Final Howard Stern Show?- New Pearl Jam Album- Vince Neil Eliminated- Another Slipknot Date- Sebastian Bach Done- Hot Water Bouncing Souls Music- Jerry Only- more

On January 11, 2011 Chunksaah Records will be releasing a new split featuring Hot Water Music and the Bouncing Souls. The two-song split will feature one cover from each band more -

Judas Priest Farewell Tour

(Rock AAA) Judas Priest have announced their Epitaph world tour in 2011 will be their last. They'll headline Classic Rock Magazine's High Voltage festival in London on July 23.

The following night, Dream Theater will make their first appearance with their replacement drummer for Mike Portnoy.

The festival takes place at Victoria Park and will also feature the Ace Cafe London experience and an Evel Knievel exhibition, with many more details to be announced in due course. Judas Priest say: "After storming the world for nearly 40 years, this will be our final world tour." - more on this story

Velvet Revolver Auditions This Week

(hennemusic) Velvet Revolver is back at it, again, as the band's search for a singer continues.

"VR is auditioning singers this week. Promises to be very interesting," wrote Slash Monday on Twitter.

VR has been without a vocalist, and on hiatus, since Scott Weiland's departure in April 2008. - more on this story

RIP Gorillaz?

(Gibson) Say it isn't so, Damon! WENN.com is reporting that the musical mastermind behind the spooky cool, animated dance party known as Gorillaz is considering calling it quits. Having played four continents this past year with 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel — and a live band to boot — Albarn is considering walking away from the project when the tour ends.

The Blur frontman said that, when the tour wraps later this month in New Zealand, he has set aside some time to ponder the band's future.

"It's been an unqualified success – bizarrely," said Albarn. "But we always think that when we get to a point where we've achieved something, that it's time to stop, don't we? We'll see how we feel in January [after the tour]. A period of reflection and sobriety…I couldn't keep going at this size and pace." - more on this story

Jimmy Page Has Recorded New Music

(Rock AAA) Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith says Jimmy Page has written and recorded new music, and he's itching to get out and play live.

The pair share the same managers, and Smith admits he'd love to play with Page if the chance arose. "But supposedly he has a bunch of ideas and a bunch of stuff recorded. That's what I've heard. I can tell he wants to play. He's frustrated," Smith said.

Meanwhile, Zep singer Robert Plant has revealed he's bored with constant reunion rumors and wishes everyone would move on – because he has.
- more on this story

No More Faith No More

(Rock AAA) Faith No More apparently brought their reunion and their career to and end in Chile Sunday night – and their final song was a cover of Manhattan's Kiss and Say Goodbye.

They've been playing the track for the last series of shows, which they've said are their last, in the same way they opened their comeback sets in 2009 with Peaches and Cream's Reunited.

Frontman Mike Patton adjusted the lyrics slightly to say: "This has been the saddest day of my life – I called you guys here today for a bit of bad news. I won't be able to see you any more, because of our obligations and the ties you all have. Since this is our last day together I want to hold you just one more time." - And he did

Cheap Trick To Stage Dream Police Shows

(hennemusic) More than thirty years after the release of the internationally acclaimed album "Dream Police," Cheap Trick is staging a multi-date show featuring songs from the platinum record.

The Rhythmic Noise Philharmonic Orchestra & Mind Choir will perform alongside these, and other hits, from Cheap Trick's extensive catalog.

The series of shows - at Milwaukee's Northern Lights Theater at Potawatomi Bingo Casino - kicks off January 20th, 2011 and includes 12 dates through February 26th. - more on this story

Green Day Rodeo Queens

(hennemusic) Green Day wear many hats and go by many names. Foxboro Hot Tubs. The Network. Pinhead Gunpowder. The Frustrators. And now, you can add Rodeo Queens to that list.

In March 2009, Green Day and New York punk stalwart Jesse Malin hit NYC's Stratosphere Studios and recorded the song "Depression Times" under the name Rodeo Queens.

Now some 21 months later, New York radio station 101.9 RXP has given the song its first spin. - Check it out

Motorhead Premiere New Video

(hennemusic) Motorhead are back with "The World Is Yours," set for release January 17, 2011.

Fans can get the album before Christmas (or FOR Christmas), as it will be included in a "Classic Rock Presents Motorhead" special edition, due December 14, following the band's U.K. tour.

The band has just released a new video from the set, "Get Back In Line." Check it out - here

Black Lips Team With Mark Ronson For New Album

(Gibson) Atlanta garage rockers Black Lips have done what they do so well — the unexpected — as they prepared the follow-up to 2009's 200 Million Thousand album.

Instead of producing themselves, as they had previously, or employing a producer known for garage-punk sounds, the group instead enlisted the help of slick British producer Mark Ronson (Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs). Bassist/singer Jered Swilley told Pitchfork how the unlikely collaboration came about.

"We've always self-produced all of our own stuff," he said. "Just done it with just us and an engineer. Over the years, Vice had suggested working with a producer. We would always throw out names. Mark worked with them on that Creators Project. During that, they mentioned it. He seemed into it, and we were into it, so it fell in place." - more on this story

Metallica More Family Oriented

(Rock AAA) Metallica frontman James Hetfield says the band's shows are more family-oriented since he became a parent.

The singer and guitarist doesn't like to play So What because he has a son and two daughters who might take the lyrics as permission to use bad language.

And he's still astonished so many people round the world want to hear the music his band make for themselves. - more on this story

Anthrax, Fall Out Boy and Every Time I Die Supergroup The Damned Things Release New Video

(Rock AAA) The Damned Things are aware people don't know what to make of them, so they're hoping to make it easier with the release of their video for lead track We've Got a Situation Here.

The storyline sees the amalgam of Anthrax, Fall Out Boy and Every Time I Die members harnessing the power of rock to generate laser beams from their instruments, then setting out to fight for what's right.

To hammer home the point they've also released a making-of video which tries to explain the band's motivation for making the promo.Bassist Josh Newton says: "So far people don't really get this band – hopefully this video will help them understand our personalities a little bit. The kind of humour that's in the video and the people who are in it, is all part of us. We all like the same kind of stuff." - more on this story

Singled Out: Arthur (Mxpx)

Today Michael Arthur Herrera from Arthur (MxPx side project) tells us about "Cold Outside" from their brand new album "Watch The Years Crawl By". Here is the story:

We live in the Pacific Northwest and it gets "cold outside".So, I wrote a song about it, but it's really not about the weather, it's about how we get comfortable with a person and the thought of losing them is devastating, especially when you can feel them moving further away in that moment, like slow motion but you can't do anything about it. The thought of that just kills you and you do everything you can to hold on but like many relationships we go through, it just wasn't meant to be.

I redid the lead vocals for this song and added some backing vocals that were never there originally. I think it's got just enough new sprinkled on top of what it was to give it a nice shine. This song is exactly what Arthur sounds like.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album - right here!

Jimi Hendrix Felt Stifled And Frustrated Towards The End Of His Life

(Rock AAA) Jimi Hendrix died a frustrated man after being forced to perform music he no longer wanted to play, says a one-time friend of the guitar icon.

And moviemaker Jon Brewer believes we'll hear more of Hendrix's unreleased work in the future because people who had tied themselves up in legal wrangles would now rather the music was heard before they die.

Brewer has a history in making movies and music videos, before which he managed bands including David Bowie, Yes, Alvin Lee and others. He met Hendrix when the guitarist first arrived in London, and was at many of his earliest shows. Brewer tells RockAAA: "Jimi felt stifled and frustrated towards the end of his life. He was experimenting with a lot of musicians and a lot of ideas. He was interested in fusion jazz, big sounds and orchestras and the like. - more on this story

Mick Jagger Responds to Keith Richards' Life

(Gibson) For nearly five decades, they have been rock's greatest soap opera. Jagger/Richards. The Glimmer Twins. Mick and Keef. One is a keen businessman with an equal eye on the gate receipts and the dressing room mirror, where a carefully groomed image has helped make him the greatest frontman of all time (according to a recent Gibson.com poll). The other is a torn and frayed pirate who wears the scars of his 67-year battle with authority like a badge of honor. Somehow, their irresistible push and pull has generated some of the greatest music of the rock era. And their conflicts have generally remained behind closed doors. Oh, we might have heard grumblings here and there (like in the '80s when Jagger decided to embark on a solo career). But by and large, the details of their grievances were kept to themselves…until this year, when Keith Richards aired his laundry in a bracingly forthright autobiography, Life. In that book, Richards takes swipes at his longtime partner that are both personal (some exceedingly) and professional. For his part, Jagger has retained his dignity and not addressed the barbs — until now.

In an interview published by the New York Times' T magazine this weekend, Jagger sideswiped Richards' memoirs, saying, "Personally, I think it's really quite tedious raking over the past. Mostly, people only do it for the money."

When asked if he would ever write his own account of the band's long and sordid history, Jagger retorted, "You don't want to end up like some old footballer in a pub, talking about how he made the cross in the cup final in 1964." - more on this story

Imagine If John Lennon Was Still Alive

(Rock AAA) Imagine John Lennon hadn't been killed on December 8, 1980. That's exactly what QMI Agency writer Darryl Sterdan has done in an article which presents a carefully-researched fictional history of the ex Beatle's career until 2010.

Highlights include writing new songs with Paul McCartney but never touring with the Fab Four again, a number of one-off Beatles reunions – and making fun of Ring Starr's 2008 statement about not wanting any more fan mail.

Sterdan suggests Lennon, who'd be 70 by now, would have boycotted the Band Aid and Live Aid charity drives in the mid-80s, believing them to be "a ripoff," and he'd have refused a knighthood when offered it. And he has anti-war anthem Give Peace a Chance placed at the centre of Lennon's activities after the 9/11 atrocities.
- more on this story

Oasis Offshoot Beady Eye Set Album Release

(Gibson) Former Oasis star Liam Gallagher has announced that his new band, Beady Eye, will release their debut album, Different Gear, Still Speeding, on February 28.

The album, produced by Steve Lillywhite at London's RAK studios this summer, will contain 13 new songs, only one of which has been heard, the single "Bring the Light."

Beady Eye are Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock, all former Oasis members. - more on this story

The Eric Carr Story and Early Years of MTV Books Released

Greg Prato has two new books 'MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video,' a book at the beginning of the former music television network and 'The Eric Carr Story,' a biography of the late KISS drummer.

'The Eric Carr Story,' is the first-ever book to tell the life story of Kiss drummer Eric Carr. Comprised of all-new interviews, the book also doubles as a study of 1980's era Kiss. You'll find insight into all of Kiss' albums that featured Carr (from producers Bob Ezrin, Michael James Jackson, and Ron Nevison), as well as those closest to him (sister Loretta Caravello, girlfriend Carrie Stevens, Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick), and music-related friends (Eddie Trunk, Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy, Anthrax's Charlie Benante). Also included is one of the last-ever interviews conducted with Kiss' original manager, Bill Aucoin, and for the first time ever, Kiss fans will be able to learn what the real story line to Kiss' controversial release '(Music From) The Elder' was all about (thanks to an explanation from Ezrin).

'MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video,' is the first-ever book to focus solely on the channel's important building-block years, specifically from the MTV's launch to when its original group of VJs left the channel. Comprised of over 70 all-new interviews ("Weird Al" Yankovic, Daryl Hall, John Oates, Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rob Halford, Stewart Copeland, Rick Springfield, Jerry Casale, Geddy Lee, Ann Wilson, Chuck D, Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood, etc.), the book is not only an eye-opening account of the early years of MTV and the stories behind its biggest videos, but also of the music industry, important music developments/events, and the "Big '80s" in general. - more on this story

Blues All Stars Join Big Head Todd For 100 Years of Robert Johnson

Big Head Todd and The Monsters have gathered some of the greatest living blues musicians and recorded 100 Years of Robert Johnson (February 1, 2011 - Ryko/Big Records), a new tribute album featuring 10 interpretations.

Big Head Blues Club, as the ad hoc ensemble is calling itself, features, in addition to the Colorado-based quartet—guitarist and vocalist Todd Park Mohr, bassist Rob Squires, drummer Brian Nevins and keyboardist Jeremy Lawton—special guests, blues legends B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Honeyboy Edwards and Charlie Musselwhite, as well as keepers of the blues flame Ruthie Foster, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm.

Recorded at the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis, and produced by Grammy award winning blues producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama), 100 Years of Robert Johnson will be released in early 2011, and supported by a national tour ("Blues at the Crossroads: The Robert Johnson Centennial Concerts") featuring many of the participants in the sessions. A complete list of the tour dates is included - here

Alter Bridge Isolation Video Released

(hennemusic) Alter Bridge have released a new video from their latest disc, "ABIII." The track, "Isolation," is directed by Dan Catullo.

Alter Bridge are gearing up to kick off their first US tour in two years, starting December 10 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The 12-city trek will run through the holiday season and make stops in major markets including New York, Dallas, Chicago and Baltimore before wrapping up in Houston on January 8th. This is just the warm-up run before the band's full US tour this spring. - More including the dates and video here

Nidingr Reunited For New Album

Cult Norwegian black metal unit Nidingr return from a five year hiatus with a new album.

Vendlus will proudly unleash Nidingr's Wolf Father to the ravenous hordes in a full-on CD/digital release on January 18, 2011.

Nidingr remain a mainly cult act, although some might conder them a "super group" of sorts when they discover the band is comprised of a long list of notable black metal artisans including bassist/guitarist Teloch (1349, Gorgoroth, Ov Hell, Orcustus, Umoral, Konsortium), bassist/guitarist Blargh (Gravferd, Dødheimsgard), vocalist Cpt. Estrella Grasa (Kort Prosess), and drummer Hellhammer (Immortal, Shining, Thorns, Umoral, Mayhem, Emperor). Wolf Father even features a guest appearance from Ulver's Kristoffer Rygg (a.k.a. Garm), and features artwork by French visionary Valnoir of Metastazis, known for their work with Watain, Ulver, Peste Noire, Nachtmystium, Anteus and more. - more on this story

Never Shout Never Manager Launching New Podcast With a Twist

David Conway (manager for Never Shout Never, The Ready Set and more / Doghouse Records A&R) is launching a new podcast on February 2, 2011.

Conway And Friends will feature a new musician each week discussing their favorite children's book from their youth, followed by a reading of the work.

There will be laughs, there will be tears and we are also hoping for someone to have a complete emotional breakdown during a reading and discussion of The Giving Tree . They'll be launching with visits from The Ready Set, Hellogoodbye, Never Shout Never and You, Me and Everyone We Know. - more on this story

Defiled Return With New Album

(Season of Mist) Defiled are back. Eight years after "Divination" (2003) took the world by storm, the band from the "Land of the Rising Sun" return with their crushing fourth full-length "In Crisis".

Produced by Defiled and renowned sound engineer Bill Metoyer (Slayer, Sacred Reich), who also mixed and mastered the album, "In Crisis" comes with all the trademark elements that catapulted these Japanese to the top of Asia's Death Metal scene since releasing the self financed EP "Defeat of Sanity" (1994) two years after their founding.

Hailing from Tokyo, Defiled combine the brutal and technical aspects of this mad metropolis into their own unique sound. The Japanese acquire a massive reputation for their devastating live shows, which gain them among others opening slots for Cannibal Corpse (1996) and Morbid Angel (1998) at home as well as Incantation in the US. - more on this story

Reflective Ray Davies

(Gibson) It's been a bittersweet year for former Kinks frontman Ray Davies. He played a stirring set to the masses at the Glastonbury Festival in June and released an album of collaborations with artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Metallica and Jackson Browne, in November called See My Friends. Along the way there was heartache, as well, with the passing of original Kinks bassist Pete Quaife in June. Davies also received a series of stinging public rebukes from his brother Dave, when the inevitable topic of a Kinks reunion followed Quaife's death. Still Brother Ray keeps his head held high, and the London native was gracious enough to sit down this week with The Independent to answer questions both insightful and insouciant. Here are a few of the highlights:

"My parents were working class, but very supportive of our family of eight children. They moved from the city to the suburbs after the Second World War to give us a fresh start. They were both from Islington, and the street they lived in had been bombed during the war."

"You wouldn't know it but I'm very good at listening to people's problems, and cooking. I'm a vegetarian, although I eat fish occasionally. I have a couple of vegetarian dishes I've patented. I love to surprise non-veggies – they say: 'That was incredible,' and then they're totally shocked to hear that there's no meat in it." - more on this story

Rival Schools Announce Tour With Trail of Dead

Rival Schools will release their second album Pedals, on March 7th in the UK (the next day in North America) through Photo Finish/Atlantic Records.

In support of the album they will be hitting the road for four UK co-headline dates with …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead in April, kicking off at London's Electric Ballroom on 15 April.

Achieving musical transcendence is a tricky feat, almost definitively. If it happens at all, it happens naturally — and perhaps nobody knows that better than New York's Rival Schools. - more on this story

Happy Birthday Harry Chapin

(Gibson) Born in New York on this day in 1940, Harry Chapin would describe himself as a "poor little rich boy", meaning that despite financial restrictions his family of artists, activists and assorted bohemian types enriched the young Harry Chapin with ideas of artistic endeavors.

He didn't spend long on this planet, dying in an auto accident in 1981, but his music and subsequent campaigning against hunger left a valuable legacy of an artist who strived to make things a little bit better.

After teenage years spent in a boys choir, Chapin formed a group with his brothers Tom and Stephen and opted for a career as a film-maker. He found success after directing the Oscar nominated boxing classic, Legendary Champions. By 1971, however, he decided to pursue music and began performing in the New York area. He eventually signed to the always-hip and happening Elektra records. His song "Taxi," from his debut album Heads and Tails, came out in the summer of 1972 and was a huge hit. The next two albums did ok, with another story song single "W.O.L.D.," this time about a DJ, climbing the charts. - more on this story

Linkin Park and System of a Down To Headline Download

(Rock AAA) Linkin Park have been revealed as the second headline act at Download 2011, alongside the reformed System of a Down, while Biffy Clyro will headline at Sonisphere, sharing top billing with the reactivated Slipknot.

Rob Zombie will also appear at the historic Donington Park festival on June 10-12, marking his first visit since playing with White Zombie in 1995. Avenged Sevenfold are also on the bill.

Chester Benington of Linkin Park says: "We're very excited to be playing Download again next year. It's one of the best festivals in the world and it's always an honour to play in front of such a great crowd." - more on this story

Black Pistol Fire Set Album Release

Black Pistol Fire will release their self-titled debut LP on February 15th, 2011, on Rifle Bird Records.

The record will feature thirteen original tracks written by the band in a garage they rented in Austin, Texas. The album was recorded in two separate sessions in an abandoned building in Detroit.

The filth and raw punk sound of Detroit and the dusty rock and roll of Central Texas can all be heard on this debut. - more on this story

Punk: Attitude DVD Examines 70s Punk Movement

(Gibson) Next month, the Shout! Factory entertainment company will release on DVD Punk: Attitude, a comprehensive and music-driven documentary on the origins and lasting influence of the original late '70s punk rock movement.

The film was directed by Don Letts, a legendary DJ and central figure on the London punk scene, and features rare performance footage of The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Ramones, Black Flag, and many others. The doc also includes then-and-now interviews with such subjects as Jello Biafra, Chrissy Hynde, Mick Jones, David Johansen, Wayne Kramer and Siouxsie Sioux.

"With hindsight we are able to recognize [punk] as part of an ongoing movement of counterculture," filmmaker Letts explained in a press statement announcing the release. "It is in that spirit that I made this film, not as a nostalgic look back, but rather a way to move forward. After all, if it happened before, it can happen again." -

Moving Mountains For Biffy Clyro

(PR) Moving Mountains have announced a winter tour as main support for Scottish trio Biffy Clyro.

The tour will kick off February 10th in Washington, DC and wrap up March 1st in Los Angeles.

Moving Mountainsare currently putting the finishing touches on their Triple Crown debut. The yet to be titled album will be out early spring of 2011. - more on this story

Isle of Jeff Beck

(Gibson) Master axe-man Jeff Beck has been confirmed as part of the lineup for next year's Isle of Wight Festival. Beck joins a roster of talent that already includes headliners Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters and Kasabian. Other confirmed performers include Pulp, Plan B, Pixie Lott, Starsailor's James Walsh, the Script, and the still-estimable Welsh belter Tom Jones.

The Isle of Wight Festival is a legendary and enduring rock 'n' roll summit meeting with a history that includes performances by Mark Bolan, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and The Who. The original festival was an annual event from 1968-1970. After a 32-year break it was revived in 2002 with a lineup headlined by the Charlatans and Robert Plant. Next year's edition will be held June 10-12. Tickets are on sale now.

Beck is currently on tour. His band includes drummer Narada Michael Walden, bassist Rhonda Smith and keyboardist Jason Rebello. Beck will work the Isle of Wight into a summer-long European leg of his tour. - more on this story

Cast Announce Hometown Reunion Gig

(Gibson) Hot off their first show in nine years, former Britpop darlings Cast are preparing to head home to Liverpool this week. The reunited band — consisting of original members John Power (vocals, guitar), Liam "Skin" Tyson (guitar), Peter Wilkinson (bass) and Kevin O'Neill — played a 17-song, greatest-hits set at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on Friday night in celebration of the 15th anniversary of their debut album, All Change.

Singer John Power, formerly of The La's, told the NME that he originally had reservations about getting the band back together because he didn't want to taint their legacy.

"That's what I was always scared of doing — becoming a parody of myself," he said. "I refused to go down that avenue. I don't know whether it's the amount of time that's passed, it being 15 years since our first album, but I was talking to people about it and there just seemed to be a lot of goodwill out there so I thought 'Why not?'" - more on this story

Frontiers Records Ink EMI Deal

Frontiers Records has announced a new Distribution Agreement for its label products with EMI Music Distribution in North America.

The new Agreement will be effective from January 1st 2011 and marks a "huge step forward in the label's expansion strategy" – as stated by Frontiers President, Serafino Perugino.

EMI Music will distribute physical product from Frontiers Records in the United States of America and Canada. Plans are already underway to expand the territorial areas of partnership. - more on this story