Echo and the Bunnymen Member Killed

Known to fans as the "Fifth Bunnyman", he had been associated with the Liverpool band since their 80s heyday and became a full-time member in 1989. In 1989 the band's first drummer Pete De Freitas died in a similar crash. - more on this story

Illness Sidelines Nine Inch Nails As They Plan to Play Final Shows

Blabbermouth reports: Nine Inch Nails has cancelled Thursday's (September 3) concert at Los Angeles' Henry Fonda Theatre due an unspecified illness suffered by the band's mainman, Trent Reznor.

The show was to be NIN's second of four gigs in Los Angeles; the fourth show at the city's Echoplex will mark the final NIN concert ever. There is no word yet whether the Henry Fonda performance will be rescheduled or canceled.

"We're very sorry to announce that Trent is ill, and on his doctor's orders we will not be able to perform tonight's show at the Henry Fonda Theater," reads a statement on the NIN web site. "This is the only information we have at this time, we're posting this early announcement as a convenience for those of you who had plans to attend. Reimbursement details will be posted as soon as we figure them out; likely within the next 24 hours. We wish this wasn't necessary and we're very sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding." - more on this story

Wanna See Kurt Cobain Sing Bon Jovi?

antiMusic reports: Raise your hand: Who here thinks Kurt Cobain would approve of his likeness being used in a video game? Ok that has mixed results. What if that character sang a Bon Jovi song? Think he would like that much? Than this report from Blabbermouth will have spinning in his grave:

Not only has late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain made it into Guitar Hero 5 as a playable character, as previously reported, but apparently you can make his avatar play guitar right-handed and sing Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name", along with songs from Megadeth, Public Enemy and Nirvana wannabes Bush (see video at full story link). A "highlight reel" of what you can do with the Cobain character in Career Mode was posted online Tuesday (September 1), the same day that the game arrived in stores. In addition to the Cobain avatar, the NIRVANA songs "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium" appear in a Guitar Hero game for the first time.

Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, played a major role in putting Cobain's image together for the game, Activision's Vice President of Music Affairs Tim Riley told RollingStone.com. It is not clear whether Love had any opinion on what the unlockable Cobain character could perform, or just took the money and ran.

- You know you wanna see Kurt sing Bon Jovi. Click here and watch. And yes he is probably rolling over in his grave at this very moment.

Metallica TV This Weekend

antiMusic reports: Sonisphere Festival 2009 will be aired on MTV's high def channel Pallaidia this weekend and will feature performances from Metallica, Linkin Park, Anthrax, Alice in Chains, Machine Head and more: The special airs Saturday, 9/5 at 9pm and Sunday, 9/6 at 9pm.

Metallica.com had this info on the specials: The Sonisphere Festival is a series of rockin' summer music festivals taking place across Europe and features some of the biggest and best bands in Hard Rock and Metal.

Part 1 of the 2009 festival premieres Saturday, 9/5 and features performances by artists such as Metallica, Linkin Park, and Anthrax.

Part 2 of the 2009 festival premieres Sunday, 9/6 and features performances by artists such as Machine Head, Limp Bizkit, and Alice in Chains. - more on this story

Free Zeppelin Music For All of Zeptember- Slash Makes 1.6 Million In One Night?- No Rush for Rush- Rolling White Striped Stones- Stooges Reunion- TV On Hold and more

antiMusic reports: All month, Rhino Records is celebrating Zeptember. Check out Rhino's Twitter profile, they're giving away free Led Zeppelin music everyday. But it looks like you gotta know your Zeppelin trivia to get the free goods. Try your luck here

According to Norway's Fædrelandsvennen, guitar legend Slash (Velvet Revolver, ex-Guns N' Roses) was paid 10 million Norwegian kroner (approximately $1.65 million US) for his headlining appearance at this year's edition of the Quart Festival that was held on June 30th in Kristiansand, Norway. In comparison, DAVID BOWIE was paid 1.2 million Norwegian kroner (approximately $198,000 US) in 2002 for his appearance at the festival. How very ironic. more

Rush could be back on the road with a new album in 2010. The trio would love to work again with Nick Raskulinecz, who co-produced the last studio album, Snakes & Arrows, but he'll have to hang on a bit longer. more

Keith Richards says he has been recording with Jack White, but the Rolling Stones guitarist refused to say too much about what exactly the two guitar greats have been working on. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Richards said they've "done a couple tracks" but wouldn't confirm rumors that White would produce a new Stones album.more

Former Stooges guitarist James Williamson was in the parking lot of his dentist's office earlier this year when he heard a familiar voice on his cellphone: Iggy Pop. "He asked me if I wanted to play guitar again," says Williamson, who hasn't performed a single gig since the Stooges dissolved in 1974. "I was about to take an early retirement from my job in Silicon Valley, so I figured 'What the hell, let's do it.' "more

TV on the Radio have announced that they'll be taking a year off. In an interview with MTV News, Adebimpe said that the band's recent appearance at San Francisco's Outside Lands festival would be the last time they perform for a bit. "This was the last show for us for a while," he said. "We've decided to take, well, the going theory is to take about a year off, because you have to go and live a life and change things up." more

Megadeth will perform on NBC-TV's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on Thursday, September 17. (Note: The program will actually air the morning of Friday, September 18). Wanna check it out in person?

Lenny Kravitz has been added to the bill as a headliner at this year's Voodoo Experience festival in New Orleans, organizers announced Thursday (Sept. 3). more

Blindside fans can check out a new interview done in Las Vegas this past Saturday. Read it here

Anthrax, featuring vocalist John Bush (Anthrax's singer from 1992 to 2005), will perform at this year's installment of the Loud Park festival more

The Tracii Guns version of L.A. Guns - fronted by vocalist/guitarist Jizzy Pearl, with Tracii's son Jeremy on bass and Chad Stewart on drums - has issued their finalized 2009 tour schedule. Confirmed dates are here.

A full American Fall Pelican tour has been announced. The tour begins just days before the release of the band's upcoming Southern Lord Records debut, 'What We All Come To Need,' which comes out on October 27th. A variety of bands will be joining Pelican on the tour including labelmates Black Cobra for most of the dates more

Destruction has issued the following update: 'After Mikes broken bones last week in Belgium, the band has chosen a great replacement for the upcoming show in Portugal.' 'Our friend Ol Drake from Evile will step in and shred for Destruction at the Caos Emergente Festival in Portugal."more

Battle Of Mice (Neurot Recordings), the group featuring Julie Christmas (Made Out of Babies), Josh Graham (Neurosis, ex-Red Sparowes, A Storm of Light), Joel Hamilton (Book of Knots), Tony Maimone (Book of Knots, Pere Ubu), and Joe Tomino (Fugees, Dub Trio, Peeping Tom), has called it quits. more

Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein was buried in a private ceremony Wednesday (September 2), according to US magazine. more

Teenage Rehab have confirmed a November 10th release date for their fourth full length Let's Be Enemies on Jailhouse Records. more

Frontiers Records will release Mr. Big's reunion live CD and DVD, entitled "Back To Budokan", on October 16 in Europe and October 27 in the USA. more -

Chris Cornell Cancels Music Festival Performance

antiMusic reports: Update: Chris Cornell's publicist sent over this clarification about why the concert appearance was canceled: Virgin America is sponsoring the Sunset Strip Music Festival, and all of their events throughout the weekend. Chris is very upset because some of his live band members are not able to be in LA next weekend because of conflicts, however Chris still wanted to stay true to his word and be there for his fans in light of not being able to perform.

Virgin America is bringing the fans to Chris + the to the music festival so that the winners of the radio contest can still have a meet and greet with Chris and attend the festival for free.

Here is the original announcement: "Due to unforeseen band scheduling conflicts for September 12, Chris Cornell will regretfully not be performing at the Sunset Strip Music Festival in Los Angeles. Cornell will still be attending the Virgin America airline party on September 11, and he will also attend the scheduled VIP meet-and-greets for the winners of the Sunset Strip Music Festival radio contest. He would like to apologize to all the fans who were looking forward to seeing his performance at the festival."

Blabbermouth reports: The second annual Sunset Strip Music Festival (SSMF) includes the first-ever street closure of Sunset Blvd. on Saturday, September 12. There will be 40-plus music acts throughout the day performing on two stages set up on the street and on club stages within the street closure — Key Club, The Roxy Theatre, Cat Club and Whisky A Go-Go. - more on this story

Slipknot Fall Tour

Road Runner reports: Slipknot have announced a string of fall tour dates, including some special appearances. The band will embark on a three week run in October, hitting mostly west coast markets. Slipknot will headline the Cypress Hill Smokeout in San Bernardino, CA on 10/24.

The tour will end with Slipknot headlining the first annual Trinity of Terrors at The Pearl Concert Theater in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on Halloween. This run of dates will also include two previously postponed shows from last month. Sacramento's own Deftones will provide support beginning in Portland, OR through San Bernardino, CA.

9/9/09 marks the special edition release on Roadrunner Records of Slipknot's seminal self-titled debut album. This special CD/DVD will commemorate the 10th anniversary of Slipknot, released in 1999. - more on this story

Queen's Absolute Greatest

PR reports: Queen's Absolute Greatest: 20 Years of Biggest of Queen's Biggest Hits in music (and pictures & live performances) is being released on four CD & Vinyl/Compact & Luxury Formats and 2 Digital formats this November. Here are all the details!

Queen. Someone ought to erect a monument to them. Think about it: they've ruled their game longer than many of our most famous leaders, their words can be repeated by many more than can recite our most celebrated writers, and despite more than three generations passing since they first blasted their way into our consciences, they're just as omnipresent today as they ever were. Just for starters (and more to follow):

- Queen are Britain's favourite band: the BPI (Britain's official recording body) records that the band's Greatest Hits 1 album is the biggest selling album since the charts were started over 50 years ago - more on this story

Pantera/Down's Rex Brown To Have Surgery for Acute Pancreatitis

Blabbermouth reports: Former Pantera and current Down bassist Rex Brown will have his gallbladder and polyps on his pancreas removed in a surgical procedure that is scheduled to take place later this week.

Brown, who is suffering from acute pancreatitis (a sudden inflammation of the pancreas which can have severe complications and high mortality despite treatment), will likely be sidelined for approximately five weeks following the operation. A full and healthy recovery is expected.

As a result of all this unplanned activity, Brown has suspended his planned return to action with DOWN and will sit out the remainder of the band's current North American tour. Commented Brown: "I miss being with my brothers on tour but we're all cool with the fact that I need to take care of myself at this time. I miss them, the music, and, of course, you, the fans. But most importantly, I look forward to getting back into the studio with Down when I'm 100% healthy." - more on this story

Eagles Radio Hosted by Joe Walsh

PR reports: The virtual airwaves are heating up this fall as "Eagles Radio Hosted by Joe Walsh" kicks off an incredible series of features that can only be found on the band's official Artist Personal Experience online radio station. As traditional radio segues into their yearly Labor Day countdowns of songs, the Eagles promise-and deliver-something new and exciting.

Beginning September 4th, A.P.E. Radio will begin to air guitar hero Walsh's down-to-earth conversations with his friends and fellow rock stars including Ringo Starr, AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson and Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + the Mechanics).

The channel that has brought "Our Stories, Our Friends, Our Favorite Music" since its launch on July 31 will continue to roll out interviews throughout the season from the aforementioned artists as well as many more of Walsh's contemporaries and influences, making up a list that reads like a who's-who of rock n' roll. While guests such as Starr, Johnson and Rutherford are bona fide rock stars, they're also personal friends of Walsh, making for spontaneous and organic interviews with details that won't be heard anywhere else. - more on this story

The Melvins All Mixed Up

PR reports: The Melvins are getting set to release Chicken Switch, their 15-track remix record, on 9/29 via Ipecac Recordings. While for most people the words "Melvins" and "remix" don't exactly go hand in hand, the band has turned its back on the time-honored tradition of giving DJs measly stems, samples, and, at most, a single track to work with, opting instead to gift their remixers with at least an entire album (sometimes more!) worth of material.

They've also called upon some of their favorite noisy, experimental and otherwise unexpected artists to do the job (Eye Yamatsuka of Boredoms, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Merzbow and others), leaving the naming of the new tracks up to their creative cohorts as well.

The result, rumored since 2003 and finally being realized, is a masterpiece of punishing proportions. Chicken Switch, as a term, is actually rocketry slang – in the event of a rocket malfunction, an astronaut can hit the emergency eject button to catapult him/herself out of the aircraft. But with this Melvins catalog-spanning wealth of material hitting your ears, we're fairly certain you won't be pushing eject any time soon (unless of course it's accidental, thanks to your violent head-banging and thrashing around of your arms). - more on this story

Thom Yorke Plans All For The Best

PR reports: Thom Yorke has announced that there will be a video released for his cover of Mark Mulcahy's song "All For The Best," directed by Melinda Tupling, which will be screened for the first time at the September 20th benefit concert for the project Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy, in stores September 29th on Shout! Factory.

The concert will be held at Music Hall in Williamsburg, NY, featuring performances by Frank Black, David Berkeley, surprise guests, and new additions to the roster include Butterflies of Love, The Autumn Defense, Ray Neal, Chris Harford, the Late BP Helium, The Parkway Charlies, Winterpills, The Gravel Pit, The Mericans, Lo Fine, Biet and Gryphon, School for the Dead, Spouse, and Senator.

Thom York's version of "All For The Best" is being released as a single in the U.K. with a limited number of 7" being made available there and in the U.S. The recording of song, which features both Thom and Andy Yorke, was the first time that the brothers have worked together. Andy Yorke also contributed the title track to the album, "Ciao My Shining Star," with his band Unbelievable Truth. - more on this story

Arch Enemy Cover Themselves On New Album

PR reports: On October 6, 2009 Swedish Metal masters, Arch Enemy, will release their new studio album The Root Of All Evil in North America. It contains a selection of completely re-recorded tracks from the band's first three albums Black Earth (1996), Stigmata (1998) and Burning Bridges (1999), reenergized and upgraded by the band's new, definitive line-up!

Now, the details for the album's Limited Edition CD can be revealed. Apart from a very special "Mediabook" packaging, it features three additional live bonus tracks, alternate artwork, an extended booklet and an exclusive patch.
The Root of All Evil will also be available as regular CD, digital download, as well as in LP format (with the full album on CD as bonus).

Originally recorded with ever changing band members (i.e. former vocalist Johan Liiva, drummer Peter Wildoer, bass player Martin Bengtsson), The Root Of All Evil presents classic Arch Enemy tracks with the insane vocals of Angela Gossow, several completely new bass lines by Sharlee D'Angelo, the ever-present guitar wizardry of the Amott brothers, as well as Daniel Erlandsson's merciless punch. - more on this story

Singled Out: Syd

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Syd tells us about "The Pattern" from his recently released EP, Upswing, which is being offered as a FREE digital download! Before you start downloading, we'll let Syd wet your appetite with the story behind "The Pattern":

The Pattern became a song that sort of ushered in a new era of songwriting for me. After the recording of "The Way We Found It" and even during the making of that record, I had been suffering through bouts of anywhere from minor to crippling writer's block. In retrospect it had a lot to do with the fact that I had learned how to write songs by following the route songs by singer/songwriters always seemed to follow---"this song is about the most important subject in the world: me and my love life. This is a riff to go with those thoughts. Enjoy". I think mentally I was just losing my belief that what I had to say about me and my capacity for love would somehow bring me closer to the listener. I wanted to draw from a broader range of experiences, and also from the stories of the people around me.

That's why, instead of lyrics, melody, arrangement and structure coming all at once, The Pattern served as a proving ground for a different, much more methodical (and, in some ways, drawn out) way of making an idea into a song.

In 2007, I had been recording a lot of piano for Lisa Piccirillo's solo record and at the time the house my mom was in had a beautiful piano in a big room. Good combination. I was visiting her and went for a run. I wasn't listening to any music, but got kind of sucked in to the cadence of my own footsteps. "This is the pattern repeat it repeat it"...I started singing those lines to myself. When I got back I just sat down at the keyboard and banged out the chord structure for the chorus. The song's a little different because the chorus is minor and the verses are major, which was actually with me from the moment I started working on it.

I brought it to the band and we came up with the structure of the tune and I just happily fumbled through dummy lyrics. We were so into it that we actually started playing the tune on the road at shows with me singing just gibberish lyrics. This allowed me to hone in on a melody and for the band to just fine tune those parts. We were trying to just find as many hooks as we could. The drums to me are one of the major hooks of the song.

Still no lyrics, but I knew they would come and even with dummy lyrics the song was clearly going over well with audiences. So we booked some studio time and got rhythm tracks (bass & drums) recorded in between sessions for my work producing Gregory Douglass' "Battler".

That fall, a year after my run in New Hampshire where the idea was born, I finally got a chance to sit down and work out the lyrics before finishing up the recording out here in California. I drew from a lot of stories we had shared in the van about the patterns people fall into, whether it's love or work, or whatever, just that idea that you at one point do something (cheat, lie, steal or on the other hand succeed, accomplish) and it can become a pattern in your life. So, no matter what we tell ourselves, we are sort of doomed and/or blessed to repeat those things.

I'm glad I got to spend that kind of time fine-tuning it, it makes the song that much stronger I think, and has served as a blueprint for my kind of version 2.0 songwriting style. Yesterday I starting humming another little melody. In two years, who knows. This is the pattern, repeat it, repeat it....

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, download the free EP and listen for yourself and learn a little about Co-Op as well - right here!

Wait there is more!

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