The Future of Nu-Metal, Online Now

If you’re looking for the next big nu-metal band, turn your attention to a small town in northern British Columbia.

That’s home to Wookubus.

Wookubus is not the name of a band, but the alias of a young man who is becoming one of the most respected and reliable tipsters about the currently dominant rock genre, which includes such stars as Staind, Linkin Park and Deftones.

He and two friends oversee a Web site called Pimp Rock Palace ( https://www.theprp.com ), and it has a growing legion of devoted followers--music professionals and civilian fans--seeking news, reviews and sounds from the underground.

“As far as the quality of information and access, Pimp Rock Palace is No. 1,” says David “Beno” Beveniste, manager of L.A. band System of a Down and head of the Streetwise music marketing firm.

“It’s a portal to the gutters of America of what’s brewing musically. There are bands he seems to feature that don’t even have demo [recordings] yet and it can surface there.”

The site’s influence is clear to Swift, an unsigned North Carolina band that was featured in July on PRP.

“Swift’s appearance on the PRP definitely caused a sudden and noticeable increase in [record label] interest,” says John Caldwell, the Los Angeles-based manager of the band, which is now in talks with several major labels. “The PRP actually downloaded a demo off of Swift’s Web site, put it up and made them band of the month--and didn’t even tell them about it until after it was done. Anything that comes from a point of passion like this is so refreshing and so rare.”

Rarest of all is that the venture has no commercial angle. The PRP doesn’t run advertising, sell its readers’ e-mail addresses or charge to highlight bands.

“We don’t make a cent from the site,” says Wookubus, 22, who declines to give his real name or identify his hometown, to avoid being hounded by bands and record companies.

“It allows us to keep our integrity. We’re not influenced by the record labels or by what’s hot. We do what we do because we want to, not because of someone’s marketing plan.”

The PRP was started in June 1999 by Wookubus, London-based Brian Webb and Brazilian Pedro Einloft. The three became acquainted through trading MP3 music files via the Internet, and have never met. Wookubus makes his living as a freelance computer technician and Web designer, while his colleagues are college students.

Wookubus has even been offered A&R; and marketing jobs by record companies. But he says he has no interest in getting involved with corporate politics, preferring the small-town fan life.

His “pay,” Wookubus says, is the thank-yous in CD liner notes from more than 30 acts so far, including Taproot, Nothingface, Slaves on Dope and Alien Ant Farm, all of whom credit the site for career boosts.

Frankly, it sounds too good to be true, and Wookubus has even heard speculation that the PRP is actually a front for a music marketing scheme.

“We’re just three guys doing it for the love of it,” he says.

LOVE SHAQ: Shaquille O’Neal may miss some Lakers preseason training because of toe surgery, but he wants to get his next rap album, due Oct. 30, off on the right foot by stressing teamwork.

As he’s done on previous releases, he’s gone the “superfriends” route of bringing in guest stars, but the new album’s lineup may be the strongest he’s worked with, at least on paper. He’s just finished a track with Dr. Dre producing, and those rapping on the album include Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Common, Mos Def, Jayo Felony and the Roots’ Black Thought, plus George Clinton, who revisits his “Atomic Dog” with O’Neal.

The roster’s strength, the Lakers star says, answers questions about rap credibility that have been harder for him to shake than the 76ers’ double-team.

“I’ve never been turned down by my favorites,” he says. “These guys have reputations. They don’t want to be around a guy who goes [in a stiff rap delivery] ‘Hey ... what ... you ... do?’ Know what I’m saying?”

O’Neal says that’s not meant as a swipe at Allen Iverson or Laker teammate Kobe Bryant--who both made much-discussed but yet unreleased albums.

But he does add, “Being an athlete trying to cross over, everyone’s waiting for you to mess up, so if you’re going to do it, you gotta do it right.”

WEB FINAL: A long feud between Hollywood alt-rock Web site Buddyhead ( https://www.buddyhead.com ) and Limp Bizkit leader Fred Durst is likely to heat up again. Site proprietor Travis Keller, who in the past published both Durst’s cell phone number and private e-mail address, is auctioning on EBay three of Durst’s trademark red caps, allegedly purloined from the rock star’s office at Interscope Records, where he’s a vice president.

Keller plans to donate any money made from the venture to a rape counseling organization.

SMALL FACES: Having satisfactorily tested the independent-release waters with 2000’s “Bachelor No. 2,” Aimee Mann has started work on her next album, with release likely for spring. Meanwhile, Mann and husband Michael Penn are planning to reprise their recent joint tour with a series of L.A. club dates to be recorded for a “Live Acoustic Vaudeville” album....

Josh Groban, the operatically trained 19-year-old singer whose appearance on the “Ally McBeal” season finale stirred a flurry of e-mail inquiries, is finishing his debut album, due Nov. 6, with production by pop czar David Foster and two songs by alt-industrial kingpin Rhys Fulber. Among the tracks are teamings with Irish group the Corrs and English teen Charlotte Church....

Col. Parker, a new band anchored by ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke and Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom, is promoting its debut album, titled “Rock and Roll Music” and due Oct. 23, by giving away a 1965 Mustang once owned by L.A. Guns singer Tracii Guns in an online contest at the band’s Web site, https://www.colparker.com ....

Simple Minds is returning to action after a six-year layoff, starting with a “covers” album--including versions of Them’s “Gloria,” David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World,” the Doors’ “Hello I Love You” and Neil Young’s “The Needle and the Damage Done.” It’s due Oct. 23, with an album of new original material to come in the spring. The lineup features founding singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill. *