In The Studio: Crazy Town, Weezer, Matchbox Twenty, & More

NEW YORK (Top 40 Charts) - As 2001 winds down and the music industry comes to its usual year-end halt, several bands are holed-up in recording studios readying new albums for release next year.

Crazy Town has written 30 songs for its next effort, the follow-up to the group's 1999 smash debut The Gift of Game. Rapper Eric Mazur and guitarist Squirrel are spearheading the Los Angeles recording sessions at a studio recently purchased by the group, and are planning on bringing in an as-yet-undecided producer in the near future. Columbia Records does not yet have a release date for the album.

Weezer

Weezer once again entered a Los Angeles studio on Sunday (Dec. 16) to continue work on its as-yet-untitled fourth album. The band has several tracks slated to possibly appear on the effort, including "Keep Fishin'," "Take Control," "American Gigolo," "Not in Love," "High Up Above," and "December," among others. Reports indicate an April 30 release date for the album, but a spokesperson for the band at Interscope Records could not confirm that date at press time.

The Wu-Tang Killa Beez' upcoming effort, The Sting, will surface Feb. 26 on Koch/In the Paint/Wu-Tang Records. The album's lead single, "Killer Beez," hits radio in January. Produced by RZA, the album features contributions by RZA, a.k.a. Bobby Digital, Ol' Dirty Bastard, U-God, Inspectah Deck, North Star, Black Nights, and Solomon Childs, among others.

Matchbox Twenty

Several high-profile collaborations are also in the works for albums due next year. Rolling Stone Mick Jagger has plans to return the favor he received from Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas (who sang and co-wrote Jagger's recent "Visions of Paradise") by singing on the latter's "I Got a Disease." With Yourself or Someone Like You and Mad Season producer Matt Serletic in tow, Matchbox Twenty plans on hitting a studio this summer.

Noel Gallagher

Elsewhere, Oasis' Noel Gallagher has contributed guitar work to a track ("Spectral Mornings") slated for Cornershop's long-awaited follow-up to 1997's When I Was Born for the Seventh Time. The album, Handcream for a Generation, is due in the spring on Beggars Banquet Records, according to a spokesperson for the band. Meanwhile, Oasis' follow-up to 2000's Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is due sometime in 2002 as well.