to make music. I also had some maturing to do, which shows on Title."

Patrick says fans will likely notice that the new Filter isn't the same as the old Filter. "Overall, [Title] is leaps and bounds over Short Bus, which is a juvenile, punk rock, black album. Title has a little bit of everything--anthems, bombastic rock tracks, '70s sounds, industrial programming, electronic tracks, intelligent lyrics, genuine feeling. These songs made me cry, put my fist through a wall, think. I swear I didn't just throw some rehashed ideas together and call it new. Had I done that, it would have been out six months after we had a hit."

The hit Patrick is alluding to is "Hey Man, Nice Shot," which peaked at No. 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. Filter's platinum-selling debut, Short Bus, also did a good job of introducing the proto-metal band. However, Patrick doesn't seem particularly interested in record sales. "Don't get me wrong. I want people to like it, and I want it to touch them--but it isn't about wearing leather pants, meeting girls, and getting invited to all the best parties. I just want to make music for the rest of my life."

Patrick and guitarist Geno Lenardo, bassist Frank Cavanaugh, and drummer Steve Gillis will probably feel like they've done just that after one look at their schedule through December. It includes four "secret" gigs--in Chicago (Aug. 23), New York (Aug. 25), San Francisco (Aug. 26), and Los Angeles (Aug. 27); a European tour from Sept. 6-18; and press tours of Japan, Europe, Canada, and the U.S.

Also on tap are radio station visits--including a trip to chat with Howard Stern and appearances on Rockline and Modern Rock Live--a video shoot for the single "Welcome To The Fold" with Peter Christopherson (Shawn Mullins, Jerry Cantrell, Rage Against The Machine, Ben Folds Five, and Nine Inch Nails), and an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live (Aug. 25).

On the touring front, the band will also be on Family Values with DMX and Limp Bizkit from Sept. 25 through Nov. 15.

Filter has also launched a website to support the release of the album, www.officialfilter.com. "We will be whoring ourselves all over the world. I'm just glad that the climate has turned back to pro-hard acts and pro-metal," says Patrick, who started Filter when he became tired of following Trent Reznor's dreams as the guitarist of Nine Inch Nails in 1994. "The last couple of years have given me my fill of crap wussy rock and one-hit-wonders. Bring on the ugly music for ugly people, written by ugly bands like Rob Zombie, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Rage Against The Machine, Simon Says, and us."

Look for a Filter feature on LAUNCH.com soon. Features on Ben Folds Five, Limp Bizkit, Rob Zombie, and Korn are available now.

-- Midnight Jones, Los Angeles

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