Winter 1999. The year started off on a promising note. There were several reports in the news that the Wallflowers were in the studio recording with producer Julian Raymond (Fastball) at the helm. According to Raymond, the band was exploring a significant change in sound. They worked on two songs together: "Eat You Sleeping" and "Hand Me Down." Later on, however, Julian Raymond is dropped as the producer. On a happier note, Mike Ward won a Gibson Award for Most Promising New Guitarist. The Wallflowers' version of "Heroes" received a Grammy nomination in the category of Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but lost to Aerosmith's song "Pink". Near the end of the winter, Jakob, Rami and Greg could be heard on Joe Henry's new album, "Fuse." Jakob's contribution was background vocals on the song "Skin & Teeth". Rami played keyboards and Greg played base on the album. In an interview with "Wall of Sound," at "http://wallofsound.go.com/features/henry..." Joe Henry mentioned that he and Jakob wrote a song for country singer Rosanne Cash, but she hadn't recorded it yet.
Spring 1999. Mario joined Liz Phair on the drums during her tour. In May, The Wallflowers went back into the studio and starting working from scratch on their third album. At the helm this time was Michael Penn. The songs previously produced by Raymond were re-worked. Concerned about the atrocities in Kosovo, The Wallflowers contributed the song "Used to be Lucky" to the new album, "No Boundaries," which raised money to benefit Kosovo refugees.
Summer 1999: MTV immortalize Jakob and Bob Dylan in clay for its "Celebrity Deathmatch." (The Dylans lost their deathmatch to Ben and Jerry Stiller's clay counterparts.) Rami and Greg were featured on Macy Gray's new album, "Macy Gray On How Life Is." Mario played drums with Liz Phair onstage at the Lilith Fair. Guitarist Mike Ward joined the band "Trinket" in the recording studio to lay down some tracks. Rami's keyboard talents can be heard on Dunk's new album, "Time To Fly."
Fall 1999: Rami's keyboards could be heard on Melissa Etheridge's new album "Breakdown" and on Garth Brooks' new album, "The Life of Chris Gaines." Meanwhile, Mike Ward joined members of his former band, "School of Fish," on stage in California. To extinguish rumors, Mike notified fans that no new Wallflowers record would be released in 1999. Rami also mentioned, at "The Rami Lounge" website, that the band is almost finished with its studio work and that an April release date for the third album is a possibility, although Interscope Records hasn't set an official date yet. The Wallflowers version of "Heroes" was featured in the new TV commercial for FTD.com.
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