Nirvana Member Running For Political Office

Novoselic, who is Master of the Grays River Grange, said in an e-mail to The Daily World this morning that he paid his $500-plus non-refundable fee and has the paperwork to prove he filed. - more on this story

Why Metallica Lost Their Way

Rock Radio reports: Metallica's James Hetfield has spoken frankly to Classic Rock Magazine about the band's wilderness years, saying the main problem was drugs and disagreements over who drove the band forward.

In CR's July edition he discusses the band's mid-90 years and the change of image and presentation surrounding 1996's Load album – which he was uncomfortable with. He says: "The whole 'We need to reinvent ourselves' topic was up. Image isn't an evil thing to me, but if the image isn't you, it doesn't make much sense.

"I think they were after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter-ego. I couldn't get into it. I would say at least half the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The cover went against what I was feeling. Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett were very into abstract art, pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. I think the cover of Load was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with all this crazy stupid sh*t." - more on this story

Jane's Addiction 'Living Room' Show Tix for a Grand

NME reports: Jane's Addiction are offering fans the chance to see them play in a "living room" environment on their current tour of the US with Nine Inch Nails.

The band are offering a special VIP package that costs $1,000 per person in order to raise money for a fundraiser to help Nine Inch Nails fan Eric De La Cruz get a heart transplant.

In a message on Nine Inch Nails website, Trent Reznor writes: "I am very happy to announce the inclusion of a really cool VIP package for Jane's Addiction fans that is strictly limited - so if this unique offer sounds cool to you, act quickly. Since this fundraiser began, the Jane's guys have been wanting to contribute somehow and they've come up with something really cool." - more on this story

Extreme Ratt Out Of the Cellar Tour

PR reports: Ratt and Extreme have teamed up to bring you this summer's most rockin' tour lineup? The tour, which will feature sets from both bands with Ratt closing, kicks off on July 12 in Amarillo, TX and runs through August 7th in Hampton Beach, NH. It will cross the U.S. and cover 16 markets, with more to be announced soon.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of their landmark debut Out Of The Cellar, Ratt will be playing the album in its entirety. Both bands are excited about the double bill. "Warren DeMartini and Nuno Bettencourt on same stage, same night?? 'Nuff said, we'll see you there!" says RATT's Bobby Blotzer.

Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt concurs, "One hot summer night. Two bands fully loaded with musicianship. Mix in one part memorable songwriting. Add nine ounces of passionate performers. Throw in three well respected guitarists. Add a touch of West Coast raunch and a hint of East Coast funk. And you get yourself a recipe for one night of unforgettable rock and roll." - more on this story

Slash and Friends Details

Blabbermouth reports: Former Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash will be joined by the following "special guests" during his headlining appearance at this year's edition of the Quart festival on June 30 in Kristiansand, Norway:

Special guests are Ron Wood (The Rolling Stones), Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath) and Fergie (a.k.a. Stacy Ann Ferguson of Black Eyed Peas)

Slash's band will consist of the following musicians: Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin) - Drums - Chris Chaney (Jane's Addiction) - Bass - John 5 (Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson) - Guitar - Franky Perez (Scars On Broadway) - Guitar - Teddy Andreadis (Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper) - Piano/Harmonica - more on this story

Whitney Houston Still Alive and Releasing a New Album

RCA reports: Whitney Houston's new album will be released worldwide September 1, 2009 on Arista Records. This is Whitney's 7th studio album.

Since her 1985 self-titled debut, she has built a career that has generated over 170 million combined worldwide sales of albums, singles and videos.

Cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as music's "most awarded female artist of all time," with an unsurpassed tally of 411 awards, inclusive of 6 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, 23 American Music Awards and 16 Billboard Music Awards… - more on this story

Vinyl and Digital Moneen

PR reports: Moneen recently announced the June 23 digital release of a four song EP, Hold That Sound. Their first new music in over three years, Hold That Sound will be available through all digital retailers. The title track is taken from Moneen's fourth full-length, due out this fall on Vagrant.

The EP will also be released on limited edition 12" vinyl on July 8 on white, black, and clear vinyl. Fans can listen to a stream of Hold That Sound EP and pre-order the vinyl right now here

The Canadian quartet is currently putting the finishing touches on their yet to be titled fall release, which was produced by Grammy award-winning producer David Bottrill (Tool, Music, Silverchair). The band will then to head to the UK for a few headline shows and supporting dates with Brand New in June. - more on this story

Death Before Dishonor Limited Edition

PR reports: Death Before Dishonor announce the release of a limited edition 7" EP and digital download titled "Our Glory Days" on June 16th.

Featuring two tracks, "Coffin Nail" and "Our Glory Days" (featuring guest vocals from Mark Unseen), from the group's upcoming album, "Better Ways To Die," and an exclusive song only available on this EP, this is the first taste people will get of what Death Before Dishonor is set to unleash July 28th.

"Better Ways To Die" is Death Before Dishonor solidifying their name as one of the front-runners of the Boston hardcore scene worldwide. Somehwere between the harder punk edge of Rancid, the working class anthems of Dropkick Murphys, the hardcore attack of Hatebreed and the precision and fury of Slayer, Better Ways To Die truly is the sound of an American hardcore band that knows their roots and history-and they're not afraid to step beyond that. - more on this story

Metro Station Go From Fall Out Boy To Miley Cyrus Tour

PR reports: As announced by Miley Cyrus early yesterday morning, the poptart will be joined by special guests Metro Station on her upcoming North American tour.

The ten-week arena run – launching September 14 in Portland, OR, and running through December 2, in Miami, FL– will mark the first time that Cyrus will tour with her brother Trace, who sings and plays guitar in Metro Station.

Metro Station – Trace Cyrus (vocals, guitar), Mason Musso (vocals, guitar), Blake Healy (keyboards, synth) and Anthony Improgo (percussion) – are currently wrapping up a two week tour of Japan, and later this month will return to Europe for three weeks of dates. In May they completed their most extensive domestic run to date, providing support on Fall Out Boy's "Believers Never Die" tour. - more on this story

Guitar Hero: Van Halen Preview- DMB Beating Eminem- Blues Queen Dies- Miley Won't Go Away- Aerosmith To Bring Out Toys on Tour- Slayer Bloody Again and more

antiMusic reports: A one minute video preview of the new video game Guitar Hero: Van Halen, has been posted online via YouTube. You can check it out here. The video game is expected to be released later this year along with Guitar Hero 5 and DJ Hero.

Dave Matthews Band will likely bow at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart next week with "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King," which industry prognosticators are suggesting could sell as much as 390,000 in its first week.more

Koko Taylor, a sharecropper's daughter whose regal bearing and powerful voice earned her the sobriquet "Queen of the Blues," has died after complications from surgery. She was 80.more

I Got Sued Babe! Cher has sued Universal Music Group, claiming the company owes her and Sonny Bono's heirs more than $5 million.more

Steven Tyler and Joey Kramer of Aerosmith stopped by the WZLX radio station in Boston, Massachusetts on Tuesday, June 2 and confirmed reports that they will play the whole ""Toys In The Attic" album on the upcoming trek with ZZ Top.more

Disney Channel spokeswoman Hope Diamond told AP that Miley Cyrus has signed up for a fourth season of "Hannah Montana". more. Not enough tween for you? Billboard reports that Miley Cyrus has announced plans for a 45-date North American tour this fall. more

Eminem's "Relapse" holds on to the No. 1 slot with ease, shifting 211,000 in its second week, down 65.3% from its bow last week with 608,000. While there are still three new albums that arrive in the top 10, the Hot Shot Debut is Marilyn Manson's "The High End Of Low" at No. 4 with 49,000 more

Incubus will launch an online archive for fans with rare songs, live tracks, videos and much more. Titled The Vault, the site will debut as part of enjoyincubus.com and will launch with the release of the upcoming best-of collectionmore

AEG Live president and CEO Randy Phillips has rejected U.K. tabloid reports that Michael Jackson told fans that he only wanted to play 10 London O2 Arena shows rather than the 50 that have been scheduled.more

Five Finger Death Punch have been forced to cancel a series of June dates in Europe due a combination of events; these involve both personal matters plus the necessity to finish mixing the tracks for second studio album, "War Is The Answer", due to be released worldwide in late August. more

Blabbermouth.Net exclusively revealed that California thrashers Slayer have set "World Painted Blood" as the title of their new album, tentatively due late summer via American Recordings/Columbia Records more

3 Inches Of Blood has set "Here Waits Thy Doom" as the title of the band's new album, due on September 8 via Century Media Records.more

Pixies have announced that they will play a handful of UK and European shows this summer.more

Cryptopsy, Rose Funeral, Knights Of The Abyss, and Salt The Wound will team up for a handful of mid-September shows.dates

Crime In Stereo entered the studio yesterday to begin recording a new yet-to-be-titled full-length. The effort is expected to hit streets this fall via Bridge Nine Records. more

A Day To Remember has announced the amicable departure of guitar player Tom Denney. Recent fill-in Kevin Skaff has been tapped as Denney's permanent replacement.more

Seven years after parting ways with Prototype in 2002, Pat Magrath (ex-Killing Kulture, Steel Prophet) returns to the drum throne for the Los Angeles based progressive thrash band.more

Album sales in May dropped 17.8% versus May 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and were 36.7% lower than May 2007.more

Despised Icon have set "Day Of Mourning" as the title of their new album, due on September 22 via Century Media Records.more

Stryper guitarist Oz Fox's wedding to Annie Lobért, a 41-year-old former call girl who founded the international Christian ministry Hookers for Jesus, will be webcast live via www.thechurchlv.com/live on Friday, June 5 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.more

Anamaria Araya, the older sister of Slayer bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, died on June 1 after a 13-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 55 years old.more - more News Quicks

Singled Out: Bill Leverty (Firehouse)

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Bill Leverty of Firehouse fame tells us about "Boll Weevil" from his brand new solo album "Deep South". We now turn it over to Bill for the story:

I decided to do an album of cover tunes, but I didn't want to do cover songs from an era that was a direct influence to me. I wanted to dig DEEP. I wanted to go back to where rock and roll got IT'S roots. Where artists who influenced people like Elvis were influenced. In other words, I wanted to go back BEFORE rock and roll happened and learn where it all came from. I found that much of this music originated in the Southern United States from the genres of blues, country, bluegrass and gospel.

I was really interested in making contemporary recordings of some of the old bluegrass, mountain songs; and in looking through literally hundreds of songs, I stumbled on a really cool one called "Boll Weevil".

I hadn't heard anyone cover "Boll Weevil" before, but I'm sure MANY people have. It's a song about an insect that caused a lot of people a LOT of problems. Today, even though the boll weevil has been virtually eradicated, we have many other "boll weevils" to deal with in life. That is how this song still seems relevant to me.

I really liked the fact that the song is in a minor key and I could rock it up a bit. With the production, I tried to keep the essence of the song while still adding big rhythm guitars, a lot of soloing, and a vocal sound in the verses that was more contemporary. The drum kit is tight and dry like the rest of the album, but I added some extra percussion that helped lift the energy of the track in the verses.

I added an ending to the song to try to convey the heavy emotion that these families must have felt when their entire farm was destroyed by this little bug. I think the end result is a very interesting piece of music that was written over 100 years ago. Now, to me, THAT'S cool!!...

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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