Underoath Take a Jab at Metallica

"I can listen to that stuff, and maybe if I was alive 30 years ago it would mean more to me; I respect them, but I just don't like them. I get that they're important, but not to me. For me Kurt Cobain means more: he played like trash but he had an intensity. It's not about your chops, it's about creating a feeling." - more on this story

Lynyrd Skynyrd Member Dies- Guitar Hero: Van Halen Confirmed- Chris Brown Wants LAPD Docs- Nude Cassie Photos Surface Online- Duff McKagan Radio and more

antiMusic reports: Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans has lost his battle with cancer, just four months after the rockers mourned the death of former keyboardist Billy Powell. The star passed away on Wednesday at the age of 48.more. Very sad news, our thoughts are with his friends and family. We just ran a Singled Out feature two days ago about Evanscapps, his side band with Bobby Capps of .38 Special. If you missed that you can read it here

Guitar Hero: Van Halen confirmed. Here is part of the Billboard report: Activision Blizzard is releasing three new music-based games this year: DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero, and also confirmed the existence of Guitar Hero: Van Halen. The company confirmed the development of Guitar Hero: Van Halen to videogame blog Joystiq. It is scheduled for release in the second half of the year.more

Chris Brown's attorney is seeking police records to try to find out who leaked information about the alleged beating of Rihannamore

Cassie is furious after pictures of her posing topless leaked onto the Internet. Personal photos of the R&B beauty hit the web on Wednesday and quickly spread to a number of gossip blogs. more

EMI Music has increased EBITDA to £163 million ($246 million) for the year ending March 2009, an increase of 219.6% on the 2007-2008 EBITDA of £51 million ($77 million). The profit increase at the recorded music division occurred during the first full year of ownership by private equity firm Terra Firmamore

Fab Four or Drab Four?: Lady GaGa has compared the Jonas Brothers to the Beatles. "They were responsible for the birth of the sexual revolution for women," she gushed to Britain's The Daily Star, before adding that the Jonas Brothers are currently the Liverpool legends' equivalent. more. Wow. We won't even touch that.

Seattle native Duff McKagan (Duff Mckagan's Loaded, Velvet Revolver, Guns N' Roses) will make his radio host debut next week with Radio Loaded, a one-hour show on 99.9 KISW The Rock Of Seattle and at Kisw.com. The show will air Tuesday, May 12 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.more

Ozzy Sellout! Someone who claims to be the "biggest Ozzy fan in New Jersey" is selling their Ozzy Osbourne collection for the low low price of $50,000! This little item caught our eye: the original Crazy Train single on Jet Records in which the Blizzard Of Ozz only has one Z, the seller states, "Not sure, but I read somewhere there was a copyright situation with MGM for the Wizzard Of Oz, and they had to change it." more. "Wizzard of Oz"?

Meanwhile here is some news about the incarnation of Black Sabbath that started after Ozzy left the band: "The Devil You Know", the new album from Heaven & Hell sold 30,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 8 on The Billboard 200 chart.more

Fleet Foxes have just released a brand new seven-inch on Sub Pop. The record features "Mykonos" and their cover of folk standard "False Knight on the Road".. They also have a line of North American dates coming up. Grab those here.

Slayer bassist/vocalist Tom Araya's sister Anamaria has been battling Ovarian Cancer for 13 years and the family has organized a benefit concert to take place on May 29th in Long Beach, California. The event will include sets from John Araya of Thine Eyes Bleed, Cisco Araya, Mister B, The Fallen Stars and more. There is more info available on the event's Myspace page .

American Idol finalist Allison Iraheta has a reason to cry. The flame-haired 17-year-old high school student from Los Angeles, who crooned Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby" for her rock performance this week, was revealed Wednesday to have received the fewest viewer votesmore

Another lesson on "be careful what you name your band": Cripple Bastards has unfortunately had to cancel their US tour, which was supposed to kick off this week in San Francisco, CA due to their drummer's broken hand not being completely healed.more

Another day and another person suing Jacko: Michael Jackson's publicist and general manager has filed a $44-million lawsuit against the pop star claiming he has not paid her for deals she's made.more

Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Amott issued comments about their Latin America tour and postponed Mexico show at Circo Volador on May 8th. Read it here

Feltham councilors want to install a memorial to rock legend Freddie Mercury in the town centre. The Queen frontman lived in Gladstone Avenue for almost 10 years and, after years of wrangling, councilors have finally agreed to recognize the success of Feltham's most famous export. more

Liferuiner has announced the departure of their vocalist and guitar player.more

The A.K.A.s have entered the studio with Jamie Woolford of The Stereo, Animal Chin and Let Go. The band is recording for the follow up to Everybody Make Some Noise!, with plans for a summer 2009 releasemore

Veteran British rockers UFO have decided not to celebrate their 40th birthday this year because lead singer Phil Mogg doesn't want his band to end up like Status Quo.more

Steel Panther, the '80s metal/hard rock comedy-tribute band formerly known as Metal Skool, made a grand entrance to the KUPD U-Fest this past weekend in Phoenix, Arizona when they jumped from an airplane and parachuted onto the stage. more

News Quicks are updated throughout the day, get the very latest - right here

80s Pop Star Popped For Meth

AP reports: Late-1980s pop artist Henry Lee 'I Wish I Had a Girl' Summer has been arrested in Indianapolis on methamphetamine possession and other charges.

Summer was arrested Tuesday after police say he threw drugs from his car during a traffic stop.

Officers who tried to pull him over for not using a turn signal say they needed pepper spray to subdue the singer, whose real name is Henry Lee Swartz. - more on this story

Daughtry Sets New Album Release

RCA reports: Daughtry unveils the title of its second album Leave This Town (19 Recordings/RCA). Released on July 14, the album once again produced by Howard Benson (All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance) features a dozen plus songs, including the first single, "No Surprise."

Chris Daughtry, bassist Josh Paul, drummer Joey Barnes, and guitarists Brian Craddock and Josh Steely recorded Leave This Town in Los Angeles. Much of the album explores the different paths we take in our search for transcendence. "A lot of it is about how leaps of faith can set us free or tie us down, and how we often find heartache when we run from something and redemption when we run toward something," says Chris Daughtry. - more on this story

Linkin Park Announce New Song

Metal Underground reports: Linkin Park has issued an update about the song "New Divide" premiering on May 18th and being used in the upcoming Transformers movie:

"Linkin Park's new song is called 'New Divide' and is the theme song for the upcoming movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The song will premiere on radio worldwide on May 18 and will also be available for download on iTunes that same day! In addition to writing the theme song for the movie, Linkin Park are contributing to the score of the movie. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens in the theaters on June 24.

"The opportunity to be creatively involved with one of the most anticipated films of the summer is pretty exciting. It's one thing to shoot a video that matches sound and vision, but making music that's built for the big screen is a completely different challenge and we ran with it." - More metal news here

Six New Green Day Songs Streaming Online

MusicRadar reports: MusicRadar has heard Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown in its entirety, and we can tell you it's a flat-out winner that expands on the masterpiece that was American Idiot.

A bold claim, right? Believe it. Curious to hear for yourself? Of course you are! Well, you can hear six cuts from the CD right now.

You can listen to a special segment of Los Angeles radio station KROQ's Kevin & Bean Show, during which Green Day premiered the new album. - more here including a link to the stream

Apple Backs Down After Being Trashed By Nine Inch Nails

NME reports: Nine Inch Nails' frontman Trent Reznor announced today (May 7) that Apple has approved an update of the Nine Inch Nails iPhone application.

Earlier this week, Apple rejected the update, saying it was in violation of a policy that bans "obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind", as previously reported.

Reznor responded with a rant on his website lambasting the makers of the popular personal device. - more on this story

Abba Duo Record New Songs

BBC reports: Abba duo Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus have unveiled their first new pop songs for more than 15 years.

One track, Second Best To None, has been recorded by employees at the hotel Andersson owns in Stockholm. It was written for the staff as a treat and has been released as a single in Sweden. "We all had some fun doing this. They can sing," Andersson said.

A second track, Story of A Heart, will appear on the first English-language album from Andersson's current band. - more on this story

Lita Ford Eyes Comeback With First Album in 18 Years

PR reports: Lita Ford is back. The Queen of Metal returns in full force on Wicked Wonderland, her first new US studio album in 18 years, being released early this fall on her own JLRG Entertainment label. After a 15-year break from music, living on an island in the Caribbean raising her two sons, Lita also hits the road this summer playing select festivals and motorcycle rallies in America and Europe.

"It's harder and sexier than anything I've ever done," says Lita of the record, which was co-produced by Ford, her husband and former Nitro singer Jim Gillette, and Greg Hampton, the songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer known for his work with Alice Cooper, his band Science Faxtion (with Bootsy Collins and Buckethead and Brain from Guns N' Roses) and other rock notables. Lita is backed on the record by drummer Stet Howland, formerly of W.A.S.P., Hampton on bass, rhythm guitar and keyboards, Gillette on background vocals, and its vivid cover art is by Rob Zombie bassist and solo artist Piggy D. - more on this story

The Cab, The Secret Handshake, A Rocket To The Moon, Eye Alaska, The Summer Set, Anarbor, and My Favorite Highway Announce What Happens in Vegas Tour

Fearless reports: Eager to hit the road again, Eye Alaska will be heating up the summer, hitting cities on the "What Happens in Vegas" tour alongside The Cab, The Secret Handshake, A Rocket To The Moon, The Summer Set, Anarbor, and My Favorite Highway.

The tour will kick off in Tucson, AZ and wrap in Las Vegas, NV. With a lineup like this, it's safe to say that what happens in vegas, should not stay in Vegas.

"We can't wait to tour with The Cab. It's going to be cool to be back on the road with some of our best friends, Anarbor and The Summer Set. "- Singer, Brandon Wronski

- dates

Would You Like A Sneak Peak At the New Crystal Method CD?

PR reports: The Crystal Method will world-premiere their not-yet-released album, Divided By Night, exclusively on iLike, the leading social music discovery service. The exclusive, five-day iLike listening event will culminate with the retail release of Divided By Night on May 12, 2009.

"We've always tried to improve on what we've done before," says Ken Jordan of The Crystal Method. "We're always trying to challenge ourselves. We don't really like to work with formulas which is why we're exposing fans to this album in a new way on iLike."

"The Crystal Method is one of the most popular electronic bands in the world and I'm thrilled that Ken and Scott chose to introduce their highly-anticipated fourth studio album to the world via iLike," said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike. - preview is here

Crown of Thorns Return with First New Album in Seven Years

PR reports: Crown of Thorns release their first record in seven years, Faith, on Lost Cathedral Records on June 9th. The disc marks the first time US fans will have the opportunity to buy a Crown of Thorns album in the states other than as an import since the beginning of the band's career.

Faith is a solid collection of rock tunes that brings back the trademark Crown of Thorns sound that established the band as a global force to be reckoned with and keeps intact all the elements of infectious guitar riffs, soaring hooklines, and great melodies. All songs on Faith were written and produced by frontman Jean Beauvoir except "Rock Ready" which he co-wrote with bassist Michael Paige and "Living In The Shadows" co-written with guitarist Tommy Lafferty. The CD's mystical undertones are culled from Beauvoir's voodoo heritage. His Uncle is internationally renowned Voodoo Priest Max Beauvoir, the inspiration behind the film and subject of the book "The Serpent and The Rainbow." (Wade Davis and Wes Craven).

"Over the years I've incorporated elements of Voodoo spirituality in my music. With Faith I tapped into my heritage and brought the symbolism and meaning behind Voodoo into the forefront both in image and feeling. I wanted fans to experience the energy and electricity through the music," explains Jean. - more on this story

Discover The Band That Influenced Wilco, R.E.M. and The Replacements

conqueroo reports: Big Star released two albums in the early '70s, neither of which set sales records. Yet in the 35 years that have ensued, artists like R.E.M., Wilco, The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Primal Scream, Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey, The Bangles and Steve Wynn have enthusiastically acknowledged the band's influence. On June 16, Ardent/Stax Records through Concord Music Group will reissue Big Star's #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974) albums, completely remastered with the never-before-released single mix of "In the Street" and single edit of "O My Soul."

Additionally, Ardent/Stax has released #1 Record and Radio City on two separate vinyl LPs featuring faithfully reproduced artwork, including the original Ardent Records labels.

Big Star's legacy has long outlasted its short tenure as a band. Led by ex-Box Tops singer Alex Chilton and including Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Andy Hummel (bass) and Jody Stephens (drums), the group's inspired mixture of '60s pop, powered interplay and irresistible melody was exciting and special: it was out of step with the mainstream rock sounds of 1972. Though Chilton had come off of a #1 blue-eyed soul hit, the Box Tops' "The Letter," Big Star's music was a glorious mesh of British-influenced pop, Byrds-esque harmonies, taut edginess and studio expertise. Traces of the Beatles, the Kinks and Badfinger pulsate through their repertoire. - more on this story

Nebula Return To The Tee Pee

Tee Pee reports: L.A. power trio Nebula, whose cosmic cocktail of heavy riffs, electric blues and psychedelic space rock has earned the band international (and, dare we say, universal) acclaim have returned to Tee Pee Records and will release Heavy Psych on July 7th.

Nebula released their first album on Tee Pee in 1998 titled Let It Burn. Let It Burn is being reissued on vinyl later this year and will be released as a limited edition double LP, the first LP containing the original Let It Burn album plus two bonus tracks and a second LP will contain the original demos from the Let It Burn sessions.

The great swirling, electrical ball of dynamism and potential known as Nebula formed in the mythical abyss of Los Angeles in 1997. In its current incarnation the band is comprised of Eddie Glass (Guitar/Vocals), Rob Oswald (Drums) and Tom Davies (Bass/Vocals). - more on this story

Oak Ridge Boys TV Special

Webster and Assoc reports: In the times of declining music sales, one thing is for sure – Legends Last Forever!!! This past week, Gaither Music Group released The Oak Ridge Boys: A Gospel Journey on DVD and CD, which debuted on the Billboard Music Video chart at #2!!!

Hosted by Bill Gaither and filmed before an intimate audience of friends and fellow-artists at Gaither Studios, this DVD release features more than 90 minutes of live performances by the Oak Ridge Boys singing their best-loved gospel favorites, combined with vintage footage and photos of their 36-year journey together.

To catch the television special highlighting A Gospel Journey, check out the following air dates and times. - listing here plus more info

Packaging Is King For Portugal. The Man

HER reports: These days, elaborate album artwork is a thing of the past, as more and more, we favor downloads over CDs and records. But no one has bothered telling that to Portugal. The Man's frontman, John Baldwin Gourley. For the group's brand-new album, The Satanic Satanist (which drops July 21 via the band's own Approaching AIRBalloons imprint), Gourley and art designer Austin Sellers have come up with an extremely striking package - featuring Gourley's trademark surreal, psychedelic-era drawings - that folds out, Origami-like, into different shapes and sizes - and just may help usher in a renaissance of innovative album packaging artwork.

"I've had this idea for a little while," explains Gourley, "but what it would take to actually make it happen seemed overwhelming. We had been talking about doing an album package without the plastic, to make the package one, solid piece where all the elements worked together from both an artistic and practical point of view. Every time you folded or unfolded it, everything still lined up to be a picture. Also, we wanted to incorporate a lot of [Gourley's home state] Alaska into the artwork, which is where all the photos of mountains in the artwork were taken."

While it's understandable to assume that the stunning artwork was a conscious response to the dwindling amount of imaginative album covers nowadays, Gourley says this was not entirely the case. "I'd like to say that's the reason and that it's some sort of marketing tool to get people to buy the album, but really, it's just such a huge part of what we do. Austin and I love sitting down and putting the packages together, and it's something that is really important to the band - to be able to offer fans something visual as well as the music. As musicians and artists, we're so lucky, because we get to be involved with all sides of art - album artwork, videos, posters, and t-shirts." - more on this story

Destroyers Get Virtuous Reissue

MMP reports: Metal Mind Productions presents the exclusive re-release of "The Miseries of Virtue", which perfectly captures the sheer essence of Destroyers. New digipak edition includes 8 bonus tracks taken from the Polish language version of the album. The release date is scheduled for 22nd June in Europe and 14th July in USA (via MVD).

Destroyers is one of the most influential groups in the entire history of Polish heavy metal. Back in late 80's and early 90's, they were one of the few heroes of the scene, bringing together thousands of metal fans all across Poland.

Today their legend still lives on and the re-issue of their second and final album, "The Miseries of Virtue", proves it! The album released in 1991 showcased a lot of progress, both musically and lyrically, becoming an ideal summary of the group's career. Unfortunately, due to unknown reasons the group soon dissolved. - more on this story

Far From Finished Live Up To Their Name With New Deal

PR reports: Street punk from Boston might be an accurate summation, but a sincere understatement of the musical prowess of the veteran ensemble. Since the band's inception, countless touring miles logged behind the wheel, performing on stages across the world and back again, combined with the well rounded ear of seasoned songwriters, Far From Finished is so much more than punk. With three studio releases under their belt, Far From Finished's ability to harness a real sense of melody, meshed with an undeniably explosive delivery has made the band a true to form diamond in the rough.

The latest addition to the burgeoning Southern California punk rock label Old Shoe Records, Far From Finished has returned to the studio with a collection of their most ambitious work to date for their Old Shoe Records debut. As the industry's dark horse, the boys have not only earned their stripes but have redefined the punk rock standard as a six-piece outfit with an uncompromising approach to songwriting. The potency ensures a new record guaranteed to kick a hole in the conventional. Veteran songwriter and Far From Finished drummer Marc Cannata explains, "With this record we are aiming to take an uncomfortably honest look into our lives."

In a strong example of the kind of maturity that comes with endless touring and sheer devotion to their craft, Far From Finished might be punk rock, but have effectively created a sub-genre all their own as the band has included eclectic elements of everything from 60's pop to post modern art rock, the likes of Wilco and others. Tastefully showcasing the band's influences has transformed Far From Finished into a one of a kind musical powerhouse. - more on this story

Walk Off the Earth Releasing New Album In Parts

PR reports: May 29th, 2009 will mark the release date of Walk Off the Earth's first 7 track installment of their new album, My Rock. Never wanting to sit still, the Burlington reggae rock threesome are breaking My Rock in two and releasing Part 1 on May 29th, and Part 2 later this year.

Following up 2007's colorful Smooth Like Stone on a Beach, the band has recorded some of their most honest songs to date, while keeping in line with their party-all-the-time attitude that made their debut such a hit! Released on the bands own label, SlapDash Records, and recorded in their own studio (The Stoodz) the album is the sound of friendship, late nights, and hours of hard work finally ready for the public's ears.

Walk off the Earth will release the album with friends Mean Tangerine And Tall Guy Short Guy (members of the Johnstones) at the Reverb on May 29th (poster below). They'll then tour the new release heavily throughout the summer, including dates on the Vans Warped Tour. The band is well known for their experimental and captivating live sets, and have shared stages with many notable acts such as; Bedouin Soundclash, K-os, ill Scarlett, and more. - more on this story

Rock Plaza Central Announces Tour In Support of Longwinded New Album

PR reports: Toronto six-piece Rock Plaza Central will be heading out on an extensive tour of Canada and the United States, in support of their forthcoming release and Paper Bag Records debut, At The Moment Of Our Most Needing, Or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren't Alone, coming out on June 16th. The album is the band's follow-up to 2006's critically-acclaimed release, Are We Not Horses?

Frontman Chris Eaton describes the album as capturing the "Rock" part of their band name. Not that Needing will be mistaken for an Eagles of Death Metal or Thin Lizzy release any time soon. Instead, while nodding to acts like Palace/Oldham, Tom Waits, Van Morrison and even Led Zeppelin, the sound is undeniably their own.

With two critically-acclaimed novels under his belt (one that has been studied on three university courses already), Eaton is that very rare artist that has nurtured success in both the literary and musical worlds. And it's the literary world that inspires the album this time, too, tipping a hat to William Faulkner's Light in August, with the songs centering mostly on going out into the world in search of an impossible dream only to find it and wonder whether you really wanted it in the first place. - more on this story

Singled Out: Psychostick

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Psychostick's Alex Preiss tells us about "Minimum Rage" from comedy rockers brand new album "Sandwich". We now turn it over to Alex for the story:

For singled out, I thought I would share some insight about the song, "Minimum Rage." Everyone has had a crappy job at some point in their life. Most of those people have also worked in fast food. So, when Josh started writing the lyrics for this one, we started talking about some of the horror stories we have about working in the food industry! Rob worked at KFC, Josh at Whataburger, Jake at Wendys (for a day), Jimmy at Hardees, and I worked at Sonic for a couple years.

One of the best/worst things that ever happened to me was when I had a shift doing the drive-thru one day. This big fat guy came up and ordered some stuff, including a large thing of fries. Now, the policy at Sonic is to put 2 ketchup packets in the bags, so the company isn't wasting money on it. The thought is, if they want more, they will ask...and they do! I gave fat guy his bag of burgers and fries, and he asked for more ketchup. That's fine; I got him about 4 more packets. (That makes 6 total). Then, he asked for MORE, and was a little more pushy about it, so I have him 5 more. (That makes 11 total). While all of this was happening, fat guy was holding up my drive-thru line! By then, I probably had between 4 and 6 cars waiting in line behind him. So, I started preparing the drinks for the cars in line, and the cooks were getting me the bags of food for everyone in line, and it all started piling up. After a couple of minutes of fat guy staring at me, I finally went back to the window and asked what he wanted. "I WANT MORE KETCHUP!" Fine, I got him more ketchup. I got him the biggest handful I could grab, and plopped it in his bag. His response was "You don't gotta be a jerk about it," and he sped away. So he got what he wanted, sort of, plus a finger out the window.

When I shared this story with the guys in my band, I quickly realized that we all had stories like this! So, we sing about what we know. And we know that working fast food sucks.

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

. First Look: Max Morgan

Liverpool, England has turned out a lot of great musicians and Max Morgan is no exception. He is likable, charming, and honest as evidenced by his opinion that the music industry should leave reprimanding pirates to the navy and concentrate on music. - Read the full First Look: Max Morgan review

. Black Elk - Always a Six, Never a Nine

Always a Six, Never a Nine is a fitting name for this sophomore effort from Portland, Oregon's Black Elk. Beyond its numerical title, Always grooves with mathematically-plotted dissonance, the likes of which is as structured as it is abrasive. - Read the full Black Elk - Always a Six, Never a Nine review

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