Once a band of restless upstarts with second-hand amplifiers and gritty garage band dreams, Dishwalla has upgraded for its latest effort, And You Think You Know What Life's All About. |

Due out Aug. 11 on A&M Records, the quartet's second disc was conceived in a custom-built studio nestled in the placid, far-from-glitzy hills outside their hometown of Santa Barbara, Calif., a spokesman for Dishwalla's management told JAMTV this week. That campground to the stars was built with great aspirations -- and financial backing from A&M, which forked over advance payments to cover construction costs, he said.

Among wooded hills, 75-year-old oil fields and miners' caves, the band laid down the follow-up to 1995's Pet Your Friends with producer Marc Waterman (Elastica, Ash). The first single from the disc, "Once in a While," debuted on national radio stations this week.

Just five days after the release of And You Think You Know What Life's All About -- which took its name from a lyric in the forthcoming bitter love ditty "Bottom of the Floor" -- Dishwalla will kick off its North America tour at the much-hyped "Day in the Garden." A Woodstock revisited, the three-day festival returns to Max Yasgur's infamous farm in Bethel, N.Y. on Aug. 14 and 15, and features stalwarts like Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks and Pete Townshend.

To appease teeny bopper consumers, festival organizers recently tacked on a third day of chart-topping newcomers including Third Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls, Joan Osborne and Marcy Playground. Dishwalla will grace the young-uns stage on Aug. 16, and then venture off on their own club and theater tour with label mates Jack Drag. That Massachusetts trio first joins up with Dishwalla at the Side Door in St. Louis on Aug. 18, and will remain on the bill as it winds through all major American cities through mid-September. (Anni Layne)

Track listing for And You Think You Know What Life's All About:

1. "Stay Awake"
2. "Once in a While"
3. "Bottom of the Floor"
4. "Healing Star"
5. "Until I Wake Up"
6. "5 Star Day"
7. "Truth Serum"
8. "So Blind"
9. "Gone Upside Down"
10. "So Much Time"
11. "Bridge Song"
12. "Pop Guru"