Brushing a layer of dust from their instruments and their image, the Spin Doctors are threatening to stage a comeback on Universal Records later this year. |

Lost but not forgotten, the fleeting jam band recently completed work on their fourth album, tentatively titled Dodging Assassins, in a New York studio. Shortly after frontman Chris Barron and drummer Aaron Comess began brainstorming new material one year ago, bassist Mark White re-entered the fray and the band decided to climb back on the proverbial horse.

Dropped from Epic Records in the fall of 1996 due to poor sales and bad press, the Spin Doctors were losing a wicked game of career roulette just one year ago. Following the unmitigated failure of 1996's You've Got to Believe in Something, which sold just 75,000 copies in the U.S., and the departure of guitarist Anthony Krizan, the band was counting down to the end.

However, once Dodging Assassins began to bloom, Barron, Comess and White auditioned nearly 200 candidates for the not-so-coveted guitar slot, and finally agreed on an Israeli musician named Eran Tabib. Then, in another personnel move, the foursome became a quintet with the addition of Ivan Neville on keyboards -- a new instrument for the expanding group.

Just as things started rolling, the Spin Doctors entered negotiations with Ruffhouse Records and appeared poised to release a 13-track album this April. After the deal reportedly fell through, Universal approached the band and just recently inked a deal for an unspecified number of albums, according to a spokeswoman for the label. Few details about the contract were available at press time.

Though the band's calendar is hardly firm at this time, Dodging Assassins should hit stores shelves sometime this fall. A spokeswoman for the band told JAMTV on Thursday that the album will include the following tracks: "Waiting for the Blow," "Diamond," "Working for the Man" and "Gorilla Boy." (Anni Layne)