This Week's Top stories

Here are the top stories from this week's Day in Rock and the top Day in Rock digest stories

Velvet Revolver Update- My Chemical Changes- Motorhead Bonus- West Memphis 3 Hearing- Bad Van Zeppelin Jam- Ozzy Adds Dates- Punk Murder Charges Dropped- more

A look back at the top rock stories of the week of November 8th - 12th: Slash was asked in a new interview about "singer auditions with Velvet Revolver… when will we see this band take flight again?" He responded, "I have no idea. We had a couple of guys in the week before last. We have some more guys coming in next week or the week after. Yeah, the week after. All things considered they are all great guys of everyone we have been trying out so far. For the most part anyways there have been some really good singers. Trying to find the right guy for this thing is a lot more complicated than one would probably think. So we will keep on toiling away until we hit that magic and when that happens then everything will start rolling." more

My Chemical Romance Go Genre-Hunting With Zero Percent Listen to the B-side to My Chemical Romance's Na NA Na single, called Zero Percent. It's... well, it's not entirely emo. more

Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley, also known as the West Memphis Three will be getting a new hearing. No formal date has been set but the three men's case is being reviewed to take into account the new DNA evidence. more

Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, Queen, Free), Michael Anthony (Chickenfoot, Ex-Van Halen), Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and Peter Frampton are among the artists making up the M&B All Star Band that will be performing at The Mark & Brian Christmas Show at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, CA on December 16th. more

The U.K. release of Motorhead's "The Wörld Is Yours" will now be a two-fold affair. On December 14, following Motorhead's U.K. tour, a Classic Rock Presents Motörhead fan pack will hit news-stands across the country. This is a 132-page magazine featuring not only brand new interviews with the band alongside a complete career overview, but also the entire album on CD. more

Former Deicide members Eric Hoffmann (guitar) and Brian Hoffman (guitar) have resurrected their pre-Deicide band Amon with Jesse "Jecheal" Jolly (Promethean Horde, Diabolic, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky, After Death) on vocals/bass and and Mike Petrak (Leprosy, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky) on drums. more

The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza has announced a small batch of tour dates set to take place throughout the month of November. more

Michael Brandvold has released another video from his archives. This time it's 58 minute feature from 1983 called "Truth About Rock Ministries 'Kiss Exposed' Protest by the Peters Brothers" Check it out here

The reissue of Control Denied's legendary first album, The Fragile Art of Existence, will see its official Canadian release date next Tuesday, November 9th. The 1996 demo of the track 'Expect The Unexpected' is currently streaming online at BraveWords.com more

Slash turned a few heads during his appearance at Sunday night's MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid, Spain. Find out why here

Stone Sour frontman Cory Taylor is readying a new self written book called Seven Deadly Sins. The Autobiography from the Iowa native turn hard rock front man is due out in March. more

RZA has remixed the Black Tusk track "The Takeoff" for the RZA Vs. Nike 6.0 video series more

Original Jetboy vocalist Mickey Finn has officially announced his departure from the band. The split took place mid-September when Finn revealed he would not be able to take part in a planned European tour. more

Threat Signal, Raunchy, Sybreed will kick of a European tour this week. more

Leviathan have remastered and repackaged their critically acclaimed "Leviathan" EP (1991) and "Deepest Secrets Beneath" album (1993) on a single disc. more

Drummer Matthias Voigt from Heaven Shall Burn has been forced to sit out the band's European tour with As I Lay Dying, Suicide Silence and Dew-Scented due to "some back injury." more

Hellogoodbye will be a releasing their new album Would It Kill You next Tuesday, and they've released a video for the single "When We First Met" to get you interested. more

"The Dark Epic", the fourth full-length album from One Man Army And The Undead Quartet - the band featuring former The Crown vocalist Johan Lindstrand - will be released in Europe on February 25, 2011. more

MTV premiered the new video from the Disco Biscuits for the track "Fish Out Of Water" ... this is the 3rd and final video in their robot, Stanley, music video series. Check it out here

Soulfly has announced more dates for their upcoming US trek with support from Straight Line Stitch and Incite. more

Witchbreed - the band formed by bassist Ares (ex-Moonspell, Deepskin) and guitarist Dikk (ex-Deepskin) - have parted ways with singer Ruby Roque (also The Project Hate). more

Ozzy Osbourne has confirmed the dates for his forthcoming tour of Canada. While the dates for the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta had been announced for some time Ozzy Osbourne has added four additional dates, stretching across the country into Ontario. more

Behemoth frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski, diagnosed with leukemia this summer, has checked in from a Polish hospital. "I finish the stage of pharmacological treatment and I am about to start the irradiation and then the marrow transplant. Yes, we've found a donor! Having searched for months, the foundation has found a person whose genotype is identical to mine." more

Gwen Stacy has announced plans to break up following one final show later this month. Since forming in 2004 the band has put out several releases, including albums with Ferret Music and Solid State Records. more

Charges have been dropped against the five DC9 employees charged in the beating death of Ali Ahmed Mohammed outside the club on October 15th just after an Agnostic Front performance. more

Megadeth's official fan club name has been changed to Cyber Army (once the name of the club in the 1990's) replacing MegaFanClub, which has been the club's name since 2004. A special live chat with Dave Mustaine this Wednesday, November 10th at 5:00 p.m. PST more

Agnostic Front will enter Mana Recording Studios in Tampa, FL today to begin recording the follow-up to their 2007 release, "Warriors." more

Sal Abruscato, who played drums on three Type O Negative albums as well as four Life Of Agony releases, is now the singer, songwriter and guitarist for A Pale Horse Named Death. more

Sigur Ros' Jonsi announces live album and DVD release details 'Go Live' is due out on November 29 more

It looks like Jetboy have found a new singer following the departure of Mickey Finn more

Yellowcard have posted their final studio update, indicating the completion of their full length debut for Hopeless Records. more

According to CNET News, the FBI has launched an investigation into an online protest that allegedly took down numerous websites belonging to antipiracy and entertainment groups, KISS' Gene Simmons' websites, as well as the US Copyright Office, a source with knowledge of the probe told CNET today. more

A Perfect Circle returned to Los Angeles Monday for the first of a three-night run on their West coast mini-tour. Of course, Antiquiet were there more

Iwrestledabearonce have released a free 5-song EP. "It's All Dubstep" features some of the best DJs in the world remixing five of the most popular songs from IWABO. Fans can receive the EP by visiting the band's official Facebook page, clicking 'Like' and then downloading the album from the 'Music' tab.

Please be aware that Avenged Sevenfold is not performing on 1/22/11 in Fayetteville, NC. Anyone selling tickets is a fraud. more

Journey, Foreigner and Styx will be heading to the UK in June 2011 to play five cities together for the very first time in the UK. more

Ben Folds announces February 2011 UK and Ireland tour. The singer-songwriter will begin the gig-run in Dublin on February 18 more

In honor of the late, great Randy Rhoads (late Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot guitar legend), his sister Kathy Rhoads D'Argenzio and the Rhoads family invites music/wine to the D'Argenzio Tasting Room in Burbank, CA, on December 4th and 5th. This special gathering will be a great opportunity for fans and friends to spend time with the Rhoads family and honor Randy. more

Symphony X will headline a North American tour next spring along with Nevermore, Soilwork, Powerglove, and Blackguard. more

Deep Purple are to re-release Gemini Suite Live on vinyl later this month. The album was originally put out in 1970, and featured the one and only performance of Gemini Suite. more

Unearth have issued the following brief update: "We've chosen to work with (Killswitch Engage guitarist) Adam Dutkiewicz on the new album for pre-pro, tracking and mix. Pre-pro started last week." more

Black Country Communion, the supergroup featuring vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Trapeze, Black Sabbath), award-winning blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa, drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, UFO, Foreigner) and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Billy Idol), today confirmed that they will perform two UK concerts in December. more

Ion Dissonance has announced that is has dropped off of the 'Portals Tour' which features Arsonists Get All The Girls, Within The Ruins, And Hell Followed With and Structures. more
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Metallica Plan New Album

(Gibson) After two years of touring that involved teaming up with The Big Four and rocking airports, Metallica are planning to take a break from the road. After playing their final World Magnetic tour dates in New Zealand, the band is looking to begin work on a new album.

"There's a bunch of balls in the air for 2011, but I think the main one is we really want to get back to writing again," drummer Lars Ulrich said. "We haven't really written since, what, '06, '07, and we want to get back to kind of just being creative again. Right now we are going to just chill out and then probably start up again in, I'd say, March or April, and start probably putting the creative cap back on and start writing some songs."

Although the band recently confirmed that they will perform at Rock in Rio in Brazil on September 25, 2011, Ulrich didn't say if more touring was on the table for next year. But, the drummer did say that the chances are good for another Big Four tour (featuring Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth) in the next couple of years. "The vibe on this thing is so big, we'd be stupid to ignore it," he said. "You know on your iPhone, you can move the weather maps up and down? Well, the Big Four is quickly moving up to the top in terms of potential occurrences for the next couple of years." - more on this story

Neil Young Suffers Massive Fire

(hennemusic) The San Jose Mercury News reports that a San Carlos, California warehouse filled with Neil Young's music equipment, vintage cars and other memorabilia burned in a three-alarm blaze early Tuesday, causing an estimated $1.1 million in damage.

Workers and friends spent the day moving guitars, canisters of film, framed photos and other items that had been in the warehouse.

Young, who lives in a home near La Honda, arrived at the site late in the day and surveyed the destruction. - more on this story

Slipknot Grave Robbed

(Gibson) Slipknot are asking for the return of gift items taken from the grave of the band's late bassist, Paul Gray. On their website, the group write:

"In a very upsetting turn of events we have learned that some gifts left for Paul at his grave site have been stolen. There were statues of a gargoyle as well as a Buddah that were placed at Paul's grave by his friends and family that were taken. We ask that whoever did this please return the items no questions asked. If anyone has any information about the stolen items please let us know by posting in the comments. Thank you for your continued support in this trying time."

As reported previously, Gray was found dead in a hotel in Urbandale, Iowa, on May 24, 2010. An autopsy determined that his death was caused by an accidental overdose of morphine and fentanyl. The autopsy further revealed that Gray was suffering from significant heart disease. - more on this story

Sex, Drugs and Angry Bon Jovi

The publisher of Sex, Drugs and Bon Jovi sent out an announcement to let everyone know that Jon Bon Jovi is reportedly unhappy with the memoir from his former tour manager Richard Bozzett.

Here are the highlights from the announcement which says that Bozzett guides us through his years on the road with one of the world's most iconic bands, with stories Bon Jovi hoped to keep under wraps.

"Jon Bon Jovi has publicly condemned the book and has criticized me in the media because I know a lot about Jon and the band that he would prefer to leave in his past." - more on this story

Velvet Revolver DVD Details and Preview

Eagle Rock have release details and a preview eCard for the forthcoming Velvet Revolver: Live In Houston, which is set to hit stores on November 16. Here are details followed by the eCard link and tracklisting:

Filmed in 2005, while Velvet Revolver was touring in support of their best selling/Grammy Award-winning debut Contraband, Live in Houston features the original line-up of vocalist Scott Weiland, lead guitarist Slash, bassist/vocalist Duff McKagan, drummer Matt Sorum, and rhythm guitarist Dave Kushner.

Showcasing rock's elite bringing the heat on hits like "Slither" and "Fall To Pieces" before the raucous, riotous Texas crowd, this 78-minute rock fest also treats fans to tracks from each member's background, including Guns 'N' Roses "It's So Easy" and "Used To Love Her," and Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing," and "Crackerman." - more on this story

Steven Tyler Vs Kid Rock Round 2

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has responded to Kid Rock's criticism over Tyler's new role as an American Idol judge. hennemusic reports:

"He's just jealous," Tyler tells Access Hollywood. "And he's working a new record and God bless him," he added.

Ooh, Brand Tyler slips in a sly cheap shot while appearing to take the high road, as the Aerosmith frontman suggests that Rock's motive in slamming him is to attract attention to the Kid's new album, "Born Free," out November 16. - more on this story

Queen's Big 40th Anniversary

(Gibson) After almost 40 years with EMI, rock legends Queen have signed a deal with Universal Music Group, according to Reuters. Re-releases of the band's studio albums have been announced for 2011, which also marks Queen's 40th anniversary. "We are very excited, after all this time, to be embarking on a new phase of our career – with a new record company, with new ideas and new dreams," Queen guitarist Brian May said in a statement.

The switch from EMI to Universal has been rumored since May but was only recently confirmed. This marks another high-profile loss for EMI, who have parted ways with The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Radiohead in recent years.

Starting in 2011, Queen albums will appear on Universal subsidiary Island Records. Reportedly, the label will release each of the band's 15 studio albums with bonus content and remastered sound. In March, the first five re-releases – Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races – will hit stores and online retailers. - more on this story

Coldplay Christmas Secret

(Gibson) Coldplay have announced that they are taking a short break from recording the follow-up to 2008's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends this holiday season — and they're doing it for a very good cause.

Chris Martin and company will play two "secret" shows to benefit the British homeless charity, Crisis.

The shows will take place in Liverpool on December 19th and Newcastle on December 20th. Tickets will be scarce, as both venues will only hold around 1000 people. - more on this story

Soundgarden Rock Conan

(hennemusic) Night 2 of the new Conan O'Brien's late night show and the hits just keep on' comin'.

Out promoting their career retrospective, "Telephantasm," Soundgarden rocked TBS with a performance of "Black Rain," the previously unreleased track in the collection that was recorded during the 1991 "Badmotorfinger" sessions.

It was the band's first TV appearance in 13 years, and they actually played two songs for the show. - check it out here

Liam Gallagher Debuts New Band With Free Song

(Gibson) Liam Gallagher and his new band, Beady Eye, released their first single as a free download. Fans will be able to obtain the song, titled "Bring the Light," via the group's website.

The single also will be available in 7" vinyl form for a limited time, with the track "Sons of the Stage" as the B-side.

The four-piece group, which in addition to Gallagher includes former Oasis members Gem Archer and Andy Bell, along with ex-Oasis tour drummer Chris Sharrock, recorded their debut album this past summer. The yet-to-be-titled disc is scheduled for release in 2011 - more on this story

Bon Jovi Late Show

(hennemusic) Bon Jovi launched their new "Greatest Hits" collection this week with a appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Taped earlier – but aired later – last night, the band performed two songs on The Late Show: the new single, "What Do You Got?" and one of their classic hits.

Bon Jovi were also featured on the "Live On Letterman" series, with a webcast from the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York. hennemusic joined the network to carry the CBS signal, which started at 8pm eastern and was repeated several times throughout the evening. - check it out

Paul Tried To Top The Beatles With Band on the Run

(Gibson) In a new interview with The Guardian, Paul McCartney admitted that, with Band on the Run, he was trying to compete with what he had done with The Beatles.

"Otherwise there was kind of no point, though it was virtually impossible to do," he said. "Immediately after the Beatles, though, I was just trying to form a group. OK, I thought: I can ring up a lot of famous people and get a supergroup together, or I can go with my instinct – which is that groups don't happen like that. There has to be a certain amount of building up, shared experience, shared music. That's how it was when I started out with John – neither of us really knew how to do much. And it's the kiss of death if someone says they're the next Beatles. I was in that position with Wings, taking on this impossible task – in which my lovely wife wasn't even a musician. I had Mick Jagger saying [bad Mick Jagger impersonation], 'What's he doing getting his old lady in the band?'"

McCartney also discussed an obvious similarity between John Lennon and his work, post-Beatles. "Everyone had every reason to slag [Linda] off. In fact, there was no reason for anyone to support her," he said. "But I knew what I was doing – as did John, having Yoko on his records. He didn't think she was Aretha Franklin. He was in love and he wanted to make something new – something of his own making. It was to do with intensity of feeling. And looking back on it, he was absolutely right. Everything they did, I think, was good. John had proved himself a master in conventional terms and in joining up with Yoko he was about to prove himself in unconventional terms. In a way, that was in both our thinking." - more on this story

Slash Censoring New Video

(Gibson) We told you about this in yesterday's digest but today Gibson has a little more info on it: Slash's new video with Fergie will have to undergo censoring before it's released to the public at large.

The video, for the track "Beautiful Dangerous," features the Black Eyed Peas singer portraying a crazed stalker who lures Slash to her apartment, and then ties him to a bed before performing some dirty deeds. The concept was Fergie's idea, but Slash says the raunchier aspects of the end result will need trimming.

"It's very controversial," Slash says. "I thought it was OK but apparently there's a lot of suggestiveness and we're having a rethink." - more on this story

Thrice's Dustin Kensrue Release Limited Edition Christmas Album

Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue has released his Christmas music album, This Good Night Is Still Everywhere, for the first time on limited edition vinyl.

The solo, mostly–acoustic collection was originally issued as a digital-only release in 2008. This new vinyl edition features two bonus tracks, including a cover of mewithoutYou's "A Stick, A Carrot & String." For fans that previously purchased the digital album, the two additional songs will be available for individual download at all digital retailers.

"I was really excited to be able to put this out on vinyl," said Kensrue, "especially since we didn't even have time to release it on CD before." - more on this story

MTV To Publish Ronnie James Dio's Memoir

Wendy Dio said this was coming and there is now a deal in place to publish Ronnie James Dio's memoir. The literary agency which brokered the deal sent us the following details:

Rainbow in the Dark: The Autobiography of Ronnie James Dio, the revealing memoir of the heavy metal master, was sold at auction to Jacob Hoye, Senior Director of Publishing at MTV Books, by Shawna Morey, in her first deal at Folio Literary Management, LLC. Renowned for his powerful, hard-driving vocals, Dio, lends that unique voice to recount his extraordinary journey from early pioneer in a burgeoning music movement to his undisputed reign atop the heavy metal landscape. He was born in a time and to a family so far removed from the hard-rocking world he would dominate for nearly five decades, but his unbounded passion and peerless talent broke barriers and legitimized heavy metal as an alternative art form. His creative genius made him a legend.

With nearly five decades of worldwide success and album sales in the tens of millions as the front man of Elf, Rainbow, Dio, Black Sabbath, and, most recently, Heaven & Hell, Ronnie James Dio grabbed the mic, took the stage, and led a movement whose influence resonates to this day. In Rainbow in the Dark, Dio himself will introduce the reader to this incredible life and the over 50 photographs included will provide readers with an unprecedented all-access pass to the rock concert of a lifetime. - more on this story

Pulp Reunite

(Gibson) Britpop greats Pulp have announced a run of reunion shows for 2011, according to Billboard.com. The Sheffield band have been on hiatus since 2002 and frontman Jarvis Cocker has been working as a solo artist ever since.

The band's 2011 shows will reunite Pulp's original lineup, who have not been onstage together since 1996. Pulp said that they "decided to get together and play some concerts next summer," in a statement. So far, the band's confirmed appearances are Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival on May 27 and Live Nation's London festival Wireless with Barclaycard on July 3.

There have also been rumors that Pulp will play at next summer's Glastonbury Festival. They last performed there in 1995. - more on this story

Brad Whitford Discusses Aerosmith's Next Album

(hennemusic) Billboard is reporting guitarist Brad Whitford's comments about Aerosmith's plans for 2011.

Whitford, who's currently on the road with the Experience Hendrix 2010 tour, tells Billboard that he expects some, if not all of the album -- the long-overdue follow-up to 2004's "Honkin' on Bobo" -- to be recorded in Los Angeles, where "American Idol" is headquartered.

"I imagine it would probably be easier for us to do it out there, just because Steven's got to be there two days every week, anyway." - more on this story

Rolling Stones Contradict Keith Richards

(Gibson) A spokesman for The Rolling Stones has denied that the band has plans to tour or record in 2011, contrary to Keith Richards' recent comments.

The Guardian reports that, after Keith Richards told BBC6Music that the band were ready to tour next year, an official statement from the band's press office said instead: "There are no concrete plans for The Rolling Stones to tour. The same applies to rumors that they are going into the studio soon to record a new album."

Speaking at the book launch of his new memoir, Life, Richards had told BBC6Music: "After these many years working together, we have a lot of unfinished stuff to work on that we had to leave off the last album. And knowing Mick, as I do, he's a very prolific writer. I have ideas and we'll put them together in December or January. We're looking forward to working. - more on this story

New Guns N' Roses Album Coming?

(hennemusic) At the release party of the new video game, "Call Of Duty: Black Ops," in Santa Monica on Thursday, Guns N' Roses guitarist D.J. Asha dropped an update on the status of a new album by the band.

"We're talking about that right now," said Ashba. "We've been throwing around a bunch of ideas and it should be good, man. We've got a lot of good stuff on the plate coming out. It won't take as long, I promise."

13 years in the making, it's been two years since "Chinese Democracy" was released. "Yeah, I'm excited to get this next one rolling," added Ashba. "A lot of great s**t. Axl (Rose) has a lot of good s**t up his sleeve, so I'm really excited about it." - more on this story

Pantera and Slayer's Kerry King Hellbent for Leather

The Metal Den turns back the clock twenty one years to Pantera rehearsing with Slayer's Kerry King.

This was a jam session "warm-up" to their legendary live show together that took place May 19, 1989.

This cover version of Judas Priest's classic "Hellbent for Leather" features all four members of Pantera: Philip, Rex, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. - Listen to the historic performance here

Slash Sideswiped With Axl Parody

Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has slammed a German TV show after he was made to sit through a comedy sketch parodying former bandmate Axl Rose.

The axe icon was a guest on the Oliver Pocher Show on Friday night. During an interview Pocher cut to a five-minute spoof documentary about Rose, which featured Pocher playing the singer living alone with a dog called Slash.

Later the guitarist said via Twitter: "I wasn't too pleased with the Axl parody on the Oliver Pocher Show. That wasn't too cool." - more on this story

Watch Jack White Rock Conan

(hennemusic) All is well again in Team Coco-land, as Conan O'Brien returned to the airwaves with his new TBS show, Conan, on Monday night.

O'Brien invited his pal, Jack White, along as his first musical guest, and the two delivered some musical fireworks.

White and O'Brien have been friends for many years, and the two worked together to release Conan's new music in 2010 on White's Third Man Records. - check it out here

Marilyn Manson Goes To Hell, etc

(Gibson) After a 15-year relationship with Interscope Records, Marilyn Manson is going indie. The shock rocker has signed with Cooking Vinyl, which beat out an international array of indie and major labels to work with the star.

The U.K.-based indie has joined up with Manson to form a new label, Hell, etc., which will deliver Manson's new album in 2011. The singer will be responsible for creating and mixing the release and Cooking Vinyl will be on the hook for worldwide distribution, marketing and promotion.

"We will always be our worst audience, until we stop being an audience and start being an artist," Manson said in a statement. "Any art is flesh and blood, no matter how you perform, decorate or display it. But we all want the passionate horror of that blood. And blood is what I am here to bring." - more on this story

Gene Simmons Box Set

(hennemusic) Gene Simmons is one active guy, even on Twitter. The Kiss bassist posts frequently, keeping followers update on his plans, including a hefty, new music project.

On Monday, Simmons tweeted: "Been working every day, on and off on my Box Set... unreleased songs from over 30 years!!! Lots of toons. Maybe 200. Soon."

At this point, it's unclear if the box set will include Gene's solo output, songs he wrote for Kiss that weren't used, and/or maybe even Kiss stuff. - more on this story

Godsmack Jumps To Steven Tyler's Defense

(hennemusic) After taking some flack in the past week from Kid Rock and Slash for doing American Idol, Steven Tyler responded to Rock's criticism by saying, "He's just jealous, and he's working a new record and God bless him."

The Aerosmith frontman is getting support from Godsmack singer Sully Erna, who told Detroit's WRIF 101.1 FM, "I think it's brilliant. Beyond good. I think he's gonna be the male Paula Abdul, 'cause he's a little bit dingy, you know what I mean?! He's probably all pilled up, and he's gonna be funny. I mean, he's witty, he's really witty."

Erna also took exception to Rock's comments, saying "Kid Rock needs to shut up. That's not true. This is gonna be great for TV, man." - more on this story

Guns N Roses Stars Offer Free Download

(hennemusic) Guns N Roses bassist Tommy Stinson is offering a free song download to fans as his thanks for their support with a recent charity auction.

"One Man Mutiny" - featuring GNR members Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus and Stinson – is available as a free download at the bassist's website here.

"Thanks to you, we raised over $50,000 in my auction to help the Timkatec schools in Haiti," writes Tommy. "As a token of appreciation, I give to you "One Man Mutiny." You can watch the video, and download the MP3 for free. I can hardly express how much this has all meant to myself and to those involved. It's all especially impressive considering the current world economic climate." - more on this story

Bon Jovi, Springsteen, Metallica Get The Kinks With Ray Davies

Ray Davies has gathered together a who's who roster of rockers to help him pay tribute to his band The Kinks on his new album, See My Friends. Here is the official word along with the tracklisting and guest list:

See My Friends features an all-star cast of collaborators, including Jon Bon Jovi/Richie Sambora, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, Mumford & Sons, Lucinda Williams, Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Jackson Browne, Spoon, Amy Macdonald, Black Francis (The Pixies), Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Paloma Faith and the late, great Alex Chilton (Big Star).

This historic collection shows Davies giving fresh treatments to each track, while affectionately acknowledging his band millions have admired for decades. See My Friends will be available in the U.S. March 2011 on Decca. - more on this story

Alan Wilder Remixing Depeche Mode

Depeche-Mode.com had this exciting update for fans: Alan Wilder joins Vince Clarke on the list of people who've done remixes for the forthcoming Depeche Mode remix album, tentatively set for release early next year.

The two Mode legends' involvement signal a very interesting project is in the works.

Also rumoured to be included in the project are The Yeah Yeah Yeahs!, Brandon Flowers and Arcade Fire. - more on this story

What The Puck? Gene Simmons To Play Hockey

(hennemusic) This Friday, KISS bassist Gene Simmons suited up to play goalie during an intermission shootout at a Western Hockey League game in Saskatoon.

A battle of first place teams, the 13-5 Saskatoon Blades host the 14-2 Portland Winterhawks at the Credit Union Centre.

"He'll be dressing up in goalie gear from head to toe," said Brittany Loraas, the Blades' manager of game-day operations, "and during the second intermission, we'll have three guys take shots at him." - more on this story

Talking Dio

The latest episode of Talking Metal contains an interview host Mark Strigl conducted with David Rock Feinstein.

Interview topics include the "Bitten By The Beast" album, The Rods, Niji Entertainment and Ronnie James Dio.

Additional podcast topics include The Talking Metal Forums, Dio's new Live at Donington CD and Metal Mike Chlasciak. - Check it out here

Metallica Post Special Gig Video

(hennemusic) Metallica, on a mini-break before wrapping up their World Magnetic Tour with some final shows in Australia this month, sprung a surprise gig announcement on fans last week when they announced they'd be playing at the Santa Monica Airport.

Last Thursday's event was a launch party for the release of "Call of Duty: Black Ops," the new game by Activision; the evening also doubled as a fundrasier for The Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit organization that helps soldiers transition to civilian life and assists them in establishing jobs and careers.

Fan-filmed videos of various quality have floated around for a few days now, so it's great that Metallica have released a pro-shot video of one of the tracks from the show. - more on this story