Soul Asylum and Gin Blossoms

Saturday, June 12 | 7 pm
Legends Theater

Tickets On Sale April 26

Soul Asylum

Formed in the summer of 1981 by high school friends Dan Murphy, Karl Mueller, and Dave Pirner, Soul Asylum (named Loud Fast Rules up until 1983) quickly became frontrunners of American college rock, following in the tradition of fellow Minnesota bands Hüsker Dü and The Replacements.

Landing their first record deal with Twin/Tone in 1984, Soul Asylum recorded a total of four albums for the local label: Say What You Will… Everything Can Happen in 1984 (later re-released as Say What You Will, Clarence… Karl Sold the Truck), Made To Be Broken, and While You Were Out in 1986, and the EP Clam Dip & Other Delights in 1988. The band then switched to A&M, releasing Hang Time in 1988 and And the Horse They Rode In On in 1990 under that label. Although they enjoyed some success as a live band, Soul Asylum suffered from low album sales and considered disbanding.

In 1992, they signed with Columbia Records to produce Grave Dancers Union, a record that would come to transform them from underground college rockers to international superstars. The first two singles off the album, Somebody To Shove and Black Gold, both came in at high positions at the Modern Rock and Album Rock charts, but it was the album's third track that led them to their major breakthrough. Runaway Train peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, raised album sales to double-platinum level, and won Soul Asylum the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1994. In 1995, Soul Asylum followed up the success of Grave Dancers Union with Let Your Dim Light Shine, which climbed to #6 on the Billboard 200 and featured the #1 Modern Rock track Misery. After releasing Candy From a Stranger in 1998, the band members took a break from recording and didn't release a new studio album for the better part of seven years.

They reunited in 2004 to record their ninth full-length album. Shortly thereafter, Karl was diagnosed with throat cancer. Up until this point, Soul Asylum had always included Dan, Karl, and Dave, despite several line-up changes. This changed on June 17th, 2005, when Karl passed away after finishing his work on the new album. The Silver Lining was released in 2006 and dedicated to Karl Mueller's life and memory, with Dan expressing that, "For me, this record is Karl."

In 2009, after many rumors, it was confirmed that the band are working on a new album set to be released in 2010.

Gin Blossoms

Fueled by mega-hits including "Hey Jealousy," "Found Out About You" and "Til I Hear It From You," Gin Blossoms completed the classic crossover from college-circuit heroes to multi-platinum album sellers.

The band's hometown following in Tempe, Arizona grew quickly as the band earned a great reputation as a live act. Readers of the Phoenix New Times chose them as the city's best rock band qualifying them to play at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas in March, 1989. Later that year, College Music Journal dubbed them the "Best Unsigned Band in America" and invited them to play MTV's New Music Awards in New York City. Major label interest quickly followed …their initial releases on A&M Records included Up and Crumbling in 1991 and the multi-platinum selling New Miserable Experience in 1992 featuring the single, "Hey Jealousy" which peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Four more singles followed … "Mrs. Rita," "Found Out About You," "Allison Road" and "Until I Fall Away." With NME having sold nearly 3 million copies in the US alone, the Gin Blossoms became a band to be reckoned with.

Congratulations I'm Sorry, which was released in 1996, was the Blossom's final original album of the decade bringing them two more hits … "Follow You Down" which spent ten weeks in the Top Ten and "As Long As It Matters" which earned the group a Grammy nomination for "Best Performance by a Duo or Group." The album debuted in Billboard's Top Ten and a year of touring helped put the record past 1,500,000 units sold.

The group then took a lengthy hiatus before embarking on an eighty-date US tour in 2002 and then releasing a new album, Major Lodge Victory in 2006.