Dio Health Update- Pink Floyd Beat EMI- Abba Snubs Rock Hall- Slash On Axl- Linkin Park- Crimson & Val Kilmer- Linkin Park Want Millions for Nixed Shows and more

This was sent over to us: On Sunday, March 14th Idiot Pilot will be the guests on 107.7 The End's "Locals Only" program to debut a brand new song in conjunction with their appearance at SXSW on March 17th. The song, which will be self-released, is going to be available for download starting Monday, March 15th on their website and will also be streaming on their Myspace page and the 107.7 The End website -

Metallica Fans Riot

A riot broke out at Metallica's concert in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday (March 10th). Sky News reports that "Around 160 people have been arrested and at least eight people injured during a riot outside" the venue.

Gate crashers sparked the riot. The Sky News report says that "some 30,000 people had tickets to see the band in the Colombian capital, but hundreds of ticketless fans tried to break through barriers to see their heavy metal heroes." You can read their full report here

WKRG.com reports that "Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse rioting concert goers in Bogota on Wednesday after hundreds of fans tried to break into a Metallica concert." Check out their "raw" video footage - here

Pearl Jam Hitting the Road in May

Pearl Jam announced today that they will play 11 Midwest and East Coast tour dates in May of 2010. The tour kicks-off on May 3rd at Sprint Center in Kansas City and wraps on May 21st at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Pearl Jam's U.S. tour follows the band's previously announced headlining appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Festival on May 1st.

Band of Horses will open all shows except the May 20th Madison Square Garden engagement, where The Black Keys will open. - dates

Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On DVD And Blu-Ray Coming Next Month

Eagle Rock Entertainment is pleased to announce the April 26th Uk Blu-ray and DVD release of Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On "Live" one of the most highly anticipated live rock'n'roll concert experiences of the year. The Blu-ray & DVD will be released in America on April 20th by EMI America.

Filmed with 16 hi-definition cameras over three sold out concerts, Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On "Live" offers fans an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience four rock'n'roll legends sharing the stage and blowing the roof off with their explosive musicianship and dynamic onstage chemistry.

Chickenfoot, who won Best New Band of 2009 at the UK's prestigious Classic Rock Magazine Awards, and originally formed in 2008, features vocalist Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen, Montrose), bassist Michael Anthony (ex-Van Halen), drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. - more on this story

Metallica Announce The Final Big Four Show with Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax

It started last year as a rumor that sparked the imaginations of metal fans around the world. The big four of thrash: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax sharing the same stage. After the rumor surfaced members from each band started commenting on how they would like to see it happen. But then the bad news came from Metallica that there were no real talks about putting such a tour together.

While no tour has of yet surfaced, the organizers of the traveling European metal festival Sonisphere ran with the idea and started to put together several dates that featured the Big Four at various stops. On Thursday, Metallica announced the final date that the Big Four will appear together this summer. But who knows, if all goes well maybe this will inspire all four bands to put this dream ticket together for a full blown tour? For now, here is Metallica's announcement:

We promised you one more Sonisphere date, so here you have it! The Sonisphere Festival will be hitting Bucharest, Romania on June 26, 2010 at Romexpo. "The Big Four" (that's ?Tallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax) will be there, along with our friends Heaven & Hell. - more on this story

New Meat Loaf Album Coming in May

May 11th may not be a hot summer night but Meat Loaf fans will once again be able to offer up body parts to the wolf with the red roses for some new music from the iconic singer, who on Thursday announced a deal record deal which will bring his new album to fans this spring. Here is the announcement:

Roadrunner Records/Loud & Proud Records is pleased to announce the signing of Meat Loaf to the label. Meat Loaf has been a towering monument on the musical landscape for the past 35 years and his new deal with Roadrunner/Loud & Proud will allow him to retain his post as the pre-eminent voice in rock music and beyond.

His new album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear, whose title was taken from a line in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, is 13 tracks of classic Meat Loaf, primed and ready for the 21st century. More than four decades into his career, the man and his voice are as big, bold and relevant as ever. The album features a hot producer, a slew of impressive guest appearances, ranging from guitar god Steve Vai to actor Hugh Laurie, and of course, Meat Loaf's signature pipes! - more on this story

Fear Factory Map Out US Tour

Fear Factory has announced a string of upcoming U.S. Fear Campaign American Tour 2010 dates, in support of their new album Mechanize, available Now from Candlelight Records

In addition, the first of several planned in-store/meet-and-greets with Fear Factory on the band's upcoming tour will take place on Tuesday, March 23 at Hastings Entertainment, located at 4315 Wyoming Northeast, in Albuquerque, New Mexico beginning at 6 p.m.

This will be the first opportunity for fans to meet the band, which will be touring the U.S. for the first time in nearly three years.
- dates

Deftones Announces New Dates, Release New Video

This week the Deftones announce additional dates to their upcoming tour plans and released a new video. The first group of dates are for headlining shows and the second group look like festival appearances.

The band also posted a HD video for "Rocket Skates" from their forthcoming album, Diamond Eyes, which hits stores on May 18th.

Here are the new dates, followed by a link to details on how you can Tweet to get a free copy of the new HD video.

New Headline Dates
April 27 – El Paso, TX – Club 101
April 29 – Corpus Christi, TX – Concrete Street
April 30 – Mission, TX – Las Palmas Race Park

New Dates
May 1 - Frisco, TX - KDGE Edgefest @ Pizza Hut Park
June 19 - Scheessel, GER - Hurricane Festival
June 20 - Newhausen ob Eck, GER - Southside Festival

- Video info here

Smile Empty Soul Streaming Album Online

Smile Empty Soul is currently streaming their entire "Anxiety" album online at Tunelab.com. The album, which has been re-titled 'More Anxiety', hit stores this week through FOF Label Group/EMI and contains a bonus DVD of live, in studio, and on the road footage.

Smile Empty Soul recorded their sophomore effort "Anxiety" in 2005 as the follow-up to the group's gold certified debut album. The album never hit store shelves after the album's lead single was protested by fundamentalist groups, who organized a letter writing campaign against the group's record label.

Smile Empty Soul will hit the road with Soil and special guests Black Sunshine (ex-Filter/Theory of a Deadman) starting in Hollywood, CA on March 25th, 2010. - more on this story

Mike Patton To Deliver Mondo Cane in May

Mike Patton (Faith No More, Peeping Tom, Tomahawk) unveils Mondo Cane, his Italian language rock-meets-orchestra hybrid, on May 4 via Ipecac Recordings.

Recorded at a series of European performances including an outdoor concert in a Northern Italian piazza, the self-titled album features traditional Italian pop songs as well as a rendition of Ennio Morricone's "Deep Down." Patton worked with a 30-piece orchestra and choir to create the uniquely new Mondo Cane sound.

Patton's body of work continues to evolve and grow with a wide range of bands and solo projects including Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Fantomas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom and most recently as a film composer and voice actor. - more on this story

Naked Raygun Head Back Into The Studio

Legendary Chicago punk rockers Naked Raygun are going into Transient Sound Studios March 19th to record a slew of songs for release on their 7" Series in 2010.

The first 7" (their first recordings in 20 years) sold out in record time and the 2nd in the series will be released on vinyl and digitally on June 15th. They'll also be filming a video for one of the new songs – look for it to arrive later this year. In late summer, Raygun descends on Europe and the UK -- details will be announced shortly.

Easily the most influential band bursting forth from the initial Chicago punk rock explosion, Naked Raygun also holds the distinction of being the longest running. When many of their peers were either breaking up or going metal in the mid-to-late 1980s, Naked Raygun soldiered on with their trademark sound, combining infectious vocal melodies with muscular guitar and a precision rhythm section. Echoes of the golden era of Raygun sound can be heard in punk rock circles worldwide. - more on this story

Obituary Join 70000Tons Of Metal

Organizers from the metal cruise, 70000Tons Of Metal, sent over this announcement about another impressive addition: After crossing the Atlantic we arrived in Tampa FL. The right place to read your own Obituary boys and girls! Welcome some real Florida Death Metal on board 70000TONS OF METAL, The World's Biggest Floating Heavy Metal Festival!

13 out of 40... our Skipper is getting restless, so we put out to sea again tonight. Our course: Back to the Florida Strait. Where may our next port of call be?

So far the confirmed 13 out of 40 bands are: Amon Amarth, Epica, Finntroll, Moonspell, Obituary, Raven, Saxon, Sodom, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Trouble, Uli Jon Roth and Witchburner - more on this story

Audio Excerpts from Upcoming Alice in Chains/Jane's Addiction Books Posted Online

Rock N Roll Books has just posted exclusive audio samples from interviews completed with Alice in Chains producer Toby Wright and engineers Bryan Carlstrom and Ronnie Champagne as part of the forthcoming 'Alice in Chains: in the Studio' book, due in stores May 20th, here.

Additionally, fans can check out exclusive interview audio samples from the forthcoming 'Jane's Addiction: in the Studio' book with engineer Ronnie Champagne, who recorded both 'Nothing's Shocking' and 'Ritual De La Habitual' in their entirety, along with interview material from former PSI Com member Kelly Wheeler discussing Perry Farrell's pre-Jane's days as the band's front-man. Check them out here:

In partnership with Songvest.com, both books will be the subject of a fan-auction that will begin at 3PM EST on Saturday, March 13 and end at 3PM EST on Saturday, March 20. Visit www.songvest.com for further details! -

Fabulous Thunderbirds' Johnny Moeller Sets New Album Release

Severn Records announces an April 20 release date for BlooGaLoo, the label debut from Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Johnny Moeller, which features special guests Kim Wilson, Lou Ann Barton and Shawn Pittman. The solid core band for the sessions includes Matt Farrell on piano and organ, Steve Gomes on bass and Rob Stupka on drums. Other guests include Gary Clark Jr. and Mike Barfield, among others. Severn Records is distributed in the U.S. by City Hall Records.

Austin-based Moeller, who leads his own band in addition to playing guitar in the Fabulous Thunderbirds, has crafted an album in BlooGaLoo that plays to his amazing versatility as a guitarist, playing wailing single notes as well as well as groovy, funky New Orleans inspired rhythms that recall one of his influences, the great Earl King. Moeller includes his own take on two classic King songs, "Trick Bag" (imagine a funky, Dylan-esque lead vocal and you've got some idea) and "Everybody's Got to Cry Sometime."

"This guy's a monster and should be recognized as one of the world's top musicians," says someone who should know: legendary T-Bird founder/singer/harmonica master Kim Wilson, who adds his vocal and harp magic on two tracks of BlooGaLoo. The First Lady of Texas blues and soul, Lou Ann Barton adds her trademark vocals on two songs; and fellow guitarslinger Shawn Pittman shows he's no slouch in the vocal department when he sings lead on the truly funky – and fun – Moeller original, "I'm Movin' on Up." - more on this story

Deer Tick, Delta Spirit And Dawes Supergroup MG&V To Debut at SXSW

The new supergroup MG&V will be making their debut at SXSW. Here is the announcement: MG&V stands for McCauley, Goldsmith, and Vasquez...More specifically, John McCauley - frontman of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith - frontman of Dawes and Matt Vasquez - frontman of Delta Spirit.

Notoriously adverse to sitting still, John McCauley felt the urge to write and record during some of Deer Tick's recent downtime. Deer Tick chose Dawes to support a leg of their summer 2009 tour, during which McCauley and Goldsmith developed an affinity for each other's songwriting. McCauley decided that Nashville would be the perfect location to write some new songs, and invited Goldsmith to join him.

As the project began to take shape, McCauley and Goldsmith decided Matt Vasquez was the man to complete their vision for the project. A few days after tape started rolling, Vasquez arrived in Nashville - never having met McCauley. The three songwriters immediately bonded and proceeded to make a timeless masterpiece. Dawes drummer Griffin Goldsmith also joined the group to contribute percussion. - more on this story

IWRESTLEDABEARONCE Kick off North American Tour

The pride and joy of Shreveport, Louisiana, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE (IWABO), kicked off their first North American tour of 2010 this week with The Dillinger Escape Plan last night in NYC.

Darkest Hour and Animals As Leaders round out the bill and will lead the group directly into a massive European tour with The Chariot that sees them hitting everywhere from Russia to Ireland. IWABO then makes their grand return to the U.S. this summer as part of the Warped Tour package.

IWABO recently shot videos for the tracks, "See You In Shell" and "Danger In The Manger," with director Justin Beasley. The "Danger In The Manger" video was shot as a result of the original "See You In Shell" shoot being canceled due to a blizzard in Greensboro, NC. The band filmed a bunch of performance footage in front of a green screen in Beasley's garage and he is turning it into an insane animated masterpiece. - more on this story

HIM Sideband Daniel Lioneye Set New Release

The End Records is proud to announce the worldwide release of VOL. II from Daniel Lioneye (on Warner Bros. Records in Finland), the side project from members of HIM, on April 27th.

Consisting of Linde (HIM) on guitars, bass and vocals, Burton (HIM) on keyboards and Bolton (Enochian Crescent) on drums, the band has always embraced breaking boundaries and taking new directions, which is exactly what they did on their sophomore release.

Formed in 2001, Daniel Lioneye's debut album, The King of Rock 'n' Roll, was only released in Finland and Germany and was a "tongue in cheek" psychedelic stoner rock album. Earning the group quite a bit of attention, the band played at handful of festivals in Finland which resulted in the title track being the theme song for Bam Margera's TV show, Viva La Bam. Simply called VOL. II, the band's North American debut is heavier than the band's prior release, making it an extreme, yet melodic, rock n' roll album influenced by black metal. - more on this story

Wicked Jones Add Bonus Tracks To Reissue

Wicked Jones once again creates hard rock and soul in a very delicious flavor with two new bonus tracks on the re-released EP, Supernatural Flesh this spring.

Only to be followed up later on this year by the long awaited hard heavy hitting full length CD, Hell's Keeper slated to drop in the fall on Sonic Soul Records.

Singer Gregoria "G" D'Voldre spoke on the band's signing and music: "We're very happy about signing with Sonic Soul Records and we appreciate them letting us continue to be us musically. Performing live is what drives us though; and we hunger for that experience everyday." - more on this story

Hot Hot Heat Eye Dangerous Summer Release

Dangerbird Records is proud to welcome Vancouver's Hot Hot Heat to their expanding family. "Hot Hot Heat arrived on our doorstep with the best album of their career," reveals Jeff Castelaz, co-founder/CEO of Dangerbird Records. "When we heard the new record, we wanted them to be part of our gang. When we talked to them, and heard the determination and clarity of purpose in their voices, we had to have them." The Silver Lake-based label will release the band's fourth full-length, Future Breeds, this summer.

For frontman Steve Bays and his Hot Hot Heat bandmates, they knew they had found their new home immediately after their first meeting with the label. "Dangerbird got our vibe right away," explains Bays. "Because of the kind of record we were making, we realized early on that we needed to finish the entire record before looking for a home for it, if they 'got it,' then we could talk. Also, they're also just really cool people and that's huge to us because, at the end of the day, they are essentially inviting us to join their family. We are pretty thrilled."

Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Hot Hot Heat first came to prominence in 2002 with their breakthrough debut LP, Make Up The Breakdown, an electrifying dose of urgent, dancey rock anchored by frontman Steve Bays' characteristic yelp and highly infectious melodies. - more on this story

The Audition Acoustic In-Store

The Audition have announced a CD Release / In-Store Acoustic Performance to celebrate the release 'Great Danger'. The event will take place next Tuesday at Rolling Stones in Norridge, IL.

Victory Records says: Hear the band play an acoustic set and have them sign your copy of the new record, Great Danger. Get a free poster with your purchase of Great Danger on CD, available for only $9.99.

More info on the band and event 411: Aspiring to have each released record be the catalyst of their time, THE AUDITION push forward, but have sowed their roots in hopes to sprout inspiration for their latest Victory Records release, Great Danger. - more on this story

The Willowz Hitting The Road

The Willowz will embark on a month-long U.S. tour on April 1st in support of their latest album, Everyone (Dim Mak/Downtown Records).

The band will join up with Nebula and Lionize for the first two weeks and head out on their own for most of the remaining dates. (See below for tour itinerary.)

THE Willowz were formed in 2002 by Anaheim, California teens Richie James Follin and Jessica Anne Reynoza. They recorded a 7-inch for legendary Posh Boy Records, produced by Follin's stepfather, Paul Kostabi (White Zombie, Psychotica, Y.G.M., Detours), and hit the road immediately afterward. - more on this story

Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire Working on Prosthetic Debut

Prosthetic Records has signed Denver, Colorado's Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire. The band formed in 2006 and released an EP ("Harmonies From Bleeding Mouths") that year, and released their first full-length, "Omega Drunk On The Blood Of Alpha" in 2008 on Debello Recordings. They're currently recording their Prosthetic debut.

Their sound has been referred to as "funeral grind," as it's "too slow for grindcore, too fast for doom," and have been compared to the likes of Brutal Truth, Pig Destroyer, Discordance Axis, EyeHateGod and Napalm Death.

Vocalist Ethan McCarthy commented on the signing and new album: "Our new CD is being recorded by Dave Otero at Flatline Audio (Cephalic Carnage, Catheter, Cobalt) and it is our most dynamic, bleakest, and dirtiest material to date. We can't wait to go out and tour on this release, and we are proud to be a part of the PROSTHETIC roster." - more on this story

Wishbone Ash Announce US Tour Dates

Classic rock legends Wishbone Ash will be performing a select number of US dates on their current major world tour that began this past October. Wishbone Ash embarked on an intensive 6-month tour plan, a 'final fling' taking the band 'round to next July in celebration of the 40th anniversary of its long career.

The October tour of the UK began on the 2nd and ended the first week of November. Then in January 2010 the band hit the road again for the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia. Canada's blues prodigy, Jimmy Bowskill, opened for the band on this 6-week tour.

After playing Finland and France, the USA east coast tour begins on March 24th in Annapolis, MD and ends April 3rd in Milwaukee, WI. The band will then proceed to Switzerland and Italy just prior to the usual spring UK tour. A US west coast tour, plus a possible Far East visit in conjunction with a two night confirmed Tokyo appearance, is being discussed for June. Also confirmed for June are 3 stadium shows in South Africa with Deep Purple. In addition the band will be revisiting Warsaw and Poznan in Poland plus Prague in the Czech Republic. - more on this story

Singled Out: Last November

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Luke Pilgrim from Last November tells us about "Julie" from their album "Tug O' War!". We now turn it over to Luke for the story:

The writing of "Julie" was actually a pretty long journey. About two years ago there was a song submission opportunity for the Luke Wilson film "Henry Poole is Here." That's where "Julie" really began.

I got wind of this rather late in the game. However, everyone encouraged me to submit something anyway. What did I have to lose right? Basically the winner would have their song featured in some way, if only on the DVD release. And the director of the film, Mark Pellington who's work includes Mothman Prophecies and Jerry Maguire and has done videos for everyone from Pearl Jam & Alice in Chains to Bruce Springsteen and U2, would direct a music video for the winning song.

SInce I heard about this a little after the fact I only had about a week to write the song and record a decent sounding version to submit. The contest had guidelines where I had to sprinkle a few words in here and there from a list I was given, which is where my verses came from. I had never force wrote a song that hard before so it was really a challenge for me. Pretty good excercise for a writing mind. In the chorus I had to use the line "Henry Poole is Here." It seemed and sounded silly to me but it was part of the contest, so I did. All things considered, the song turned out great. Sounded like a soundtrack song to me.

However, the judges did not agree. There were well over 3,000 submissions and mine was not chosen.

After that I just sort of forgot about the tune. Several months later I started absent mindedly playing the verse riff at tour rehearsal when we were warming up. Taylor came in on the drums with what felt natural to him and I was like wow maybe there's something here. He and Ty had this really cool syncopated rhythm section thing going on and it sounded great. We jammed on it a little but I didn't have a chorus written. I obviously couldn't use the chorus I had written before. So in the following weeks I started re-sculpting the song. I decided to make the song more personal than I had before. I changed the verse lyrics from "the" world to "my" world etc. Finally after trying multiple different ways of wording the old chorus we all agreed the chorus should rock a little more and that's about the same time I decided to make the song about "Julie."

Everyone wants to know if she's real or not but I say it doesn't matter. Let's leave a little magic in the music. Once the chorus was there, everything else fell into place. We wanted the bridge to be huge and it may very well be my favorite part of the song. It's a little heavier lyrically and I think it gives the song a really cool climax point.

I'm not sure everything happens for a reason, but I suppose this did. I didn't get on a movie soundtrack but we ended up winning in the long run.

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