Due out in time for the holiday season -- if Universal Records gets its way -- is the Bloodhound Gang's still-untitled fourth album. "The suits tell me they want it out for the fourth quarter, but I'm not gonna be held down by the man," jokes the band's frontman Jimmy Pop. "The problem with us is that we're self contained. In other words, [the label] sends us the advance, we write the songs, we mix them, we produce it, we make all the arrangements and, you know, we're kind of lazy."

According to Pop, all the music for the set -- the follow-up to 2000's Hooray for Boobies -- has been recorded, and he's working on lyrics while on tour in Europe. "My managers who actually work at Universal are like, 'OK, you're in London writing lyrics. That's great,'" Pop says. "In about two hours I'm getting on a train to go to Paris to try and hit on one of the girls that was in our 'Bad Touch' video -- which has nothing to do with writing lyrics. They'll say, 'Well, what are you doing that for?' And I'll say, 'Well, I need to be inspired, don't I?' That's the kind of shit I'm trying to pull."

Already lined up for a guest spot on the record is British band A, and 'N Sync will be onboard soon if Pop keeps working his powers of persuasion. "We both agreed to do it," he says. "I talk to them occasionally. I sent Joey [Fatone] one of those Jagermeister Tap machines for Christmas."

But if that collaboration doesn't pan out, Pop might want to lean on Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, who recently contacted the Bloodhound Gang frontman after hearing his trance infused remix of Weezer's "Hashpipe." "He asked me to write a song for him for his new record, a rock song . . . It was funny because the letter I got from the director of the company says he wants to make an anti-pop pop record. And I guess his tastes in music are probably a lot different than what people would expect. So I just called him yesterday and we shot the shit and, yeah, we'll see where that goes."

The Bloodhound Gang have also been working on a pair of DVDs for release. "One's called One Fierce Beer Run," says Pop, "and the other one's called Hooray for Groupies . . . The last couple of months we've been putting together some insane kind of left-of-center features for it."

Originally, the DVDs were pegged for release in 2001, but production stalled while the band sought clearances from fans caught on video during the group's 1997 world tour. The Bloodhound Gang are still looking for a handful of concert-goers via their official Web site, www.bloodhoundgang.com, but a summer release date is on for Beer Run, with Hooray expected by the end of the year.

JOLIE LASH
(April 23, 2002)