ENTERTAINMENT

Counting Crows playing Holmdel, Atlantic City

ED CONDRAN
CORRESPONDENT

Fans couldn’t help but wonder when Counting Crows were going to follow-up 2008’s “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings.” There were live releases and an album of covers but where was the new music?

“It was coming,” vocalist Adam Duritz said. “It was just took awhile.”

The wait was worth it. More than six years passed between albums of new material but “Somewhere Under Wonderland,” is a lighter, optimistic release.

“We’re really in a good place right now,” Duritz said. “There’s nothing to complain about.”

Duritz could complain but he chooses to take the high road. “Saturday Nights” was the last album the band released while on the DGC roster.

“We were there for a long time and witnessed a lot of magical things,” Duritz said. “We had to move along but I have such great memories of being on a label with Nirvana, Sonic Youth and so many bands I respected. Bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth had an impact on us since they did whatever they wanted and that’s the right approach to music. You can’t compromise. We were part of the golden era of DGC. It was about musical integrity. It wasn’t about fame. We could have gone elsewhere. We could have been in a bidding war. But we opted for creative freedom. We signed for a paltry advance ($15,000) but we went for higher royalties.”

It worked out very well for Counting Crows, who have sold more than 20 million albums. “Mr. Jones,” “Round Here” and “A Long December” are just some of their many hits. About the only issue the band has is putting together a set list and how the California based band will render the familiar.

Counting Crows, which will perform Saturday at the PNC Bank Arts Center and Sept. 5 at the Borgata, has revamped hits in dramatic ways. Years ago Counting Crows turned the up tempo “Mr. Jones” into a dirge. “We can’t play every song the same way for 20 years,” Duritz explained. “We have to change things up at times.”

It all works for Counting Crows. The band has had its share of ups and downs over the years but the lineup, which includes guitarists David Bryson, Dan Vickrey and David Immergluck, bassist Millard Powers, multi-instrumentalist Charles Gillingham and drummer Jim Bogios, has stayed relatively intact. Powers and Bogios are the only members who haven’t been with the band since 1994.

“We enjoy being in a band together,” Duritz said. “We’re a team. We all play our parts.”

Duritz is the group’s benevolent dictator. “I love the guys in this band like brothers and I can say that I’m the leader and I don’t think anybody else in this band would be good at leading a band. What we do works.”

It works well enough that Duritz isn’t tempted to become a solo artist. “A lot of guys in bands want that but I’ve never had that urge,” Duritz said.”I feel so fulfilled being part of Counting Crows.”

Expect Counting Crows to stick around for years.

“There is no reason to stop,” Duritz said. “We love playing the hits and the deep cuts and we want to make more music. We might not play every hit, every night. If we did that we would end up hating that song. It’s good to mix it up. We know what we’re doing.”

COUNTING CROWS

WITH: Citizen Cope and Hollis Brown

WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: PNC Bank Arts Center, Exit 116 on the Garden State Parkway, Holmdel

TICKETS: $25 to $69.50

INFO: 732-203-2500, www.artscenter.com

AND

WHEN: 7 p.m. Sept. 5

WHERE: Borgata Festival Park, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City

TICKETS: $49.50

INFO: 609-317-1000, www.theborgata.com