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We're experimenting: For the next week, we'll be posting stories a few times a day instead of once a day. Towards the end of next week we'll post a poll to see which format you prefer. If it goes well, we'll continue to do so. If it doesn't work well, we'll return to our traditional way of doing things.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend Ronnie James Dio's wife and manager Wendy Dio informed the world that the legendary metal singer was diagnosed with stomach cancer. She updated fans again on Thursday with how Ronnie's treatment is going. Here is what she had to say:
Well, it has been a very exhausting month – after all the neverending tests in Los Angeles, we flew to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and as soon as we arrived, we got a call from the MD Anderson Hospital that they had an appointment for us with the doctor we originally wanted, so we then flew to Houston to the clinic, and of course MORE tests, but Ronnie finished receiving his first chemo treatment on Wednesday, and all is going very well.
Ronnie and I are totally overwhelmed by the amount of well wishes that we have received from friends and fans - we are reading them all. Some make us laugh, some make us cry, but all of them are so filled with love that it gives us so much support and makes Ronnie even more determined to fight this battle and win. Thank you all for the positive energy and prayers.
Sadly we are living the age of Trash Media Zombies where celebrities can't even go to the airport without being harassed by stalkerazzi photographers. Do we really need photos of a celebrity going through the motions at LAX? Apparently someone thinks so and their victim this time was Axl Rose and he apparently wasn't too happy about it. The Guns N' Roses frontman got into a bit of fight at the airport on his way to the Far East to kick off the GNR tour this coming weekend.
Details are still a bit sketchy, with most the reporting about the incident originating from a LiveDaily article in which they report, "At Los Angeles International Airport, Rose got into a scuffle with a paparazzo that ended up with a few bloodied participants."
We now have Axl's side of the story from the PR firm LCO, who issued this press release: Axl Rose, lead singer for the legendary rock group Guns N' Roses, was unhurt last evening when he was accosted by an unruly group of paparazzi at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
(Rock Radio) Simon Cowell has bitten back at the over half a million rock fans who hope to get Rage Against the Machine to Christmas number one instead of whoever wins the X-Factor. (Incidentally more than double the amount of people who bought Adam Lambert's debut album)
The facebook-led campaign wants everyone who's had enough of Cowell's karaoke shows to buy Killing in the Name as a digital download starting on Sunday afternoon. If more than 600,000 individuals download one copy each (multiples don't count) there's a chance of keeping the contest winner off the top spot with their Miley Cyrus cover version.
Nearly 550,000 have promised to buy the track - meaning the campaign has a fighting chance. Bookies currently rate it second-favourite to hit the spot. But X-factor owner Cowell has slammed the move as "stupid, cynical and dismissive" - and he thinks X-Factor fans are better than rock fans who'd like to say "F**k you I won't buy what you sell me".
The cover art to Metallica's latest album 'Death Magnetic' cause a bit of controversy when it was revealed. Many people at the time commented that it "coffin" design looked astonishing like "a woman's sex". This hasn't been lost on the band and they address the issue on one of the bonus items on the group's new DVD 'Francais Pour Une Nuit' and that footage has of course been posted to YouTube. (Thanks to Josh R for sending the link and tip in) So was it intentional or not? Or was it really supposed to be somehow "spiritual"? Or is it all a weird coincidence? Find out here
We told you yesterday that Miley Cyrus is remaking Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." But apparently Miley's "been in the studio with [Poison frontman Bret ]Michaels - along with other producers - putting her own spin on the '80s ballad... And rumor is that Michaels might even dust off his blue rose guitar to play on the track." more
Six Feet Under had this news for their Satan loving fans: "We are sorry to inform our fans who were planning to see us perform at Satans Convention in Germany we are forced to cancel due to the local promoter not responding to our communications, emails or phone calls by us or our booking agency. It is unfortunate but hopefully understandable. Our apologies."
Jay Reatard doesn't have the best time with angry audience members, and he had to fend off two angry dudes who attacked him during his show in Austin, Texas on Wednesday (Dec. 9) night. According to Austin 360, the show at Emo's was stopped 40 minutes in after two fans attacked Reatard after he announced he was performing the evening's final song. more
FMQB had this interesting bit of news: Activision has responded to No Doubt's lawsuit over the band's likenesses that are appearing in Band Hero. According to the Los Angeles Times, the company claims that No Doubt failed to request restrictions on the use of their images in the game. Activision also filed a counter-suit accusing the band of not living up to its promise to promote Band Hero. more
Apparently, it's never too early to circle dates on calendars when it pertains to the Warped Tour. The 2010 edition of the tour, which will be in its 16th year, has already announced its itinerary. more
Spin.com had this: Fall Out Boy is on indefinite hiatus, but drummer Andy Hurley is busier than ever! In addition to the Damned Things, his heavy metal band with members of Anthrax and Every Time I Die, the 29-year-old sticksman is working on another project: Burning Empires, a hardcore quintet featuring Stuart Ross, Ryan Morgan, and Kyle Johnson of Misery Signals, plus Matt Mixon, formerly of 7 Angels 7 Plagues. Wonder what they sound like? Want to know more? Go here
The Scorpions have confirmed a Russian live date in Moscow on their upcoming Get Your Sting And Blackout Scorpions World Tour 2010. more
Sonic Youth are set to begin work on their 17th studio album. The follow-up to this year's 'The Eternal', guitarist Lee Ranaldo has confirmed that they're "most probably going back into the studio next year," but did add that the band were still enjoying playing their current album live. more
Killswitch Engage and The Devil Wears Prada will tour the U.S. together next February and March. more
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry will guest on CBS-TV's "Late Show With David Letterman" on Friday, December 11 more
Legendary hardcore outfit Scream will be reuniting next Sunday, December 20, for a show at The Black Cat in their hometown of Washington, DC. The show will feature the band's original lineup of Pete and Franz Stahl, Kent Stax and Skeeter Thompson. more
Izzy Stradlin's new album 'Smoke' is now available at iTunes. Smoke features Izzy Stradlin, JT Longoria, Rick Richards, Taz Bentley and Timo Kaltio (who co-wrote "Seems to Me" and "Box") according to this report, which also has the artwork and tracklisting.
At the album release party for their debut "Up From Below" at LA's Roosevelt Hotel in July, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros raised money for the Gulu Widows Group of Uganda. The women used the band's donation to start a farm to sustain their community. They recently had their first harvest; to celebrate and show the band their appreciation they made this video in which they sing the band's song "Home." See for yourself here . Jessica Simpson and Billy Corgan are reportedly dating. Heckler's Spray observers, And now that you know this, the rest of your day will intermittently be punctuated by graphic visions of Jessica Simpson and Billy Corgan having horrible mismatched sex. Merry Christmas! more
Greek progressive math-death metallers Tardive Dyskinesia completed their first video for the song "Triggering The Fear Reactor" included in their brand new album "The Sea of See Through Skins" released on October 12th via Coroner Records. The video is here
The Sword is currently "nearing completion of the writing process" for their third full-length. more
The initial lineup for the annual Belgian punk and hardcore festival Groezrock has been announced. This year will feature AFI, Pennywise, Agnostic Front, Bouncing Souls, Good Clean Fun, Strike Anywhere here
While fans were salivating about a Big Four of thrash tour, would you be willing to leave Megadeth out of the mix to see Metallica, Heaven and Hell, Slayer, Anthrax and Mastodon all on one night? The lucky bastards in Prague will be able to do just that as this summer's Sonisphere Festival rolls through town. (This should make travel agents the world over very happy).
Metallica is busy announcing 2010 tour dates like crazy and Thursday was no exception with the announcement of the afore mentioned date and another European date. Here is what they had to say: Good morning and welcome to today's tour date update. We're happy to announce that after over ten years, we will be returning to Budapest, Hungary for a show at the Puskas Ferenc Stadium on May 14, 2010 . . . a very long overdue visit for sure! Tickets go on sale Tuesday, December 15 at 9:00 AM and for more info about the Met Club member pre-sale, check www.metclub.com.
Jumping over to the Sonisphere Festival front, we have quite the show to tell you about . . . 'Tallica, Heaven and Hell, Slayer, Anthrax and Mastodon all on one night! Hope you can join us in Prague, Czech Republic at the Mimon Airport on June 19, 2010 for this one.
Green Day have swept Rolling Stone magazine's decade end Readers' Poll, taking top honors in three categories including being voted the No. 1 Artist of the Decade, beating out Radiohead, U2, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Jay-Z, and many others. This year's poll was conducted on Rollingstone.com.
The magazine's readers also chose Green Day's Grammy Award-winning 2004 album American Idiot the No. 1 Best Album, and named its single "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" the No. 1 Song.
Additionally, Green Day's current album 21st Century Breakdown came in at No. 5 on the editors' list of the Top Ten Best Albums of 2009. Recently, the band has won an American Music Award, a 2009 MTV Europe Music Award, been nominated for a People's Choice Award, and scored three 2010 Grammy Award nominations, including one for "Best Rock Album" and two for the single "21 Guns," which won three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
- more on this story
Bleeding Through are back in the studio tracking their newest material with legendary producer Zuess. Head over to MySpace Metal to check out exclusive videos of the band as they work on the new album. Episode 1 can be viewed here
Episode 2 will premiere next week. Hear samples of the riffage that will be unveiled on their debut Rise Records release. The yet-to-be-titled album is expected to hit stores Spring 2010.
In the meantime check out tour dates for their upcoming European tour with Machine Head and Hatebreed
Since their beginnings in Venice, CA in the early '80s, Suicidal Tendencies have led the charge in the skate punk/thrash metal movement, consequently influencing an entire generation of bands along the way.
Fontana Distribution is proud to announce Live At The Olympic Auditorium, Suicidal Tendencies' first ever DVD release! The DVD will street January 26, 2010 via the band's own imprint, Suicidal Records. The approximately 80-minute DVD features 16 tracks including ST classics "Institutionalized," "War Inside My Head," and "Possessed To Skate" and captures Suicidal in their most natural environment: Onstage, uncensored and ready to tear you to shreds.
Elaborated ST founding vocalist Mike Muir: "The band started getting emails from some crazy guy that always said, 'I know you'll probably think I'm crazy, but I'm not. I'm wanna book ST for a show and I got this idea...'. Well, one by one we shot down the 'unique' ideas until one time he emailed and said the Olympic Auditorium was being bought by a Korean Church. Shouldn't it be sent off with a special last gig? The band agreed and then the work began. The promoter -- Evel Dick Donato who went on to win Big Brother -- tells a bit about the show, making of etc. on the intro. Lots of drama, none more than the day before the show when I woke up and couldn't walk. But the show must go on and the back surgery would have to wait till afterwards. Suicidal recorded live at the Olympic Auditorium in front of 4,000 Cycos...but now you can enjoy it in the safety of your living room."
(Nightwatcher) Producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Journey, The Black Crowes) announced via Facebook that he had recorded a duet between King Of The Blues B.B. King and hard rockin' blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa in Las Vegas.
The track will be included in the guitarist's upcoming studio album 'Black Rock' tentatively set for release via J&R Adventures March 9th, 2010.
Now it can be revealed that the song recorded is a rendition of King's "Night Life", originally on the blues master's 1967 live offering 'Blues Is King'.
The Audition is kicking off the New Year with a headlining US run! "The Revolution and Resolution Tour" will start off in New York on January 20th and conclude in St. Louis, MO on February 19th.
Joining The Audition on the road will be The Dangerous Summer, Sparks The Rescue, The Right Coast, and Runner Runner on select dates.
Prior to the headlining tour, they will be doing a two week run with Every Avenue running from January 8th to January 19th. They will also be releasing their new album in spring of 2010, so be on the look out.
