Slipknot Christmas Song Vs Simon Cowell- Coldplay Christmas Video- Foo In The Park- Most Precious Release- Modest Supergroup- Dead Kennedy Vs Jello- more

Kid Gorgeous will enter GCR Audio in Buffalo on December 21st to record a new three-song EP. more -

Jeff Beck Leads Rock Grammy Nominations

(hennemusic) Nominations for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were announced Wednesday night in Los Angeles, and Jeff Beck was the big story on the rock front.

Beck leads the rock field with 5 nominations with material from his "Emotion & Commotion" release, including Best Rock Album, Best Rock Instrumental Performance ("Hammerhead"), Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals ("I Put A Spell On You" with Joss Stone), Best Pop Instrumental performance ("Nessun Dorma"), and Best pop Collaboration With Vocals ("Imagine" with Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1 & Oumou Sangare).

Neil Young was also a multiple rock nominee, a finalist in three categories: Best Rock Album ("Le Noise") and two nods for "Angry World," including Best Rock Song and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. - List of nominations

Corey Taylor Denies New Slipknot Album Plans

(Rock AAA) Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor says there is no new album in the works – despite claims made by drummer Joey Jordison.

Bassist Paul Gray's death in May forced the band onto hiatus. Taylor has frequently suggested he's unsure about the outfit's future, but Jordison said a new record would be released next year.

Taylor says, "Before anyone gets the wrong idea, let me be clear. I have NO PLANS to make a new Slipknot album any time soon. Shows? Maybe. Album? No. As for Joey's comments, he took that on himself to say that. I can think of five people in this band who haven't written or heard a thing." - more on this story

Hard Rock and Metal Grammy Nominations

(Rock AAA) Nominees for Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance in the 53rd annual Grammy awards have been announced.

Best Hard Rock Performance: Alice in Chains: A Looking In View - Ozzy Osbourne: Let Me Hear You Scream Soundgarden: Black Rain - Stone Temple Pilots: Between the Lines - Them Crooked Vultures: New Fang.

Best Metal Performance: Iron Maiden: El Dorado - Korn: Let the Guilt Go - Lamb of God: In Your Words- Megadeth: Sudden Death- Slayer: World Painted Blood - more on this story

The Clash's London Calling The Movie

(hennemusic) The BBC reports the creation of the classic album, "London Calling," by The Clash is set to form the basis of a new music biopic.

Former Clash members Paul Simonon and Mick Jones will executive produce the film, named after the 1979 record.

Playwright Jez Butterworth will pen the script, which will tell how producer Guy Stevens worked with the band to create their most celebrated disc. - more on this story

AC/DC Star Treated Unfairly?

(hennemusic) Following his conviction for cannabis possession in a Tauranga, New Zealand court Wednesday morning, AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd is speaking out about the situation.

Rudd believes he is being treated unfairly by authorities who convicted him for possessing 27 grams of cannabis.

"Give me a fair go," he told SunLive during an interview at his home Thursday. The offence was discovered by police when they executed a search warrant on Rudd's launch at the Tauranga Bridge Marina on October 7. - more on this story

Illness Grounds Airbourne

(Rock AAA) Airbourne have been forced to cancel their show planned for London's Brixton Academy tomorrow night, after drummer Ryan O'Keeffe was diagnosed with gastroenteritis.

The brother of frontman Joel is responding well to treatment, meaning the band are hoping to be able to perform at Hard Rock Hell IV in Prestatyn at the weekend.

An Airbourne statement says: "This decision does not come lightly and only in a very serious situation would we resort to the postponing of a show. We sincerely apologise to everyone for the inconvenience." - more on this story

Ozzy Denies Getting Rid of Zakk Wylde

Ozzy Osbourne was a guest on the Howard Stern radio show this week and when asked about the ouster of Zakk Wylde, Ozzy had an interesting response.

According to Sleaze Roxx, when asked why he'd parted ways with guitarist Zak Wylde, Ozzy shrugged: "I didn't get rid of him. He had his own band and he was only helping me out...I said to him, 'It's time for you to do your Black Label [Society]."

Ozzy bemoaned the business side of music: "It's more like a job now than it ever was...people only want one track off the album...the art of the game is gone. It's all tricks and mirrors." Howard then asked if Ozzy could be become a part of American Idol's tricks and mirrors machine, but Ozzy dismissed the idea: "I couldn't do that...the fact that they get up there in the first place and have a go--my heart goes out to them." - more on this story

J.D. Fortune Back with INXS

(hennemusic) Solid news for INXS fans: frontman J.D. Fortune is back in the fold. The QMI Agency reports the Canadian singer is back fronting INXS on the road, despite claiming in 2009 that the band had fired him -- a event he now calls a misunderstanding.

"There was a lot of confusion at the time," says the 37-year-old, who replaced deceased singer Michael Hutchence after winning the Rock Star reality TV show in 2005. "We had just got off tour and we took a break. And in that break, things got misconstrued. We were not able to communicate with each other -- we live 12,000 kilometres apart."

Fortune, who was living in his car before signing up for Rock Star, ended up broke and homeless again. - more on this story

Rare Early Led Zeppelin Recording Online

The Metal Den has obtained the earliest known live recording of "Heartbreaker" by Led Zeppelin.

The recording took place on October 10th, 1969 at The Olympia in Paris, France.

It's also a soundboard quality recording which makes it even more of a rarity. "Heartbreaker" comes off Led Zeppelin II, the legendary band's second studio album released October 22, 1969 on Atlantic Records. - Check it out here

Eric Clapton Expands North American Tour

(hennemusic) Guitar icon Eric Clapton has announced additional dates on his 2011 tour, including a series of North American west coast shows in the spring.

In support of his latest, self-titled release, "Clapton," the new dates kick off February 25 in Vancouver, and trail down the west coast with two Los Angeles shows in March.

The additional dates add to an already busy 2011 schedule for Clapton that includes a 10-night run at London's Royal Albert Hall in May. - more on this story

Social Distortion To Make Television Debut

Social Distortion will make their television debut on December 6 on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The band will perform their new single, "Machine Gun Blues" from their forthcoming seventh studio album Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, "

Social Distortion recently wrapped up a headlining US tour where they unveiled tracks from the new album to packed venues across the country. The band also recently announced a 2011 West Coast tour which has already sold out multiple dates in Los Angeles and San Diego and have been confirmed for KROQ's infamous "Almost Acoustic Christmas" on December 11. - more on this story

Pink Floyd Brick in the Wall Kids Subject of New Film

(Gibson) A new movie is being made on the children's choir that sang the haunting chorus to Pink Floyd's classic single, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II." Producer Andy Harries (The Queen) is putting together a film about the group of kids that sang on the 1979 hit, according to Spinner.com.

The movie will discuss the life of music teacher Alun Renshaw and his choir students. Renshaw got fired from Islington Green School after he had his students sing "We don't need no education" for the Pink Floyd song.

Harries calls the movie "Dead Poets Society meets School of Rock." First-time writer Steve Thompson is working on a script. Although Harries has optioned Renshaw's story, he has yet to secure rights to the Floyd tune. -

Jackson Browne Acoustic Tour

Jackson Browne has announced a 2011 Solo Acoustic Tour which kicks off on February 23rd in Santa Cruz, CA.

Dates currently announced include eight in California, and shows in Phoenix, AZ and Thunder Bay, Ontario (Canada).

Featuring Jackson on guitar and piano, his solo acoustic tours have long been hailed as fan favorites, pulling songs from the breadth of his entire repertoire. - more on this story

Original Beatle Pete Best To Be Honored

(Gibson) Liverpool City Council is back in Beatles news this week, but this time they aren't threatening to tear down Ringo's childhood home. Instead, the council is considering naming a street after original Beatle Pete Best. Best was cited by a council spokesperson as having made a "special contribution" to the city's musical heritage.

Jean Grimes told ClickLiverpool.com, "Pete is a fantastic ambassador for the City of Liverpool. He had such an important hand in creating what is still the most famous band on the planet today. It really is about time the council recognized the importance of his role."

Grimes went on to say that the ideal place for the street would be in West Derby, where Best practiced with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe in the basement of his mother Mona's home, which was converted into a coffee house called The Casbah Coffee Club. -

Dinosaurs Crush AC/DC

(Gibson) Although AC/DC are among the top-earning entertainers in Australia, they're no longer at the top of the heap. A company named Global Creatures, responsible for the Walking with the Dinosaurs Arena Spectacular, has beaten the rock legends to the #1 spot, according to Blabbermouth.net.

AC/DC made $131.4 million AUD in 2009-10, up from $105 million the previous year (when they topped the list). But it wasn't enough to hold of Global Creatures, who raked in $140 million AUD. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers had to settle for #2 this time around.

Of course, AC/DC have plenty of other accolades to cheer them up. Earlier this year, their Black Ice Tour was named the second-highest-grossing tour of all time. Their Back in Black album was named the second-best Australian album in history and AC/DC was honored in the Top Boxscore category at the Billboard Touring Awards in November. - more on this story

Tommy Emmanuel Announces New Double Album, Tour and Tommyfest

Tommy Emmanuel has announced the release of an all new 2-disc album Little By Little on February 15, 2011 on the Favored Nations imprint.

On Feb. 3, he kicks off a string of U.S. tour dates beginning with three days of TommyFest – a concert series dedicated to the promotion of great acoustic guitar music – in Elizabethtown, KY before moving to shows on both the West and East Coasts.

As the Swahili proverb says, all things are possible if you just take it little by little, step by step. This was the inspiration behind the album title, Little By Little. Emmanuel explains, "The proverb holds a special significance to me because it's a lesson I had to learn in my life – to take things one day at a time and not be so concerned about tomorrow and I think that's an important lesson to learn." Emmanuel describes the album as "a joy to make" but says "it took a lot longer than any other project I've ever done purely because the songs kept coming. With this album, I was really pleased that all these elements came together so I could get that message across through my music and get a good positive message out there to people." - more on this story

Michael Jackson's Thriller Video Anniversary

On this day in 1983, MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video for the first time. Gibson takes a closer look: The early years of MTV were an exciting time…well, for some. There were old school musicians who resisted it, claiming the music — and not image — should do the talking. Right or wrong, that mindset generally worked against established acts. Others, though, realized the potential of the music video and took advantage of, in essence, a three-minute commercial to run in an endless playlist for an entire generation of youth.

Michael Jackson was certainly among the latter group. While the cable channel's first year or so was largely devoid of artists of color, Jackson helped break down that wall with theatrical spectacles chock-full of elaborate choreography and sets, set ablaze by Jackson's own electrifying stage persona. Jackson exploded onto MTV in 1983 with "Billie Jean," followed in quick succession by "Beat It" and the Paul McCartney collaboration, "Say Say Say." As Jackson eyed the release of the last single from the Thriller album, he decided to do something more elaborate — much more elaborate.

The title track of the Thriller album was written by Rod Temperton, who had previously written the hits "Rock with You" and "Off the Wall," among other tracks, for Jackson. The song's horror-themed lyrics gave it an almost cinematic tinge from the outset. Producer Quincy Jones, Jackson and Temperton worked for eight weeks in the studio to do the composition proper justice, bringing in scream king Vincent Price to record the track's creepy voiceover. The result was a dance-funk masterpiece. But that was the music. The video would require an equally expansive eye. - more on this story

Atheist and Exhumed Spring Tour

Atheist are heading to Europe next spring with Exhumed in support of their reunion album "Jupiter" was released on November 8th.

Frontman Kelly Shaefer says: "Greetings everyone, thank you all for the overwhelming support of our new album 'Jupiter', we are humbled by all of the nice things being said about the new stuff and cannot wait to bring it to the stage. So now it's time to come pull some faces off in Europe on our first headlining run in support of the new album! And we are stoked to share the tour with the boys from Exhumed.

"We are able to play a few places we have never been before so we are all very excited about that, as well as the fact that we of course have some fun new s*** to play live - the songs from 'Jupiter' along with songs from all three prior albums. See you all on tour in 2011!" - more on this story

Henry Rollins 50th Birthday Performances

(hennemusic) Punk rock icon Henry Rollins celebrates the milestone that is his 50th birthday by booking a few spoken-word shows.

The dates include a special 50th-birthday event in Henry's native Washington, D.C. on February 13.

Sandwiched between multiple-night runs at Joe's Pub in New York (February 8-12) and Largo in Los Angeles (February 16-19). - more on this story

Electric Wizard To Hold Black Masses in January

Electric Wizard will release their new album Black Masses in North America on January 18, 2011 via Rise Above Records.

The group's seventh studio album and first since 2007's Witchcult Today, Black Masses was recorded with Grammy Award-winning British recording engineer Liam Watson (The White Stripes) in London's Toe Rag Studios and promises to deliver "a crushing behemoth of funereal march pyschedelia" and "the oblivion and ecstasy of 10,000 watts of doom!"

"This ritual incantation of heavy metal sorcery will break down your psyche as wave upon crushing wave of lead weight acid-laced Doom leaves you numb and broken before our unholy altar," declared Electric Wizard cult leader Jus Oborn when reached for comment. "Violent, bleak and ritualistic, we bow to the black altar of the RIFF. We do not rock, we kill!" - more on this story

The Who In Your Living Room

(hennemusic) On the heels of the Nov. 16 release of the Who's "Live at Leeds — 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collector's Edition," Fender has teamed up with The Who for the "Live in Your Living Room" Video Contest.

The contest invites you to upload a video of yourself either playing along to any track on Live at Leeds, or playing unaccompanied to a Leeds track, for a chance to win a grand prize package that includes a custom designed Leeds Fender Stratocaster autographed by Pete Townshend, a Live at Leeds — 40th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collector's Edition autographed by Roger Daltrey and a subscription to TheWho.com with membership package.

Five second-place finishers will also receive the Leeds box set autographed by Daltrey and TheWho.com subscription. - more on this story

Slash Remembers Sam Kinison

In this week's episode of That Metal Show, hosts Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson, sit down with legendary Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash to discuss the DVD release of Back From Hell: A Tribute To Sam Kinison.

The group not only discuss the DVD but Kinison's impact on both the comedy and hard rock worlds.

They have provided a preview clip which features Slash recalling stories from the set of Sam's video for "Wild Thing". Which had cameos by many rock icons, including Slash who was charged with swinging a guitar violently to smash it in an effort to give the video a good shot. Check it out here

This episode of That Metal Show will premiere this Saturday, December 4th at 10pm (EST) on VH1 Classic. -

Initial UFO North American Tour Dates

UFO have announced the initial dates for their 2011 North American Tour including stops in Baltimore, New York, Boston and Chicago.

The band will be touring North America in support of their latest studio effort which is slated to be released in June 2011 via SPV/Steamhammer.

The East Coast leg of the tour will kick off May 11, 2011 at Bourbon Street in Baltimore, MD. - dates

Julian To Publish Unseen John Lennon Letter

(Gibson) A previously unseen 1965 letter from John Lennon to then-wife Cynthia is being published in Julian Lennon's new book of memorabilia.

Beatles Memorabilia, The John Lennon Collection features some of Julian Lennon's most personal artifacts. One letter written to Cynthia in 1965 talks directly about Julian: "I really miss him as a person now. He's not so much 'The Baby' or my baby any more he's a real living part of me now.

"I can't wait to see him, I miss him more than ever – I think it is been a slow process feeling like a real father! I spend hours in dressing rooms thinking about the times I've wasted not being with him – and playing with him. I keep thinking of those stupid [expletive] times when I keep reading bloody newspapers and other [expletive] whilst he's in the room with me and I've decided it's ALL wrong." -

Jimmy Eat World US Tour and Conan Appearance

Jimmy Eat World will return to the US for a tour this month including several radio shows and a late night TV appearance.

They will appear on Conan December 13th to perform their latest single, "Coffee and Cigarettes."

The band wraps up 2010 and rings in the New Year with a performance at the Fiesta Bowl Block Party. - more on this story

Rooney Winter Tour

Rooney have announced a February headlining tour that sees them taking out Eisley and The Chapin Sisters (through 2/14) as support.

The tour kicks off February 2nd in Albuquerque, NM and wraps up in Salt Lake City on Feb 26th. - more on this story

Pete Doherty Wants Libertines To Help With Babyshambles

(Gibson) Fresh from this summer's live reunion with The Libertines, Pete Doherty says he may go back to that well once again to help his current band, Babyshambles.

As his collaboration with guitarist Mik Whitnall seems to have hit a standstill, Doherty is looking for outside creative input to help finish up the band's new album.

Doherty told Italian Vogue, "There's a couple of songs at the moment that have been stuck on the treadmill for a while that I need to get finished. I might even have to show them to Carl, because in the old days that's what we'd do. If I had a great idea I'd share it with Carl and inevitably something great would happen ... I just feel that when they're finished, it will be a new chapter." - more on this story

Bittersweet Video Memories For Bullet For My Valentine

Bullet For My Valentine has released the video for their latest single "Bittersweet Memories" off the band's latest album, Fever.

Bittersweet Memories" continues to build at Active Rock radio each week and just broke into the Top 20.

Bullet For My Valentine recently finished up a sold out North American tour with Escape The Fate, Black Tide and Drive A. Fever, which was release in early 2010 debuted at No. 1 on the Rock, Alternative and iTunes Rock charts and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart and marking the band's highest American debut to date. - Watch it here

This Or The Apocalypse Announce U.S. Tour Dates

(Adrenaline) This Or The Apocalypse have mapped out their upcoming headlining tour, heading across the U.S. this December and January.

The first section of the tour (Dec 26th-Jan 4th) also features An Early Ending, Deception Of A Ghost, and Where The Ocean Meets The Sky.

The second portion of the tour (Jan 5th-Jan 16th) includes Desruction Of A Rose, An Early Ending, and Deception Of A Ghost. - more on this story

Frank Turner's Rock & Roll EP Coming Next Week

Frank Turner will release his new five song Rock & Roll EP, next Tuesday, December 7th.

The Rock & Roll EP begins with lead track, and astoundingly popular live anthem, 'I Still Believe'. It's a call to arms for those who are enraptured by the simplicity and power of "guitar and drums and desperate poetry".

The riotous gang of audience voices shouting the title back at Frank, spliced into the EP having been recorded from a summer of teeming festival crowds, tells you all you need to know about this soon-to-be signature song.
All recorded at The Church Studios in Crouch End in a mere three days, and produced by Tristan Ivemy who mixed Frank's second album Love Ire & Song, the four remaining songs 'Pass It Along', 'To Absent Friends', 'Rock & Roll Romance' and 'The Next Round' will remain exclusive to this release. 'I Still Believe' will appear on next year's anticipated album with Frank set to begin recording in January. - more on this story

I Am Empire Post New Song Online

I Am Empire is readying for their Tooth & Nail Records debut, "Kings," which is set for release on January 25, 2011.

Recorded in Nashville, TN with producer Rob Hawkins (Disciple, Fireflight), the dozen tracks features a range of alternative rock songs and styles including the rock single "Brain Damage" that is already charting in the Top 20.

Fans can check out "Brain Damage" right now online as the band posted it on their Myspace page yesterday. Check it out - here.