Cypress Hill are indulging their passion for metal during sessions for their upcoming album, due out on November 6th. Much like last year's million-selling Skull and Bones, the new collection will be split between rap and hard-rock tracks.

"Everybody in the band was a rock fan when we were kids," says frontman B-Real. "It's just that doing hip-hop came more natural to us. So when we decided to fuck around with the rock stuff, it felt good."

Rappers Kurupt and N.W.A's MC Ren guest on the record, along with such metalheads as bassist Christian Olde Wolbers of Fear Factory and former Downset guitarist Rogelio Lozano.

On September 29th, the band will take its fourth annual Smoke Out festival on the road for the first time. This year's show will also feature Busta Rhymes, the Deftones, Fear Factory, Redman, Long Beach Dub Allstars, Suicidal Tendencies and Kottonmouth Kings, and it will hit New Jersey, Hawaii and Oakland, California, in addition to its native Los Angeles.

Confirmed dates for the Cypress Hill Smoke Out:

9/29: Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center
10/6: Devore, CA, Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion
10/13: Oakland, CA, Oakland Coliseum
10/14: Honolulu, Hawaii, Kualoa Ranch

STEVE APPLEFORD
(August 22, 2001)