No More Bad Beer for UK Music Fests

Gigwise reports: The Leeds and Reading festivals have parted ways with main sponsor Carling after nine years.

Organisers have confirmed that Carling will not be sponsor or the official beer of next year's events.

In a statement Festival Republic's Melvin Benn said: "It was by mutual agreement that both parties felt the time was right to pursue new opportunities." - more on this story

Talking Monster

PR reports: The latest episode of "Talking Metal" features an interviews host Mark Strigl conducted with Monster Magnet mainman Dave Wyndorf.

Interview topics include the new Monster Magnet album 4-Way Diablo, touring, songwriting, Wyndorf's sleeping pill addiction, Soundgarden, Kid Rock, and a discussion on what is and what is not Metal.

Additional podcast topics covered by Strigl and co-host John Ostronomy include the Academy Theater in New York City and guitarist Ed Mundell. The podcast can be downloaded - here

Extreme Reunite

BW&BK reports: Extreme are set to return in the spring of 2008 with their first album of all new material in 13 years. The band features original members Nuno Bettencourt (guitar), Gary Cherone (vocals) and Pat Badger (bass), along with new drummer Kevin Figueiredo.

In the coming weeks, Extreme will announce their plans for a world tour in 2008 as well as a release date and label for the as yet untitled album, which is being produced by Bettencourt, who says: "It will have all the ingredients of an Extreme record. The music is always Funkier than most rock bands—and born a Bipolar Bastard child of Mr. Zeppelin and Mrs. Beatles."

Through the years, Bettencourt and Cherone have remained close and continued to collaborate on occasion. But what exactly inspired them to rejoin forces as Extreme? "Rock and Roll Famine…I know it might sound crazy, but there is a massive shortage of rock and roll on this planet," says Bettencourt. "It's almost extinct. I mean the true spirit of quality rock and roll—you know, Musicianship, when you would give up every moment of your day to master your instrument and create your own identity and sound so as to respectfully outdo all your past heroes whilst proudly wearing the badge of their influences." - [more cowbell here]

Anberlin Lost Songs

MSO reports: As acclaim continues to grow for the Anberlin's third studio album CITIES--which debuted on the Billboard Top 200 chart at #19--the group just released a special collection of B-sides and rarities titled LOST SONGS. The 19-song disc features rare and never-before-released material spanning the band's entire career with special acoustic versions, cover songs and B-sides.

ANBERLIN are currently crossing the U.S. on their fall tour with Motion City Soundtrack, Mae and Metro Station. Upcoming high-profile tour stops include The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Tuesday, December 4, the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland on Friday, December 14 and a two-night stand at the House of Blues in Chicago on Saturday, December 15 and Sunday, December 16. - track list and dates

Darkest Seed Digital EP

PR reports: The heavy/hard band Darkest Seed finished the recordings of the EP "The Seed is Rising". It was recorded in Nitro Sound Solutions being produced by Earth, the vocalist of Blood Tears and Seduced by Suicide.

The EP is available for download in the band's website and features a remastered version of the cover for Queen's "The Show Must Go On", which was posted before and the new songs "The Darkest Seed" and "Silent Scream".

Darkest Seed was born in 2004 with the proposal to produce expressive, technical and melodic music, talking about deep and current themes. Its line up is formed by the vocalist Benhur Lima (Ynis Vitrin, Anaxes, Fire Symphony), the guitarist Ricardo Reolon (ex-Burning In Hell) and the drummer César de Campos (Nebulousky).

The new EP can be downloaded through the band's website and MySpace page at www.darkestseed.com and - www.myspace.com/darkestseed

Green Styx

PR reports: Environmental solutions provider BidForGreen announced today that they will be fuelling the famed rock band Styx and Tommy Shaw's side project Shaw/Blades in 2007-2008. BidForGreen, which fuels Willie Nelson, Pat Matheny and Merle Haggard among others, will provide biodiesel and logistics for the tours. The service has been popular with artists, who get access to quality biofuel, and to drivers, who get help with logistics and delivery.

Tommy Shaw, legendary guitarist and singer for Styx and Shaw/Blades, wrote a blog for BidForGreen highlighting his interest in the company's services: "Bid For Green is doing what needed to be done--creating a data base of fuel suppliers and setting up accounts so that it has been made even easier for us to use biodiesel than to spend the time fueling up in the stinky line at the truck stop, something we've all accepted as part of traveling by tour bus."

Shaw/Blades-Styx/Damn Yankees guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw and Night Ranger/Damn Yankees bassist/vocalist Jack Blades-is currently touring the U.S. in support of their critically acclaimed INFLUENCE album, which was released March 6 on VH1 Classic Records. Shaw's blog on the environment can be viewed - here

Sir Lord Baltimore Reflect on Opening for Sabbath

Rock N Roll Universe reports: In a brand new, exclusive, extensive interview conducted by Rock N Roll Universe with John Garner of Sir Lord Baltimore, the legendary vocalist discusses the band's new album 'Sir Lord Baltimore III: Raw', which also features Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder) on bass. Also covered during the interview is Sir Lord Baltimore's stint opening for Black Sabbath on several dates of the 'Paranoid' tour as well as appearing with Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant during a show with The Lizards in Stourbridge, England in 2004. A short excerpt from the interview follows:

Rock N Roll Universe : Speaking of Black Sabbath, after the shows mentioned before, the band went on tour with Sabbath for numerous dates of the 'Paranoid' tour. What was that like for you, and what are your recollections of touring with the band?

John Garner : My recollections are this : #1, I thought they were a very good band. I thought we kicked their ass, but I thought they were very good. #2, Ozzy was a lot of fun, and Bill Ward was a very nice fellow. Geezer and Tony, they were stand-offish and snobbish, and I didn't care for them. We played The Virginia Dome, in Virginia obviously, and I don't know the exact attendance, but I believe it was over 5,000. The place was packed. At that time our manager had procured some sort of deal with Black Sabbath's manager where we could use their PA system. We started to play, and the people started to love us. Absolutely LOVE us. They were going crazy. Boom! The lights went out. Boom! The power went out. That happened three times. Then, when they went on, it didn't happen at all. Because they were insecure that we would steal the show, they sabotaged us 3 times and pulled the plug on us. You know what? I had just turned 19, and I'm into love, peace and happiness. I wasn't looking to hurt anybody. I would never think that somebody would be that treacherous to do something that terrible to somebody else. Now, I know better. But at the time I was so naive that it took me until years later to realize that actually happened. I was actually believing that it happened accidentally. I wasn't thinking of foul play at all. Later on, as I got wiser, I realized, "What, am I kidding myself? These guys pulled the plug". It wasn't very nice, and ever since then I didn't like them. Now, my friend Vinnie Appice plays drums for them. (Laughs) - Read the entire interview here

Music Press Awards

antiMusic reports: We're not very big on awards here at anti/Day in Rock but we thought we should pass along this one being held by The Music Press Report because it allows you to pick your favorites in the music press. We use a lot of great sources for the Day in Rock so pick your favorites and nominate them! (Or other sources we don't use. But you should also recommend them to us so we can).

Here is a little about the awards from Music Press Report.com: Here's the chance to make your favorites of the past year known. We're taking nominations for our first annual Music Press Awards, to be held in January 2008. Voting will begin in December.

Discussion of the nominees will take place on the music writers list and music photographers list. The categories: Best Book * Best Web Site * Best Photograph * Best Magazine * Best Newspaper * Best Feature * Best Interview * Best Review * Music Writer of the Year * Music Photographer of the Year * Favorite Album * Favorite Artist * Favorite Tour - So speak up!

Rocket Scientists Looking Backward

PR reports: Acclaimed California prog rock band Rocket Scientists has announced the release of Looking Backward, a multi-disc package that reissues and revisits their back catalog in grand fashion. Looking Backward contains expertly remastered CD editions of the band's first three studio albums; Earthbound (1993); Brutal Architecture (1995); and Oblivion Days (1999) along with bonus tracks on each disc. All of the original artwork is included in the package as part of a full-color 64-page 5x7 book. The Looking Backward book also contains thorough liner notes and commentary from the musicians along with extensive photos by Raj Naik, Neil Zlozower and Scott Streble.

To complete the Looking Backward package, the core Rocket Scientists musicians, Mark McCrite (v,g), Erik Norlander (k) and Don Schiff (Stick), returned to the same Los Angeles area studio where they recorded the early albums and commenced a series of new sessions with drummer / percussionist Greg Ellis who appears on Norlander and Schiff's solo albums as well as on the Rocket Scientists OBLIVION DAYS album from 1999. The quartet recorded a new disc of "live in the studio" material where they reinterpreted songs from the band's early studio albums, some with the benefit of over 15 years of perspective. - more more more more

Mr. Whomp Whomp

PR reports: In the late 1990s, Fiend was a vital member of Master P's notorious No Limit army, releasing two solo albums with the label and frequently collaborating with its founder and other artists. For the first time, 18 of Fiend's top No Limit tracks, including standout solo recordings and collaborations for soundtracks and the label's compilations, are presented in one collection, The Best Of Fiend: Mr. Whomp Whomp, to be released December 4 by Capitol/Priority.

In 1997, Master P signed the up and coming New Orleans rapper Fiend to his local No Limit Records. Fiend's first single for the label was that year's "Don't Mess Around," a track featured on the I'm 'Bout It soundtrack. Fiend's collaboration on Master P's major hit, "Make Em Say Ugh" set the stage for two successful No Limit solo albums that followed - more on this story

Celtic Punks Battle it Out on Split CD

PR reports: Mustard Finnegan's Good Times Rock-n-Roll Emporium is a Boston based independent music label aiming to bring the best of new Celtic Punk to the masses. Mustard's debut release is an 8 track split CD between THE MAHONES (Toronto, Canada) and CATGUT MARY (Melbourne, Australia) – the first in a serious of split releases.

The Mahones were formed at the end of the bar at the Toucan Irish Pub in Kingston, (Ontario Canada), over a few pints of Guinness and plenty of Jamesons Irish Whiskey. It was the brilliant idea of Dublin-born Finny McConnell and his musical mentor Barry Williams to put together a band that sounded like The Clash, The Pogues, The Who, The Waterboys, Husker Du and The Dubliners with a dash of The Replacements and a name that rhymed with The Ram ones. Once the stew was complete, a one off gig was booked, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. Go figure. The world has never been the same since that day!! AAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Catgut Mary - A high energy seven piece hailing from the bluestone streets of Melbourne City, Australia,Catgut Mary is a trad/punk band devoted to a short, fast and loud musical ethic. Strongly influenced by bands like The Pogues, The Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, Catgut also incorporate a strongly Australian folk sound into their style. - more on this story

A.i. Highlight Celebutard Lifestyle in New Video

PR reports: Los Angeles' based rock band A.i. have released the music video for "Hey Now!", the first single off their critically acclaimed album Sex & Robots. The video stars up-and-cumming Hollywood socialite Lucille, and a supporting cast of some of the world's most notorious celebrities including Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, OJ Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Paris Hilton, John Travolta, Bill Maher, Kevin Federline, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kobe Bryant, Nick Nolte, Michael Jackson, and more...

The video follows a day in the life of Hollywood socialite Lucille, who takes her audience deep inside the world of high social status, the Sunset Strip, pole dancing, and the incredible fortunes and terrible falls the Hollywood lifestyle brings.

Lucille's sensual appeal comes together with her incredible ability to illustrate what being a Hollywood Scenester is all about. - [if you can still stomach it, check it out here]

Phishy Auction

PR reports: The Mimi Fishman Foundation, Our Future Now, Rock the Earth, and Conscious Alliance have teamed together in an on-line charity auction. The auction, which runs through early December, includes rare memorabilia donated by Phish, The String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, moe., Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Umphrey's McGee, Gov't Mule, the Meters, Ozzy Osbourne, and others.

A sample of items include: A round of golf/lunch with Michael Kang (The String Cheese Incident) - Kang's mandolin (signed) used on-stage with SCI during the late 90's. - Signed String Cheese Incident guitar - Yonder Mountain String Band tickets/signed poster packages (New Years and Cabin Fever Tour) - A unique package by moe., which includes a signed copy of "Tales from moe. Republic" as well as signed mailers - Several rare Phish packages including a signed Page photo

To view and/or bid on the auction, please visit the - Mimi Fishman Foundation Auction Page.

.... Review: PJ Harvey - White Chalk

Harvey has always majored in angst, with guitars roaring and vocals blaring. But not now. This CD finds Harvey greatly cranking down the volume and reinventing her image. She's become the quiet, shy type. Geez, whodathunkit? (4 stars) - Read the full PJ Harvey - White Chalk review

.... Review: Hell Within - Shadows of Vanity

While this 5-piece metalcore act from Massachusetts does well whatever it is they do, what they don't do is really add much of anything to an overpacked genre. [Most of the] music is basically a run through the standard elements of metalcore. - Read the full Hell Within - Shadows of Vanity review

.... Heaven and Hell, Alice Cooper and Queensryche Photos

- Check out Rob's Photo Blog of this show

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