Metallica Snub Dead Member

The members all initially appear as their modern-day selves, but there will be unlockable character skins that hearken back to earlier eras. Although no past members are in the game (there go fantasies for a Cliff Burton cameo — the band feared his inclusion may have felt like a slight to Trujillo), a few of Metallica's heroes make appearances. [how is that for spin? A slight to Trujillo? Surely he would understand the band honoring their own history and key founding member of the group. Or perhaps it is out of respect to Cliff who was a member of the band back when they refused to sell out by making a music video.] - Read the full RS report

Rod Denies Faces Reunion

Billboard reports: Despite reports that the Faces are reuniting for an album as well as a tour with Flea on bass, Rod Stewart's spokesperson tells Billboard "there are no plans for a Faces reunion tour this year."

Additionally, a spokesperson for Flea tells Billboard the artist "knows nothing" of a Faces tour. [Sorry the report we ran yesterday looked credible, but it appears the UK press strikes again.]

Guitarist Ron Wood reportedly told the [always unreliable] U.K.'s Daily Mirror that he and Rod Stewart wrote an album's worth of new material during a Christmas vacation, and that Flea would be participating in an upcoming tour. However, the online version of the piece has since disappeared from the Daily Mirror Web site. - more on this story

Judas Priest Video Game?

MusicRadar reports: Leather-clad Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford earned the nickname 'Metal God' for his tribute to metal music, named after his band's song of the same name. Now, Halford has copyrighted the Metal God moniker for a video game…

"The trademark was filed on January 11 of this year and covers 'computer games; video games; and game controllers for computer games'," reports Kotaku. "

Halford could, of course, just be protecting Metal God from other gaming entrepreneurs. Or - in much more fun reality – he might be considering adding a video game franchise to Rob Halford Entertainment Limited's books. - more on this story

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Lose Founding Member

MusicRadar reports: After 36 years of working with Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey has quit The Bad Seeds.

Harvey was a founding member of Cave's previous band The Birthday Party when they were known as The Boys Next Door back in 1973.

"For a variety of personal and professional reasons I have chosen to discontinue my ongoing involvement with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds," said Harvey in a statement. - more on this story

For Lily Allen Father Knows Best: Shut Up!

antiMusic reports: Father knows best. This golden rule is one that Lily Allen should take to heart as her recent string of controversial comments has prompted her father to go on record with advise that his daughter needs to learn when to shut up. Angry Ape has the report:

Speaking to Spin magazine, actor Keith Allen admitted that fame was unfairly different for a man than a woman: "As a man, I could drink, snort and f*** to my heart's content without any detriment to my career. A girl cannot do that."

He later spoke about Lily's 'tell all' personality, which leads the singer constantly revealing about her personal life. "I don't mind saying this, because I've told her already: she needs to know when to f***ing shut up."
- more on this story

Death Cab Cure For Valentines Day

NME reports: Death Cab For Cutie are covering The Cure's 'Love Song' and Katy Perry is remaking Sam Sparro's 'Black And Gold' for a forthcoming Valentine's Day-themed compilation.

Starbucks Entertainment is set to release 'Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs' on January 30 in the US.

The second installment of this series also includes Richard Hawley covering Gordon Lightfoot, New Pornographers' frontman AC Newman's take on A-Ha's 'Take On Me', and a remake of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' 'I Put A Spell On You' by She & Him, which features Death Cab For Cutie frontman's new fiancé Zooey Deschanel. - full tracklisting

Slipknot Plan To Overtake Metallica

Blabbermouth reports: Slipknot percussionist Chris Fehn has high hopes for the band's future. "I think we're going to overtake Metallica," Fehn told KansasCity.com in a recent interview.

"We're going to overtake any band that sells out soccer arenas in Europe. We're going to do it. We're the last chance as far as the world goes."

"They (fans) keep showing up, and it's getting better and better every year," Fehn said. And musically, he thinks Slipknot has yet to peak.

"We haven't even made our 'Black' record yet," Fehn said, referring to the 1991 "Metallica" CD that made Metallica the undisputed kings of the heavy metal scene. "Wait until we do that. It's over, dude." - more on this story

Oasis Attackers Facing Bigger Charge- Tool Market- Fatal Bus Driver Sued- Road Slayer- Spector Must Now Defend Himself- Duff Whisperer and more

antiMusic reports: Crown prosecutors have upgraded the charge against a man accused of attacking Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher at a Toronto music festival. Forty-seven-year-old Daniel Sullivan is now charged with one count of aggravated assault — he was originally charged with assault. more

Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan plans on opening an organic market in Cornville, Arizona, that will include a commercial kitchen and a tasting room for the wines he produces in nearby Sedona. more

Speaking of Maynard: We were forwarded a link to a comedic press conference starring Maynard Keenan in military regalia discussing the upcoming Puscifer variety shows at The Palms (in The Pearl Casino) in Las Vegas on Feb. 13, 14 and 15. The dates each sold out within an hour of their respective on sale times but Keenan asked that the venue reconfigure the seating to allow for some additional tickets to be made available after seeing what fans were being asked to pay by ticket scalpers. On Saturday, Jan. 24 a few hundred additional seats for each show will go on sale at 12 noon pacific via Ticketmaster.com, Livenation.com and at The Pearl box office in Las Vegas. And now, the video

Keith Urban has christened his new album "Defying Gravity" and, as previously reported, will release it March 31 on Capitol Nashville.more

According to the Artisan News Service, veteran Los Angeles thrashers Slayer will announce a new co-headlining tour on Monday, January 26.more

Little Big Town are looking for opening acts for thier forthcoming headlining "A Place To Land" tour and is using events Web site Eventful to help choose the winners. Four bands will join the Zac Brown Band, Ashton Shepherd and Kate & Kacey, who have all already signed on as openers.more

Record iPod sales internationally helped Apple turn a profit in the last quarter of last year, with 22.7 million sold.more

NME says that a user posting under the name 'David Bowie' has left a message on social networking website Twitter saying that the star is recording new material in Berlin. In the late '70's Bowie record three of his most popular albums - 'Low', ''Heroes'' and 'Lodger' - in the city. more

ISIS, the Los Angeles by way of Boston band, has set a May 5 release date for their anticipated new album, "Wavering Radiant" (Ipecac Recordings). The album, produced by Joe Baressi (Tool, Queens off The Stone Age), will see a limited edition vinyl version released on Apr. 21. Tool's Adam Jones contributed guitar to two songs from the new release. More details soon.

Metallica have announced their plans to perform at the Novarock Festival on Friday, June 19, 2009 in Nickelsdorf, Austria.more

The prosecution rested its case today (January 22) in the murder retrial of famed music producer Phil Spector. Following nine weeks of testimony, the prosecution called its final witness to the stand -- Donna Clarkson -- the mother of actress Lana Clarkson who died of a gunshot wound in 2003.more

The daughter of late gospel singer-songwriter Joyce "Dottie" Rambo, who was killed in a bus crash in May, has sued the driver of the bus and the company that leased it to the entertainer.more

David "Fathead" Newman, a jazz musician who played with the Ray Charles Band and won fame as a tenor sax soloist, has died at age 75.

Hilary Duff has landed herself a guest appearance role in Ghost Whisperer, according to reports. The singer will play the part of a "beautiful woman of mystery" in the show reports Entertainment Weekly more. Maybe she'll solve the mystery of why that show is still on the air!

Speaking of Jazz greats: Chick Corea & Japanese pianist Hiromi have a new album called Duet coming out February 3rd on Concord Jazz. Duet was recorded live at Tokyo's Blue Note club and marks the first recording project of Chick Corea and Hiromi. Originally released in 2007 in Japan, the album became the top selling Jazz CD of the year there. Track list features Thelonious Monk's "Bolivar Blues" and Lennon-McCartney's "Fools On The Hill." You can check out the live video of "Summertime" here

Members of Breathe In, Divit and UN ID have unveiled a new project, Why I Hate. The band describes themselves as "a band full of guys that would be beyond ecstatic to see Jawbreaker AND American Nightmare play on the same bill"more

Former Phantom-X guitarist Dave Harvey has joined forces with original Pantera and current Judgement Day (Whitesnake tribute) singer Donny Hart in a brand new progressive/melodic metal project called Millennial Reign more

Sworn Enemy will kick off their over 40 dates long European headlining tour on February 12, 2009. As support acts Freya feat. Karl from Sworn Enemy's labelmates Earth Crisis. more

Destroy The Runner has cancelled the remainder of their European tour. The band said in part "we quickly realized that the tour had been put together in a very unorganized and unprofessional manner." more

Glasvegas singer James Allan may be collaborating with Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie on a special cover version. Gillespie is planning to record a cover of influential 70s synth-punks Suicide to celebrate the 70th birthday of the band's frontman Alan Vega, and when he heard Allan was a fan, asked if he'd like to take part. more

Propagandhi will tour the East Coast with Paint It Black in March. dates

Cleveland, Ohio metal band Salt The Wound is currently in search of a replacement for departed singer Matthew Tanner details

On January 30 and 31, Dexter's Entertainment Complex in Riverdale, NJ will present "Long Live Rock," a 2-night musical spectacular boasting an all-star team-up of tri-state talent. A great way to kick off the Superbowl weekend, "Long Live Rock" will feature performances and appearances by members of Symphony X, Halford, Winger, Guns N' Roses, Trixter and many other rock mainstays. - details etc

Cult Of Luna DVD

PR reports: Swedish art-rockers Cult Of Luna are gearing up for their first ever DVD release, titled Fire Was Born.

The DVD includes an epic hour-and-a-half live show recorded on July 1st, 2008 at the Scala in London, UK, along with an exclusive interview with the band, in which the members answer questions sent in from fans all around the world. The DVD also includes the music videos for "The Watchtower", "Leave Me Here" and "Back To Chapel Town".

The Fire Was Born DVD is due to be released on March 23rd, 2009 as part of a special edition version of the band's latest album, ETERNAL KINGDOM, except for in the band's home country of Sweden, where it will be released as a separate DVD only. - more on this story

New England Metal and Hardcore Festival 09

PR reports: The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival will enter its second decade this April with an eclectic mixture of bands from the metal and hardcore genres. Returning to the Palladium in Worcester, Mass., the event will take place on Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, with a an extra special pre-party on Thursday, April 16.

Headlining Friday will be All That Remains, one of the many bands that got its start at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. Saturday will be headlined by metal giants Lamb of God as part of their No Fear Energy Music Tour along with As I Lay Dying, Children Of Bodom, God Forbid and Municipal Waste. Metal Blade Records will present the main stage.

Other bands schedule to perform on Friday are: August Burns Red, Suffocation, The Acacia Strain, The Haunted, Napalm Death, White Chapel, Kataclysm, Cattle Decapitation, Veil of Maya, Abigail Williams, Decrepit Birth, Pscroptic, Intronaut, Withered, Left to Vanish, Lazarus A.D., Kylesa, XAFBX, Trap Them, Aggressive Dogs, Toxic Holocaust, XWarX, Psyopus, Woe of Tyrants, Rose Funeral and more to be announced. Doors open at 12 noon. - more on this story

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand Preview

PR reports: MySpace Music is proud to announce the world exclusive of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the 3rd album from the band Franz Ferdinand. Starting today, January 22nd, MySpace users across the world will be able to stream the highly-anticipated album for free, giving fans a chance to preview it before the official release on January 27.

In addition to the MySpace album exclusive, starting today users can customize their profiles with a personally created page theme by Franz Ferdinand. Fans can skin their page with this simple upgrade feature to show their support for the band. Users simply log into MySpace and click 'customize profile' on the main page to get started.

For more on Franz Ferdinand and to stream Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, visit their MySpace Music profile at - http://www.myspace.com/franzferdinand.

Singled Out: Days Between Stations

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today LA prog duo Days Between Stations tell us about "Requiem for the Living" from their Limited Edition self-titled debut. We now turn it over to them for the story:

On "Requiem for the Living" we really attempted to combine a lot of our influences - from Gorecki to Peter Gabriel to Godspeed You Black Emperor to Marillion to Sonic Youth - into what we hoped would be a cohesive whole. It was Sepand who suggested "marrying" two songs Oscar had previously recorded: one was essentially the ambient minimalist piano that forms the backdrop for the first section (not so creatively titled "Piano in F minor"); the other was a more Portishead/Massive Attack-ish piece written after watching Tom Tykwer's film The Princess and the Warrior.

Sepand had the idea of adding a Gorecki-inspired intro, then other pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place: Jeffrey Samzadeh's Sonati chanting combined with Sepand's guitar really captured the feelings of loss and despair we were trying to deal with musically, after which a "space rock" transition leads us to the second "movement," where you can hear a much more discernible and almost Tin Pan Alley-like "tune," played first on guitar and then on piano (and which, by the way, reappears somewhere on Laudanum), followed by the more "classical" piano/guitar interlude (the calm before the storm), and then the slide and distorted guitars in the second part really push that despair into rage and an, if not happy, then definitely more hopeful and defiant ending.

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

Wait there is more!

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