Nirvana Vs Guitar Hero

"It's hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists' music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better." - What about Courtney? Find out here and watch Kurt sing Bon Jovi

Zakk Wylde Diagnosed With Rare Disorder

Blabbermouth reports: Zakk Wylde's wife Barbaranne has revealed that The Black Label Society frontman is suffering from "a rare genetic clotting disorder" for which he is currently receiving treatment in California.

She writes, "Zakk is still on this roller-coaster. One day blood thinners [which are used to prevent clots from forming in the blood, are] too high... next day they don't even register in his blood."

"We have an appointment with a hemotologist [a blood disorder specialist] on Friday [September 11]," she said. "[Zakk] does have a rare genetic clotting disorder."
- more on this story

Godsmack Singer Slams Motley Crue Over Rock Star Garbage at Cruefest

Blabbermouth reports: Godsmack frontman Sully Erna has told Artisan News Service that taking part in this summer's Crue Fest 2 was a good move for his band and their fans, and at the same time was the worst tour they've ever done.

On what it was like for Godsmack off stage on the Crue Fest 2 tour: Erna said, "I will tell you, it's been the most dramatic tour we've ever been on. I mean, talk about just craziness, man. Sometimes egos run high, man, and there's definitely been some rock-star garbage on this tour that just have never seen in our career. Every band — from Black Sabbath to Aerosmith, Rush, Metallica... you name it... They've always... I don't think there was ever a threat, you know what I mean?! Like who's gonna dwarf Metallica anyways? But there's always just been this mutual kind of like, 'We wanna put on a great show, so bring your bells and whistles, bring your show, so between you guys and us, we can make these people get a bang for their buck.' And that's really what entertainment has always been about. And so, I've never been in a position before where we felt we had to really protect this thing; it's kind of like a dog with a bone — you put us up against a wall and we're gonna come out swinging."

On whether Motley Crue might have been acting out of ego competition between Crue Fest 2 bands or living up to previous travelling tours like Ozzfest: Erna said "I don't know who needs to live up to whose reputations and I don't know why some people consider music as a competition, but I will tell you that I have never been in a situation where I felt like I was out for blood, and honestly, this was the first time that I felt like, 'You know what?! If there's gonna be some people that are gonna treat other people a certain way, then I'm gonna go out there every night and fucking crush you on stage — make sure that we make you look old and fat, and go home with a nice big fat paycheck. You can sit in your world and I'll sit in mine, and [I'll] see you at the top again, I guess, somewhere...' I don't know. All I care about, really, is playing music and enjoying myself on the road. I'm not here to compete. Everybody has their fans, everybody has their own music, and it's supposed to be more like a brotherhood, but... I don't know. It's been a good time for us out here, but in other situations, there's definitely been some uncomfortable moments." - more on this story

Manchester Orchestra Touring With Brand New

PR reports: Columbia Records and Favorite Gentlemen are excited to announce that Manchester Orchestra will be touring with Brand New in the fall. The Atlanta natives have been touring around the world non-stop since the release of their second full-length, Mean Everything To Nothing, and there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

In America, the release of the record was celebrated by a highly successful headlining tour this past spring and a performance on the main stage at Lollapalooza just a few weeks ago. In addition to the upcoming tour, Manchester Orchestra will also be joining Brand New and Glassjaw for their very special hometown show at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, NY, on November 28th. Before the Brand New dates begin, the band will once again hit the road with Silversun Pickups for a second run on their US tour.

"I've Got Friends," the first single off of Mean Everything To Nothing spent 26 weeks on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart and reached the #8 spot at its peak. The second single, "Shake It Out," will impact Modern Rock radio later this month. - more on this story

Are You Ready For Some Football?

PR reports: When Monday Night Football celebrates its 40th season in 2009, Hank Williams Jr. will once again crank up the volume and welcome all his rowdy friends to watch the NFL's biggest stars showcase their skills in prime time on ESPN. The legendary singer will perform the opening anthem for an unprecedented 21st season, a ritual that has earned him four Emmy awards (1991-1994) and national acclaim among legions of football fans.

Monday Night Football will celebrate the memorable moments and the legendary players who have been part of the longest running and most successful prime time sports series in television history all season, and the opening video with Williams will play off this with a MNF Hall of Fame theme.

Williams filmed the video earlier this summer at the Parthenon in Centennial Park in Nashville, Tenn. The grandiose Hall of Fame-like structure serves as the backdrop for the shoot and is draped with banners of NFL legends John Elway, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and Johnny Unitas. Human statues and Hall of Fame busts come to life in the video. NFL team helmets and photos of indelible moments in MNF history also line interior shots of the Hall. Williams is surrounded by cheerleaders and rabid NFL fans.

- For a behind-the-scenes preview of this year's MNF opening video, click here.

Did You Know It Was Ozzy Osbourne Day?

Blabbermouth reports: The City of West Hollywood honorrf the amazing musical legacy of rock superstar Ozzy Osbourne by declaring Thursday, September 10, 2009 "Ozzy Osbourne Day" in West Hollywood.

That night, the Sunset Strip Music Festival will kicked off with a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the House of Blues. Osbourne will also close the Sunset Strip Music Festival when he performs Saturday, September 12, 2009.

"Ozzy has had a sizeable musical impact," said West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tempore John Heilman, who has been instrumental in the establishment of the Sunset Strip Music Festival. "We want to salute all of his contributions to the music industry and to the Sunset Strip," Heilman continued. - more on this story

Arch Enemy Preview

Fresno Media reports: Swedish melodic Metal masters, Arch Enemy, have launched the official album trailer for their upcoming release, The Root of All Evil here

The Root of All Evil 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 definitive line-up. The new record will be available in the US on October 6th, via Century Media Records.

Furthermore, the band has confirmed a European headlining run with Destruction, Abigail Williams & Triosphere, which will kick off in December. Arch Enemy vocalist Angela Gossow checks in to comment about the band's recent touring activities, as well as the European run coming up in December - more on this story

Bowling For Slurpees

PR reports: Bowling For Soup will introduce its new album, Sorry for Partyin', when they take to the road on the 7-Eleven Slurpee Concert Series, Flavored by Coke. The tour, which kicks off on September 18 in Fort Lauderdale, will allow fans of BFS to see the band in five cities for the low price of just $7.11.

Sorry For Partyin', the band's 10th album, hits the stores on October 13, and immediately following the tour, Bowling For Soup departs for the UK where its Party In Your Pants UK Tour 2009 kicks off on October 17 in Glasgow, Scotland. Additional dates in Japan, Australia and the US will follow later this year and into 2010.

The Denton, Texas, group's new single "No Hablo Ingles" goes to radio on September 14 and will be available September 22 through all digital providers. The new single follows the success of the band's now infamous "My Wena" video that has spawned a still hilarious "clean" version of the video ("My Wena)." Building on the increasing enthusiasm from eager fans, Bowling For Soup has created an off-the-wall "Wena Face" campaign where anyone can join in the fun and appear as the lead role in the video. - more on this story

311 Hitting The Road

PR reports: 311 have announced their Fall/Winter Tour starting November 11.

Opening acts on select dates include State Radio, Kottonmouth Kings and one show with Slightly Stoopid. Tickets go on sale for a number of markets starting Friday, September 11.

Uplifter (Volcano/Jive Records) the band's 9th studio album was released this past June and debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart; the band's highest chart position to date. As the title suggests, the band's new album is an uplifting collection of 311's trademark blend of rock & reggae, elevated by inspired songwriting, dynamic musicianship and big anthemic choruses. The album was produced by Bob Rock. - more on this story

Anvil to Rock Conan

HER reports: Anvil - whose rock-doc "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" has certainly been the most feel-good, comeback stories of recent times, will make its late-night performance debut on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on Tuesday, October 6. "The Tonight Show" performance is in support of the release of the band's new album, This is Thirteen, which hits stores on Tuesday, September 15, and the "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" DVD set for an October 6 release date.

For this auspicious occasion, Anvil - guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow, drummer Robb Reiner, and bassist Glenn Five - will perform the song that many consider their anthem, "Metal On Metal," which is included as a bonus track on the This is Thirteen limited edition vinyl. The band members will also get a little couch time with O'Brien.

"I am so nervous about doing the show," said Lips. "This is big, the biggest thing we have ever done on TV. I almost cried when my mom said she might not be able to stay up that late to watch it, so we're going to tape it for her. We can't wait to meet Conan, and I think Robb is pretty excited to meet Max Weinberg." - more on this story

Will Hoge Returns with The Wreckage

PR reports: Will Hoge is back and has elevated his rugged guitar, prolific songwriting and powerful voice to new heights with 'The Wreckage.' (out Sept. 29) The album, wrought with emotion, is Hoge's first since 2007's acclaimed 'Draw the Curtains' and the tragic traffic accident that threatened his life and career.

With a recent, stellar performance of the album's first single "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" on the CBS Saturday Early Show, 'The Wreckage' is set to be Hoge's most successful release to date.

In 2008 Hoge's career was abruptly put on hiatus when his scooter was struck by another vehicle en route from a day of recording at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studios. The singer's multiple injuries left him near death. After 8 months of intense physical rehabilitation, Hoge once again picked up his guitar and finished the album. "You kind of fall in love again with the whole process of writing and playing," Hoge said during a recent interview in the Tennessean. - more on this story

Singled Out: Moneen

antiMusic reports: Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Moneen frontman Kenny Bridges tells us about "Hold That Sound" from their brand new album "The World I Want To Leave Behind," which hits stores next week! We now turn it over to Kenny for the story:

"hold" was song number 5 in our long list of non titled songs. We had not named any songs until song number 12 maybe? Big mistake. A song has no identity with a number. The only reason I would remember this song being song number 5 was because it was a big brother to song number 4. We wanted to write 2 songs that were very different in feel but carried over common themes. Song 4 is what became "lighters" on the record. In the end we completely changed the key and tuning of lighters and it no longer had the attachment to hold any longer. That is when this song changed completely.

The whole beginning to the song was very different than it is now. It was more upbeat and much more happy sounding. Lame. There were a lot of dark menacing sounding moments throughout this song. So we thought it would be better to start the song sounding like the end of the world. The sound that starts the song even though sounds like bass is actually guitar with a whammy wah octave down. I put a ton of fuzz and distortion until it sounded like my amp was going to explode. After we stumbled on this, it was over. The song rewrote itself. I love going from this really dark verse right into a bright huge chorus. This song was not even intended to go on the record at first. We recorded hold as a test to see how we were feeling with the direction of the new songs. Since it was in the first batch of new songs we wrote we were way more excited about the later songs. But in the studio this song came to life with each new layer. The drum sounds were great. The bass sound was so dirty and cool. The guitar sounds were so mean. Vocals turned out so nice. Next thing we knew, the song had turned into our first single.

Live the song has grown as well. During our video shoot for this song I decided to instead of my tele use a fender baritone. So throughout the day of shooting I would noodle around on the baritone and figured out how to play "hold" in that tuning. So now since then, we have an extra guitar Player for the nice bright chimey guitar parts and I am playing all the real low disgusting sounding parts. So with one baritone working the low end with the bass, another more bright sounding rhythm that leaves it wide open for all of hippy and his lead lines. Makes the song sound even bigger with all these layers to it.

It is funny how a song that we didn't even think would be on the record became one of our favorites. That's the thing, sometimes in the studio everything can change...this time for the better.

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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