Many Blind Melon fans figured that the last of the band's music was released in the form of Nico, an outtakes collection issued a year after singer Shannon Hoon's 1995 drug-related death. However, former guitarist Christopher Thorn recently stumbled across some lost gems while going through the Capitol Records vaults, and he's planning another rarities set.

"I got turned onto stuff that I just completely forgot about," he says. "Shannon playing by himself -- acoustic versions of 'Galaxie' and 'Vernie' -- really cool songs that I'd never heard before acoustic."

As well as unheard versions of previously released songs, Thorn found several previously unissued full-band songs, including "Frosting a Cake" and "Ever Had the Feeling." "It's a really dark song," Thorn says of the latter. "It's about killing yourself. It's sung in -- which only Shannon could do -- this tongue-in-cheek voice. I think maybe it scared people. I don't know, maybe it's something that we still don't release."

While Thorn would like to get the other surviving Blind Melon members involved in the song-selection process and maybe even add a missing part or two if needed, he's not looking to stray too far from the songs' current state. "There's just nothing like hearing songs stripped down," he says. "You really get a sense of the band and the songs, and you really hear Shannon's voice. It's going to be raw. For me now, it's kinda charming -- I hear it and I can smell the room from hearing the recordings."

Thorn would also like to assemble an accompanying live disc. "I was given a box of A-DATs," he says. "For a while, we were recording every live show -- right around the time that 'No Rain' hit, when we were playing bigger places. I'd like to have the stuff get out. I don't feel good about it just being in a box somewhere."

GREG PRATO
(February 20, 2004)