Suicide By Tour Bus

EDIT/UPDATE: OK, we're back out on tour now, just came into the venue in Brussels. Everyone's alright, but I can see that they're shaken. Apparently it was a clear suicide attempt as the car had not made a U-turn but was actually standing sideways covering one complete lane. As our busdrivers changed lane, the car backed and covered that one instead, and obviously by then, at approximately 80 km/h, it was all over. Our bus crashed into the driver side of the car and the guy, who was 35 years old pretty much died then and there. The paramedics apparently saw signs of life but he died soon after the initial impact. They had found something in his cellphone, some type of message, but we don't know what it said obviously. - You can read his full updates at Myspace for all the details

Def Leppard Cancel Tour

antiMusic reports: We have bad news for Def Leppard fans who were hoping to catch the band live this Fall on their third North American tour leg. The band announced this weekend that they were forced to pull the plug on the outing.

Here is what they had to say: Due to unforeseen personal matters, the third leg of Def Leppard's North American Tour, set to begin on October 22nd, has been cancelled.

"We know how truly blessed we are to have such committed fans," said the band in a statement. "That's why we've agonized over this decision. Even if just a single concert, we don't take cancelling shows lightly, but unfortunately life's commitments need to be the priority." - Def Lep site for the latest

Metallica Kill Big Four Tour Hopes

Rock Radio reports: The much-rumored Big Four thrash metal tour is not going to happen, says Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett. Gossip has been swirling for months over Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax hitting the road together.

Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo recently commented that plans were on the table, although nothing firm had been arranged, while members the three other acts made positive noises about the idea.

However, Hammett now states no such tour will take place, and his words have the sound of permanence about them. "That tour is not gonna happen. I've been hearing that. We've all been hearing it for a while. I get asked regularly. It's a good idea and I can see the significance of playing a tour like that." He says. "There's conflicting schedules, conflicting personalities - a lot of conflicting things. It's not gonna happen." - there is more

Korn Head Up Halos N' Horns Music Festival

PR reports: AHL Productions and KROQ announced today the initial lineup for this year's Halos N' Horns Music Festival. It is Orange County's first Halloween music festival that will include a cash prize for the best costume. The festival will offer exclusive performances by both long established and newcomers at the Orange County Fair and Event Center (OCFEC) on Friday, October 30.

A full list of confirmed acts include Korn, Shiny Toy Guns, Girl Talk, Shwazye featuring Cisco Adler, BassNectar, Iglu and Hartly, Far East Movement, KIDS at the Bar, Emarosa, Austrian Death Machine, I am Ghost, The Union Sound, Droid and I:Alive. More acts to be announced in the coming weeks.

Totaling more than 100 bands performing on 13 stages, Halos N' Horns Music Festival has become Orange County's largest music event. The 2009 lineup serves up a collection of acts rich with rock, indie rock, pop rock, hip-hop, laptronica, alternative, and metalcore to name a few. Most bands are California natives aimed to offer musical discovery for the fans. - more on this story

Rock Band: Queen

PR reports: Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that legendary rockers Queen will be added to the Rock Band platform, with a 10-pack of songs available next week in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Wii. Tracks from Blink-182 and The Offspring will also be available for download this week for Rock Band Unplugged on PSP (PlayStationPortable) system.

Rock Band DLC Additions for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 System and Wii Available on Xbox 360 and Wii (October 20th) and PlayStation 3 system (October 22nd).

Queen, composed of Brian May, John Deacon, Roger Taylor and quintessential frontman Freddie Mercury, formed in England in 1970. The group has released 15 studio albums and was known for their epic live concerts. Queen will release Absolute Greatest November 17th, featuring 20 of the band's biggest hits. - more on this story

Banned In The USSR

Rock Radio reports: A secret Cold War document has been revealed, listing bands the Soviet Union refused to allow to be heard in youth discos - and while the usual suspects are high in the ratings there's a few surprising entries too.

The Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Judas Priest and AC/DC all appear, as might be expected. But alongside them are some surprising entries, including "punk violence" acts Madness and Blondie, and "neofascist" performers Julio Iglesias and 10cc.

The People's Cube has translated the paper into English, detailing the reasons why 38 acts were not to be heard in the USSR during the mid-1980s. The site editor explains: "We never saw it before because it was for internal use only, but we felt the invisible presence of such lists throughout life in the Motherland." - more on this story

Rodrigo y Metallica- Slash Has Only One Song To Go- Skid Row Sex Rehab- Flaming Lips Side of the Moon- Elvis Presley's Hair Auctioned and more

antiMusic reports: Before we get to today's quicks, we have a quick thanks to all of the readers who took the time to submit suggestions for our annual "what artists do you want us to cover" survey. Like last year's survey, we got a lot of great submissions for artists and this helps us shape the Day in Rock so we know which artists to keep our eyes on. We will do our best over the next month to add the new suggestions to our "be on the look out" list. But we ask that you please be patient as we received suggestions over a thousand artists. So rest assured, we'll do our best to bring you the latest on the artists you want to know about. Thanks again to everyone for taking part. We'll keep the suggestion box up for another week, in case you haven't had a chance to put in your favs yet. You'll find it at the end of the first page of the Day in Rock report each day this week. With that out of the way let's get on with today's quick rock news stories.

Robert Trujillo from Metallica jammed on stage with Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela this past Friday night, during their cover of 'Orion' at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The act is known for nimble-fingered classical guitar work and a diverse musical background that fuses traditional flamenco music with heavy metal and rock more

Slash says that he has one final song to record for his anxiously-awaited solo album. "This song is really cool and the singer is amazing," he adds.more

Century Media will release Sentenced's complete discography in a coffin styled box set on November 13th. Entitled Coffin - The Complete Discography, the set will include 16 CDs (144 audio tracks), 2 DVDs (42 videos) and a book. more

The Quireboys are releasing a new acoustic/Americana style album this November called 'Halfpenny Dancer' which features new versions of King of New York, There She Goes Again and Roses and Rings amongst others. The album also features some surprise cover versions.more

Former Skid Row and Saigon Kick drummer Phil Varone is scheduled to appear on VH1's new series Sex Rehab With Dr. Drewmore

A Day To Remember will be releasing the highly anticipated Homesick Deluxe Special Edition on October 26th, 2009! Not only does it include additional acoustic bonus tracks, but a DVD that you can only find in the deluxe edition. Watch the video here get a peak at what you can expect… the footage includes a full live performance from Switzerland, behind the scenes footage of the band, and music videos.

A clump of hair believed to have been trimmed from Elvis Presley's head when he joined the Army in 1958 has sold for $15,000 at a Chicago auction house. more

The Flaming Lips have reportedly recorded a cover version of Pink Floyd's entire Dark Side Of The Moon album, according to The Los Angeles Times. more

That's odd: San Antonio police are investigating the wounding of a man after his elderly father allegedly opened fire when the victim refused to stop drumming. more -

Abigail Williams Announce Two Limited Editions

PR reports: Candlelight Records today confirms two limited edition versions of Abigail Williams' popular debut album, "In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns." Set for release January 12, the special formats will kick off the band's first tour of 2010, their fifth in support of the album.

The deluxe edition will feature a bonus disc containing five previously unavailable tracks plus the band's video for the song "Into the Ashes." Limited to 1000 copies, the vinyl pressing has been a request of fans since the album's late-2008 release.

Discussing the deluxe edition, vocalist/guitarist Sorceron reveals, "the first song, 'I Am (God)' is a new song that signifies the first collaboration between new keyboard player Alana and myself. 'In Death Comes the Great Silence' reveals a new direction that the band has been working towards over the last year while 'Infernal Divide' is another new song that once again redefines that Abigail Williams sound." - more on this story

Snow Patrol Late Night Tales

PR reports: For the 22nd edition of what Uncut Magazine calls "the excellent series of bespoke artist compilations", Snow Patrol presents the world with an impeccably selected and mixed Late Night Tales, which will see release in the United States on November 3rd.

If you think you know Snow Patrol, think again. Of course, there's the band who are capable of outselling the Arctic Monkeys, getting numerous nominations for Brits, and monopolising the upper reaches the charts with alarming regularity with their superior song theory and balladeering.

This Snow Patrol has enjoyed platinum sales of their 'Eyes Open' album (in both UK and USA) and musical appearances on everything from Spiderman 3 to Grey's Anatomy. This Snow Patrol has toured with U2, performed at Live Earth and appeared on Saturday Night Live. It doesn't get much bigger than that. - more on this story

New York Doll Steve Conte Sets Solo Release

Noble reports: To rock and rollers around the globe, the legendary Steve Conte is probably best known as the lead guitarist, songwriter/and backing vocalist in the New York Dolls. Conte is also the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for a raft of other bands including Crown Jewels, The Contes, and his latest incarnation - Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth.

The NY Dolls will be touring the UK this December, but Steve's solo album is out on November 30th, just three days before the Dolls hit the UK shores.

Sonically, The Crazy Truth lies somewhere between garage rock and punk blues with hints of Latin-soul in a dark, smoky lounge. It's the Stooges and the Stones versus Morphine and Tom Waits. The overall vibe is best described by Conte as "classic roots with a modern twist." - more on this story

Arctic Monkeys American Tour

Domino reports: The Arctic Monkeys will return to America in December, starting with Chicago on the 6th. You'll find the full dates listed below.

Additionally, Arctic Monkeys will also be releasing "Cornerstone" as the second single from their latest album, Humbug, which debuted at #1 on the UK charts. The 10" release will feature three new b-sides ("Catapult," "Sketchead" and "Fright Lined Dining Room"), and will be available digitally on Tuesday, November 17th and physically on Tuesday, December 8th.

The band recently performed the song at their guest appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, which you can see here

- dates are here

Singled Out: Blackberry Smoke

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Charlie Starr from Blackberry Smoke tells us about "Up In Smoke" from their brand new album "Little Piece of Dixie" (which received 4.5 stars from antiMusic's Gary Schwind). We now turn it over to Charlie for the story:

"Up In Smoke" was a collaboration between the band and our buddy, Randy Houser. We got together with Randy in Nashville one day for a little picking-writing session. It was pretty evident from the get-go that everyone involved had imbibed just enough liquid refreshment the night before to make even shaking hands a little difficult.

A little "hair of the dog" was immediately administered to lubricate everyone's motor skills, and away we went. The chorus was put together very quickly, and part of the first verse was coming together when the inevitable happened. Laughter took over. I believe it was Randy who started to sing a song from "Revenge Of The Nerds" in the middle of the proceedings, and I guess I quickly followed suit by trying to make
"What you talkin' bout, Willis?" fit into the song somehow. Nevertheless, it was decided that we should take our little midday party to a bar and finish the song later.

The next week I was at home and stumbled across the demo of that hilarious session. I quickly realized that, despite the silliness, I thought it was a really great song. So I sat down in the lazy boy and finished the rest of it. This is probably a "you had to be there" kind of story, but it was a freakin funny experience. I guess that acoustic demo is floating around somewhere. Maybe Randy's got it.

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!

What Artists Do You Want To See News For?

Day in Rock reports: We do our best to bring you broad coverage of the world of rock but there is always room for improvement! So we need your help. Is there an artist that you love but isn't getting covered here or isn't getting enough coverage? Let us know so that we'll know to keep an eye out for them.

Use the submission form below to list any artists you would like to see covered in the Day in Rock. If you have more than one, just use a comma to separate the names. It's that simple! Thanks ahead of time for helping us out with your suggestions.

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