After 18 years with Geffen records, Counting Crows are going it alone.

The Counting Crows feel they now have enough fans that leaving the record label appears to be good timing.

“For us, we have the advantage of having a built- in audience already there that we’ve worked on for a decade and a half,” Guitarist David Immergluck said. “I don’t know what it’s like for a new band coming up to try and get attention drawn to themselves."

“The record company was giving us a lot of money to make records which is a beautiful thing,” Immerglück said. “That’s the one thing that changes.  We have to come up with a large amount of cash to make our own records. Everything else will be business as usual.”

“The record company has… done things like tell us we can’t release live shows. Now we can do whatever we want as far as that goes,” Immerglück said. “I think we’ll be getting more creative with that kind of stuff with the way we release stuff and the way we promote stuff that’s where the change will be. Art itself has been our own inter-dialogue, always from the beginning. Counting Crows has been blessed with that.”

Much of the band’s success has come from touring. They recently finished up some dates in Europe, and are now prepared to go finish up the summer on the road, including some dates in July with Michael Franti and Speahead.

Immergluck notes, “As Jim Morrison wisely said, ‘the future’s uncertain and the end is always near.’ So you never know. We’re in a position where we can take advantage of being independent of the record company and doing things on-line. We have a huge on-line audience that knows how to find us. We have a name that people know. We can reach people.”

Update: Autopsy Results on Former Wilco Member Jay Bennett

Autopsy results in the death of Former Wilco member Jay Bennett on May 24 concluded that the talented multi-instrumentalist died of an overdose of a painkiller, and the Champaign County coroner’s office is investigating Bennett's death as an accident.

Tests showed Bennett died from fentanyl, a drug often prescribed to treat chronic pain, said the coroner, Duane Northrup. Bennett had posted a few weeks earlier on his MySpace site that he would need hip-replacement surgery.

"A decade plus of multiple nightly stage jumps and various other rock and roll theatrics had finally taken a toll that I could no longer merely deal with or ignore," he wrote, but added that he did not have health insurance to cover costs of the surgery.

Bennett sued Wilco lead singer Jeff Tweedy in early May, claiming he was owed royalties for songs during his seven years with the group.

PriCara, a division of Johnson & Johnson recalled fentanyl patches in 2008 after discovering that some leaked, causing labored breathing and possible overdose. There was no indication that Bennett used such a patch. The coroner's office declined to provide a copy of Bennett's autopsy, saying the investigation remains open.

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