Lit To Re-Release Debut
Album On Own Label

June 21, 1999...AllStarMag.Com

On the heels of the runaway single "My Own Worst Enemy" and their currently rising followup, "Zip-Lock," alternative-rock band Lit has announced plans to spark up their own label.

Dirty Martini, a name reflecting the Orange County, Calif. quartet's obsession with '50s Vegas culture, will get underway sometime this fall with the re-release of the band's first album. Produced by Matt Gruber, Tripping the Light Fantastic was originally released by Malicious Vinyl in 1997. (It's since been discontinued.) Dirty Martini will most likely be distributed by the band's current label, RCA.

"We initially wanted to start it just to release our first album," singer A. Jay Popoff told allstar backstage at the KROQ Weenie Roast in Irvine, Calif. on Saturday (June 19). "But we're gonna start working with some other bands when we have some time -- any bands we meet that we're into."

One act Popoff said he's hot on is called Naked Movie Star, whom he discovered rehearsing next to Lit at an Anaheim, Calif. studio. "But that's premature to talk about right now," the singer said.

Popoff did say that his band intends to be hands-on proprietors of Dirty Martini: "We're into all the aspects of business -- production, development, and stuff." "Yeah," added Lit bassist Kevin Baldes, laughing. "We want to apply the hair, makeup, and costumes for videos, too."

-- Corey Levitan