Rocker Has A Third Of His Skull Removed Following Attack

Doctors had to remove a third of his skull to reduce swelling on his brain. Matt is reportedly in a critical condition. Nathan blogged: "...He managed to subdue this guy for a second and since his wife was beat up pretty good called the cops.. as he did so the guy jumped him from behind and beat him. This guy did things I can't even type. After words, he and his beaten wife left Matthew unconcious on the street. - read more of Nathan's comments here for more details

The Black Crowes Unplugged Album and Tour

The Black Crowes will release a double album of all acoustic material, Croweology, on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 via band's label Silver Arrow.

The band will celebrate the album's release that evening with a performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and perform the next night, Wednesday, August 4, on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Next, they'll kick off a four-month North American tour August 13. It will wrap Dec 19 with an epic six-night stand in San Francisco at The Fillmore December 12-19, after which Chris Robinson (vocals/guitar), Rich Robinson (guitar), Steve Gorman (drums), Sven Pipien (bass), Luther Dickinson (guitar) and Adam McDougall (keyboards) will go on a lengthy hiatus to catch their collective breaths and spend time with their families. - more on this story

Reunited Sanctuary Writing New Music

MetalSucks have posted an interview with Nevermore vocalist Warrel Dane where Dane revealed that Sanctuary are presently in the process of writing new material... as in, right this second.

MetalSucks: I am f***in' psyched about this long-overdue Sanctuary reunion! Warrel Dane: [laughs] Yeah, wait 'til you hear some of the new stuff! I've got a song that I've been working on the last few days. It's pretty frickin' cool.

MetalSucks: You're not joking right now? You're already working on music? Warrel Dane: No, I'm not joking at all! It sounds like Into The Mirror Black stuff, which obviously is the evolution of our sound. We're going to really start rehearsing again and just [pauses] deal with it. It feels right for some reason. I know I said years ago that I wouldn't do this. That was probably because most of us weren't really friends. We didn't talk to each other.... No, the ending of that band was weird. It got kind of ugly at the end. Eventually, we grew up a little and started talking to each other again. Now, we're in a place where we're good friends again. Which is cool cuz we're all different people now. I had always thought that Len [Rutledge, Sanctuary guitarist] … He tried a couple bands after Sanctuary broke up, but then he kind of quit doing music. One day, it occurred to me that he's too talented to not be doing something. I thought, maybe we should work on something together and see what happens. It happened very slowly. It's a good feeling. - Read the interview here

Dimmu Korn

Dimmu Borgir have announced the a series of dates with Korn in Europe this Fall. Dimmu Borgir have dubbed the outing the first leg to their "Darkness Reborn World Tour" for their upcoming new album.

Dimmu Borgir previously announced that over 101 musicians have lent their talents to the making of the album which will be released in Germany on October 8th, in the rest of Europe on October 11th, and in North America on October 12th.

States guitarist/songwriter Silenoz: "We really look forward to finally start the touring cycle in support of our new monster! Special thanks to Jonathan and Korn for giving us the opportunity!" - more on this story

Trent Reznor Scoring Facebook Movie

Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor confirmed reports that he and Atticus Ross are scoring the new film about the founding of Facebook called The Social Network. Here is what Trent had to say:

I was planning on taking some time off after the continual waves of touring that ended last fall and spend this year experimenting around with what would become How To Destroy Angels and some new NIN.

Well, that plan didn't work out so well. David Fincher started inquiring about my interest in scoring his upcoming film, The Social Network. Yeah, the movie about the founding of Facebook. I've always loved David's work but quite honestly I wondered what would draw him to tell that story. When I actually read the script and realized what he was up to, I said goodbye to that free time I had planned. Atticus Ross and I have been on a creative roll so I asked him if he wanted to work on this with me and we signed on. - more on this story

Behind the Video: Judgement Day's "Cobra Strike" (AKA "Violin Hero")

Fans of Bright Eyes and the Devotionals will probably know the name Anton Patzner (he has also recorded with Slash, Pete Yorn, dredge, Taking Back Sunday and countless others), but he's been making a viral name for himself lately with his other band Judgement Day which rocks hard with stringed instruments! Their video for their song "Cobra Strike" and its Violin Hero theme has captured our attention so we asked Anton to take us Behind the Video. Here you go!

The video for "Cobra Strike" came from one simple idea: VIOLIN HERO. Judgement Day is a violin, cello and drums metal band, so how could we not do a Violin Hero video? The original concept was pretty basic: Judgement Day would be playing on a video game screen with animated Guitar-Hero-like notes streaming down, and little kids would be playing along in front of their TV sets with plastic violin controllers. I thought this would be pretty cool; you get a crazy string metal band, you get kids going nuts and you get animated Guitar Hero notes, which always seem to be pleasantly mesmerizing.

When I pitched the idea to our director Zzalgern0n, he thought it was cool but maybe not quite enough to keep a video interesting for a full 3 and a half minutes. We started brainstorming about ways to give the video more of a story. The question we asked ourselves was "what would happen if there really was a Violin Hero game?"

The answer was obvious: IT WOULD BE THE MOST POPULAR CULTURAL PHENOMENON OF ALL TIME. Everyone would be playing it. Kids, adults, hipsters, jocks, Egyptian people, naked fat guys, the devil, everyone! The people who couldn't get it would be rioting. Offices would shut down because everyone would be playing the game instead of working. Wars would break out. And what would happen when Violin Hero II came out? Forget about it!

So that was the concept. We chose Corba Strike to be the song for the video because it is probably the craziest song we have ever written. It's fast, in your face and changes meters almost every measure. We thought it would be both the most the difficult and the most fun song to play as a level in a game.

Now we just had to figure out how to make this all happen. We were very lucky to have Zzalgern0n as the director. He's a total DIY juggernaut who does his own green screen and special effects and he was able to do this whole video for pretty much a burrito-budget. We had a ton of other great artists who donated their talents as well, including a graphic designer who created the Violin Hero box, a miniature set designer who built the game stage, a musicologist who helped compile a list of the most shredding violin songs of all time for the level select screen, and an animator who made the notes come down the screen.

It was really important to us that the animated notes line up with the song, so I wrote it all out on sheet music with the note heads in different colors to give our animator, Mike Mayfield a solid road map. He actually finished an animation for the whole song even though we only use it for a handful of the shots in the final video. He told me that as soon as he finished, he took out his Guitar Hero controller and played along. Hopefully at some point we can release a band-only version of the video which has the full animation through the whole thing; then everyone could play along!

There are a ton of little sight gags that run through this whole video like cameos from Godzilla and Obama. Most of them were Zzalgern0n's ideas. That stuff is all really fun and gives the video a lot more replay value. I've seen it probably over 100 times now and I'm still finding little Easter eggs here and there. The opening scene is a parody of one of my favorite YouTube videos, N64 Kid. That video was the only time I have ever seen anyone as excited about something as people would be about Violin Hero.

I'm so glad that people have been liking this Cobra Strike video and sharing it with their friends. It's pretty interesting that you can make a video now with home cameras and no budget and it can be just as popular as a huge, $40,000 film. On the internet creative ideas carry more weight than large budgets, which is great for independent bands, and in my opinion great for fans as well.

Now that you know the story behind this video, you can watch it for yourself - right here!

Singled Out: Midnight Spin's In the Air (Revival)

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Jim from Midnight Spin tells us about "In the Air (Revival)," a song you'll be hearing (and seeing) all month long on Fuse. What's even more impressive is Midnight Spin are finding success without the backing of a major label! We now turn it over to Jim for the story:

For its pop sensibilities and dance-y beat, In the Air (Revival) is a pretty dark song. It's lyrical base began from a story I had read about a shooting in Pittsburgh last year, where three police officers were shot to death by a 22-year old gunman who was scared about the Obama Administration rolling back gun ownership laws and taking away firearms, something which, in a legislative reality, has never happened. From there I started to wonder why someone would think something that outlandish and have such a tragic response to it. The lyric sarcastically suggests "Better use 'em while you still can", which sadly ended up happening.

It led me to think more about 21st century mass media, and its tremendous reach and effect, and how these days, it just doesn't go away. It's everywhere, 24 hours a day, inescapably present. And it can be abused very easily by people for whatever narrow interest they have. So basically the song is about fear, but also contains some hope in the lyrics as well, saying that when we all learn as a human race/nation/society that we've kind of created this monster, and things kind of fall apart as a result, there will be people with pure intentions ready to reclaim responsibility.

The video plays on this loosely. We have a suited fat-cat character who seem's well put together but as the video progresses starts to unravel into this jack ass kind of "monster". There's a lyric in the song that says "some try to blind the youth" and that inspired the blindfolds that pop up throughout. At the end of the video the perspective changes and the fat-cat blindfolds the viewer...and we did this to make a broader point (as a band we aren't nearly as politically charged as this songs lyrics can be interpreted). I think everyone has had an instance where they feel like they are being taken advantage of or blinded by something or someone, whether it's a friend, or a boss, or a drug...but at the end of the day you can simply pull the blindfold off and change your perspective. Sometimes you have the blindfold on so long you forget that.

Musically, I've described the song as Godzilla playing guitar in a Led Zeppelin tribute band at the closing night at Studio 54. It's fun as hell to play. And it gets a great reaction during live shows. Danny is the voice you hear howling out during the bridge mellow part, he is embracing his Cherokee roots. Must be in the blood. Instrumentally it's a fuzz guitar orgy.

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

Grateful Dead Duo's The Rhythm Devils Announce More Dates

The Rhythm Devils have announced a second leg of tour dates for late summer. The Rhythm Devils – Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, the polyrhythmic engine that drove the Grateful Dead for nearly three decades – will make stops throughout the Midwest and Northeast covering some of the territory they'll miss when out west for their earlier summer shows.

Joining Hart and Kreutzmann in the Rhythm Devils for part two of the tour will be Nigerian talking drum master Sikiru Adepoju, returning from the last RD tour in 2006, Back Door Slam's Davy Knowles (guitar, vocals) and Andy Hess (bass). The Mother Hips' Tim Bluhm (guitar, vocals) extends his first run as a Devil.

The Rhythm Devils name has its origins in the late '70s. As Hart explains, "I remember Jerry looking at Bill and I one time. He shook his head and just said, 'You guys are Rhythm Devils.'" - more including dates

Skeletonwitch's Eric Harris Returns With Gypsyhawk

Creator-Destructor Records will release Gypsyhawk's debut album, 'Patience And Perseverance' July 6 on CD and double gatefold LP.

Inspired by Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, and 70s rock of all sorts, Gypsyhawk is led by former Skeletonwitch member Eric Harris (bass/vocals) and rounded out by Scotty Conant, Andrew Packer (guitars), and Joe Fabio (drums). The latter recorded and mixed the band's eight-track demo that surfaced in late 2009.

Since the formation of GYPSYHAWK, the band has played in and around Los Angeles and Hollywood, and even the Bay Area, before and during their recording schedule with producer Zack Ohren (Animosity, All Shall Perish, Heartsounds) at Castle Ultimate Studios in Oakland, Calif. - more on this story

The Human Abstract Begin New Album

The Human Abstract went into the studio this week with William Putney (Suicide Silence, Four Year Strong) to begin work on their upcoming full-length album for Hopeless Records.

"I can't wait to see what Will plus our preparation equals - hopefully when we leave our album will be the sharpest arrow in the quiver. I don't think I have ever put this much into the preproduction/writing process and this is my first stab at fronting a band this musical, so I'm genuinely excited and anxious to hear the final product," voices frontman Travis Richter.

The band had been tucked away in downtown Los Angeles the last few months writing and preparing for their upcoming release. The album is currently slated for a fall release date. - more on this story

Ringo Starrs and Stripes Forever

Little Steven will celebrate Independence Day and the birth of a Beatle all at once with "Ringo Starrs and Stripes Forever," which airing today on his nationally syndicated radio show, Little Steven's Underground Garage.

Van Zandt will spin some of his favorite cuts by The Beatles and Starr (who turns 70 on July 7), alongside new music from Nick Curran & the Lowlifes, Tab the Band, and Alejandro Escovedo.

In addition, he'll honor Ringo's "Mystery of the Night" as this week's "Coolest Song in the World." List of full schedule of local affiliates and air times - can be found here

Articles of Faith Reunite

Articles of Faith will reunite for the first time in 25 years (with all original members) to record an EP at Chicago's Million Yen Studios for release on Alternative Tentacles on October 5th.

It will be available digitally and on vinyl. Not content merely to record, they'll celebrate the new wax with their first live show in 25 years, at Riot Fest in Chicago the week of October 6th-10th.

The band will be doing a photo shoot during the recording sessions (July 2-6) to replicate their iconic photo in front of 1000 Liquors on Belmont Avenue from the 80s, at the same location to document the reunion after all these years. - more on this story

Minus the Bear OMNI Videos

Dangerbird Records are posting a series of rehearsal videos from Minus the Bear's latest album, OMNI, giving fans a behind the scenes look at this exciting new album.

Shot in 10 parts, the videos detail everything from the band's love of their home town Seattle, the music they were listening to while recording the record, and their experience working with a new producer for the first time in years .

The first 8 of 10 parts of the OMNI Rehearsal Videos may be viewed at the link below. Parts 9 and 10 coming soon.
- watch it here

School Of Seven Bells Full Album Stream

School Of Seven Bells are streaming their new album Disconnect from Desire in its entirety prior to release day on July 13th.

The album is available via stream on RollingStone.com and the band's website, SVIIB.com. To access the stream via the band's website, fans will be asked to join the mailing list. To coincide with the online premiere of the stream, SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS will release an exclusive new interview on their YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/schoolofsevenbells.)

School Of Seven Bells will be headlining a US tour this fall in support of Disconnect from Desire, (Vagrant Records/Ghostly International.) The album, produced by band member Benjamin Curtis and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig, was recorded in the band's home studio and mixed in Los Angeles at Ocean Way Recording. Disconnect from Desire is a tremendous leap forward for the band musically, evident in all elements of their intricate and multi-layered sound. Further, the unique experience of playing live allowed them to step out of their sometimes-insular creative process, and to discover and explore a newfound connectivity with listeners. This connection to the external world is reflected throughout the new album and indicative of the trio's development. - more on this story

The Showdown Studio Video Blog

The Showdown have posted a behind-the-scenes video of their recent recording session in Nashville, as they record their fourth studio album, Blood In The Gears, to be released on Solid State Records on August 24th.

Head here to see the band cook various Southern delicacies and enjoy a rare Tennessee snowfall, as they track drums for the forthcoming record. The Showdown will post more behind-the-scenes footage each week, so stay tuned for updates.

Blood In The Gears was recorded and produced by The Showdown's own Jeremiah Scott (bass) at his home studio, Anthem Productions. The album was mixed by Steve Blackmon (Living Sacrifice, Project 86), with Troy Glessener at Spectre handling the mastering.

The track "Blood In The Gears" is available for streaming on the band's official - MySpace page

Gama Bomb Announce Free Show

Gama Bomb will warp up for their upcoming UK tour supporting Sepultura with a free show in London.

Gama Bomb will be playing the free show on July 12th at The Unicorn in London with support from local thrashers DAMNAS. GAMA BOMB kick off their UK tour with Sepultura on July 14th in Bristol.

Frontman Philly Byrne describes the experience of witnessing A GAMA BOMB show: "In many ways a GAMA BOMB gig is like a Ryanair flight. Firstly, our 'passengers' are subjected to a sonic barrage of babbled spoken word and mechanical screaming noises by a crew of foreign people who look bad in tight-fitting clothes - namely, us. Secondly, we're constantly trying to force people to drink sub-standard liquor and buy shoddy mementos. Finally, our gigs often end with a bumpy landing and a round of applause that half the crowd don't think is deserved. We're looking forward to hanging out with old friends and meeting some new ones on this UK tour with Sepultura. Oh, and we're going to start charging fans to use the toilet. Thanks for flying Gama Bomb, Europe's number one budget thrash band." - more on this story

The Binary Code Announce New EP

The Binary Code will release a new EP, Priest, on August 10th. Priest is the follow-up to the band's 2009 debut, Suspension of Disbelief.

The Priest EP sees The Binary Code reaching further than ever and reflects a vast array of influences, from Genesis to Suffocation to Cave In.

The tracklisting is as follows: 1) Ocean of Light 2) Priest 3) Encircled 4) Priest (8-bit version) - more on this story

The Hundred in the Hands Set Album Release

The Hundred in the Hands will release their debut full-length September 21 on Warp Records.

Here is what their PR peeps sent over: The Hundred in the Hands LP is an album of deceptively complex pop songs which hark back to the dance music of NYC's storied underground. Where their recent This Desert EP feels like a summertime pop dream, THITH's forthcoming album conjures the spirit of downtown's mutant disco scene as made legendary by clubs like the Paradise Garage.

It's a product of DIY home-recording plus a series of studio sessions in London and New York with contributions by producer friends including Jacques Renault, Richard X, Eric Broucek and Chris Zane. - more on this story

Metric Release Twilight Eclipse Video

Metric have released a new video for the track "Eclipse (All Yours)".

The song comes from the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack, which is out now on Chop Shop/Atlantic.

And you would have to be living under a rock to not know that the film hit this week. Check out the new video
- here

Napalm Death, Dimmu Borgir, Nile, Morgoth Supergroup Insidious Disease Debut Set

Insidious Disease the new band consisting of Dimmu Borgir's main songwriter Silenoz, bassist Shane Embury (Napalm Death), guitarist Jardar (Old Mans Child), drummer Tony Laureano (Angelcorpse, Nile) and vocalist Marc Grewe (from German death metal legends Morgoth) will release its debut album Shadowcast via Century Media Records on July 12th in Europe and July 27th in North America.

Insidious Disease is proud to unveil a brand new artwork trailer for Shadowcast offering a glimpse at the morbid visuals accompanying the release. Check it out here

Silenoz further explains the concept of Shadowcast, which has way more to offer than just typical death metal gore galore: "The basic idea behind Shadowcast lyrically is an attempt to describe the 'misfits' in this world: the misunderstood, mentally defect and depraved individuals that walk among us - rapists, serial killers, pedophiles, necrophiles and drug addicts, etc. It could be your neighbor, you just never know, it could be YOU! - more on this story

Black Skies Kick Off US Tour

Black Skies kicked off their US tour yesterday at The Smiling Moose in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The band is hitting the road with a new lineup, new songs and a high energy live display of sonic power they've built their name upon. Founding members Kevin Clark and Michelle Temple will be joined by ex-Des Ark drummer Tim Herzog.

Said guitarist Kevin Clark of the band's pre-tour kick off show this past weekend before jumping in the van this morning: "We were only able to get in a handful of rehearsals before the show, but Tim has did a fantastic job of being prepared and it showed. Playing with two amazing bands, Hog and Caltrop, we felt a good bit of pressure to step it up... first show or not. The crowd was great... supportive, complimentary...they really seemed into both the new songs and especially with how well Tim's playing fits with the band. Being that this show was in our hometown, there were a good number of people there who've seen all the different incarnations of BLACK SKIES, and it was good to hear how many of them think this is the best yet. It might still be early, but we get that feeling, too. So, we're happy to have that first show behind us and are looking forward to getting several more under our belts over the next few weeks." - more on this story

Rockband Network Adds The Acacia Strain, Holy Grail, Scale The Summet and Skeletonwitch Tracks

Prosthetic Records has launched tracks from The Acacia Strain, Skeletonwitch, Scale The Summit And Holy Grail on the new Rockband Network.

The Rockband Network allows users of the popular Rockband video game franchise, to download tracks from a wide library of artist and label submitted tracks.

After the great reaction to All That Remains' involvement in Rockband, the new Rockband Network offered a, common sense way to expose more Prosthetic artists to fans and gamers, worldwide. More tracks from these artists, and more, are currently in the works. - more on this story

Adam Young's Pre Owl City Album To Be Released

Sky Sailing's An Airplane Carried Me to Bed is an album of songs that Adam Young wrote and recorded before he started Owl City.

Sky Sailing album shows another side of Adam Young as an artist and songwriter.

The CD will be available for the first time ever on Universal Republic July 27th. - more on this story

Singled Out: Haste The Day's Merit For Sadness

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Dave Krysl and Scotty Whelan from Haste The Day tell us about "Merit For Sadness" from their brand new album "Attack of the Wolf King". We now turn it over to Dave and Scotty for the story:

This song was written in a backstage room while we were on tour. Me (Scotty) and Stephen were jamming and working on some riffs and ideas we had together, and the song just unfolded itself very easily. This was the first song I helped write for the band and me and Stephen were very stoked to be playing ideas off each other and writing music together. There was no real method to the writing, it just started like it usually does with one or two riffs, collaborate some more, get stuck, listen to some inspirational music to get us going again and get as far as we can. It's always important not to spend too long on one song or one part if it's not coming easily, come back with fresh ears and minds later. This was an exciting song for me to be a part of writing because it foreshadowed my future writing music with Haste the Day and I loved it.

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

Projektfest'10 Just 10 Bucks

Projektfest'10 has been revamped to be much more wallet-friendly, with ticket prices being reduced from the already-low price of $39 to just $10.

"It's quite simple: It's the best thing for me and it's the best thing for fans," said Projekt founder Sam Rosenthal. "I received feedback from fans that the economy is really tough, and although they'd love to attend Projektfest, the $39 ticket price plus travel expenses are a bit much for them."

Although the price reduction may seem drastic, Rosenthal saw it as a better alternative than taking the route of many major summer tours and cancelling the festival altogether. Projektfest is as much about the connection with fans as it is the music and many have already made travel plans from across the country. - more on this story

Plug In Stereo Announce Tour with Stephen Jerzak

Plug In Stereo will hit the road this August with Stephen Jerzak. The tour starts August 4th in Buffalo, NY and wraps up in Madison, WI on August 15th. More tour dates will be announced soon.

Plug In Stereo released two singles earlier this year, including "Oh Darling" (featuring Cady Groves) and "Nothing To Something." Along with those two singles, PIS put out The Art Feeds EP in March. - dates

Semi Precious Weapons Unplugged

(ThinkTank) Semi Precious Weapons, who just this week released their debut album You Love You, are known worldwide as the high voltage opening act on Lady Gaga's Monster Ball tour, electrifying audiences at every arena before the pop star takes the stage.

But the band shows a different side in these new unplugged videos from their set at The Cherrytree House, including "Look at Me" and "Put a Diamond in It" off You Love You and an unexpected cover of Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen's "Because the Night."

"Look at Me" live at The Cherrytree House here - "Put a Diamond in It" live at The Cherrytree House here - "Because the Night" live at The Cherrytree House - here

Son Of Aurelius Deluxe Reissue

Son Of Aurelius are releasing a deluxe edition of their recent Good Fight Music debut, The Farthest Reaches, set to include 5 brand new, never before heard tracks.

This 'digital only' release, as well as the individual tracks, will be available starting July 6th, 2010, with a special low pricing of $9.99.

Son Of Aurelius' new material picks up where the band left off on The Farthest Reaches with their progressive mix of blazing technical death metal, while showcasing a strong sense of development and cohesiveness in their songwriting. - more on this story

The Dewey Beach Music Conference Announced

The Dewey Beach Music Conference (DBMC) 2010 edition will take place September 30 through October 2.

As a smaller conference, every detail counts and it is evident in the caliber of talent that has consistently showcased at DBMC in the past five years. "Many of the artists we've selected have gone onto become internationally recognized performers so the level of talent speaks for itself," said Vikki Walls, co-founder and director of the conference.

With a little research, those words ring true as there is a long list of high caliber performers that have graced the DBMC stage, most notably Melody Gardot, Halestorm, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Parachute, and Zach Myers from Shinedown, to name a few. - more on this story

Arab on Radar Reunion Tour

Arab on Radar will reform this summer to play shows all across North America.

This is no one-off reunion tour. They're back for good! Arab on Radar are already working on a new record and plan to tour extensively, including a European tour in 2011.

Arab on Radar formed in Providence, RI in 1994 and disbanded in 2002. The group was one of the most influential noise rock acts of the 1990s and were more than likely an influence on any noisy avant-garde band that you hear today. - more on this story