Paul Rodgers Approached To Replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith

Classic rock promised to reveal the identity of two more singers who were approached for the gig. - Read the full report here

Velvet Revolver's Duff McKagan Joins Jane's Addiction?- Sigur Ros on Indefinite Break- New Found Glory Star Cancer Free- Avril in Wonderland and more

Jane's Addiction fansite xiola.org reports that original Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan is the mysterious new writing partner and bassist for Jane's Addiction. As we reported earlier this month, Original Jane's bassist Eric Avery is out, once again, due to... the usual. more

Sigur Ros are on an indefinite break and will not release a new album in 2010, as previously thought, their frontman Jonsi Birgisson has confirmed to Spinner. more

New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert posted this good news on Twitter on Wednesday " Hey guys.Laying in my recovery room. 5:48 am. I'm ch ch chillin. They removed half my thyroid but no cancer. Thanks for the prayers love you"

Avril Lavigne's new single, "Alice", premiered today. It is from the Almost Alice Soundtrack from the upcoming Tim Burton movie, Alice in Wonderland. Listen here

Former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick will be hosting a BK3 release party at the Cat Club in West Hollywood on February 1st at 7 PM. It has been confirmed that Nick Simmons will perform with Bruce more

Senses Fail's myspace list Zack Roach as their new guitarist replacing Heath Saraceno, according to Absolute Punk

Unearth will team up with Veil Of Maya and Armed For Apocalypse on a 10 date cross country run on their way to meet up for the start of the Atticus Metal Tour 2. more

Musical dope Pete Doherty was fined Wednesday for walking into a court last month with heroin in his pocket. more. Tune in next month for his next slap on the wrist for a drug offense! [That was sarcasm.]

Consequence of Sound reports that The Flaming Lips have been tapped to headline Saturday night at the Nateva Music & Camping Festival. more

Tokyo Blade guitarist Andy Boulton put together a new incarnation of the band in 2009 with ex-guitarist John Wiggins (ex-Battlezone) and bassist Andy Wright, along with ex-Tigertailz drummer Ace Finchum. They have since announced the return of original drummer Steve Pierce to the fold. more

Former members of Canadian indie rockers The Stills, Mobile, The Snitches and Cafeine have formed a new band called Lights Off. more

The Coachella festival will not offer single day tickets for the 2010 edition. You'll have to pay the full price for a three day pass. more

Regretfully Firewind will not be touring Mexico in February 2010... "This is indeed very disappointing, we have been putting the dates together for sometime now, sadly our promoter let us down and we have had to pull the shows. " more

Rocky Votolato and Chad Price will be releasing a split together in March on Suburban Home Records. more -

Ratt Drummer Reportedly Arrested on Felony Charge

Metal Sludge is reporting that Ratt drummer Bobby Blotzer was arrested last month on a felony charge. The site does admit that they have not confirmed what the charges were for, but report on what they were rumored to be along with the information they found in public records. Here is part of their report:

It seems that Bobby Blotzer of the band RATT was arrested for a felony. This is a fact, but we don't have the exact charge pinned down yet. Rumor on the street is that it is alleged that this was a domestic assault on his girl friend

The public record shows he was arrested and booked into the Santa Clarita Valley sub station on December 17th @ 1:35pm, and held on $ 50,000.00 bail for a Charge Level (F) Felony. - more on this story

Motorhead, Danzig, Wildhearts, New York Dolls, Hanoi Rocks Supergroup

(Rock Radio) The Wildhearts frontman Ginger has been unveiled as a member of Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe's new band.

The five-piece features Monroe on vocals with Ginger on guitar plus guitarist Todd Youth (Danzig, Motorhead) bassist Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls) and drummer Jimmy Clark (Blackhearts, Deborah Harry). Both Yaffa and Clark were also members of a previous Monroe band, Demolition 23.

They'll play their first run of gigs in the USA in March before heading to Finland and Sweden in April. Then they'll appear at London's Islington Academy on April 9. - more on this story

Dillinger Escape Plan Announce Tour

The Dillinger Escape Plan plans to head out on the road on a headline run to add to their recently announced festival dates to support their upcoming album, Option Paralysis (out 3/23/10)

Opening for Dillinger on these dates are Darkest Hour, IwrestledABearOnce and Animals As Leaders. The bastard child born of the mid 90s punk/metal/hardcore movement, Darkest Hour combines the passion, energy, and soul of punk/hardcore with the style, speed, vengeance and fury of melodic speed/thrash/death metal. Their history spans a decade and a half, a quarter of a million records sold and voyages across every inch of the globe.

Saying that IWrestledABearOnce makes music that turns heads is a real understatement. Love it or hate it - as long as they get a strong reaction to their music, the members of this band will feel that they have done their duty. - more on this story

Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio Announce Noisy Tour

Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio will embark on a UK and European tour on April 17th, when they perform what is described as "A Night of Deep Noise."

Featuring Lou Reed (processed & unprocessed guitars & mini continuum), Ulrich Krieger (tenor sax & live-electronics), and Sarth Calhoun (live processing & continuum fingerboard), the Metal Machine Trio concerts, although influenced and inspired by Reed's seminal 1975 album 'Metal Machine Music', won't duplicate the original album, but will instead opt for entirely new unique music, noise and soundscapes.

To coincide with the UK & European tour dates, Lou Reed will release a newly re-mastered edition of the original 1975 'Metal Machine Music' album on 180 gram double gatefold vinyl, Audio DVD & Blu-ray. Each format features a stereo reproduction of the original quadraphonic master, playable on home theatre systems. - more on this story

Grammy Nominees CD Manage Top 5 Debut

The 2010 Grammy Nominees CD, which was released Jan. 19 debuted today at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, selling more than 48,000 units and besting the first week sales and chart position of the 2009 collection.

The disc contains many of the most widely recognized Grammy categories with 20 tracks representing nominees for Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals, and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals.

The CD is made possible by a special arrangement with all of the major music distribution companies and rotates labels from year to year. - more on this story

Day Of Fire Hitting The Road With Nonpoint

Nashville-based rock band Day Of Fire have just released their third CD Losing All--a powerful hard-rock record that explores the meaning of rebirth--January 26 via Razor And Tie. After four special CD release shows in the Southeast, Day Of Fire will join Nonpoint on the road February 16 for a run of U.S. shows.

Losing All's first single "Lately" is currently at #35 and climbing on R&R's Active Rock Monitor chart. Drummer Zach Simms, who wrote the chorus during a time of turmoil surrounding the band, reveals that the song is about "letting go of the things that have been clouding your mind." He continues, "hopefully it will give people a reason to chase their dream that may have been shattered by someone telling them that they could never achieve it."

Day Of Fire features Josh Brown (vocals), brothers Joe Pangallo (guitar) and Chris Pangallo (bass), and Zach Simms (drums). Brown grew up in Jackson, Tennessee, where he picked up songwriting and a serious drug habit at age 15. Two years later he became the frontman for Full Devil Jacket, and at 22, scored a major record deal. The band toured with Creed and Nickelback and made a splash at Woodstock '99, but on his way to success, Brown had a major crash: a heroin overdose in an Orlando bathroom which put his career on hold while he rehabbed and rethought his life. - more on this story

Metallica Comment on The Discovery of The Body Of Missing Fan

Metallica posted this statement on their website on Wednesday: We are profoundly saddened by the news of the discovery of Morgan Dana Harrington's body

Our most sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Morgan Dana Harrington, the 20 year old Virginia Tech student who was last seen while attending our concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA.

Sadly, Morgan's body was found yesterday ending her family's three month vigil hoping and praying for her safe return. Mere words cannot express the anguish and grief that we know her parents Dan and Gil are feeling, and our thoughts are with them.

If you have any information at all about Morgan's death, please contact the Virginia State Police at (434) 352-3425 or the UVA Police at (434) 352-3467 or police@virginia.edu. -

Living Sacrifice Week: Apostasy

Metal legends Living Sacrifice return this week with, 'The Infinite Order,' their first album since regrouping in 2008. To celebrate the release singer / guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh will give us the inside story to five songs from the album. We continue today with "Apostasy". Here is Bruce with the story:

This song was basically complete from Rocky on the music side when we did pre pro, but the intro was questionable by all of us. Then in tracking, Rocky added this epic Metallica-esque ending that inspired the current intro with cellos and acoustic guitars that built into a fade in of the heavy part with harmonies to a crescendo and then the main verse riff.

Some of the drums were changed up a bit to add dynamics and then that was it. The lyrics have to do with being honest about faith.

Preview the album and grab tour dates and more right - here

The Houston Brothers Release The Archer

On January 26, The Houston Brothers unveiled, The Archer, the first chapter of a musical diary, with supplementary releases coming in 2010.

A team endeavor, The Archer was recorded at the band's home studio with the aid of a few close friends, subsequently mixed alongside producer, Mitch Easter (REM, Wilco) and finally mastered by Dave Harris (Pattern is Movement, American Princes).

The ensuing album breaks new territory, artistically and sonically, for the Houstons, while preserving all the urgency of the live shows with which they have become synonymous. - more on this story

David Sanborn Returns With New Album and Tour

Only Everything, the new album from legendary saxophonist David Sanborn, shows Sanborn paying homage to the aesthetic of Ray Charles with new passion and vigor. Only Everything comes on the heels of 2008's critically acclaimed Here And Gone with the New York Times noting "It's a tribute and a testament, brimming with conviction… the effect is a disarming delight." The CD will be in stores January 26, 2010 on Decca with U.S. tour dates announced to support the release.

Only Everything was produced by longtime collaborator and friend Phil Ramone with Joss Stone lending her sultry vocals once again for Ray Charles' "Let The Good Times Roll" while James Taylor completes a hypnotic rendition on "Hallelujah, I Love Her So".

"Joss is a young woman with an old soul," says David. "She's a force of nature who understands the primal power of soul music...I wanted Joss to express the pure delight of Ray's sensuous side. She did so brilliantly." Of James Taylor, David explains; "James told the story—like he tells all his stories—with a warm naturalness that beats back the blues." - more on this story

We Are Wolves Announce Some Dates

French-Canadian dance/rock/electro trio We Are Wolves have announced a quick run of tour dates around the February 2nd release of their third album, Invisible Violence, on Dare To Care Records.

The band will make a weekend trip to the northeast, beginning February 4th at Great Scott in Boston, MA, and wrapping up February 6th at the Brooklyn Bowl in New York, NY, before heading home to Montreal, Canada.

We Are Wolves are also confirmed to open for fellow countrymen Wolf Parade on three of the band's April tour dates, in addition to traveling to SXSW in March and to headlining several shows in their native Canada next month. - more on this story

Thousand Foot Krutch To Fire Up Super Bowl Arena

Football fever is at a high as the 2010 Super Bowl XLIV nears on February 7, 2010. Thousand Foot Krutch's music will be present at the Miami football party as the band's hot song "Fire It Up" will be used in the arena on the jumbotron to pump up the crowd with a highlights video. This month, NFL Network has also used the song on NFL Total Access, NFL Nike Rewind and NFL Game Day Morning (see link below).

"Fire It Up" has also been featured in recent months in the summer blockbuster movie trailer for "G.I. Joe," ESPN's NASCAR Nationwide series, the Versus Network IndyCar race as well as a pre and in-game song for various sports teams (New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Seattle Sounders and Seahawks, UFC, and many others).

This single has also brought chart success, giving TFK their fourth Top 20 hit on Active Rock radio including current top 10's in Seattle, WA (KFNK), Santa Rosa, CA (KXFX), Burlington, VT (WLFE), and Denver, CO (KBPI), Chicago, IL (WIIL), Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (KEGL), Las Vegas, NV (KOMP) and Fresno/Visalia, CA (KRZR), and many other stations increasing spins. - more on this story

Motion City Soundtrack Top 20 Debut

Motion City Soundtrack's new album My Dinosaur Life debuted at No 15 this week on the Billboard 200 with nearly 30,000 copies sold!

Released January 19th on Columbia Records, the new album is the band's fourth and major label debut. This week's chart debut is their highest yet and the album has had critics abuzz for the past few weeks.

Motion City Soundtrack is currently on a national headlining tour of the US in support of My Dinosaur and they've already sold out numerous venues including First Avenue in Minneapolis, The Fillmore at Irving in NYC and Mr. Small's in Pittsburgh. - more on this story

Through The Eyes Of The Dead To Debut Entire New Album on Radio Show

Through The Eyes Of The Dead will be teaming up with the nation's largest college radio station, WSOU in South Orange NJ, for a radio premiere of their new album "Skepsis," in its entirety on their specialty show, "Pirated Advance," this Friday, January 28th at 9pm EST. The album will hit the streets on Tuesday, February 2 via PROSTHETIC RECORDS.

"Pirated Advance" host Sheigh Perkins will be joined by TTEOTD's vocalist Danny Rodriguez. During the evening listeners will be able to tune in for an hour's worth of new music as well as an exclusive interview with Danny regarding the new release, upcoming developments with the band and the concept behind 'Skepsis' from start to finish.

People in the New York metropolitan area can tune their dials in to 89.5 FM this Friday during 9 - 10 PM EST. People outside of the area can tune in online at http://www.wsou.net and can catch the broadcast. As well fans can request their favorite tracks from "Skepsis" by calling (973)761-9768, or via AOL Instant Messenger at WSOUrequests . - more on this story

Mercury Rev Announced for Truck America Fest

The first ever Truck America Festival is thrilled to present a special appearance from upstate NY legends Mercury Rev! The show will feature a career retrospective selection of favorite handpicked tracks, accompanied for the first time by a chamber orchestra lead by TRUCK founders Joe and Robin Bennett. Further additions to the line-up will be revealed in weeks to come.

The three day, 1000 capacity gathering at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY on April 30 - May 2nd 2010 will celebrate the art of live music, personal (offline) connections and the environment, as well as the stateside arrival of one of the UK's great independent music institutions.

The TRUCK festival in Oxfordshire, UK has run for the past 13 years on the principles of independence and ethically minded and cooperative production, with a passion for introducing cutting edge music as well as a reverential nod back to the classics. Bands like Supergrass, Fanfarlo, The Lemonheads, Regina Spektor, Battles, Okkervil River, The Raveonettes, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Wild Beasts, YACHT and The Big Pink have been part of the TRUCK experience over the years. - more on this story

Cauldron Announce Tour, Release New Video

Canadian traditional metal act, Cauldron have debuted their official video for the Chained To The Nite track, "Chained Up In Chains" on YouTube.

Shot during the recently completed Waste The World tour, this energetic video features the band doing what they do best, playing balls to the wall traditional metal and acting like rock stars both on stage and off. View CAULDRON's official video for "Chained Up In Chains" here

Canadian heavy metal heroes CAULDRON have announced a headlining tour of Canada in March. Frontman/bassist JASON DECAY comments: "We can't wait to get back out to the eastern part of Canada and pound some metal with the 'true' French and maritime bangers. Canada has always been really good for us, especially out east and the far west, so we're really excited to be returning to the east coast. It's been over two years since we were last out to the maritimes, so we're really looking forward to it!"
- more on this story

Mars Volta designer's Sonny Kay L.A. Gallery Opening

POV Evolving Gallery and Sargent House announce the Los Angeles gallery opening of recent work by renown visual artist Sonny Kay. The installation titled Tamper Proof: Recent Works by Sonny Kay opens with a gala reception on Thursday, February 11, 2010. The event also features acoustic performances by Lisa Papineau, Matthew Embree (RX Bandits) and Liquid Indian, plus special guest DJs (DJ) Nobody and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta). The artist's installation runs through March 9th, 2010.

Sonny Kay's work will certainly be familiar to devotees of The Mars Volta, and in particular the vast solo output of Volta head-honcho, Omar Rodriguez Lopez. As creative director for Rodriguez Lopez's L.A.-based eponymous record/film imprint, Rodriguez Lopez Productions, Kay's meticulous collage and graphic design work has become synonymous with a seemingly endless stream of heady, inspired psychedelic albums that began appearing en masse in 2006. POV Evolving presents Tamper Proof, a show of Kay's most recent album-related works and some as-yet-unseen creations intent on wriggling out of the confines of the 12" LP sleeve.

Kay's music-world pedigree predates the coming of The Mars Volta by more than 10 years. During his college years in Boulder, Colorado, Kay became a central figure on the underground music scene, first as a promoter (culminating in his management of the U of C's notorious Club 156 venue between 1993 and 1995), and then as a performer. As vocalist for the cult punk bands Angel Hair and The VSS, Kay traversed the United States repeatedly, following in the footsteps of groups like Black Flag and Fugazi, anticipating those of The Faint and At the Drive-In. Launching the celebrated Gold Standard Laboratories (GSL) label with student loan money in 1993, Kay went on to release seminal material from then-unknown groups such as The Locust, The Rapture, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Chromatics, and eventually, The Mars Volta. By the time he designed the packaging for that band's 2002 debut, Tremulant, Kay had partnered with Rodriguez Lopez and GSL became, effectively, the band's own label. - more on this story