Depeche Mode Singer Rushed To The Hospital

Around 30,000 people had gathered at the Terra Vibe park near Athens, paying up to 100 euros a ticket to watch one of Britain's most successful and longest-lived bands. - more on this story

Paul Rodgers Done With Queen

MusicRadar reports: Paul Rodgers says he's "done" with Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor. In a reprint of a VH1 Classic Radio interview with the singer, printed on Brian May's official website, Rogers says: "We did a world tour, we did a second tour of Europe and the Far East and Eastern Europe and a studio album (The Cosmos Rocks) and I think we're kind of leaving it there gently."

He adds: "It's out there for us to do things in the future if there's something - a huge charity say like Nelson Mandela - but I think we are pretty much done."

Q+PR's only album was The Cosmos Rocks in 2008, though sales are known to be disappointing even though the band played live to just short of a million people. The band's latest release is a CD/DVD, titled Queen + Paul Rodgers Live In Ukraine, which is released on 15 June. - more on this story

Jay-Z Announces Intimate Performances

Live Nation reports: Jay-Z officially announced today that he will headline a series of intimate performances to connect with fans as he takes a break from putting the finishing touches on his upcoming album, The Blueprint 3.

Backed by his full band, the exclusive engagements begin July 3rd at the Pearl in the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

Five dates in all have been confirmed thus far with more to be announced. Ciara will open on these select dates. - date info

Alexisonfire Returning with New Album And Tour

MSO reports: Coming off their 2007 breakout album Crisis--which achieved platinum-selling status in Canada after debuting at #1 on the Top 200 Nielsen Soundscan Chart there--Alexisonfire have announced they'll release their fourth studio album Old Crows/Young Cardinals June 23 on Vagrant Records. Fans can get an early listen of "Young Cardinals"--the first single off the new album--up now exclusively on IMEEM here

For the new album, the St. Catharines, Ontario-based rock group re-teamed with Julius "Juice" Butty (Protest the Hero, City and Colour) to produce. Even more intense and focused than before, the sound here is bracingly rhythmic, shot through with a do-or-die vocal urgency and sharp harmonies.

"Old Crows/Young Cardinals was built on the foundation of Crisis, musically it moves at a feverish pace," explains singer Pettit. "The lyrics span from metaphysical rebellion, to living as a nomad. This album is the culmination of the history of our band. Personally, I feel it is our best record yet, but you get to be the judge of that." - more on this story

Collective Soul and Gavin DeGraw Co-headlining Tour

PR reports: Multi-platinum rockers Collective Soul and platinum recording artist Gavin DeGraw will hit the road this summer on a co-headlining tour [in select cities in] the U.S. [which should be dubbed "The Nowhere Near You Tour"]

The multi-city run kicks off June 22 at the House of Blues in Cleveland, OH. Green River Ordinance will join this tour as the opening act. Tickets go on sale beginning May 15th at CollectiveSoul.com and GavinDegraw.com, with fan club pre-sales for both artists starting Thursday May 14th. This tour marks the first time both bands have toured together, but they have long been mutual fans. The tour announcement will also be released via Twitter.

Collective Soul frontman Ed Roland says, "We are excited to get back out on the road this summer, and are delighted it's with Gavin. The band has always been big fans, and we look forward to some great shows." - more on this story

Bauhaus David J Helped Raise A Vampire With Moog

PR reports: "You Raised A Vampire" the new single by Budapest alternative rock band The Moog is being released on 7" clear gold vinyl. "You Raised A Vampire" is the ultimate garage-goth dance rocker for the 21st Century, with its dramatic interplay of theatrical vocals (by baritone-voiced singer Tonyo Szabo), Moog synthesizer hooks, double-picked electric guitars and disco-infused hi-hat and drum action. The song is an ode to romantic love with vampiric aspirations and re-introduces The Moog to the world as the premier rock band from Eastern Europe. "You Raised A Vampire" is from The Moog's sophomore effort Razzmatazz Orfeum, out July 21st via MuSick Recordings.

The single has already gone straight to number one in its first week on National radio station Radio Petofi in Hungary (the largest station and heard all over the country).

If the A-side doesn't leave a deep bite mark in the neck of the current rock scene, how about a Bauhaus classic for the B-side? THE MOOG sinks their teeth into "The Passion Of Lovers" – the UK band's 1981 gem - and make it their own. Their arrangement so impressed Bauhaus/Love & Rockets bassist/vocalist David J that he joined in and added backing vocals, bass harmonica, and the stamp of art-rock authenticity that only an original Bauhaus member can provide. - Check out both tracks from THE MOOG's 7-inch single

Late Skynyrd Star's Last Project Hits Stores

PR reports: Evanscapps, the side project of Ean Evans (bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Bobby Capps (keyboardist for .38 Special), released its album, "Last Time," Tuesday (May 12th), via Rock Ridge Music. As has been widely reported in the media, Evans passed away on May 6th after losing his battle with cancer. He was 48.

Rock Ridge Music plans to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the album in Evans' name to Lyrics For Life (www.lyricsforlife.org), a charity founded by labelmates Sister Hazel that benefits children with cancer and their families

Says Capps about Evans: "Although I am having a hard time with all of this, I made a promise to Ean, and I intend to see it through. I have consulted with Ean's family, and we have all agreed that we should carry the torch that he ignited three years ago when we started this CD. One of his biggest dreams was to have this music heard. He was so proud when the project was finally signed and the record was going to get the distribution it so well deserved. I know in my heart of hearts that he is smiling down on us today, proud that our efforts will finally have a chance to be heard. He always said, 'This music will do the talking if we can just get people to hear it.'" - more on this story

The Germs Announce US Tour

NME reports: The Germs have announced a headlining tour of the US, kicking off June 12 in Sacramento, CA. [TKO reports that Krum Bums will open the tour]

The band is currently fronted by actor Shane West, and was the subject of a movie entitled 'What We Do Is Secret' which features West in the lead role.

The band's original singer Darby Crash, whose real name was Jan Paul Beahm, commit suicide in 1980 at the age of 22. - more on this story

Beatles Day

BBC reports: The second Beatles Day has been officially launched by John Lennon's sister Julia Baird with Merseyside actor and comedian Ricky Tomlinson.

At the launch at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, they handed £50,000 raised from 2008's fundraiser to charities the Imagine Appeal and Liverpool Unites.

Cash raised on the 2009 Beatles Day on 10 July will again go to Imagine, as well as the Marina Dalglish Appeal. - more on this story

Duff Praises Axl, Discusses Possibility of Original Guns N' Roses Members Coming Together Again

Blabbermouth reports: The latest issue of U.K.'s Classic Rock magazine features an interview with former Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan. An excerpt from the chat follows.

Classic Rock: What did you think of [the latest Guns N' Roses album] "Chinese Democracy"? McKagan: I was glad to hear Axl's [Rose] voice. I've always been a fan of his voice. He's one of the real ones. I'm in sort of a different position listening to that record, because I'm not listening to it for it to sound like anything I was part of, because I know it's not that. I think Axl sang his ass off. He made the record he wanted to make and I'm happy for him. I thought he did a great job.

Classic Rock: Do you think there will be a point where the five of you will be friends again, able to just sit down and talk about the old days? McKagan: Wouldn't that be great? I think Guns were five dudes with this shared vision. We met and it was the exact right five guys. I'd been in enough bands before to know that there's always a weak link in a band. The moment we got in a room and played the first three chords, we all knew it. ... So yeah, as part of a perfect world we could all go out to dinner without our wives or anything and say, "Congratulations. We're all alive, and people still freak out over what we did." Will that happen? I don't know. It's probably utopian. - Read the full excerpt from the interview and check out the video

Singled Out: Autumn Hour

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Justin Jurman from Autumn Hour tells us about the title track from their brand new album "Dethroned". We now turn it over to Justin for the story:

The song I'm thinking of is actually the title track off our debut record "Dethroned." The record itself is a conceptual narration loosely based around the writings of Futurist / Technologist Ray Kurzweil in his ground breaking book "The Singularity Is Near." I had read this book several years ago and was ecstatic that the band was interested in taking on such a heady topic as a theme to our record. To get myself back into the head space of the concept, I actually read the book a second time while writing material. That is one of the reasons there is such resonance between our concept, the music, and the lyrics.

The intro / verse riff came to me very quickly while writing. To me, the opening riff is a seminal sound and feel for the band. For some reason, it touches people that are fans of any genre of music. When I played our record for a world-renowned jazz guitarist, he singled this song out as a favorite because of the tempo, groove, and key changes. I never get tired of how our vocalist Alan Tecchio approaches these verses. The melody is so powerful and evenly matches the virility of the verse riff itself.

When I write and want to create an interesting mood or dramatic change, I think of writing songs within songs. Technically, as a player and producer, I like to get into nesting parts on a macro level by creating several different tracks that add to the feel of a given part. The chorus section is a good example of that, and what I find most interesting is that although the second chorus is in the same key as the first and third, we bring the dynamics down way low. The bass line during the chorus section really pulls all these nested parts together. Our bassist Clint Arent approached the chorus with the perfect melodic line that is really just so tasteful.

That sets the stage for the enormity of the breakdown / guitar solo section that follows. I'm very proud of the energy in the solo section. Our drummer Dave Lescinsky gets into some very intricate, fractured and technical parts for the first half and then just opens the tune up into a straight-out rocker. Oddly enough, portions of the solo were recorded in my home studio utilizing Pro Tools. I brought the session files to our engineer and he was then able to manipulate them within the tracks on his Pro Tools system.

Lastly, if you listen to the outro section there is heavy breathing in the background that is in synch with the tempo. It sounds like a person running… That adds to the drama of the song and a listener might not realize what it is that they are hearing on the first spin.

I personally love records that offer something new on each listen and I certainly hope our fans will feel that way about "Dethroned." The song can be heard at - www.myspace.com/autumnhour.

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