Ascension Of The Watchers (ex Fear Factory) Week: Day 2

antiMusic reports: Fear Factory's Burton Bell makes his triumphant return to the metal spotlight with his new band Ascension Of The Watchers, who release their debut album, 'Numinosum,' this week. But don't expect a Fear Factory clone, it's a new musical avenue for Burton. He is ably aided by his friends John Bechdel (Ministry, Killing Joke) and Edu Mussi (Still Life Decay) for the creation of 'Numinosum'. Other contributors include the CD's producer Al Jourgensen (Ministry), as well as the late Paul Raven (Ministry, Prong, Killing Joke) and Ben Bell. Today we take a turn from this project as we explore Burton's involvement in the MINISTRY & Co Conspirators COVER UP album:

Bell's contribution to the album is a rousing cover of The Rolling Stones' classic "Under My Thumb." "When Al told me that he was going to cover a Rolling Stones song, and that he wanted me to sing it, I was curious and excited. I was picturing a later song, one that had raunchy vibe. I was surprised to learn that it was 'Under My Thumb'," he said "That was a song that usually flew under my radar, however, when I started reading the lyrics, I was totally surprised and impressed even more with Mick Jagger. I had a lot of fun recording this song with Al!," he added. The track hit radio this month and the covers album will be out April 1, 2008.

Burton is currently out on the road with Ministry on their farewell tour. And we'll be back with Burton tomorrow to learn more about the new 'Numinosum' CD, but for now you can preview some tracks and learn more about Ascension Of The Watchers on their - Myspace page

Gang Brutally Attack Band

Metal Underground reports: On Saturday night, February 16th, BURY YOUR DEAD guitarist Eric Ellis was a victim of a random attack by six individuals following the band's set at The Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Eric was held at gunpoint while the men hit him multiple times with a baseball bat and hammer.

Previous reports of a robbery are false, as the Milwaukee police department has classified it as a 'gang initiation.'

Despite suffering what others would consider serious injuries, Eric and the rest of BURY YOUR DEAD will move forward and continue with their tour alongside HELLYEAH and take that into their headlining run with EMMURE, THE WARRIORS, and WITH BLOOD COMES CLEANSING.

Added the band: "It will take more than this to stop BURY YOUR DEAD. We'll see you soon." - more on this story

Spice Girls Help Nab Carjacker

Yahoo reports: A 911 call from the driver of a Spice Girls' tour bus about a possible drunken driver led to the arrest of a suspected carjacker.

The Flint Journal reports the bus was heading south on Interstate 75 on Saturday night when its driver noticed a man weaving in and out of traffic. Police in suburban Detroit later arrested a 36-year-old man from Burton, Mich.

He was turned over to police in the community about 80 kilometres northwest of Detroit in connection with a carjacking at a gas station. - more on this story

Zeppelin Show Bid

Metal Underground reports: According to James McCarthy from Wales On Sunday, Millennium Stadium bosses are making an audacious bid to bring rock gods LED ZEPPELIN to Wales. They are in talks with promoter Harvey Goldsmith amid rumours that the supergroup are planning a world tour in October.

WRU spokesman John Williams said: "They are represented by Harvey Goldsmith, who is bringing BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN to the stadium.

"We are talking to Harvey about what else he could possibly bring and Led Zeppelin has come up in conversation. There is no deal but we are asking and he is listening. We are at an early stage."
- more on this story

$100K To See Billy Joel?

Idolator reports: Billy Joel's July concert at Shea Stadium--the final musical event at the crumbling concrete behemoth--sold out in one hour on Saturday morning, although the ticketing system used to handle the show's ticket sales was apparently experiencing massive gridlock.

(Shea's overlords eschewed Ticketmaster for in-house site 507tixx.com, which is named after the Mets' ticketing hotline.)

As you might expect, the "secondary market" for these tickets is thriving, despite the tech snafus and speedy sellout; at present, there are 441 listings for tickets on the semi-legitimate scalping site StubHub, with the highest single-seat price $99,215. - more on this story

The Zutons Going Back To Nature With Strange Tour Venues

antiMusic reports: The Zutons bill themselves as a "blues grass rootsy stompy" band, so it's fitting that they would want to play their concerts surrounded by roots and grass. So they have decided to take a break from recording their new album so they can tour UK forests.

And before the ecoactivists get their leaves in an uproar, this tour has the blessing of the UK The Forestry Commission as some sort of outreach program to bring a new audience to the "woodlands" and will also be "providing valuable revenue to plough back into the woodland in a variety of environmental and social projects." Though they do not provide much information about that or how bringing a ton of rock fans into the forest will not have a negative impact, but at least they aren't telling us it will be offset with a carbon credit scam. (Althought it might be).

Here is the 411 from the band: The Zutons, who are currently recording their new album in LA, the follow-up to the multi platinum selling albums Who Killed The Zutons? and Tired Of Hanging Around, have announced their first UK tour in two years at seven unique forest locations across the UK. - dates and ticket info

Sealion Special A Hit With Yuppies

antiMusic reports: Here is a new argument for those that would like to euthanize Yuppies, Contact Music has the disturbing report: It's not often that a network musical-variety show winds up at the top of the ratings, but CBS's Celine Dion special, That's Just the Woman in Me did just that Friday night. Nevertheless, the ratings were hardly anything for the network to boast about, as viewers -- particularly young adults -- continued to desert their television sets on Friday nights.

The Dion special drew a 5.2 rating and a 9 share in the 9:00 hour, not much better than NBC's game show 1 vs. 100 did an hour earlier when it registered a 5.1/9.

In fact, two reruns of Fox's House turned out to be the real winners of the night among adults 18-49, even though they averaged just a 4.3/8 in overall households. - more on this story

Hundreds Gather For Fifth Anniversary Of Great White Fire

AP reports: Survivors and relatives of the 100 people killed in one of the nation's deadliest nightclub fires marked the fifth anniversary of the disaster yesterday with a somber service at the fire site, where they received a first look at design plans for a proposed permanent memorial.

Hundreds of people huddled next to the makeshift memorial of crosses and photographs assembled on the grounds of The Station nightclub, with some crying softly as the names of each victim was slowly read aloud.

The Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick began when the tour manager for the 1980s rock band GREAT WHITE set off pyrotechnics at the start of a concert. The fire left 100 people dead and more than 200 injured. - more on this story

American Idol Team Up with iTunes To Sell Karaoke Performances

PR reports: [All the assorted corps behind American Idol] and Apple, for the first time, have partnered to bring music fans all of the contestant performances from Season Seven of television's most popular show exclusively on the iTunes Store.

Kicking off with the "American Idol" Top 24 semifinalists this week, customers can purchase music performances for 99 cents per song, and viewers will be able to purchase the full video of Top 12 finalist performances for $1.99, starting March 11. In addition, beginning today, fans can pre-order performances of their favorite contestants from the iTunes Store, which will be automatically downloaded the day after the show airs. - more on this story

Stronger Than Hell Tour

PR reports: Demon Hunter will launch their "Stronger Than Hell Tour" this summer in support of the band's brand new album for Solid State Records, Storm The Gates Of Hell.

The Stronger Than Hell Tour will feature special guest Living Sacrifice, the legendary metal band whose alumnus went on to join bands like Evanescence and P.O.D.. This will be their first tour since reuniting.

The tour lineup is rounded out by Demon Hunter's labelmates in Oh, Sleeper as well as The Famine (featuring former Demon Hunter guitarist Chris McCaddon) and North Carolina's Advent. - more on this story

The Eels Royal Invitation

Wenn reports: THE EELS frontman MARK EVERETT has invited British monarch QUEEN ELIZABETH II to watch the band perform live in London. The rocker, who is better known by his stage name E, wrote to Buckingham Palace to offer the royal a free guest-list place for the gig at the capital's Royal Festival Hall, plus a free copy of his book, Things The Grandchildren Should Know.

In his letter, he writes, "We have played the Festival Hall several times and I've noticed that your royal box is usually empty. I'd like to change that. We have also played your Queen Elizabeth and Royal Albert Halls. I don't think you were at those shows either.

"I recently saw the movie The Queen and, while I know that wasn't actually you in the film, it made me think that I would like you as a person.
- more on this story

R.Kelly Involved with "Older Woman" And Still Catches Hell

Idolator reports: George Daniels, husband of recently dismissed R. Kelly publicist Regina Daniels and longtime Chicago music scene fixture, is attempting to shame a clearly unshamable man, raising a stink that Kelly "crossed a line," this one moral, when he engaged in an affair with the Daniels' daughter.

Turns out those "ROCK SOLID" rumors about the relationship from November were actually true, except for the part about Daniels' daughter being 19, as the alleged affair occurred after Maxine Daniels was old enough to buy her own wine coolers.

Jeez, the R.'s publicists should know better than anyone that the man only starts sweating if his transgressions involve possible jail time. - more on this story

Dead To Fall Valentine Drug Bust

Metal Underground reports: Select members of Dead To Fall were arrested for drug charges in Tennessee on Valentine's Day. Dead To Fall had the following to say about the incident:

"On our way to eat at the local soup kitchen for the homeless, various members of our band were detained after a local 'super cop' used his hawk-like vision to notice a lack of proper seatbelt usage.

"In a baffling twist of events, the officer speculated that out of the five of us sketchy looking dudes that live in the van, one or more of us could have been 'reefering.' After being questioned and searched, we were charged, processed, and released in time to still perform later that evening in Louisville, KY." - more on this story

Prince Vs Pirate Bay

Gigwise reports: Prince and the Village People are to sue representatives of a Swedish download site after it emerged that their songs were available for users to download without consent.

They claim that the owners of Pirate Bay, which is already facing legal action from a British law firm, had not been granted permission to use their music.

Lawyer Lars Sandberg, who has been hired on behalf of the musicians, said it had not yet been decided whom the legal action would be directed against. - more on this story

Another Silly Poll Ends With Silly Results

Gigwise reports: Oasis' 'Definitely Maybe' and '(What's The Story) Morning Glory' have come first and second in a new poll of the best British albums of all time.

The Manchester groups' releases beat Radiohead's 'OK Computer' into third spot in the poll, which was compiled by the retailer HMV.

The top-ten also included two albums, 'Revolver' and 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', by the Beatles, which were voted at number four and six respectively. - more on this story

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