Pearl Jam Announce Album and Tour

Pearl Jam's North American dates kick-off in the band's hometown of Seattle with two shows at Key Arena (September 21st and 22nd) and close with two concerts at Philadelphia's historic Spectrum (October 28th and 30th). Ben Harper and Relentless7 will open all dates except for the Spectrum shows. - more including dates

Guitar Hero 5 Details

PR reports: Guitar Hero today confirmed two dozen rockin' tracks which will be featured on Guitar Hero 5's massive 85-song on-disc set list.

From the legendary folk rock sounds of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" to the thumping drums of Coldplay's "In My Place"; indie darling Vampire Weekend's memorable "A-Punk" to the Beastie Boys' rock/hip-hop hit "Gratitude," the game features the widest variety of today's rock hits and classic tunes from some of the biggest names in music.

Numerous bands are also making their music video game debut -- Band of Horses, Darkest Hour, Elliott Smith, John Mellencamp, Rose Hill Drive, The Bronx, Tom Petty and Vampire Weekend. Prior to its public release, Wolfmother's first single off their upcoming album Cosmic Egg, "Back Round," is now available for free digital download exclusively at gh5.guitarhero.com.

When Guitar Hero 5 ships on September 1, living-room rock stars will be able to rock any way they want, to the expansive set list including to - these stellar tracks

Linkin Park Singer Goes Solo

Rolling Stone reports: Chester Bennington will take a brief sojourn from Linkin Park this autumn to unveil his new side project Dead By Sunrise and their debut album Out of Ashes.

According to Bennington, the songs on Out of Ashes developed as he was writing tracks for the follow-up to Linkin Park's 2007 LP Minutes to Midnight.

"I came up with a few songs that felt and sounded really good, but I knew they weren't right stylistically for Linkin Park," Bennington says in a press release announcing Out of Ashes. "They were darker and moodier than anything I'd come up with for the band. So I decided to work on them on my own rather than turn them over and have them transformed into Linkin Park tracks."
- more on this story

Korn Tease Fans- Slash and Adler Reunite- Strat Creator Dies- Judas Priest Golf Course- Genesis Live Boxset- Sabbath Singer's Tour Decapitated and more

antiMusic reports: Korn has posted a short teaser video online for their forthcoming new studio album. Although no details have been confirmed yet, the album is expected to be released in the first quarter of next year. You can check out the video here

According to a posting on Slash's Twitter account, the guitarist's former Guns N' Roses bandmate Steven Adler will play on Slash's forthcoming solo album. Adler is scheduled to lay down his drum track sometime next week.more

George Fullerton, a co creator with Leo Fender of the Fender Stratocaster passed away at the age of 86.more

Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing has opened up a golf course at his home in Shropshire. BBC interviews KK here

Former Black Sabbath singer Tony Martin's previously announced U.S. tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of the SABBATH album "Headless Cross" has been cancelled. Martin says, "We are so disappointed." more

Lynyrd Skynyrd considers its new album, "God & Guns" -- due out Sept. 29 to be "a tribute to the past and to the future of this band, too," according to frontman Johnny Van Zantmore

The new digital EP from The Rentals (fronted by ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp), titled It's Time To Come Home, is available now - released this week (7.7.09). Check out a preview here

Maxwell's first album in nearly eight years, "BLACKsummers'night," is headed for a big debut next week on the Billboard 200 chartmore

Mark Ronson has announced that he will make an appearance with Duran Duran at the Lovebox Weekender. The producer, who has been working with the '80s band, will join them onstage during their headlining slot at the London festival more

Shudder to Think have announced plans to release their first ever live album. The record is titled Live From Home and is due out September 15, 2009 via Conor Oberst's Team Love label.more

Brand New, who had just announced their album title and release date earlier this week, have now decided upon the title Daisy. The album was originally called and one can head can never die.more

A new box set featuring several of Genesis' live albums as well as previously unreleased tracks is due to be released this autumn. 'Genesis Live 1973-2007' is due out in the US September 29 via Rhino Records. more

Baroness have recently completed work on their second full-length album. The effort will see an October 2009 international release date via Relapse Records. more

Alessio Garavello will be leaving Power Quest after the festival shows in September. Alessio has been the voice of Power Quest ever since the 'Wings of Forever' album back in 2002, and has also had two stints of playing rhythm guitar in the band as well.more -

QOTSA, Faith No More, Butthole Surfers, Spiritualized Members Are Broken Soulsavers

Columbia reports: Genre-bending art rock heroes Soulsavers return with their third release, Broken, which Columbia Records will release in digital formats only on August 18. And in true Soulsavers tradition, Rich Machin and Ian Glover opened their studio doors and invited a handful of friends.

At the forefront are the vocals of Mark Lanegan (Queens of the Stone Age, Screaming Trees), who returns after fronting eight tracks on the collective's sophomore release, It's Not How Far You Fall, It's How Hard You Land. On Broken, he's at the helm on ten tracks, including duets with Spiritualized's Jason Pierce ("Pharaoh's Chariot"), Faith No More frontman Mike Patton ("Unbalanced Pieces") and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers ("Death Bells"). Also appearing on the album are Richard Hawley (backing vocals on "Shadows Fall"), Australian newcomer Red Ghost (Rosa Agostino) and studio bassist Martyn LeNoble (Porno for Pyros, Jane's Addiction).

"Touring has definitely brought the guitars to the front of Broken, and it's got a more soulful twist, too," says Machin of Soulsavers' evolution since the sonic-shifting outfit's 2003 debut, the more electronic-minded Tough Guys Don't Dance. "Though it clearly has some very dark overtones, I don't think it's quite as dark as the last album… I love all kinds of music, which allows me to open all these doors. There's nothing better than bringing in great people who inspire, to keep you on top of your game, and to keep things fresh and never boring. That's the nature of what we've set up here." - more on this story

Paul Revere & the Raiders Star Dies

Nightwatcher reports: Drake Levin, lead guitarist for Paul Revere & the Raiders during the quintet's hit-making prime in the mid-1960s, died Saturday at his home in San Francisco after a long battle with cancer, according to his longtime friend and former Raiders bandmate Phil Volk. He was 62.

Levin's four-year stint with the Raiders, known for its campy Revolutionary War uniforms, thigh-high black riding boots and tri-corner hats, coincided with a string of top 10 hits including "Kicks," "Hungry" and "Good Thing."

For a time he was one of the most recognizable American rock guitarists through the group's weekly appearances on the Dick Clark-produced music series "Where the Action Is."
- more on this story

The Breeders Hitting The Road

HER reports: The Breeders are set to kick off a series of summer tour dates starting Wednesday, August 5 in Newport, KY. The band, comprised of Kim Deal/lead vocals, guitar; Kelley Deal/guitar, backing vocals; Jose Medeles/drums, percussion, Mando Lopez/bass, and Cheryl Lindsey/guitar, will play fifteen dates on this run, including two at New York's Bowery Ballroom on August 18 and 19. Between the Breeders' European tour plans and Kim Deal's Pixies tour schedule, these dates will be the only U.S. dates for the band this year. A full itinerary is below.

The tour dates are in support of The Breeder's recent 4-song EP, Fate To Fatal, which was released this past April as both a digital download via iTunes and a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl EP. The cover art for Fate to Fatal was designed by Chris Glass who also created the logo for President Obama's "American Recovery and Reinvestmant Act," and was personally hand-screened by Kim and Kelley. The limited edition vinyl sold out in a matter of days, prompting the band to have more made, this time with full-colour art (although not hand-screened by the Deal sisters) and available - at least for right now - only at these upcoming shows.

On these August dates, fans can expect to hear some of the songs from Fate to Fatal as well as other songs that the band hasn't played in years. This past May, The Breeders performed and curated the "All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK, organizing a line up that included Bon Iver, Gang of Four, the Foals, X, J-Zone and Heartless Bastards, among others. This December, the band will return to Britain to perform on the "10 Years of All Tomorrow's Parties," sharing the stage with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse and a host of other artists who have been part of ATP's past decade. - more on this story

Supersuckers and Nashville Pussy Aiding The West Memphis Three

PR reports: Supersuckers and Nashville Pussy will be auctioning autographed items on Skeleton Key Auctions designed to raise money for the defense fund of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., and Jason Baldwin.

The three Arkansas men, dubbed the West Memphis Three (www.wm3.org), were convicted of the 1993 murders of three elementary school children. Since their trials were chronicled by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky in the HBO documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, a groundswell of support has formed around the Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin—support that includes a wide array of artists such as Metallica, Henry Rollins, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits, Winona Ryder, South Park creator Trey Parker, Will Ferrell, Johnny Depp, and Jello Biafra. Supersuckers have been staunch supporters of the West Memphis Three over the years.

They have always been gracious in donating items to folks around the world to raise funds for the WM3 Defense Fund. The items you will be bidding on are from their tour stop with Nashville Pussy in Dublin, Ireland. - more on this story

The New Ramones?

PR reports: St. Louis garage rockers Living Things are about to appear as one of their hero bands, the Ramones in the now-filming The Runaways, the biopic about the groundbreaking 70's all-girl hard rock group led by Joan Jett.

Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame plays Jett, with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon as the band's "Svengali" Kim Fowley.

In the scene, which is shooting this month, the Ramones are playing at Rodney Bingenheimer's notorious English Disco nightclub in Los Angeles circa 1975. Living Things have already recorded a cover of "We're A Happy Family" for the scene. - more on this story

Marshall Crenshaw New Release

conqueroo reports: Marshall Crenshaw, recently signed to 429 Records, just released his long-awaited album of new recordings, Jaggedland. Crenshaw penned and played on all 12 tracks that shimmer with the inimitable musical warmth and sly humor that the musician's musician is known for. Touching on a variety of subjects both intimate and wide-ranging, he sings of love, mortality and the state of the world.

Crenshaw collaborated with a hand-picked circle of producers and musicians for Jaggedland. Producer Stewart Lerman (Black 47, Willie Nile, The Roches, Jules Shear) began the process by recording two of the tracks in Crenshaw's home studio in upstate New York during 2007. Then in summer 2008, Crenshaw sought out famed engineer and producer Jerry Boys (R.E.M., Richard Thompson, Buena Vista Social Club) after falling in love with the Ry Cooder/Manuel Galban album Mambo Sinuendo, which Boys engineered, and they recorded the rest of the project early this year at Los Angeles' Sage and Sound studio, and at Livingston Studios in London; the whole process took about 15 days. Also in the mix were top-notch musicians drummer Jim Keltner (Crenshaw: "it's his world, we just live in it"); bassist Sebastian Steinberg, guitarists Greg Leisz and fellow Motor City native Wayne Kramer (MC5), plus legendary vibraphonist/percussionist Emil Richards (known for his work with Frank Sinatra, Brian Wilson, Judee Sill, and zillions of others). - more on this story

Sufjan Stevens Reimagined

PR reports: In 2001 composer and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens released his sophomore album Enjoy Your Rabbit—a collection of 14 electronic instrumental pieces, each inspired by a different animal of the Chinese Zodiac. In the time since that record's release, Stevens has expanded his repertoire to include collaborations with a number of artists including the Osso Quartet, who contributed string arrangements to Stevens' Illinois as well as My Brightest Diamond's Bring Me the Workhorse. On October 6 Stevens' own Asthmatic Kitty Records will release Osso Quartet's debut recording on CD and LP—a reimagined Enjoy Your Rabbit arranged for the string quartet, titled Run Rabbit Run.

The idea for Run Rabbit Run came to Stevens after he moved to the Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn in 2005. Among his new neighbors were Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National and their sister, Jessica. Sufjan quickly became friends with the Dessner clan, and Bryce suggested that Stevens rearrange Enjoy Your Rabbit for his other neighbors, Rob Moose (violin), Olivier Manchon (violin), Marla Hansen (viola) and Maria Bella Jeffers (cello)—the Osso Quartet—who had recently collaborated with Stevens on his 2005 release, Illinois. The project was fully realized when Sufjan approached Jessica Dessner to contribute artwork to the album based on the original record's Chinese Zodiac illustrations created by artist Matt Morgan.

What began as an expression of community amongst the artist-residents of Ditmas Park expanded to include members of a different artistic community as well. Over the next year a series of young composers—Nico Muhly, Michael Atkinson, Maxim Moston and Gabriel Kahane—rearranged pieces from Enjoy Your Rabbit for Run Rabbit Run. Atkinson's arrangements premiered at the Bryce Dessner-curated Music Now Festival in Cincinnati in 2007.
Stevens has released seven studio recordings since 2000 including Michigan and Illinois, the first two entries in an epic series of 50 recordings each based on a different U.S. state, a 5-EP Christmas box set and the aforementioned instrumental electronic work Enjoy Your Rabbit. Stevens has also collaborated with fellow indie pop acts Danielson Famile, Rosie Thomas, Denison Witmer, My Brightest Diamond and many others. - more on this story

Guitar Hero Goes Vagrant

Vagrant reports: Vagrant Records announces a special Vagrant Records Track Pack available for Guitar Hero World Tour on July 23.

The three-song Track Pack includes the exclusive debut of "All The World Is Mad," the first track from Thrice's highly anticipated sixth studio album, Beggars. The Southern California-based band just announced an October release date for Beggars and Guitar Hero will be the first and only place that fans can hear "All The World Is Mad."

The Track Pack also includes the Guitar Hero downloadable content debut from St. Catharines, Ontario-based five-piece Alexisonfire. "Young Cardinals" is the first single from their brand new fourth full-length album Old Crows/Young Cardinals, which was released on June 23. - more on this story

Singled Out: Jace Everett

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Jace Everett tells us about the opening track of his new album, Red Revelations:

"Possession" (Jace Everett/Chuck Prophet) When I asked Chuck Prophet in September 2008 if he might want to write and produce on my new record we started shooting mp3's back and forth. Chuck is in San Francisco and I'm in Nashville so it was sloppy tape swap time!

Certainly, that got the juices flowing, but I decided to go out west and sit in a room with the man to see what we would find. I had some finished songs already and a few ideas to bring in to Chuck.

We wrote 5 songs in as many days and I believe "Possession" was day 4. Between the two of us there's enough testosterone and general crankiness to bring on Armageddon, but we really hit a rhythm and this was possibly the most quickly written tune on the record. To be fair, Prophet had really developed the idea pretty far along on his own, with one of the coolest work tapes of all time. He had this chord movement he was obsessed with and the title to go with it. It was initially kind of homage to one of our mutual heroes, Link Wray.

Although it sounds like a dark tune there are exactly zero minor chords in the thing! But the whole step movements (E D C) give it this heavy feel. There was never any question about the guitar tones. Tremoelos, Bigsbys, and Fender amps; add volume.

I did a version myself with a different bass line and some melody tweaks. Chuck loved the bass line and I'm glad it stuck.

The lyric was something we battled out in his cramped little room above a studio in San Francisco. It's a man possessed with being possessed by the long, cool woman in the black dress kinda thing. Throw in some creepy lines; "the earth is rushing through my veins / moonlight on the window pane / lovers crawl across the floor / children waiting to be born" and you've got a love song for people who HATE love songs.

When we recorded it, Brad Jones (another producer on the record and a damn fine engineer/musician) had the idea to put a great big acoustic piano playing this 1950's triplet figure. Juxtaposed with the two heavy guitars (Chuck and Dan Cohen) Chris Raspante developed a mild case of carpal tunnel pounding the keys for hours that day.

The reason I put "Possession" as the first track on the new album is simple; it just felt right. I like a rather dramatic intro for an album and I felt the creepy atmosphere of the recording served "Red Revelations" really well. It's not my favorite song on the album (although I love it), but I think it's the perfect lead track.

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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