Lucero Injured During Mugging- Patrick Stump Solo Gig- Bowie Turns Down Peter Gabriel- PiL TV- Daughtry Album for 4 Bucks- Aerosmith Head South and more

How about a quick review quote? SleezeRoxx says of the new (Phil Lewis) L.A. Guns album, "Covered in Guns": "This is bad...very, very, very bad. As if warring factions resulting in two bands using the L.A. Guns moniker isn't enough, Covered In Guns just drags the once highly regarded name deeper into the mud. " Ouch, read more here. -

Rob Zombie Recruits Slipknot's Jordison For Tour

Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison will spend the spring and summer of 2010 pounding the skins for new labelmate Rob Zombie, who is embarking on a very busy touring schedule.

Zombie said, "Joey is an absolutely crushing drummer and I am thrilled to have him as part of the Zombie family. His amazing skills promise to take the live show to a whole new level of insanity." Jordison also commented, saying, "I am honored, proud and excited to announce that I have joined the ranks as the new touring drummer for Rob Zombie. I've been a fan of Zombie's since the beginning. I've toured with them and have always wanted to play for them. When John 5 called me up to ask if I knew any drummers I could recommend, I said, only half-jokingly, 'Yeah, me!"

Jordison is universally recognized as not only one of the best drummers in hard rock, but as one of the most talented skinsmen in music, period. He will be sitting behind the kit for several appearances and tours throughout the year, namely the "Gruesome Twosome" tour, which features Zombie along with his longtime pal, Alice Cooper, which begins April 26 in Canada and runs through May 5 in Wyoming. Following that historic tour, Jordison will tour alongside Zombie as part of the 2010 Mayhem Festival, which Zombie is co-headlining with Korn. That tour kicks off July 10 in Southern California and runs through August 14 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. - more on this story

51 Song Relient K Collection Set For Release

Relient K fans are about to get more than their money's worth when Gotee Records releases Relient K: The First Three Gears (2000-2003) on April 20th at retail stores and digital retailers worldwide.

With a whopping 51 songs, including five rare bonus tracks, the compilation is a three-disc set of the first three Relient K albums, Relient K, The Anatomy Of The Tongue In Cheek (Gold Edition/Riaa certified gold), and Two Lefts Don't Make A Right But Three Do (Gold Edition/Riaa certified gold), and includes hits like "My Girlfriend," "Sadie Hawkins Dance," "Chap Stick, Chapped Lips and Things Like Chemistry" and more.

On top of all that, the iTunes version includes three music videos ("My Girlfriend," "Chap Stick, Chapped Lips and Things Like Chemistry," "Pressing On"). - more on this story

Joe Elliott's Down N' Outz CD Almost Done

(Sleazeroxx) Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott is almost finished recording with his new band Down N' Outz according to guitarist Guy Griffin.

Griffin, best known for his work with the Quireboys, has told Sleaze Roxx, "We've almost finished a record and who knows from there. We've played with Mott The Hoople, doing songs that Mott The Hoople hadn't done outside of Mott The Hoople like Ian Hunter and British Lions, that kind of stuff. Amazing songs that never would have been heard in this day and age, unbelievable songs. Joe Elliott really made an effort to get all these songs heard and we've pretty much finished an album. I just got one song over from Joe with his vocals on it and it sounds unbelievable. We recorded all the songs, we just send them over to Joe in Dublin."

When asked what musical direction Down N' Outz would be taking Griffin responded, "It's open to whatever we want to do with it really. It's a fun thing for all of us. Spike (Quireboys vocalist) has a part in the whole thing as well. It's a side thing, and why not? What we have put on the record sounds amazing. It doesn't sound like The Quireboys and it doesn't sound like Def Leppard. It's a cross between the two and Joe sounds amazing on it." - more on this story

Framing Hanley Promise To Burn in May

Framing Hanley, the Nashville, TN rock band that burst onto the alternative rock scene last year behind The Moment - selling over 800,000 tracks, 110,000 albums and playing over 300 shows - is back in a big way for 2010.

The band is set to release their sophomore album, A Promise To Burn, May 25th via Silent Majority Group/ILG. The double disc package includes a 30 minute DVD, featuring exclusive behind the scenes footage and interviews, shot in HD, during the recording process of A Promise To Burn. The album was produced at Soundmine Studios in Stroudsburg, PA with Brett Hestla, Greg Archilla and Dan Malsch.

"We wrote a record that we felt could withstand our own critique throughout the rest of our careers" says Framing Hanley front-man Kenneth Nixon. "It's a record that we're proud of and feel a lot of people can relate to." - more on this story

Killing Machine Plot Their Return

US Metal Heavyweights Killing Machine are set to make their return after a break of four years. Following his time working on various projects including Temple Of Brutality, founder member Peter Scheithauer is now hard at work on the resurrection of Killing Machine.

Currently re-grouping as a four piece, the present line up is Csaba Zvekan - Vocals, Peter Scheithauer (ex Temple Of Brutality / Belladona) - Guitar, Jon Dette - (ex Testament / Slayer). A new bass player will be announced soon following the recent departure of Dave Ellefson, who has rejoined Megadeth.

Talking about the next chapter of Killing Machine, guitarist Peter Scheithauer said "I am really excited about this new page in Killing Machine's odyssey. For once I took my time writing the new CD. Knowing that Csaba had finally joined the band meant there were no set time limits to work to. I've had the idea for a few years, to have Csaba in Killing Machine but distance prohibited it. Same with Jon, we've tried several times to get things together. These two guys have so much to show, I can't wait to hit the road with them. And the new bass player? He's a perfect match. That's all I can say about him at the moment. I've been working constantly on the album and you always think that the new CD is the best it can be, but when a major producer feels the same way, you tend to think you are on the right track. I can't wait to tell you what's in store but we're taking everything one step at a time. In the meantime we're so happy to be coming to play in Europe this summer. More to come very soon. Horns Up!!" - more on this story

Alcest Announce North American Tour and Album Release

France's Alcest have announced an April 20th North American release date for their latest full-length opus, entitled Écailles de Lune (Prophecy Productions). This news comes on the heels of the group's very first North American tour–a string of intimate club dates this April and May commencing in Québec and culminating in Boston, Massachusetts.

Écailles de Lune is, in many ways, unique from past Alcest albums. Story-driven and reflective, it aims to capture and channel feelings of ambivalence and existentialism. Stylistically, front man Neige has shifted back towards the sound of Black Metal that helped first shaped his compositions. For all the changes incurred, Neige has kept his trademarks: calm passages, massive walls of guitar, catchy melodies and hook-lines that go straight for the heart.

In explaining Lune's concept and meaning, Neige says, "This story isn't really a metaphor of death, as it would seem to be. For me, it is about a man who decides to leave one world for another one, literally. Like a passage to another reality, another state of existence." - more on this story

Meriwether To Plug In The Snakes This Month

Baton Rouge rockers Meriwether announced the digital release date of their new album, Plug In The Snakes for March 22, 2010. The band will begin celebrating its new release with three high profile shows in Austin , TX at SXSW on March 19 and 20.

Anyone attending SXSW should make the effort to catch the band's blistering live set at one of the following performances: March 19 at the All Together Now Showcase at Bayou Lounge at 11:20PM (18+); March 19 at the Texas Rockfest (outdoors on the corner of 7th and Neches) at 1AM (all ages); and March 20 at the MusicGorilla.com Showcase at Treasure Island at 12AM (21+)

With over 4 million new media plays, the band is already a premier headlining act in the Southeast consistently selling out top draw venues such as the New Orleans House of Blues, and the Varsity Theatre in Baton Rouge . After finding much success selling more than 15,000 copies of its GVE Records debut Make Your Move, Meriwether is amping up for the worldwide release of its new album, Plug in the Snakes. - more on this story

Singled Out: Mighty Tiger

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Andy Vaughan from Mighty Tiger tells us about "33 1/3" from their brand new album "Western Theater," which hits stories next week. We now turn it over to Andy for the story:

33 1/3 was written with an inherent juxtaposition of a relatively upbeat, bouncy song structure and darker lyrical content, which is actually a common device used throughout Western Theater. 33 1/3 primarily refers to some former roommates of mine, who are amazing people, but with whom I felt trapped. They were a recently-engaged couple who lived very much the prototypical "young married couple" lifestyle, which tended to butt heads with my own at the time. To be quite honest, the happiness of their relationship only caused me discomfort and even depression, as I myself had been engaged to a girl years before that ended quite badly. While I knew the dissolution of that relationship was for the best, my roommates' relationship only served as a reminder of what I should have had.

Now, the roomies and I were very into record shopping at the time. I had been best friends with my guy roommate long before the engagement, but their new lifestyle really pushed us apart in terms of our common interests. However, we always got excited for each other when we'd find a neat new record or hear about some rad record sale. Of all the things I felt like we no longer shared, all that remained spun at 33 RPM, quite literally.

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

New Morning for Alpha Rev

Hollywood Record's newest signing Alpha Rev chose their hometown of Austin, TX to film their first video for "New Morning," the premiere single and title track from their upcoming Hollywood Records debut CD.

At the helm, Mark Pellington, acclaimed director of films like Arlington Road and The Mothman Prophecies, as well as memorable music videos for artists like Bruce Springsteen, U2, Pearl Jam and The Foo Fighters.

Though Pellington rarely accepts music video assignments, the director says he was deeply inspired by the intensity of Alpha Rev's music and lobbied to work with the band. Alpha Rev is also excited to announce SXSW performances March 17 (KGSR showcase at the Four Seasons @ 7:30AM) and March 18 (101 X Showcase at Dirty Dog Bar @ 11 PM). - more on this story

Another Rare Early Metallica Recordings Unearthed (and streaming online)

(The Metal Den) TMD has unearthed another one of the earliest Metallica demo tracks ever. It is a recording of Diamond Head's "Sucking My Love", featuring Dave Mustaine on guitar, Ron McGovney on bass, Lars Ulrich on drums and James Hetfield on vocals.

Official Metallica historian Bob Nalbandian states it for the record: "For Metallica fans, this was definitely the rarest, and earliest, material to ever surface. No one knew this recording even existed, since original bassist Ron McGovney had the only copy of this garage practice session (this tape was too crude even be labeled a demo!).

"The tape features the Diamond Head covers "Sucking My Love," "Helpless" and "Am I Evil" (the latter two which Metallica later re-recorded and released commercially), and their very first original tune, "Hit the Lights." Recorded in Ron's garage in March of '82 (two months after the band was formed) by suspending a $49.00 ghetto blaster in the air, and with James singing through the guitar amp..." - Listen to the extremely rare track here

Iron Maiden Announce New Album and Tour

Metal legends Iron Maiden have revealed the title of their new album, The Final Frontier and details of their highly anticipated 2010 North American tour, announced Live Nation today. With 22 dates confirmed, the Live Nation promoted tour will open in Dallas, Texas, on June 9 and finish in Washington D.C. on July 20, making it their most extensive North American tour in many years. (Full confirmed dates below.)

The new album is expected to be released in late summer and following the North American tour, the The Final Frontier World Tour will continue to Europe for a few select major festival and stadium shows.

Says vocalist Bruce Dickinson, "We really wanted to get out and play some shows before the release of the new album later this year, so we thought what better way to kick off the tour than by going back to Canada and the USA where fans gave us such a fantastic reception during our last tour in 2008! We were astounded to see so many thousands of fans packing out the venues, so this time round we will be playing a few more cities we haven't visited for some time, like Dallas, Saskatoon, Detroit, Denver and Pittsburgh, though logistically we couldn't get to a few places we really like to play, which is a shame. It's also great news that our friends DREAM THEATER are able to join us as special guests." - more on this story

Black Sunshine (Filter/Theory of a Deadman) New Song Online

Black Sunshine, which features professional extreme athlete Matt Reardon, along with drummer Matt "Toast" Young, bassist Christopher Serafini and Filter/Theory Of A Deadman guitarist Charles Lee, have posted their new single "Once In My Life" on Myspace. The song is the lead single from Black Sunshine's self-titled debut album, which lands in stores on April 13th, 2010 though BreakSilence Recordings.

"'Once In My Life' is a song about living each day like it's your last and getting the most out of life," commented frontman Matt Reardon. "I had a few close calls and lost quite a few friends over the years and it has helped through some rough times."

Black Sunshine's debut was recorded by Grammy award winning producer Bob Marlette (Shinedown, Seether, Filter), who helped the group bang out eleven blistering hard rock songs. Marlette was able to bring out the soaring melodies that Black Sunshine is known for, while polishing the riffs to cut like a machete. Marlette even went on record to proclaim Black Sunshine's debut "stands toe to toe with any top rock album out on the shelf!" - tour dates

Never Shout Never Can't Stand It

"Can't Stand It," the new single from Loveway/Sire Records' artists' Never Shout Never, premieres across all of MTV's channels Thursday, March 4th. The video has been put into heavy rotation and credit squeeze rotation on MTV and rotation on MTVU and MTV Hits. MTV.com has been airing a 30-second sneak peak as well as a "making of" featurette this week.

The video was directed by Isaac Ravishankara, who also directed the NSN clips for "I Love You 5," "What Is Love?" and "Big City Dreams," as well as clips for 3OH!3, Hellogoodbye, Anthony Green, and Cady Groves.

"Can't Stand It" is the second single from Never Shout Never's debut album What Is Love?, which bowed at No. 2 on both the Alternative and Rock charts, No. 6 on the Digital Album chart, No. 11 on the Internet album chart, and No. 24 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. - more on this story

KISS Stage Prop Chokes Band

(Rock Radio) Kiss were forced to drop four songs from their tiny club show in London on Tuesday, it has emerged. Confetti guns used at the end of set-closer Rock and Roll All Nite generated so much carbon dioxide that the band were left gasping for breath, and considered not performing any encores.

After a short break they came back on stage and finished the show with Detroit Rock City. But that meant they'd played just 12 songs, when they'd rehearsed 16 the previous night.

Frontman Paul Stanley says: "Once the confetti cannons went off, we barely made it off stage. None of us could breathe. Each of us thought we were the only one until we saw each other. Pretty scary and there was no way we could continue. We came out for the encores but couldn't get past one." - more on this story

Iron Maiden Tap Dream Theater for Summer Tour

Dream Theater will spend their summer supporting Iron Maiden on the band's month-long tour of major US and Canadian markets. The tour launches on June 9 and runs through July 20, and includes a stop at the storied Madison Square Garden in NYC, marking the first time in a lengthy and respected career that Dream Theater will have played the world's most famous arena. This tour will mark another milestone in Dream Theater's history, which continues to expand and evolve, twenty-five years deep.

Of touring with Iron Maiden in North America, drummer Mike Portnoy said, "It is a bit of a dream come true for us. After 25 years together, at this stage in our career, there's honestly only three bands Dream Theater would consider opening for and Maiden is one of them. It is an absolute honor. Through the years, we've done many one-off shows with Maiden and they've almost all been overseas. It is very exciting to finally be doing a full tour with them and on our side of the pond, no less. These are gonna be amazing shows that the fans won't want to miss. Up the f***ing irons!"

Playing MSG for the first time is also a huge accomplishment for the band and they are thrilled about the prospect. "Dream Theater has achieved so many dreams through the years, from playing the Budokan in Tokyo to Wembley Arena in London to Radio City Music Hall in NYC," Portnoy recalled. "But the one remaining dream that has eluded us through all of these years was to play at Madison Square Garden. Well, on July 12, along with Iron Maiden, that dream will finally be fulfilled." - more on this story

Foreigner, Styx And Kansas United In Rock Tour

The tour of the summer unites three iconic bands, Styx, Foreigner and special guests Kansas, responsible for countless Top Ten hits and well over 100 million album sales.

United In Rock, scheduled to kick off in May, brings together three bands that helped shape rock and roll for a generation of music fans by dominating the charts and airwaves for decades. Tickets go on sale March 6th for shows in Boston and Chicago with additional tour dates and ticket on sale information to be announced shortly at LiveNation.com. With tickets beginning at $10* in select markets, this is sure to be the summer's biggest night of hits in 2010, uniting fans from all over the country to a rock bash for less cash.

"I am very excited to be performing this summer with both Foreigner and Kansas on our United In Rock Tour. These three bands represent the more rocking side of the classic rock genre. With the countless great rock songs each band will be performing this is going to be a guitars-a-blazin' good time had by all. STYX is a band that one of our best known songs is about the blue collar man in the unemployment line and we totally identify with the average hard working people that are facing difficult economic times. We want to say thank you with affordable tickets for you and your family," said James "JY" Young of Styx. - more on this story

The Mother Hips Go South By Southwest

The Mother Hips release their SXSW performance schedule and a slew of spring dates, including the (((folkYEAH!))) presentation of the second annual Mother Hips Family Hipnic at the Fernwood Resort in breathtaking Big Sur, California on April 30 & May 1, 2010.

This year's Family Hipnic marks its second installment, and is hosted again by (((folkYEAH!))) & The Mother Hips. The festival's debut proved it an instant underground favorite. Additional artists set to perform in 2010 include Jackie Greene, Little Wings, Dawes, Neal Casal (The Cardinals), Farmer Dave Scher (Beachwood Sparks, All Night Radio), Elisa Randazzo (The Red Krayola), Parson Red Heads, Nicki Bluhm, Red Cortez, and Sparrow's Gate. Info available at www.folkyeah.com.

The Mother Hips have also announced their SXSW performance schedule, which includes the Hear Ya Day Party, the Monterey International Showcase, and others (full SXSW schedule below). - more on this story

PowerSolo Detained in Copenhagen

Danish plasma punk group PowerSolo have been detained at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark for reasons unknown, and the fate of their debut North American tour hangs in the balance.

On the brink of an upcoming U.S. tour beginning on March 1st in Los Angeles, the band was slated to launch a stateside promotional tour for their latest studio effort Bloodskinbones, which is due for release on April 13th.

Having earned an incomparable reputation for being a full-on, intense and always entertaining band, there is speculation that perhaps this reputation has preceded them. - more on this story

Vinnie Vincent Mars Invasion

Tonight, March 4th, Host Victor M. Ruiz is joined by former Vinnie Vincent Invasion drummer Bobby Rock during an all-new episode of Mars Attacks at 8pm EST on MarkStriglRadio.com.

Items discussed during this interview are why the Invasion broke up, various Vinnie Vincent rumors, why Robert Fleischman left the band, and if he would ever play with Vinnie again. Other items discussed include recording with Nitro, Nelson and all things fitness as well as authoring several books.
Mars Attacks! with Victor M. Ruiz is a weekly radio show that airs exclusively on Mark Strigl Radio. Episodes debut on Thursdays at 8PM EST / 5PM PST / 2AM Friday CET. If you miss out on the initial airing, the show repeats at the follow times: Fridays 4PM EST / 1PM PST / 10PM CET and Saturdays 2PM EST / 11AM PST / 8PM CET

To read more about this interview check out the Talking Metal Wire - www.talkingmetal.com