Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Trump Says No Summit Deal With Putin Over Ukraine War, Talks Were ‘Very Productive’

2 days ago

Madera County Man Arrested in Fatal Crash Case

2 days ago

Man Fleeing an Immigration Raid Dies After Running Onto LA Freeway

3 days ago

Kevin McCarthy, Redistricting Commission’s Popularity Stand in Newsom’s Way

3 days ago

California Man Safe After High-Tech Rescue From Behind Sequoia Waterfall

3 days ago

California Legislature’s Final Weeks Could Decide Delta Water Tunnel’s Fate

3 days ago

US Consumer Sentiment Weakens in August, Inflation Expectations Rise

3 days ago

Trump Names Rosner as Chair of Energy Regulator

4 days ago
Rockers Hootie & the Blowfish Return With New Album, Tour
By admin
Published 7 years ago on
December 3, 2018

Share

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Twenty-five years after “Cracked Rear View” launched their careers, Grammy-winning rock band Hootie & the Blowfish will release a new album and launch an official tour next year after a decade-long break.
The Southern pop-rockers, featuring lead singer Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Jim Sonefeld and Dean Felber, broke out with their major label debut in 1994, which has been certified 21-times platinum and made the Recording Industry Association of America’s list of the top-10 most popular albums of all-time.
With Top 10 hits like “Hold My Hand,” ”Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You,” the South Carolina-based band went from playing college bars to selling out arenas and winning best new artist at the Grammy Awards in 1996. The band put out five studio albums and other live albums, never coming close to the popularity of the first, with the last one in 2006. Their last official tour was in 2007.
But with a big anniversary approaching in 2019, the four musicians who still play together a couple times a year for annual charity events decided it was time to go out on the road and bring with them some new music.

“Nothing Has Changed”

“Nothing has changed,” insists Rucker, who is now a major country star in his own right with several country radio hits like “Wagon Wheel.” ”When the four of us get back together, we fall into the same dynamic of the band that’s always there. We’ve been a band for pretty much 30 years now. We’re just older now. There’s a lot less alcohol.”

”When the four of us get back together, we fall into the same dynamic of the band that’s always there. We’ve been a band for pretty much 30 years now. We’re just older now. There’s a lot less alcohol.” — Darius Rucker
Rucker said they hope to have a single out in the spring with a full album next summer. The Group Therapy Tour starts May 30, 2019, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and will hit 44 cities, including the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden in New York and Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The tour ends in Columbia, South Carolina on Sept. 13.
The band talked to The Associated Press from Columbia, where they all met as students at the University of South Carolina, to discuss why their album was so successful, deciding to go dormant as Rucker explored his solo career and returning to their hometown on tour. The answers have been edited for brevity.

University Has Changed a Lot

AP: How different does the campus look now from when you went there?
Felber: The university has changed a lot. The dorm where we actually met is now in the dump (the university demolished the dorm several years ago). It’s improved and grown massively.
Bryan: One interesting fact is we’re going to be doing our first Columbia, South Carolina, show in probably 20 years. The town that we came out of, that we played a million shows in when we were young, we haven’t played here in 20 years or almost.
AP: Are you expecting a lot of old college friends to start texting you again?
Rucker: We’re changing our phone numbers.

Touring Seven Years Before Record Deal

AP: Looking back at “Cracked Rear View,” the crazy amount of success and attention must have been a big change for you?

“Our music was going against the grain of what was popular on radio at the time. It was more of the angst-driven, harder-edged rock.” — Jim Sonefeld
Rucker: We probably toured seven years before we got a record deal.
Felber: We did two cassettes and a CD before we got signed and did “Cracked Rear View,” and had been on the road for four years pretty solid. By the time we got there, we were pretty ready and pretty busy.
Bryan: But we also jumped to the big stages really quick, which we weren’t used to. So, it was kind of interesting trying to take our set from like a club show to these big arenas and that sort of thing. So, there was definitely a period of transition there.
AP: That album came out when the dominant sound in rock was grunge. Did that set you apart?
Sonefeld: Our music was going against the grain of what was popular on radio at the time. It was more of the angst-driven, harder-edged rock and I think we brought back melody and brought back some of the harmony sounds that weren’t really in the middle of rock radio at the time.

Going Dormant

AP: Was there a conscious decision to put the band on hold?
Sonefeld: The idea of going dormant for an unknown period of time can be daunting or scary. But we felt like going away for a while, getting back to our families and a little bit more of a sedentary lifestyle might be a good experiment. We didn’t say we were going away for six months or six years. We just said, ‘Let’s go dormant.’ And Darius was releasing his first (country) single at the same time. So, he really got the opportunity to put a great effort, a full effort into country music. And when that blew up, it helped in some ways to secure that we would be dormant for more than six months.
AP: Where are you in the recording process?
Felber: We have a bunch of songs, and so now we are just working on it and getting them together and deciding which ones are going to be good and which ones aren’t going to be good. And then just kind of playing and writing in the studio.

Looking Forward to Rocking Again

AP: Beyond Columbia, are there certain venues or cities you’re excited about playing again?

“I am looking forward to rocking again. Gonna be fun.” — Darius Rucker
Rucker: The Garden. The last time we played Madison Square Garden we played two nights and it was awesome.
I haven’t been in there since to play a show. That’s exciting to know that we cannot play for 10 years and get to play those places again.
AP: Darius, are you ready to rock again after a decade in country music?
Rucker: I am looking forward to rocking again. Gonna be fun.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

DON'T MISS

Hamas Rejects Israel’s Gaza Relocation Plan

DON'T MISS

Global Markets Face Shaky Week Ahead as US Pressure Mounts on Ukraine

DON'T MISS

Israel Says It Targeted Energy Infrastructure Site Used by Houthis Near Yemeni Capital

DON'T MISS

Erin Downgraded to Category 3 Hurricane, NHC Says

DON'T MISS

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

DON'T MISS

What Can MLB Learn From the Savannah Bananas? A Lot, It Turns Out.

DON'T MISS

How Do We Bridge America’s New Segregation?

DON'T MISS

Micky MaKenzie, Bold Pup With a Big Heart, Ready for a New Home

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Xi Told Him China Will Not Invade Taiwan While He Is US President

UP NEXT

Outside Lands 2025: Where Music, Love, and Community Collide

UP NEXT

‘World’s Strongest Man’ Mark Henry to Headline Fresno Grizzlies’ Wrestling Night

UP NEXT

Big Fresno Fair Adds La Arrolladora Banda El Limón to 2025 Concert Series

UP NEXT

US to Retaliate Against IMO Members That Back Net Zero Emissions Plan

UP NEXT

Taylor Swift Announces New Album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

UP NEXT

Feeling Ghoulish? Fresno Haunted House Puts Out Call for Actors

UP NEXT

TLC to Perform at Tachi Palace Casino Resort in November

UP NEXT

Central Valley Brewers Face Off in West Coast IPA Throwdown in Clovis

UP NEXT

Fresno’s Dog Daze Fest Returns With The Chainsmokers Headlining

UP NEXT

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Close After Funding Cut, in Blow to Local Media

Israel Says It Targeted Energy Infrastructure Site Used by Houthis Near Yemeni Capital

10 hours ago

Erin Downgraded to Category 3 Hurricane, NHC Says

10 hours ago

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

10 hours ago

What Can MLB Learn From the Savannah Bananas? A Lot, It Turns Out.

16 hours ago

How Do We Bridge America’s New Segregation?

2 days ago

Micky MaKenzie, Bold Pup With a Big Heart, Ready for a New Home

2 days ago

Trump Says Xi Told Him China Will Not Invade Taiwan While He Is US President

2 days ago

Melania Trump Sends Letter to Putin About Abducted Children

2 days ago

Category 4 Hurricane Erin Continues to Intensify, NHC Says

2 days ago

US Stops Visitor Visas for People From Gaza

2 days ago

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine will visit the White House on Monday for a high-stakes meeting, after President Donald Trump backed...

10 hours ago

President Trump walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin as Putin arrives as Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where the two leaders will hold a meetings to end the war in Ukraine, Friday, Aug, 15, 2025. The president of Ukraine and his European allies are to visit the White House on Monday, after President Trump backed Russia’s plan to end the war. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
10 hours ago

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

Jordanian military personnel airdrop aid parcels over Gaza, August 17, 2025. (Reuters/Alaa Al Sukhni)
10 hours ago

Hamas Rejects Israel’s Gaza Relocation Plan

The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, August 1, 2025. (Reuters File)
10 hours ago

Global Markets Face Shaky Week Ahead as US Pressure Mounts on Ukraine

A worker walks at the Hiziaz power station after it was attacked by Israeli missile strikes in Sanaa, Yemen August 17, 2025. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)
10 hours ago

Israel Says It Targeted Energy Infrastructure Site Used by Houthis Near Yemeni Capital

Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season and has been downgraded to Category 3, moves westward near Puerto Rico in a composite satellite image August 17, 2025. CIRA/NOAA/Handout via REUTERS
10 hours ago

Erin Downgraded to Category 3 Hurricane, NHC Says

Cast member Terence Stamp poses at the premiere of the movie "Valkyrie" at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles December 18, 2008. The movie opens in the U.S. on December 25. (Reuters File)
10 hours ago

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

16 hours ago

What Can MLB Learn From the Savannah Bananas? A Lot, It Turns Out.

3D illustration, Symbolic image on the topic of division, exclusion
2 days ago

How Do We Bridge America’s New Segregation?

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend