Smash Mouth have chosen a winning title from the thousands of submissions to the "Name Our Album" contest they started last December. And the winner is: Smash Mouth. Following lengthy eleventh hour deliberations the band decided to go the self-titled route for their forthcoming third LP, something suggested by nine entrants (though seven were submitted after the deadline, so only two suggestees will be getting credit for the title).

In keeping with the simple theme, the album cover will feature a photograph of the foursome as opposed to the whimsical renderings that graced their first two efforts, 1997's Fush Yu Mang and 1999's Astro Lounge.

Among the suggested names making the final cut before ultimately bowing to the almighty eponymous: "Why Steve Why," "Oh Are They," "Bug's Eye View," "Fat Lip," "Limbo Disaster," and of course, "A Fan Named This Album."

As for the album itself, Smash Mouth are nearing completion in longtime producer Eric Valentine's new Los Angeles studio. Band management says to expect a late June release with the first single to drop sometime towards the end of May.

"The new record is heavier," frontman Steve Harwell told Rolling Stone in December. "We need to get alternative radio back in our pockets. Songs like 'All-Star' and 'Then the Morning Comes' [from Astro Lounge] don't exactly fit with what's on alternative radio right now. We're concentrating on making a record that can go everywhere."

Smash Mouth is expecting to head out for a series of smaller-venue gigs sometime in early May, prior to the release of Smash Mouth. While the upcoming release will (unlike previous efforts) be a covers-free affair, the quartet have satisfied that fetish by cutting "I'm A Believer" for Disney's upcoming animated flick, Shrek. Their take on the Neil Diamond tune made famous by the Monkees, will appear on the film's soundtrack, due next month.

GREG HELLER
(March 17, 2001)