The Bronx Week: Day 3

Preview songs from the album, learn more about it and the group and more right - here!

Ticketmaster Experiments With Dropping Fees

Billboard reports: Ticketmaster Entertainment president and Ticketmaster CEO Sean Moriarty said yesterday (Nov. 10) during a conference call with investors that the company is beginning to experiment with "eliminating add-on fees" for ticket purchases.

"We're already testing the program on certain upcoming tour on-sales," Moriarty said, noting that concertgoers who use Ticketmaster electronic delivery system TicketFast would not be charged with additional service fees.

"We look to lead the way with this dramatic new approach, and fundamentally change the way tickets are sold in the live entertainment industry." - more on this story

Guns N' Roses Update: Leaker Guilty, SexTapes Released, Preview Contest, and Guns N' Vegas?

antiMusic reports: The long awaited release of Chinese Democracy is just around the corner and because of that there are just too many GNR related stories to run on their own, so we put together a special Guns N' Roses edition of Quicks for you today. Here is what is happening in Axlland:

A man accused of illegally posting songs on the Internet from an unreleased album by the rock band Guns N' Roses has agreed to plead guilty, a federal prosecutor said on Tuesday. Kevin Cogill will enter his guilty plea to one federal count of copyright infringement at a hearing on December 8, said Craig Missakian, assistant U.S. attorney. more

According to Gavin Allen from WalesOnline, The Alarm frontman Mike Peters is planning to stage a charity music festival in Las Vegas next summer (the first fortnight of July 2009) with The Alarm playing alongside rock giants Guns N' Roses and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. more

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Swedish Chinese Democracy love-in comes another chance to hear GN'R's latest before anyone else. The band want fans to upload an "inappropriate air guitar" video to YouTube – the best gets to take 100 friends (yes, 100) to the UK's exclusive Chinese Democracy listening party. more

From November 17th-20th, Virgin Radio Italy will be broadcasting Guns N' Roses' new album Chinese Democracy each day, according toBW&BK.

Chris Pitman of Guns N' Roses is now pushing a side project called SexTapes. The music is a bit psychotic, but with plenty of melody mixing up the punk and psychedelic overtones. SexTapes is unique, so it doesn't really sound just like any other band, but as a reference, some say SexTapes sounds like a cross between Jane's Addiction, Led Zeppelin and Queen with a modern twist. You be the judge.

ToneRiot Records released SexTapes debut album yesterday - more

Mastodon Guitarist Hospitalized

PR reports: Mastodon has issued the following statement: Bill Kelliher, guitarist with Mastodon, has been hospitalized in London as of November 3rd, during the band's current European Unholy Alliance Chapter III package tour. Doctors will continue to monitor his condition which is improving at press time.

At the moment, Mastodon has decided to continue on the tour as a trio. Doctors and Bill are hopeful that he will rejoin his bandmates in time for their headlining tour of Europe which begins November 30th, in Utrecht, Holland and will end on December 7th, at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Somerset, England.

More details to follow as they develop. [end band statement] There is no word on why Bill was hospitalized, but Relapse sent out this totally unrelated press release: A collectors edition Mastodon vinyl box set is set to be issued on November 18th via Relapse Records. This box set will be a one-time pressing strictly limited to 1,000 copies and include nine 180-gram LP's encapsulating the legendary band's entire history of recordings. - more on this story

Want Free Music? Music Legend Launches Free Music Web Service

NME reports: A new music service that allows fans to listen to songs and albums in their entirety for free has been launched today.

Peter Gabriel co-founded the venture called We7 - a free advertising-funded music streaming service which will have music from four major labels and hundreds of indies available to listen to.

While fans get to listen to tracks in full for free before they buy, rights owners and artists will get paid by We7 from audio and digital advertising revenue. - more on this story

Harvard Law Vs RIAA

punknews.org reports: A Harvard Law School professor filed a counterclaim last Friday against the Recording Industry Association of America that challenges the constitutionality of the RIAA's efforts against those caught downloading music from file-sharing services.

Charles R. Nesson '60, the founder of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, is defending Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University graduate student charged in 2005 with downloading seven songs from a file-sharing network.

Nesson explained his reasons for getting involved: "This is an unconstitutional delegation by Congress of executive prosecutorial powers to private hands. That a private organization is allowed to take a huge chunk of government power and impose its will upon millions of people is, frankly, disconcerting. The situation is absurd. It was never about the money. It was about creating a scary situation to deter others." - more on this story

Blind Melon Lose Another Singer

Blabbermouth reports: The reactivated Blind Melon has launched a vocalist search following the departure of Travis Warren. Travis left the band last week, forcing Blind Melon to cancel its U.S. tour which was set to begin on November 7 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The group initially hoped to be able to play some of the shows with vocalist Chris Shinn, who formed Unified Theory with Blind Melon's Christopher Thorn (guitar) and Brad Smith (bass), filling in, but those plans were eventually abandoned.

[FMQB reported on Tuesday: "Warren claims that he was fired from the group because of vocal problems, but the band says that it was he who walked out on them"] - The rest of the Blabbermouth report

New KISS CD?- Springsteen NFL Half Time- Eminem Relapsing in 09?- Pet Shop Elton Killers- The Price Is Right For Metal Singer, Aretha The Greatest? and more

antiMusic reports: We have a shorter version of "quicks" today due to our special GNR edition, but here are some of the top music news stories for today: Rock photographer Ross Halfin has posted the following message in the "Diary" section of his official web site: "I had breakfast with [KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley [on Sunday, November 9]. Paul told me they may make a KISS record, which he'll produce. A real '70s KISS-style record." Start holding your breath... But which part of the 70s: Destroyer rock or Dynasty disco? Please, no Unmasked! Enough of our snide comments, read more of the real story here.

A new Bruce Springsteen song, "Workin' on a Dream," will premiere Nov. 16 on NBC's Sunday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. more

Eminem is unlikely to release his forthcoming new album, Relapse, before the end of 2008, claims an anonymous record company "insider." [gotta love those anonymous insiders!] more

You might think the five combined songwriting minds of The Killers and Elton John would be enough to bang out a Christmas hit. But you'd be wrong. The band 'hit a wall' while recording at producer Stuart Price's house, where, coincidently, Pet Shop Boys stopped by to visit. Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant saved the day. more

Joshua Radin will perform on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" tonight, November 12th.

Antagonist frontman Carlos Garcia was featured on The Price Is Right as a (winning) contestant yesterday, Nov. 10. video is available online here

Nevermore are the latest confirmed for the legendary German metal festival Wacken Open Air which takes place from July 30th - August 1st.more
Janet Jackson claims her previous label Def Jam tried to shape her into something she isn't, which caused her to part ways with the company in September. "There were some people who didn't like the direction I took with this album ['Discipline']." Janet tells Sister 2 Sister magazine. "They wanted me to sound more like Sade."... ouch! read more
Must Skip TV! Girls Aloud will be hosting their own TV special this Christmas, to be screened on ITV. Billed as 'The Girls Aloud Party', the show will see the five-piece - singing and interviewing other celebutards, including fellow fast food posters' Take That. more
Dengue Fever will be performing a free, all-ages show at Garrison Theater (Scripps College Performing Arts Center) in Claremont on Friday, December 5 at 7 pm. The performance will be followed at 7:30 by a screening of the documentary film Sleepwalking Through The Mekong, which chronicles Dengue Fever's 2005 journey to Cambodia, the country of their musical inspiration and home to lead singer Chhom Nimol. There will be a Q&A panel after the screening with Dengue Fever and director John Pirozzi.

Authentik Artists has signed an exclusive agreement with Detroit, MI-based That Was Something and will be releasing their new EP Down, But Not Out on December 9th. Down, But Not Out was produced by and features guest vocals from Rob Freeman (Sound The Alarm, Cobra Starship). Wanna hear?

Death Angel need a new bass player. Want the gig? Details are here.

She's already the Queen of Soul, but now Aretha Franklin has been named the greatest singer of the rock era in a poll conducted by Rolling Stone magazine. All due "Respect" to Aretha but who did they poll, Clive Davis? Just like the (c)Rock Hall it sounds like it's Jann's inner circle of aging hippies that made the calls here. more

Tickle Me Pink have posted the explicit version of the video for their single "Typical." The uncensored video features Digital Playground adult film star Gabriella Fox. The track comes from the band's debut album, Madeline. Fans 18+ can check out the clip here

Rock Games pay off big time! When Harmonix founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy - the guys behind mega-hit games Guitar Hero and later, Rock Band - sold their company to Viacom's (VIA) MTV for a reported $175 million in 2006, the deal didn't end there. Turns out there was also an earnout agreement, where the pair gets a bonus if Rock Band did well. And Rock Band did very well. more

Guitar Center and Motley Crue tapped The Last Vegas from Chicago, IL, as the winner of Guitar Center On-Stage at the Whisky A-Go-Go Monday night. They win the chance to play to half-filled halls on a Motley tour, some kind of (mis?)management deal and some other stuff that was massively hyped under the banner of "Make Rock History". RockStar Supernova anyone? more details

To kick off Round 2 of the Denny's Allnighter series featuring rock stars in the Denny's kitchen, they've released exclusive behind-the-scenes footage with Boys Like Girls. In their culinary session, the Boston rockers manned the grill and drew inspiration from hit single, "The Great Escape" to create "The Great Eggsteak" - here

Fall Out Boy and Kristeenyoung Duet for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-looker

PR reports: Kristeenyoung have just finished work on their forthcoming album "Music for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-looker" which features a duet with Fall Out Boy front man Patrick Vaughn Stump on the song "That's What It Takes, Dear".

The legendary Tony Visconti (Bowie, T. Rex) produced the album. The group will also embark on their first full US tour since touring with Morrissey and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Front-woman Kristeen Young says of working with Patrick, "From the moment I first heard 'Sugar, We're Going Down' I was a goner. Like all heart-stopping moments, I remember my surroundings clearly…Home Depot parking lot, in the band van, and I couldn't wait to hear the song again and again. - more on this story

Double Dave Matthews Band Releases

Billboard reports: Dave Matthews Band fans will have two distinct live releases to savor on Dec. 16, when Bama Rags/RCA separately unveils "Live at Mile High Music Festival" and "Live Trax Vol. 13."

The former was recorded July 2 outside Denver, while the latter was taped June 7, 2008, at St. Louis' Busch Stadium.

Highlights from "Live at Mile High" include covers of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" and Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)"
- that's not all

Down Working On New Album

Billboard reports: Fans of headbanging supergroup Down will not have to wait the usual few years between releases anymore.

Bassist Rex Brown -- who, like Down frontman Philip Anselmo, hails from Pantera -- tells Billboard.com that the group "is all our priorities now," with plans for a full spate of touring in 2009 and to record a fourth album shortly after that.

Down is currently on the road mixing opening dates with Metallica and its own headlining shows, and the new year will bring more North American concerts, a tour of South America and European festival dates. - more from Rex

Mindless Self Indulgence To Headline Kerrang! Tour

PR reports: Mindless Self Indulgence are set to return to the UK and Ireland as the headline act of next year's Kerrang! Tour which kicks off on January 13.

The New York-based industrial-techno-punks will return to the UK for the 15-date Kerrang! Tour alongside Brit heavyweights Bring Me The Horizon, Kerrang! Award winners Black Tide and fast-rising Northern Irish trio In Case Of Fire.

"We feel good!" MSI frontman Jimmy Urine tells Kerrang!. "Kerrang! and Mindless Self Indulgence will be together again, like Smokey and the Bandit or like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers! We really like that it's such an eclectic bill. I like it when there's a lot going on and people try to mix it up, that's my favorite thing. - more on this story

Singled Out: The Lizards

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today were hear from Randy Pratt of classic rock ensemble The Lizards (also feat. Bobby Rondinelli of Black Sabbath/Rainbow/BOC fame and Mike DiMeo of Riot/Masterplan fame.) Randy tells us about the song "Ariel/My Dark Angel" from The Lizard's new album "Against All Odds." We now turn it over to Randy for the story:

I wrote this song, with Pat Klein, about my first wife. She was a supremely gifted singer/songwriter who suffered from deep depression. Before her, I'd never worked with an artist who every word they sang came from deep inside. She was 21 years old, but had the gravitas of an old bluesman, like Robert Johnson. She could move a room to tears. The music was all she had to cling to, to keep her sane.

The "Dark Angel" (Ariel was the singing angel) in the song refers to her muse. It was an unreliable partner, deserting her, sometimes, when she needed it most. Her "Magic" was fragile. The "frozen sea" is what artists call writer's block. Eventually, she would let the darkness of her tortured mind wrap around her and she'd pull a "jewel from the crown" of creation.

Our first singer, John Garner, wouldn't sing the piece. He said that it was "satanic". I explained what the lyrics meant, but he was a "Christian" and wouldn't have it. Paradoxically, he was happy to sing "Under the City" on our first record. That song WAS satanic!

"Who goes there? Well that depends, / A flip of the coin or fashion trends / Angels fall and devils climb, in your troubled mind"

That song, based on themes of a "city under the city" in stories by H.P. Lovecraft, was pessimistic in the extreme, seeming to say that all your good works may just land you in Hell!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album - right here!

Wait there is more!

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