Sugar Ray Reunite

05/05/09 5:59pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

If you thought things couldn't possibly get any worse than the recently announced Creed and Limp Bizkit reunions, you were wrong.

Sugar Ray are back and will release their first album in six years, the appropriately titled Music For Cougars, on July 21 through Pulse/Fontana.

Singer Mark McGrath, Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock, drummer Stan Frazier, bassist Murphy Karges and guitarist Rodney Sheppard wrote the disc's tracks at Los Angeles' Pulse Studios. Sugar Ray began recording it after McGrath left his job on the Extra television show.

Music For Cougars features appearances from Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Donovan Frankenreiter, drummer Josh Freese, Dean Butterworth, Wayne Jobson and Tim Pagnotta. The first single, "Boardwalk," will be released to radio this month.

"We have realistic views of how the music industry is today," McGrath told Billboard.com. "I know people aren't sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for a Sugar Ray record.

"But that wasn't the point. It was purely because we love to make music.

"We're not going anywhere. All of us have tried to sabotage the band one way or another. But some divine intervention has kept this band together and I think we all appreciate that.

"I think the biggest success of Sugar Ray is that after 21 years and all the booze, drugs, women, money, having no money — all those things have come into play and we're still together. That, to me, is the biggest reward."

Sugar Ray were a hard rock band when they launched their career as The Shrinky Dinks in 1992. They changed their name a few years later and released their Lemonade And Brownies debut in 1995. The band changed their sound to radio-oriented pop two years later with Floored, which produced the mega-hit "Fly." They've since released three more albums, with the most recent being 2003's In The Pursuit Of Leisure.

Sugar Ray will tour the U.S. in support of Music For Cougars this summer. You can see them here:

May 29 Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Hotel
June 6 Winchester, CA @ Lake Skinner (Wine And Balloon Festival)
June 12 Denver, CO @ The Grizzly Rose
July 24 Hankinson, ND @ Dakota Magic Casino & Hotel
July 25 Lac Du Flambeau, WI @ Lake Of The Torches Resort Casino (Northern Highlands Music Festival)
July 26 Chicago, IL @ Taste Of Lincoln Avenue
July 28 Detroit, MI @ Emerald Theatre
July 29 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
July 30 Dewey Beach, DE @ Bottle & Cork
July 31 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar Club
Aug. 1 Binghampton, NY @ Otsiningo Park (Spiedie Fest)
Aug. 3 Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights
Aug. 4 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club And Lounge
Aug. 6 Stamford, CT @ Columbus Park
Aug. 7 New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
Aug. 8 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Aug. 10 Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA
Aug. 11 Charlotte, NC @ Amos' South End
Aug. 12 Atlanta, GA @ The Loft
Aug. 14 Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
Aug. 15 Orlando, FL @ TBA
Aug. 16 St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing
Aug. 18 Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
Aug. 19 New Orleans, LA @ House Of Blues
Aug. 21 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
Aug. 22 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
Aug. 23 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
Sept. 11 Seattle, WA @ Showbox Theatre
Sept. 12 Portland, OR @ TBA
Sept. 14 Sacramento, CA @ Empire Events Centre
Sept. 15 San Francisco, CA @ The Grand Ballroom at The Regency Center
Sept. 16 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
Sept. 18 Newport Beach, CA @ Taste Of Newport
Sept. 19 Santa Margarita, CA @ Pozo Saloon
Sept. 20 Ventura, CA @ Ventura Theater
Sept. 22 Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theater
Sept. 23 Phoenix, AZ @ The Marquee
Sept. 25 Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
Sept. 26 San Diego, CA @ Hard Rock Hotel