JD's Blog

News of Black Friday cd... Metallica in a feature film... Pearl Jam 20 broadcast

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:24:00 GMT

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the busiest shopping day of the year and now the organizers of Record Store Day are getting in on the action. The Black Keys, Soundgarden, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and dozens of other acts are contributing limited edition vinyl collector's items to hundreds of independently owned record stores around the country as part of the "Back To Black" sale event on Black Friday (November 25th).

Among the items that will be available are Soundgarden's Live On I-5 Before The Doors Soundcheck EP, the Beastie Boys' Hot Sauce Committee Part Two Deluxe Edition, a limited edition 12-inch vinyl single from the Black Keys featuring two songs from their upcoming El Camino album, a four-LP box set from Kings Of Leon called The Early Vinyl and a red vinyl, double-LP edition of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' classic Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

According to Loudwire and Audio Ink, more offerings include a vinyl singles box set from the Beatles, plus items from Nirvana, Type O Negative, Dream Theater, Bob Dylan, the Who, the Doors, All That Remains and more.

Not all stores will stock all items as each outlet will decide what it wants to carry.

Record Store Day, which takes place in April, was founded in 2007.

The Black Friday campaign was launched to "remind folks that locally owned, independent record stores . . . are a great place to celebrate the holidays, do a little gift-shopping (for yourself or others), support your community, and maybe pick up something really special," according to a press release.

As if things couldn't get any weirder around the Metallica camp, Deadline.com reported over the weekend that the band is looking to self-finance its own feature film, which may be shot in 3D. The group has hired Hollywood producer Charlotte Huggins, who worked on the recent Brendan Fraser hit Journey To The Center Of The Earth, to develop the project for them, but there's no indication as to whether this will be a concert film, a documentary or a dramatic feature.

There's also no word on whether this new movie project might be connected to Lulu, the band's conceptual collaborative album with Lou Reed, which arrives in the U.S. on November 1st.

Metallica's previous foray into filmmaking was the 2004 documentary Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, which chronicled the near-breakup of the band during the turbulent making of 2003's St. Anger album.

The group has also allowed its music to be used extensively in the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills, the first of three films that eventually led to the exoneration of three men, known as the West Memphis Three, wrongfully accused of murdering three boys.

Metallica also allowed its music to be used in this year's dark comedy Hesher, and contributed the original song "I Disappear" to the soundtrack of the movie Mission: Impossible 2

Pearl Jam's career-spanning documentary Pearl Jam Twenty will make its broadcast premiere Friday night (October 21st) at 9:00 p.m. on PBS's American Masters series. The film, which was first shown last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, is director Cameron Crowe's comprehensive look at the band's two-decade existence from its roots in Seattle to its present-day status as one of rock's most beloved bands.

Guitarist Stone Gossard said at a press conference that Crowe's dedication was the main reason the film got made: ["Cameron's interest in doing it was the biggest inspiration. I don't think we would have taken this thing on, had it not been all the pieces that fit together. I think Cameron just being open to the task of looking through all this footage and seeing if there's a story to be told or what's the right story to be told -- once we knew he was involved, then we just sort of trusted that it was going to be okay."] SOUNDCUE (:18 OC: . . . to be okay.)

Pearl Jam Twenty will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD the following Tuesday (October 25th).

The movie is compiled from more than 1,200 hours of rarely and never-before-seen footage, over 24 hours of recent interviews with the band, as well as live footage of concert performances.

In addition to the film, the band's ongoing celebration of its 20th anniversary has included a two-day festival last month, a coffee table book and deluxe reissues of several early albums.

Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament recently told Rolling Stone that the band is halfway through the recording of its 10th studio effort, which will be out in 2012.

SIDE NOTES
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready is auctioning off an autographed Gibson Flying V and vinyl reissue of Vs. to benefit the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) Team Challenge. The CCFA is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to finding the cure for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The auction is spearheaded by the Wishlist Foundation, a fan-based, non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to supporting Pearl Jam's charitable and philanthropic goals. Find information on both auctions and make a bid on the Wishlist Foundation eBay Page.

OZZY wanted to join Slipknot!?! WTF... Lou Reed and Metallica team up for some long ass songs... Jane's Addiction announce a few dates

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:14:00 GMT

Slipknot singer Corey Taylor recently turned up at the Los Angeles premiere of the new documentary, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, and made a startling revelation: that Ozzy wanted to join Slipknot. According to Blabbermouth, Taylor told Artisan News on the red carpet, "I was sitting in catering (at Ozzfest) with Sharon (Osbourne, Ozzy's wife/manager) and Jack (Osbourne, Ozzy's son and documentary producer) and all the kids. Ozzy came out and I was just like, 'Oh my God,' and he goes, 'Slipknot, I wanna be Number 10.' And I went, 'Anytime you want!'"

The members of Slipknot refer to themselves by numbers -- although the nine band members were numbered zero to eight, so technically Ozzy would be "Number Nine."

We don't think he seriously wanted to join the band, however -- he was just being nice to a fellow musician.

Taylor added about the encounter, "He gave me a huge hug and I was like 'Wow,' you know. It's just one of things that makes you fortunate to meet the people you looked up to and have every expectation be exactly what is was."

Slipknot has been down one "number" since the death in May 2010 of bassist Paul Gray.

The band toured Europe this past summer and will embark on a North American trek next year.

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, which screened theatrically on two dates last month, will come out on DVD and Blu-ray on November 15th.

The full track listing for the collaborative album by Metallica and Lou Reed, called Lulu, has been released, and it features a song called "Junior Dad" that clocks in at a super-sized 19 minutes and 28 seconds. Two other tracks, "Cheat On Me" and "Dragon," are over 11 minutes apiece, while several other songs are more than six, seven and eight minutes in length. The album's shortest cut, opening number "Brandenburg Gate," is a relatively paltry four minutes and 19 seconds.

"Junior Dad" is the song whose lyrics made Metallica guitarists James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett cry, as reported last month.

The cover art for the record has also been unveiled. It features a mannequin with no arms or legs and the title written across the cover in what looks like blood.

Lulu will arrive on October 31st worldwide and November 1st in North America. The set is based around a series of songs that Reed had composed for a theater piece based on The Lulu Plays, written between 1895 and 1904 by German playwright Frank Wedekind.

Jane's Addiction has forged yet another corporate partnership, this time with financial giant Citibank, to launch the band's fourth studio album, The Great Escape Artist. Citibank is presenting a series of tour dates by the band, starting with shows on September 24th and 25th at the Metro in Chicago. Those will be followed by two-night stands in Los Angeles and New York in October. The album itself has had its release date pushed back a second time. Originally slated for a September 27th arrival, it was moved to October 4th and will now come out October 18th.

It was at the Metro on November 23rd and 25th, 1988 that Jane's Addiction launched its breakthrough album, Nothing's Shocking.

The new disc is the band's first in eight years and features a more layered, electronic sound than previous efforts. Guitarist Dave Navarro told us he's not worried about pulling off the new material live: "We play what we can play, and we'll see how it goes. You know, it is what it is. In the old days on the old records, I had, you know, maybe 10 tracks of guitars per song, and live I just play the ones I can. You know, especially with technology today and being able to run, like, samples of keyboards and stuff without actually having to have a player onstage, it helps us to be able to fill out the sound sometimes."

Fans who have Citibank credit cards will have special pre-sale access to tickets for all six shows on the mini-tour via www.citiprivatepass.com.

The first single from The Great Escape Artist, "Irresistible Force," is a Top 15 hit at Modern Rock radio.

The Jane's Addiction tour dates brought to you by Citibank are (subject to bank fees -- just kidding):
September 24 - Chicago, IL - Metro
September 25 - Chicago, IL - Metro
October 3 - Los Angeles, CA - TBA
October 4 - Los Angeles, CA - TBA
October 17 - New York, NY - TBA
October 18 - New York, NY - TBA

Staind guitarist says making new album was "miserable", Evanescence announces new tour dates as does 3 Doors Down

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:47:00 GMT

Staind guitarist Mike Mushok said in a new interview at GuitarWorld.com that making the band's new, self-titled seventh album was a "miserable" experience because the band was on a tight deadline. After demoing "17 or 18" songs in December, the group reconvened in January to begin recording the disc with producer Johnny K. Mushok explained that things starting going wrong at that point, saying, "During the sessions, it was clear Jon (Wysocki, drums) wasn't ready or on the same page, and the motivation wasn't where it needed to be. After thinking long and hard, we decided to do something different and decided to split up and do all the parts separately."

Mushok added, "I worked up at a studio in Springfield and Aaron (Lewis, singer) worked in his barn, and that's how we kind of finished the record. It was the first record we had a deadline with the label. They wanted the finished product by May 1st, so we had to get it done. We thought we weren't going to be able to do it, but we did and turned it in and they accepted it and were happy with it . . . It ended working out, but I would not like to live January to April of this year again. It was miserable."

Even though he was working in his own studio in his barn, Lewis told us that being at home did not make the project any less stressful: "There was so much other mental fatiguing things that were going on. I mean, I was away from home for most of it anyways, 'cause I was playing solo shows on the weekends, coming home during the week and working until three 'clock in the morning in the studio, and it's definitely the most outwardly stressed out I think I've probably ever been."

Staind ended up parting ways with Wysocki during the making of the album. A permanent replacement has yet to be named.

The new disc is Staind's first studio effort in three years, following 2008's The Illusion Of Progress. The first single is called "Not Again."

Staind will perform a handful of shows in September, including Southern California's Epicenter Festival on the 24th, with full tour plans yet to be announced.

Evanescence has announced the details of a fall North American tour in support of the band's upcoming third major label album. The trek, which is confirmed for a dozen cities so far, will begin on October 10th in Oakland, California and finish up on November 1st in New York City. Several more dates are expected to be added. Tickets for the jaunt, which is hitting smaller venues, are available now through each location's box office.

The new Evanescence album, which is self-titled, arrives on October 11th. It follows up the band's 2006 effort, The Open Door.

The disc was produced by Nick Raskulinecz, whose credits include Foo Fighters, Rush and Alice In Chains, and is said by singer Amy Lee to be "more aggressive" than previous Evanescence outings.

Lee abandoned attempts last year to make a more electronic and dance-oriented disc under the Evanescence banner.

The first single from the new album, called "What You Want," was played today on the morning show

Confirmed Evanescence tour dates (subject to change):
October 10 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre
October 11 - Los Angeles, CA - Palladium
October 14 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre
October 19 - Dallas, TX - Palladium
October 21 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
October 22 - Chicago, IL - Congress Theatre
October 24 - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
October 25 - Toronto, ON - The Sound Academy
October 27 - Montreal, QC - Metropolis
October 28 - Boston, MA - Palladium
October 30 - Atlantic City, NJ - Showboat/House of Blues
November 1 - New York, NY - Terminal 5

3 Doors Down has announced the details of its fall U.S. tour, which will begin on September 29th in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Support on the trek will come from Theory Of A Deadman and Pop Evil on most of the dates. The tour is the group's first major road trip in support of its newly released fifth album, Time Of My Life, which debuted at Number Three on the Billboard album chart with first-week sales of 60,000 copies after coming out on July 19th.

Tickets for the tour begin to go on sale to the public on Friday, August 12th.

The latest single from Time Of My Life is called "Every Time You Go."

3 Doors Down will play scattered festival dates throughout the rest of this month and September before the tour starts, with Theory Of A Deadman, Sick Puppies, Safetysuit and others.

Confirmed 3 Doors Down tour dates (subject to change):
August 13 - Springfield, IL - Illinois State Fair
August 27 - Sarnia, ON - Hiawatha Bash
August 28 - Syracuse, NY - New York State Fair
September 1 - Allentown, PA - Great Allentown Fair
September 2 - Essex Junction, VT - Champlain Valley Expo
September 16 - York, PA - York Fair
September 29 - Chattanooga, TN - Memorial Auditorium
October 1 - Lexington, KY - Rupp Arena (no Theory Of A Deadman)
October 2 - Nashville, TN - The Woods
October 4 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
October 5 - St. Augustine, FL - St. Augustine Amphitheatre
October 7 - Bossier City, LA - CenturyLink Center
October 8 - Mobile, AL - BayFest
October 11 - Knoxville, TN - Knoxville Civic Coliseum
October 12 - Roanoke, VA - Roanoke Civic Center
October 14 - Tuscaloosa, AL - Ruscaloosa Amphitheatre
October 15 - Jackson, MS - Mississippi Coliseum
October 20 - Norman, OK - Riverwind Casino
October 21 - Thackerville, OK - Winstar Casino
October 26 - Phoenix, AZ - Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Arizona State Fair
October 28 - Beaumont, TX - Ford Center Arena
October 29 - Corpus Christi, TX - Concrete Street
November 1 - Rockford, IL - Rockford MetroCentre
November 2 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
November 4 - Grand Rapids, MI - DeltaPlex
November 5 - Toledo, OH - Huntington Center (no Theory Of A Deadman)
November 6 - Hammond, IN - The Venue at Horseshoe Casino
November 9 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
November 12 - Providence, RI - Providence PAC

Breaking Benjamin having lots of issues

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:22:00 GMT

Breaking Benjamin frontman Ben Burnley has filed a lawsuit claiming that he should have sole ownership of the band's name after firing guitarist Aaron Fincke and bassist Mark Klepaski over their involvement in an unauthorized remix of one of the group's songs. According to the Citizens' Voice Of Wilkes-Barre, Burnley fired Fincke and Klepaski after learning that they struck an agreement with the group's label, Hollywood Records, to release a new version of "Blow Me Away" on a greatest hits collection.

Burnley seeks at least $250,000 in damages and the exclusive rights to the Breaking Benjamin name. Fincke and Klepaski -- who perform under the names Aaron Fink and Mark James -- deny Burnley's claims and management has offered no comment. A local judge in the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area, where the band originally comes from, has ordered arbitration.

Burnley fired his bandmates via email in May when he learned about the remix, which added female vocals. The track is set to be included on Shallow Bay -- The Best Of Breaking Benjamin, due out August 16th.

The singer, who founded the group and writes all the songs, claims that Fincke and Klepaski approved the new version of the song without his consent.

Burnley's attorneys claim that the two musicians authorized the remix when the label offered $100,000. According to Burnley's legal team, neither he, the band's management, nor its lawyer were informed of the offer.

Fincke and Klepaski's lawyers claim that Burnley's power to fire the band's members was rendered invalid when he told them in June 2010 that he was ill and no longer able to perform live.

Burnley told us while touring behind the band's last album, 2009's Dear Agony, that years of alcohol abuse had taken their toll: "Unfortunately, I've been left with some health issues from it, so that's the downside to it. Those things are permanent and things I'll have to live with for the rest of my life."

Burnley claims that he suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and neurological damage as a result of his alcoholism. He got sober in 2008.

Burnley issued a letter to fans on Monday (August 1st), saying, "The upcoming 'Greatest Hits' album is being conceptualized and released without my approval or consent," adding that the new version of "Blow Me Away" was "altered and vocals were added to the existing song without my knowledge or consent."

More news on the possible break up of Disturbed... Kings Of Leon having issues AGAIN... Weiland and Velvet Revolver a possibility?

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:12:00 GMT

Disturbed frontman David Draiman is speaking out on the speculation regarding the band's future, which he himself started two weeks ago when he hinted that the group's current tour could be its last for a while -- if not for good. Draiman confirmed to us that Disturbed plans to take an indefinite hiatus, and gave some hints about the "personal reasons" behind the decision: "Many of those reasons are have to do with the state of the music industry in general and, you know, the demise of hard rock and heavy metal right now, and I think it's just a good time for Disturbed after 10 to 12 years straight of touring to go away for a little while and kind of wait for the phoenix to rise from the ashes here. It's frightening times right now, and it's just a good time for us to go away."

But Draiman also admitted that Disturbed may in fact never come back: "It could be a concern. You don't know. We don't know. I can't definitively tell you one way or the other at this point. We really haven't gotten that far in our discussions. We all agree that we are going to step away for an indefinite period of time."

Draiman told Billboard that one thing the hiatus is not about is any personal strife between the four band members, saying, "This is really not due to any animosity -- I want to make that very clear. In fact, we just had dinner together last night. Believe me, it's not like we can't work with each other any more or we don't get along."

The singer said that all four members of the group have other creative endeavors they'd like to pursue, with both he and guitarist Dan Donegan interested in producing other acts.

Draiman added that he doesn't think a solo album is in his future. But he also told Billboard, "Depending on how far those individual interests end up taking us, and depending on how much we end up missing (the band) over the course of time -- which, of course, at some point I'm sure we will -- that will determine if and when we return."

In the meantime, the band is still touring the country on the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour, which passes through Virginia Beach on Tuesday (August 2nd). Some sort of live release and a B-sides collection may also be in the works.

Draiman said that the band, which has toured for 12 years and issued five albums, is playing "stronger...and with more passion" on the current trek, adding, "We're all viewing this as our last hurrah for awhile, and we're making them count."

There seem to be some big issues going on inside the quartet known as Kings Of Leon. According to Billboard, frontman Caleb Followill cut short a concert in Dallas on Friday (July 29th) after he told fans he had to throw up and exited the stage. Although he promised to return, he never did, with his brother and bassist Jared Followill reportedly telling the crowd, "We are so unbelievably sorry. There's no words right now, it's beyond our control. Caleb's just a little unfit to play the rest of the show."

Although dehydration and heat exhaustion were the official reasons for Caleb's exit -- and temperatures in Dallas were blistering that day -- Jared later tweeted, "There are internal sicknesses & problems that have needed to be addressed." He added later, "I love our fans so much. I know you guys aren't stupid. I can't lie. There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade."

Video posted of the Dallas gig showed Caleb telling the crowd that his voice was "100 percent gone."

A concert in the Houston area on Saturday night (July 30th) was also canceled.

The last time Kings Of Leon stopped a concert was a year ago in St. Louis, when they claimed that pigeons defecating on the stage were a health hazard.

Kings Of Leon are next scheduled to perform in Tampa on Tuesday night (August 2nd) and will be at Riverbend HOPEFULLY August 24th

It's been three years since Velvet Revolver parted ways with singer Scott Weiland, and his replacement could be . . . Scott Weiland. Although Weiland and the band split on unfriendly terms, the vocalist told Classic Rock magazine, "We patched things up and we get along. I see them every now and again, we text each other. And you know, we can never say never. Who knows, maybe we'll do some shows some time."

Weiland was reflective in the interview about his time in Velvet Revolver, which teamed him with former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. He said, "That was right when I was getting off dope and those guys were all sober and clean, and I had a very special kind of kinship because we'd all experienced the same things . . . It was a great band to see live, and I think we made two exciting albums."

Weiland reunited with his original band, Stone Temple Pilots, just as his run with Velvet Revolver was coming to a close. STP has toured constantly since and recorded a new album last year.

Velvet Revolver has still not found a replacement vocalist and is more or less on hiatus, although it was recently revealed that the group recorded an album's worth of material with Stone Sour and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor.

News on Stone Sour and Slipknot... Chili Peppers talk about new album... Alice In Chains back in studio

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:35:00 GMT

Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor did an extensive interview with our sister program Harddrive Radio in which he revealed that the band is definitely planning to release a concert DVD and cover songs EP in one package sometime before the end of the year. Taylor went into detail about the project: "We shot a concert last year on the co-headlining tour that we did with Avenged Sevenfold, and we shot it in Brighton (England), and we've been trying to get it together ever since and it's just been insane. There's been so much work and we just haven't had a chance to kind of get a handle on it. But we've been talking about doing a covers EP forever. This is just a kind of a cool way to put something cool out that the fans will dig."

Taylor added that each member of Stone Sour will get to pick one song for the covers EP.

The singer also said that the recent run of European festival shows he did with Slipknot have warmed up him more to the idea of the group making a new record, but still cautions that it's not happening anytime soon.

Taylor did say that Slipknot will do some more touring, possibly in the U.S. this time around.

Taylor is promoting his new book, Seven Deadly Sins, by doing appearances where he reads, performs a few songs and signs copies of the book. He also has some solo shows coming up, on August 4th and 5th in Las Vegas.

Slipknot recently completed a three-week European tour that was the band's first run of dates since the death of bassist Paul Gray in May 2010. Although singer Corey Taylor has been unsure of Slipknot's future since Gray's death, he told our sister program Harddrive Radio that the tour made him a little more optimistic.

He said, "Definitely after this tour, I'm definitely much more positive than I was. Am I ready to run into a studio? No. Everybody just slow down, 'cause it's still very fresh to me. It still doesn't make sense yet, you know, there's still a lot of healing that we've got to do before we can get there. Am I open to more tours? Absolutely. I mean, we've talked about doing something next year in the States and, you know, letting the fans kind of celebrate as well. So time will tell."

Slipknot concluded its three-week European tour on Sunday (July 10th) with a headlining set at England's Sonisphere Festival. Taylor said he had a good time: "I did enjoy the show. The whole tour has been great. Thank you to everyone who came and everyone who participated in the two minutes of silence for Paulie; he would have been so proud."

Joey Jordison also said earlier this year that Slipknot can carry on "with or without" Taylor.

Taylor, for his part, has been touring with his other band Stone Sour and has indicated that he would like to return to the studio with that group next.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers will have no problem filling their album, I'm With You -- which is due out in August. Bassist Flea told BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, the group actually wrote 70 songs and each one is completely different.

He said, "What was important to us when we put the record together was to make sure that each song filled its own space and was not like another song on the record. We wrote 70 songs, so it's not even necessarily all the best ones that we put on, but just the ones that occupy their own space."

Flea also commented that the group's latest single, "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie," is not a representation of what you can expect on the album. He said, "I like the song. It's a cool, simple, funky, little jam but it's completely different, there's nothing else on the record that sounds anything like it. It's a tricky one because all of the songs on the record are so different.

I'm With You is the band's first album in five years and features new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who makes his recording debut with the group after replacing John Frusciante last year.

I'm With You is the band's first new album since 2006's two-set Stadium Arcadium, which debuted at Number One in 28 countries, including the U.S.

Red Hot Chili Peppers will perform a rare intimate club show Wednesday, August 24 at L.A. LIVE's Club Nokia to benefit the Silverlake Conservatory Of Music.

Alice In Chains is back in the studio. According to longtime friend, Ann Wilson of Heart, the group is currently working on the follow-up to their 2009 gold-certified album, Black Gives Way To Blue. Wilson told Ultimate Classic Rock that the album is set to be released in early 2012 and the group sounds amazing, especially guitarist Jerry Cantrell.

She said, "How can Jerry not sound amazing, but I mean, it really does -- they're a monster."

Disturbed taking some time off with "Personal Issues", plus new Chili Peppers and Blink 182 songs

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:43:00 GMT

Disturbed frontman David Draiman told an Idaho radio station on Wednesday (July 13th) that the band will not headline a sixth Music As A Weapon tour in 2012 -- and is not sure what its plans for the future are. In the interview with Boise's KQXR, Draiman said, "We don't know what we're doing . . . This is gonna be the last tour that the American people get to see us in for awhile, if not indefinitely. We have some things going on internally, we have some personal things going on. So I don't know. It's hard to tell . . . But you're not gonna see a Disturbed tour for awhile."

Draiman did not elaborate on what "personal" or "internal" issues the band was dealing with.

He did say that Disturbed could lease out the Music As A Weapon name for other bands to use.

In an earlier interview with Palm Springs station KCLB, guitarist Dan Donegan made comments similar to Draiman's, saying that the band has nothing set beyond a South American tour this fall. He explained, "We're gonna do South America for the first time . . . And that's really all we talked about. We haven't even discussed anything after that. It's not that we're tired of it, either. We don't know what it's like to take a break."

Donegan added that it might be a "shock to the system" for the band to "go home and then not plan for another tour or plan for the studio."

Disturbed is currently headlining the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival tour, which also features Godsmack, Machine Head, Trivium and others. The show pulls into Cincinnati on Wednesday the 20th

The Red Hot Chili Peppers release a new single called "The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie" to radio stations and digital retailers on Monday (July 18th). It's the first track to be issued from the band's upcoming 10th studio album, I'm With You. Singer Anthony Kiedis gave us a peek into how that song came about: "That's a song that we didn't see coming. We had a lot of weird exercises for writing music on this record. One of them for (bassist) Flea was consciously deciding that he wanted to write classic bass lines. So he'd come and he'd say, 'I think I wrote a classic bass line,' and the first time he did that, we called it 'Classic One.' And 'The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie' was called 'Classic Number One' for about nine months or more."

I'm With You is the band's first album in five years and features new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who makes his recording debut with the group after replacing John Frusciante last year.

I'm With You is the band's first new album since 2006's two-set Stadium Arcadium, which debuted at Number One in 28 countries, including the U.S.

The Chili Peppers have not announced their full world tour plans, but the group has overseas dates booked in October and November.

Blink-182 has released its first new song in eight years, called "Up All Night." Although the band has played the tune live during the two years since it reunited, the studio version of the track was officially unveiled on Friday (July 15th). The song is the first to be heard from the trio's upcoming album, which is now called Neighborhoods and will tentatively arrive on September 27th. Bassist Mark Hoppus announced the CD title and release date on Friday via his Google Plus account.

In a recent conference call, singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge said that he thinks Blink fans will be pleased with the finished album: "It's gonna be everything our fans want it to be. It's gonna be exactly kind of stepping off where the last record was, with sensibilities of all three of us individually and sensibilities of three of us coming together. So it's very diverse, and that's what's taken so long."

Mark Hoppus told MTV News that "Up All Night" was the first song Blink began working on after it reunited in 2009 following a five-year hiatus.

He explained, "The foundation of the song remains largely the same as when we first began, but over the past two years, as we've been recording others songs, coming back to this one, working on something else, coming back to this song, it's gotten harder and heavier than its original incarnation."

Blink-182 will begin the Honda Civic Tour with My Chemical Romance on August 5th in Holmdel, New Jersey and will be in Cincinnati on August 21st at Riverbend

Soundgarden kicks off tour... A Perfect Circle debuts new song on tour... Staind announces date for new album release

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:52:00 GMT

Soundgarden kicks off its first full-fledged tour in 14 years this Saturday (July 2nd) in Toronto, with the trek scheduled to wrap up nearly a month later on the 30th in George, Washington. The band has played only a handful of dates since reuniting in early 2010, and drummer Matt Cameron told us he hopes to dig deep into their catalog on this run of shows: "I think that'd be great, to be able to play a large variety of songs from our catalog, you know, 'cause some of my favorite songs are like kind of the '80s era of Soundgarden, kind of the earlier, kind of New Wavier stuff. I really like that era of the group, so hopefully, you know, we can delve even farther into it."

Opening acts on various dates will be Coheed And Cambria, Queens Of The Stone Age, Mastodon, the Meat Puppets and The Mars Volta.

Soundgarden reunited last year and issued its first concert set in March, titled Live On I5. The disc was recorded on a West Coast tour shortly before the group disbanded in 1997.

The group has also been recording its first new studio album since 1996's Down On The Upside, which is expected out in 2012.

Asked by Australia's Beat magazine how the new material might compare to Soundgarden's previous records, singer Chris Cornell said, "What we do always feels new. We never repeated ourselves, ever. If anything was too reminiscent of something else we'd done, we wouldn't bother spending time on it."

Confirmed Soundgarden tour dates (subject to change):
July 2 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheater
July 3 - London, ON - John Labatt Centre
July 5 - Ottawa, ON - Ottawa Blues Fest
July 6 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
July 8 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
July 9 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre
July 10 - Mansfield, MA - Comcast Center for the Performing Arts
July 12 - Fairfax, VA - Patriot Center
July 13 - Philadelphia, PA - Festival Pier at Penn's Landing
July 14 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Spa & Resort Event Center
July 16 - Chicago, IL - UICPavilion
July 18 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater
July 21 - San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
July 22 - Inglewood, CA - The Forum
July 23 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
July 29 - Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena
July 30 - George, WA - The Gorge Amphitheater

A Perfect Circle kicked off its summer tour -- the band's first full-length trek since 2004 -- in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday night (June 29th) and debuted a new song reportedly called "By And Down." According to Antiquiet, guitarist Billy Howerdel held up a set list confirming the name of the track, which closed out the band's 18-song performance. Footage of the song has already been posted on YouTube.

Howerdel recently said that the group was close to finishing up a new song which it would play on the current North American tour.

These are the band's first live dates since a mini-tour they did last fall, in which they played each of their three studio albums over the course of three nights in five cities.

Howerdel told us that A Perfect Circle's return last fall after a six-year absence all came down to singer Maynard James Keenan: "You know, it just kind of softly fell into place. Maynard did give me a call and said, 'Look, I'm working on a schedule that's gonna look to the future, you know, for a year or two and are you available to work here?' And I go, 'Yeah, absolutely.' So it's just, you know, finding holes really within his schedule. I mean, he's got three bands and a winery, he's quite a busy fella. I've got two kids, so I'm busy in a different way (laughs)."

Although A Perfect Circle does intend to record some new material, a full-length album is less likely to surface. They will be at PNC Pavilion on August 8th

Staind has set September 13th as the release date for its seventh studio album, simply titled Staind. The band's first all-new set in three years has been described by singer Aaron Lewis in recent interviews as their heaviest effort in more than a decade. Guitarist Mike Mushok told us that he can't help but agree: "I swore I was never gonna say, 'This is the heaviest thing we've ever done,' 'cause every band in the world says that. I know I can't help it though, 'cause I mean, it pretty much is the way to describe it. I don't know, it's cool, I mean, it's definitely back to where we started from, and I think it's a little bit, you know, more of a modern twist on it, you know."

A new song from the album, "Eyes Wide Open," has been posted online at www.staind.com

The first official single from the disc, called "Not Again," will be sent to rock radio stations in mid-July.

The disc is the first without founding drummer Jon Wysocki, who exited in May. Staind recently enlisted Evanescence drummer Will Hunt to fill in on some festival shows but has yet to announce a permanent new drummer.

Staind will perform at Southern California's Epicenter Festival in September, with full tour plans yet to be announced.

Shinedown working on new album... Foo Fighters show gives fans their moneys worth... A7X talk about next album

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:41:00 GMT

Shinedown now plans to begin recording its fourth album in late summer, according to Blabbermouth.net. The band has been writing songs for the highly anticipated release in Los Angeles, with more than 14 reportedly already completed. The disc is not expected to arrive until sometime in 2012, but frontman Brent Smith told us they're in no rush to get it finished: "You know, when the record's done, you know, we'll hand it in. But we're really, really meticulous now as a band. The Sound Of Madness took 18 months to make. You know, our second album was something that we rushed into, and we didn't want to do that on Sound Of Madness and we didn't, and I think Sound has been the most successful record in our career to date. So the next record has to not only live up to all the other three records, but it has to surpass them."

Shinedown's 2008 effort, The Sound Of Madness, was the band's most successful yet, selling more than one million copies and yielding six singles.

Speaking on the red carpet of the BMI Pop Awards in Los Angeles on May 17th, Smith said that the group's new songs were different from the material on The Sound Of Madness. He explained, "We pride ourselves on being a band that each record sounds completely different than the last. The beautiful thing is the journey and finding out where you are in your life, not only as a person, but where you are as an artist and as a musician and how far you've come and how far you've grown."

Shinedown released a new double CD/DVD set titled Somewhere In The Stratosphere last month. The package contained footage and recordings from both the band's Carnival Of Madness and acoustic Anything & Everything tours from last summer and fall respectively.

Ever since they began promoting their new album, Wasting Light, back in March with a few surprise club gigs, Foo Fighters have been playing some marathon shows. Their recent string of arena dates featured a 29-song set that spanned the group's entire career and included almost all of the new record. But drummer Taylor Hawkins told us he's not sure if the exhausting performances will continue: "God, we've been playing for like three hours. My hands are destroyed, my lower back . . . it's a lot. I don't know how long we can keep that up. We'll see. I don't know how long Dave's gonna be able to sing for three hours every night when we get onstage. It's awesome and it's fun and it's the macho trip a little bit, and people get their money's worth, that's for damn sure."

Foo Fighters recently unveiled the next set of North American tour dates in support of Wasting Light. The second leg of shows will take place this fall, beginning on September 14th in St. Paul, Minnesota and running through September 26th in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Foo Fighters will spend most of the summer in Europe after this short U.S. run, returning to play Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 7th.

Wasting Light debuted at Number One on the Billboard album chart in April, a first for the band.

Avenged Sevenfold bassist Johnny Christ admitted in an interview with Flint, Michigan radio station WWBN that writing the band's next album without late drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan is going to be tricky. Asked whether the group is even thinking about a follow-up to last year's Nightmare yet, Christ replied, ""Right now, we're just gonna tour. We have a lot more touring to do . . . Wherever there are Avenged Sevenfold fans, we're gonna try and play for them. After that, we'll probably go in and try to write a new record, and we'll see how that goes because . . . it's gonna be a very different process without having Jimmy around."

Sullivan, who died from an overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol in December 2009, was a major songwriting force in Avenged Sevenfold.

Avenged guitarist Synyster Gates recently said that the band came very close to splitting up following Sullivan's death, but that it was their fans and Sullivan's family who pulled them back from the brink.

The band's current drummer is Arin Ilejay, who began playing with them earlier this year.

Avenged Sevenfold will be on tour in Europe and Australia throughout June, July and early August before coming home to headline the Rockstar Uproar Festival tour, which will kick off on August 26th.

Carnival of Madness Tour Dates... will marriage change the way Draiman writes for Disturbed... Puddle Of Mudd release covers album

Wed, 25 May 2011 21:41:00 GMT

The second annual Carnival Of Madness tour will kick off on August 13th in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, with Theory Of A Deadman topping a bill that includes Alter Bridge, Black Stone Cherry, Adelitas Way and Emphatic. 15 dates have been confirmed so far, with the trek expected to hit a total of more than 25 cities. VIP ticket pre-sales for the initial 15 dates will be available to members of Theory Of A Deadman's fan club beginning on Tuesday, May 31st, with tour VIP packages starting on Wednesday, June 1st and general sales launching on the 3rd.

Tickets are said to be in the $25 to $35 range.

2010's inaugural Carnival Of Madness tour was the brainchild of In De Goot Management head Bill McGathy and Brent Smith of last year's headliners, Shinedown. Smith told us that the tour was planned from the start as an annual event: "This is a brand that we're building. Like, the Carnival Of Madness is something that Bill McGathy wants to grow into a major brand and a major tour so that he can continue to bring not only In De Goot bands, but other bands into the picture and really form a tour that when they see that emblem of the carnival, they know a huge show is coming."

Theory Of A Deadman will be releasing its fourth album, The Truth Is..., on July 12th, while Adelitas Way will issue its second effort, Home School Valedictorian, on June 7th and Emphatic will release its debut, Damage, also on July 12th. Alter Bridge and Black Stone Cherry are promoting previously released records.

Confirmed Carnival Of Madness tour dates (subject to change):
August 13 - Twin Lakes, IL - Shadow Hill Ranch
August 19 - Council Bluffs, IA - Harrah's Casino
August 20 - Sedalia, MO - Missouri State Fairgrounds
August 26 - Louisville, KY - Kentucky State Fair/Cardinal Stadium
August 27 - Waterloo, IA - McElroy Auditorium (outdoors)
August 28 - St. Paul, MN - Minnesota State Fair
September 1 - Allentown, PA - The Great Allentown Fair
September 3 - Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino
September 7 - Baltimore, MD - Pier Six Concert Pavilion
September 10 - Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
September 11 - Huntington, WV - Harris Riverfront Park
September 13 - Charlotte, NC - Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheater
September 14 - Fayetteville, NC - Crown Coliseum
September 16 - Tulsa, OK - Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino
September 17 - Poplar Bluff, MS - Black River Coliseum

Disturbed bassist John Moyer said in a new interview with Cincinnati's City Beat that he doesn't think marriage will change the writing style of singer David Draiman. With Draiman engaged, Moyer explained, "I don't think that will ever change for him. He's always going to be in touch with that angry side of him. It's just how he is. His therapy is writing lyrics like that. And to tell you the truth, no matter how happy a relationship is, being married and doing what we do as musicians, being on the road a lot is very stressful to a relationship. It's stressful on our lives too . . . I don't think that's going to change his lyrical approach. In fact it might make it more vicious, you never know."

Draiman himself told us that he doesn't need a turbulent personal life to find inspiration for his songs: "I think that there's enough going on in the world that even if in my own personal life things were harmonious, that there's plenty to draw anger from and inspiration from, from that perspective. I mean, if you turn on the news any given day of the week, there's enough subject matter on there where if you really pay attention to things and care enough about things, for you to take issue with, and for you to really get pissed off about."

The other members of Disturbed are all married with kids, and Moyer said that the band's lifestyle is tough on family life: "We don't have a lot of down time so we have to incorporate a lot of what would normally be our down time with our work schedule. So we try to bring the families out as much as possible. When I am home, it's all family time for me, I don't have much time to do much else."

Disturbed will headline the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, which is in Cincinnati @ Riverbend on July 20th with Godsmack and Megadeath

Puddle Of Mudd guitarist Paul Phillips told Billboard.com on Tuesday (May 24th) that the band's attempts to make its fifth studio album didn't quite pan out -- but led instead to the creation of a covers collection called re:(disc)overed. Phillips explained, "Since we started we've been non-stop -- make a record, go on tour, then right into rehearsals and the next record, then back on tour . . . We were really burned out, and when we started trying to write again it just wasn't time yet. And we had been doing (AC/DC's) 'TNT' and (the Steve Miller Band's) 'The Joker' and had so much fun with those that one thing led to another and we decided to make a covers record."

Puddle Of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin told us how the songs for the set were selected: "It was just me, my manager, my guitar player and a couple of other people just throwing ideas around -- maybe this would sound good, maybe this would sound good. A lot of it was kind of structured around like, 'Well, I think Wes could probably sing this, I think Wes could probably sing that, maybe Wes couldn't sing that, but if we push him hard enough we could probably get it out of him.' And plus it was just kind of like, they're all hit songs, you know, and all timeless songs."

Re:(disc)overed is due out on August 2nd and will follow up Puddle Of Mudd's 2009 effort, Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate.

The first single, a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," will arrive at radio stations in mid-June.

Puddle Of Mudd will be on the road on and off throughout the summer, starting this weekend with festival gigs on Friday (May 27th) in St. Louis and Saturday (May 28th) in St. Paul, Minnesota.