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

Jesus To Reunite Guns N' Roses?- Black Label Society Unplugged- Solomon Burke RIP- Slipknot Top Metallica- Kings-Xmas- Roger Waters Changes The Wall- more

This week's top rock digest stories: A former GNR member has called on the Almighty to convince Axl Rose to reunite the original band. Steven Adler reportedly told the Dalton Daily Citizen: "I put prayers in with Jesus and God all the time. ''Please just go talk to Axl', I say. I love the stuff we did together in my heart and my soul. It needs to be taken out of the shell and put back in the world. Two generations of people have already missed it. I think it's unfair." more

Set Your Goals is currently in the studio tracking their next album. Recording is taking place with Brian McTernan (Strike Anywhere, Darkest Hour) more

Just in time for the holidays, Kings-X band will release "Live Love in London", a 2cd/DVD package featuring some of the most loved songs from the past 30 years. more

Cave In have revealed the details for their upcoming odds and ends collection entitled Anomalies Vol. 1. It's due out December 14, 2010 via Hydra Head Records. The album includes three originals and covers of songs from Bad Brains, The Cure, Codeine and Black Sabbath. more

Rob Zombie is set for a return to the UK stage after a 12-year hiatus. Rob and his band featuring John 5 (guitar), Piggy D (bass) and Joey Jordison (Slipknot; drums) will play a string of six dates this coming February more

The Futureheads' Barry Hyde: 'Working on our a capella album is the hardest thing I've tried to do' Frontman admits that their forthcoming instrument-free LP is a 'challenge' more

Dead Kennedys have announced some scattered dates over the next few months. The band has been on a touring hiatus due to illnesses faced by both bassist Klaus Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro . For the upcoming dates, D.H. will be touring but Klaus' spot will be filled by Greg Reeves. more

Slipknot's (sic)nesses DVD, which captures the band's June 2009 performance in front of 80,000 maniacal fans at the storied Download Festival in the UK, debuted at #1 on the Billboard DVD chart. The DVD impressively bowed ahead of The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts DVD featuring U2, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Joel, Black Eyed Peas and other hitmakers. more

Orphaned Land's December 9 and December 10 concerts at Reading 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel will be professionally filmed and recorded for an upcoming DVD release. more

Priestess has announced a fall headlining tour in support of their latest release. The dates will feature support from Brooklyn trio Naam. more

Zakk Wylde reveals in an in-depth article at BW&BK that Black Label Society will "take December and January off; well it's not so much going to be off. What we're doing is recording an unplugged version of all the [Order Of The Black] tunes down at The Black Label Bunker when we get off the road. We recorded a couple of songs we were going to use for bonus tracks, but we were really psyched the way they came out so we decided to make it a whole other record, the unblackened versions." more

Early last Sunday morning the legendary King of Rock & Soul, Solomon Burke passed away due to natural causes. According to his family, Solomon had just arrived at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for a sold out show at Paradiso with Dutch band, De Dijk. more

Roger Waters has bowed to pressure from the Anti-Defamation League and 'tweaked' an offensive video which plays on a big screen behind him during his The Wall shows which ADL felt was to be anti-Semitic. more. A report of the original complaint here

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience which celebrates the life and music of his father - the legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham - kicked off on Friday, October 8 at the Encana Events Centre in Dawson Creek, B.C. Grab the set and guest list here.

In a recent carefully-phrased blog, Sigur Rós points out 11 tv ad spots they claim are "inserting a little too much fromage in their homage". In other words, they're on to their commercial ripoffs. more

Ynetnews are reporting that Guns N' Roses are coming to Israel and the band plans to perform twice more

Attack Attack! has postponed their UK tour, originally set to take place this month, as singer/guitarist Johnny Franck is battling an illness. The tour will now take place in late-January and early-February. more

Silverstein has revealed they have left the Victory Records roster (presumably having fulfilled their four-album contract). Moreover, the group is currently working on a new album more

Red Fang reported that they flipped their van twice on the way home from Seattle. more

Coheed And Cambria have announced a string of live dates for Australia in February / March as part of the Soundwave Festival 2011 tour. more

Lou Reed joined Gorillaz for their New York show Plus host of other collaborators at Madison Square Garden more

Tesla have been confirmed to play a benefit show for the American Diabetes Association on October 24th with Poison frontman Bret Michaels in Los Angeles, CA. more

Bret Michaels stopped by Access Hollywood Live and discussed his final surgery to fix a hole in his heart that was found during his brain bleed trauma – a procedure that Bret is expecting to improve his current quality of life. more

Kings of Leon will appear on Saturday Night Live October 23rd. The episode will be hosted by actress Emma Stone (Easy A) more

Glassjaw have announced a New Year's Day show at the Nokia Theatre / Beat Buy Theatre in Times Square in New York City. more

Crowbar will headline their first tour in over five years later this year. The trek will kick off in late-November and also feature Black Tusk. more

To mark the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut album, Lightning To The Nations, Diamond Head will play the effort in its entirety for the very first time during the Hard Rock Hell IV festival. more

Devildriver has announced that they will be heading across the Atlantic next month for a series of headlining shows in Europe. Joining them on the trek will be 36 Crazyfists. more

It was inevitable. Hollywood Reporter says that the spouses of rock stars will step into the spotlight for a docu-series on E!. The cast features Susan Holmes McKagan, married to former Guns N' Roses current Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan; Etty Farrell, whose husband is Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell; Josie Stevens, a model married to Billy Idol's longtime guitarist Steve Stevens; and AJ Celi, who has been in a relationship with guitarist Billy Duffy of the Cult for the past three years. more

In a new interview, Pennywise confirms they have returned to Epitaph Records and Epitaph more

On December 14, Goo Goo Dolls will perform live on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Philm, featuring drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer), guitarist/vocalist Gerry Nestler (Civil Defiance), and bassist Pancho Tomaselli (War), will support Halford (featuring Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford) on the several U.S. dates more

Nicolas Milanese of Slowmotion Apocalypse, who was hospitalized for seven months battling an acute case of leukemia, has received a bone-marrow transplant and is back at home continuing his recovery more

Enuff Z'nuff are heading across the pond for a pre-Christmas tour which will include seven dates. No support was mentioned but you can grab the dates here

According to UVA Today, the life and memory of Morgan Dana Harrington will be honored with several events at the University of Virginia on Sunday. Harrington was the fan found murdered after going missing from a Metallica concert. more -

Ozzy and Slash Tour Announced and Includes Intimate Shows

Ozzy Osbourne and Slash fans will no longer have to rely on leaks to see if the duo is coming to their town early next year. The tour has now been officially announced along with the dates. Here you go:

Ozzy Osbourne--who will kick off his fall North American arena tour November 12 in Victoria, B.C--has now announced a second leg of U.S. dates which will get underway January 16, 2011 in Omaha, NE. Ozzy's longtime friend and musical collaborator Slash will open all the concerts on the second leg.

The six-week 2011 trek, part of Ozzy's in-progress 18-month world tour, will include a pair of intimate shows: January 26 at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix and Feb 1 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. - dates

Velvet Revolver Back Together

Slash made good on his word that Velvet Revolver would regroup this month and begin auditioning singers to replace Scott Weiland.

Slash offered fans an extensive update about his current activities including a tidbit about a possible new solo album and this about Velvet Revolver: "VR is back together jamming, trying out singers. No updates yet. But it's great to hook up with Duff, Matt & Dave after all this time. I'll keep you posted on any interesting developments from those sessions as they happen. The creative juices are definitely flowing. I'm positive something awesome is going to surface soon."

He also had updates about his current solo activities: "The 'We're All Gonna Die' tour has been such a good f**king time I can't even begin to express! From the 1st show at the infamous Roxy in Los Angeles last April, through Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the US, including the final 2 shows at the House of Blues back in LA, we had the most unbelievable response - more than I could possibly have wished for! - more on this story

AC/DC Vs Glee

(Gibson) Even though AC/DC haven't released any new music in the past year, the rock legends might take home an American Music Award in November.

The band's soundtrack for Iron Man 2 (which includes AC/DC tracks spanning 1975-2008) is nominated in the Soundtrack category. AC/DC will competing with Glee: The Music, Volume 3, Showstoppers and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack.

But the Aussies aren't the only rockers up for an American Music Award. Muse, Phoenix and Vampire Weekend are all nominated for Favorite Artist in the Alternative Rock category, and mainstream rockers Train will vie for Favorite Band, Duo or Group against The Black Eyed Peas and Lady Antebellum - more on this story

Vince Neil Going On Trial

Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil will soon have to face the music at trial for his recent DUI arrest.

hennemusic reports: Vince's attorney entered "not guilty" pleas on behalf of Neil in a Las Vegas court yesterday in response to misdemeanor drunken driving and speeding charges

Neil did not have to appear in person for this part of the process. His trial is set for January 6, 2011. - more on this story

AC/DC Literally Rule The World

While most big name (and small name) tours are running in the red (or nearly in the red) this year due to the recession, over exposure or excessive ticket prices, AC/DC remains in the black. In fact, their strategy to keep ticket prices relatively low has paid off big time for fans and as it turns out the band as well helping their far outsell everyone else this year.

hennemusic has the details: Pollstar magazine, which tracks the concert business, has released a third-quarter recap of top touring artists and concert industry developments in the first nine months of 2010.

AC/DC's "Black Ice" tour, which wrapped in June, sold almost 2 million tickets in the first half of the year – and it's still ahead of every other touring act...by a long shot. According to the AC/DC's website, the 2-year tour saw 168 performances in 29 countries to 5 million fans. - Check out the Top 10 ticket sellers and other notable rock entries here

Motley Murder?

Tracey Tetso planned to attend a Motley Crue concert in Washington D.C. in March of 2005 but she never made it.

Opening arguments in her murder trial began on Friday with her husband, Dennis Tetso, standing accused of her murder.

wbaltv.com reports: On the day she disappeared, Tracey Tetso was supposed to attend a Motley Crue concert but never made it. Her body was never found. Eleven days later, her black Trans Am was found in a parking lot, police said. - more on this story

Serious Illness Sidelines Disturbed Tour

For fans wondering why the current North American tour dates have disappeared from Disturbed's website, it appears that the plug has been pulled on the dates because frontman David Draiman, has been diagnosed with a serious throat condition.

At press time there was not a statement posted on the band's official site but the dates, which had them on the road in the U.S. for most of this month, had been removed. Boston.com reported that tour promoter LiveNation said that the unspecified "condition" is not permanent, but Draiman must stop performing for at least four weeks in order for it to heal.

The band's European tour plans still seem to be in place with their official site showing that trek kicking off in Helsinki, Finland on November 15th. Boston.com reports that Draiman underwent surgery for a deviated septum in 2006. - more on this story

Anthrax Star Goes Disney

That headline wasn't a misprint. Read on: A few months ago, Disney Product Developers Holli McHugh and Donald Ferro teamed up with Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante to create an epic new vinyl - "Vinylmation" that is.

These new collectible figures are the hottest craze to hit Disney Parks & Resorts. Based on the character Mickey Mouse, the Vinylmation figures take on different looks, urban styles and characters, and often depict different Disney park attractions and icons.

Benante knew at a young age there was art and music in his blood. A Disney fan from the start, it was Walt Disney's "Fantasia" that led him to get hooked on creating art in all forms, as well as his love for Mickey Mouse and the flawless and seamless animation that only Disney could provide. - more on this story

Robert Plant Slams Black Sabbath

(Rock Radio) Led Zeppelin icon Robert Plant has compared Black Sabbath to 60s pop star Bobby Goldsboro in a light-hearted ribbing.

Zep and Sabbath used to rehearse in the same studios, with Sabs drummer Bill Ward having said Plant and co used to "come in and interrupt us" and rumours abounding that tapes exist of the bands jamming together in the late 1960s.

But speaking on Canadian radio Plant suggests that Sabbath are no more relevant than the man who sang the tearjerking hit Honey – and Led Zep drummer John Bonham always told Tony Iommi's outfit they were no good. Asked about Black Sabbath he replies: "Who? They'll go a long way and they'll influence a lot of people in Seattle. Lovely, great, yeah. And what would you do without Bobby Goldsboro as well? - more on this story

My Chemical Romance In A Box

My Chemical Romance have announced the exclusive release of Danger Days: "California 2019 Edition" a box set which will be available only through the band's official website.

The special edition box set will be delivered on November 22nd, the day the band's fourth album, Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys, is released by Reprise Records.

Each Danger Days: "California 2019 Edition" box set, which is housed in a special white box wrapped with an exclusive photo sleeve - includes

Dave Matthews Band Announce Double Live Album

The Dave Matthews Band is consistently one of the top touring bands in North America and fans will have the chance to experience DMB live whenever they want with the November 9th release of Live In New York City.

The two disc set captures the group's sold-out July 17, 2010 concert at Citi Field, the second of two electrifying shows at the venue.

Dave Matthews Band will launch its fall U.S. tour on November 2nd at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY. The group will make its first-ever appearance at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY the following evening (November 3rd). In the middle of the tour, the band will play two consecutive two-night stands - Boston's TD Garden (November 9th and 10th) and New York City's Madison Square Garden (November 12th and 13th). - more on this story

Phil Anselmo's New Band Arson Anthem Planning Tour

Arson Anthem, Philip H. Anselmo (Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual), Hank Williams III (Superjoint Ritual, Assjack), Mike IX Williams (Outlaw Order, Eyehategod), and Collin Yeo (Ponykiller), are planning a possible tour in January.

The tour would be in support of their debut album, Insecurity Notoriety, which hit stores yesterday.

The band was brought together in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with Mike Williams moving into Anselmo's spare apartment after his home and possessions were destroyed. Through this connection, Williams and Anselmo spent time listening to Anselmo's irreplaceable hardcore music collection. - more on this story

Randy Rhoads Family Recount Quiet Riot Formation

Gibson spoke with Randy Rhoads' brother Kelly and sister Kathy about their legendary brother to celebrate the release of a new Randy Rhoads Les Paul Custom. Here is a small excerpt from that exchange where Kelly discusses the formation of Quiet Riot:

Kelly: Well there were a lot of bands before Quiet Riot if truth be told.... There was a band called the Katzenjammer Kids. They had a band called The Horror, and my brother had the tallest platform shoes I had ever seen in my life. It looked like he was half leg and half stilts. That was a very significant band, very glittered out, very glam, because that was the first band where Randy played in Hollywood. He actually got into Rodney Bingenheimer, who is a ridiculous local figure [L.A. disc jockey]. He got in and was playing at Rodney's English disco club in that band. There was also a band he was in for a short while called Mildred Pierce. So you've got three bands, actually almost four bands, and a lot of different experiments before he actually formed Quiet Riot. Randy formed Quiet Riot. He didn't come up with the idea for the name, but he did start the band that became Quiet Riot, and he did pick the people that were in it.

Gibson: Do you know what sort of the process he used to pull guys in? I assume that Kelly Garni was playing bass, right? Kelly: Kelly was kind of like my brother's sidekick, and with all those bands I just named, the two people that were the common denominator were Kelly and Randy. The rest of the people, the drummers and the singers, were on a rotating scale. So Randy and Kelly auditioned Kevin [DuBrow] right in my mom's dining room, while my mom was in the kitchen. So he came to the house and Drew, the drummer in the band, he was like a stage drummer, like a jazz drummer at Burbank High, which is one of the high schools here in our town. My brother knew of him and they asked him to join the band. That's where all the members came from. - full interview

Cold War Kids Announce New Album and Tour

Cold War Kids will release their third studio album, Mine is Yours, via Downtown Records on January 25th 2011.

The band enlisted Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Modest Mouse) to produce and record the eleven song collection over a period of three months in Nashville TN, and Los Angeles, CA.

"I got home from tour and realized I was married. All my friends had either jumped in the deep end of a relationship or had drowned. When did things get so serious? We fought growing up but the wild nights and free-for-all caught up to us. Some people got out in time and others had permanent damage. For this record, I wrote about the joys and failures of commitment all around me," says Willett. - more on this story

Paul McCartney Pondering Band on the Run Live Show

(Gibson) In a recent interview with ClashMusic, Paul McCartney discussed the trying circumstances surrounding the recording of the 'Band on the Run' album, with two of the five band members quitting the day before the band was to take off for Lagos, Nigeria to record.

"A couple of the guys [Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell] left the band the night before we went to Lagos to make the record," he recalled. "That was like a bombshell. You can imagine me getting off that phone call. It was like, 'Ah. Okay. Try and hold your nerve; try and keep it together. What do we do now? Sod it, we're going.' And at that moment it was one of those, 'I'll show you. I will make the best album I've ever made now. I will put so much effort into it because I wanna just prove that we didn't need you guys.'"

As for plans to celebrate the album by performing it live in its entirety, Sir Paul mused, "I've been asked to do it, so I'll definitely look into it and consider it, but it's not an idea I would have ever thought of myself. It might be a cool idea, but I'm thinking about it." - more on this story

Kings of Leon New Album Stream

(Gibson) Kings of Leon are preparing to release their fifth studio album next week, but impatient fans can hear the whole thing right now.

All 13 tracks of Come Around Sundown are currently streaming online at http://radioactive.kingsofleon.com/.

The website also features an interview series in which the Nashville-based rockers discuss their new release. - more on this story

Metallica Master of Purple Limited Edition

Metallica's Metclub.com had a big announcement for hardcore 'Tallica collectors this week featuring a very limited edition pressing of "Master of Puppets". Here are the details they released:

This Thursday, October 14th at 1:00pm PST, Warner Bros. Records and MetClub.com will each be holding a one-time sale of Master of Puppets on deluxe PURPLE vinyl!

This limited edition colored vinyl set comes as a double gatefold, two-disc, 180 gram, 45 rpm version and was half-speed mastered from the original analog tapes at Mobile Fidelity for the ultimate listening experience!

Only 1,000 copies of this special set were pressed and were never released to retail. Limit one per customer. -

The Sword Lose a Member and Cancel U.S. Tour

The Sword are not having a good week. First they pulled the plug on their European tour and now the band has lost a member, forcing them to pull the plug on their U.S. tour. Here is the official word on this latest development.

The Sword regretfully canceling the remainder of their scheduled US dates due to the departure of their drummer, Trivett Wingo.

The split is amicable and both Trivett and the rest of the band wish each other the best of the luck with their respective plans. The Sword are already working diligently to reschedule their European and US dates. - more on this story

Weezer Declare Death to False Metal With New Rarities Album

(Gibson) Weezer fans have been clamoring for the release of the upcoming Death to False Metal album for a while now. Finally, the album has been given a release date of November 1. The rarities collection will include nine previously unreleased tracks, as well as a cover of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart."

The project was first made public when Rivers Cuomo and company appeared on Los Angeles radio station KROQ during the summer of 2008. Cuomo revealed that the band was compiling a rarities album, but had no specific plans for its release.

Originally titled Odds and Ends, the collection includes songs dating back to the early '90s. Cuomo said at the time that the tracks are "great songs, great recordings, but for some reason they didn't make the final cut for a record." - more on this story

Rolling Stones Vinyl Box Sets

North American Rolling Stones fans will be getting a special treat around Thanksgiving this year with two vinyl box set collections spanning over 40 years of the legendary band's career.

The box sets include 23 original studio albums, two "Big Hits" collections as well as two rare EPs. They will be released on November 22 in the U.K. and November 23 in the U.S. and Canada. The Rolling Stones 1964-1969 and The Rolling Stones 1971-2005 Vinyl Box Sets offer the consumer a wealth of great Rolling Stones music, much of which hasn't been available on vinyl for a considerable period of time.

The Rolling Stones 1964-1969 Vinyl Box Set, a limited edition numbered box set collection, chronologically encompasses the Stones' early U.K. releases. The set includes nine re-mastered Rolling Stones studio albums, two remastered EPs, plus two "Big Hits" collections. It's the first vinyl reissue in decades for The Rolling Stones (EP), The Rolling Stones, Five by Five (EP), The Rolling Stones No. 2, Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) and Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2). - more on this story

Deep Purple Sabbath Maiden Supergroup Finish Recording

We told you last month that Tony Iommi and Ian Gillan were going to be recording together again and this time they will bring Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain and Deep Purple's Jon Lord along for the ride... and it's all for a good cause. That has taken place and Iommi issued the following update for fans late last week:

I" had a great time in the studio yesterday with Ian Gillan, Nicko McBrain and Jon Lord. We had a brilliant time together laying down the track 'ut of My Mind'and a lot of fun doing it, plenty of jokes and humor! As expected everyone played so well. What an exciting time!!"

According to Tony's site, in 1989 Tony Iommi and Ian Gillan were just a few names in a long list of talent involved in the recording of the Deep Purple track "Smoke on The Water." This song was re-recorded to raise money for those affected by the Leinakan earthquake that struck Armenia in 1988. - more on this story

Plant Again Comments on Possible Led Zeppelin Reunion

(Gibson) Robert Plant again flirted with the topic of a Led Zeppelin reunion. After telling The A.V. Club, "I think we're probably thinking about talking," earlier in the week, the leonine singer gave another tantalizing, yet non-committal morsel to the Daily Mail, while promoting his latest album, Band of Joy.

When asked about the potential of a Led Zeppelin reunion, he didn't exactly say "no":

"I can't speak about that, as I'm not in control of destiny. It's not for anybody to say. Anything is possible, but it'll take a lot to turn it into something worthwhile. It was tough tearing into those songs after 27 years, but it was quite something. The sense of the event [at the 2007 reunion at London's O2 Arena] was so big in comparison to any one of us individually. -

Judas Priest Headbanging Minivans

(hennemusic) Minivans rock? Rob Halford plays a "priest"? Rock fans can be forgiven for shaking their heads (while headbangin' them) in disbelief at a couple of new tv commercials featuring metal masters Judas Priest.

Honda has launched the campaign for their new Odyssey minivan, complete with a Marshall stack, flames and pyro, all displayed to a soundtrack featuring Priest's "The Hellion."

A new Virgin Mobile USA commercial starts with Rob Halford - as a priest - instructing his congregation: "Let us pray," followed by rows of church-goers (and others) going into full-on text mode using their Virgin Mobile devices. - read more and see both ads here

Dream Theater Want World Class Replacement for Mike Portnoy

(Gibson) In an interview with Metal Messiah Radio, Dream Theater singer James LaBrie addressed the prog metal band's plans following the departure of drummer Mike Portnoy. LaBrie told DJ D.C. Green that the band is approaching the issue of Portnoy's replacement with care and diligence.

"We're not rushing into it," he said. "Because it's a big move for us; it's unprecedented within the band. This is our first time coming up against finding a drummer for Dream Theater.

"We do have everything in place. We don't have a drummer yet, but we have auditions for drummers all set up, and it's all ready to go within two weeks. So in two weeks we will start auditioning drummers. We already have seven guys lined up that are gonna come into the studio and they are going to play through some songs and so on and so forth." - more on this story

Bullet For My Valentine Member Leaves Tour

Jive sent over word on Friday that Bullet For My Valentine bassist Jason James will be taking time off from their current North American fall tour.

James will be on leave from October 8th through October 17th attending to a private family matter and will rejoin the band on October 18th in Calgary, AB.

No dates will be cancelled and Escape the Fate, Black Tide and Drive A will continue to open on all remaining dates. Calvin Roffey, a musician in his own right and BFMV guitar tech, will take over bass duties until James returns to the tour. -