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

Aerosmith Future in Doubt- Guns N' Drama- New Pantera Song- Arcade Fire- Def Santana Daughtry- Metal Church Arrest- Jani Lane Joins Great White- TNT Heart Attack- more

This week's top Day in Rock Digest stories part I: Aerosmith's Joe Perry fears the band will be over once its current tour comes to an end - insisting their future together is completely "up in the air". "I think everybody's a little worn out. The tour is winding up, and we don't know when we'll work again as band. That part of it is up in the air, and it's starting to hit home." more

Billboard.com reports that Chickenfoot is four songs and "seven pieces of new music" into its second album, according to frontman Sammy Hagar. But their future is unclear because of Chad Smith and his regular gig with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Once they start recording, Chad's never going to be able to get a break," Hagar tells Billboard.com. "If he does, he'll get a couple weeks here, a couple days there, which is not really enough to devote to Chickenfoot. And when they're done with [the album] they're gonna go on the road for a year and a half. So we either have to get a new drummer or wait for Chad...which is unfair to Chickenfoot. It's too good a band." He covers a lot more ground here

We told you last week that Pantera were going to post a previously unreleased song, "The Will To Survive" from upcoming 20th Anniversary Edition of Cowboys From Hell, on their Facebook. The day has arrived, go check it out here. We were also sent a listening party link for the album that you can check out here. Grab all the details about the reissue here

Antiquiet had this interesting story: Google has teamed up with The Arcade Fire and video director Chris Milk to make a crazy interactive video for their song We Used To Wait, set… on the street you grew up on. On the Google / nerd side, it's meant to show off the capabilities of HTML5, branded as an "experiment" for the Google Chrome browser, but it worked just fine for me in the HTML5 compliant Safari browser as well. more

David Ellefson (Megadeth, F5) and Tristan '1690' Grigsby (Daitribe) Tim "Ripper" Owens (Charred Walls Of The Damned, Iced Earth, Beyond Fear, Judas Priest) and Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall, Burning Human) recorded a song called 'Leave It Alone' several years ago for a Dimebag Darrell (Pantera) memorial disc that has yet to be released. The song is available exclusively on iTunes. Watch video of Ellefson and Grigsby discussing new material here

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines headlined a benefit for the West Memphis Three on Saturday and were joined by surprise stars Johnny Depp and Patti Smith who jammed with Vedder (Depp played guitar). Billboard has the story and the VIDEO here

Bob Catley (Magnus), Jorn Lande (Masterplan), Amanda Somerville, Olli Hartmann and Michael Kiske (Helloween) are among the musicians who will tour with Avantasia, the project led by Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet, on the group's upcoming tour. more

Slash has reportedly filed for divorce from his wife of almost nine years. more

Propagandhi have announced plans to release a split 7" with Canadian thrash legends Sacrifice. Each band will contribute one cover song to the record more

Hear a new track from Killers frontman Brandon Flowers' solo album Flamingo, Was It Something I Said, and check out a live performance here

Axl Rose: Guns N' Roses 'had a deal' to play longer at Reading And Leeds Festivals. Rose claims band may have been 'conned' by promoters as "war" continues, according to NME's report here.

Megaloud? The venue for Megadeth's No Sleep Til's Perth date changed due to noise concerns more

Carlos Santana's new album "Guitar Heaven" will feature his version of Def Leppard's "Photograph", with Chris Daughtry on vocals. The album won't be out until September 21st, but Def Leppard.com has a sneak peek of the song shot during a special showcase live show in Las Vegas last week here

Guns N' Drama. Friday evening we told you about Guns N' Roses having the sound cut off during the Reading festival after the band was an hour late taking the stage. (see report here if you missed it.) But there was even more drama over the weekend with rantings and ravings and on Sunday their set was cut short again. You can read about that here

Serj Tankian says System of a Down have discussed how to deal with a potential reunion – and even though they haven't agreed whether or when to do it, they know how they'll tell the world. "If we decide to do it, the first people to find out will be our fans, on the website. We've all agreed that as a band," he tells Rock Radio more

Former Metal Church bassist Steve Unger (real name Stephen Wesley Ungerbuehler) has been charged with "leading organized crime, unlawfully manufacturing a controlled substance and money laundering" Investigators say Ungerbuehler, 41, led the operation from May 2008 until his arrest Monday and used two businesses to sell marijuana. more

Former Warrant vocalist Jani Lane will reportedly be stepping up to the mic as Great White's front man briefly. Jani has agreed to perform in place of his long-time friend Jack Russell, while Jack is recovering from major surgery after suffering a perforated bowel. more

Speaking of 80s rockers, Sleazeroxx had this sad news as well: Tony Mills, vocalist in the band TNT, suffered a heart-attack at Oslo Airport Saturday afternoon on the way to a gig. Mills is now in recovery and will be moved out of intensive care tomorrow. more

The Dave Matthews Band will be adding a show in Buenos Aires, Argentina to the October South American Tour. DMB will perform at Luna Park in Buenos Aires on October 14th.

The Libertines' set at Britain's Leeds Festival on Friday night, August 27 was stopped after just three songs amid concerns revelers would be crushed in the mayhem. The cult band recently reformed after six years apart and took to the stage on Friday for the first of their two nights at the twinned Reading and Leeds festivals in England. more

Zao has commenced work on material for its next studio album, which the band plans on releasing through its own label. The group explains, "The music industry has made enough money off of bands and wasted it. Why not put it out ourselves and sink the 'profits' back into future releases?" more

Slash was presented with a very special "first guitar" from the world's premier musical instrument manufacturer and leader in music technology, Gibson USA. The story of the American icon's recovery and resurgence from the May 2010 floods in Nashville was presented with strong testament in West Hollywood, California at the Key Club on Monday, August 20, 2010, where Slash was presented with the very first guitar to roll off the production line since the devastating floods hit Music City. more

All That Remains will headline a fall tour with support from Asking Alexandria, Unearth, and an opening act yet-to-be announced. more

Propagandhi have released some details on a new record they're working on. They've also confirmed that they are in fact working with a new label, Winnepeg, Manitoba based War On Music Records. more

Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul tells BW&BK that all the band's releases will receive the 20th anniversary treatment more

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros' album, Up From Below, is available right now on Amazon for only $2.99. Better grab it quick, we're not sure how long this sale is gonna last. Get it here. If you like what you hear, go see em live! Grab the dates here

As a "thank-you" to the men and women of our armed forces, Nonpoint will donate a portion of the proceeds from their new single "Frontlines" to various military charities. more

Saturday, Zeptember 25, 2010, marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. His groove and sound is considered to be the most influential of all rock-n-roll drummers; John "Bonzo" Bonham is the undisputed king. Bonzo will once again be honored in a special concert featuring rock's biggest names behind the kit at the Key Club in Hollywood. more

In related news: Paul Rodgers says John Bonham's death influenced his decision to quit Bad Company more

There is apparently a company that will press the cremated remains of your body into a vinyl record. Your body will be part of a vinyl pressing of 30 records and you can put up to 25 minutes of music on the record. more

Mastodon, Suicidal Tendencies, Gwar, Kylesa, High On Fire, Municipal Waste and Valient Thorr are among the acts confirmed for the 5th annual Fun Fun Fun Fest more -

The Day Metallica Went Mainstream

On August 31st in 1991 Metallica started their four-week run at the top of the U.S. album chart with their self-titled album, better known to fans as the Black Album. To mark the anniversary, Gibson takes an in-depth look at the album:

In the fall of 1990, guitarist/vocalist Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Jason Newsted went into the One on One studio in North Hollywood to start on what would be Metallica's fifth album. Partially inspired by the success of "One," the band went to work on a set of concise, radio-friendly songs that would bridge the gap between thrash and mainstream metal.

Impressed with his work on Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood, Metallica enlisted producer Bob Rock to help in this vein, although they initially only wanted him to mix the album. They eventually changed their minds, and let Rock helm the whole process. "We felt that we still had our best record in us and Bob Rock could help us make it," Ulrich once said. The sessions for Metallica were as tense and angry as any that the band had experienced at that time. The members blamed Rock for this, largely because he changed their usual working schedule and forced them out of their comfort zones. For instance, he encouraged the band to play together, rather than record their parts separately, as they had become accustomed to doing. (Despite swearing never to work with the producer again, Metallica and Rock continued to collaborate for more than a decade.) Multiple takes, months of recording and no less than three different mixes resulted in the final album costing more than $1 million. - more on this story

Metal Band Takes On U2 Over File-Sharing

Gama Bomb frontman Philly Byrne knows first hand about file-sharing's impact on record sales. His band did a little experiment with their latest album, offering it as a free download (and it still is, go grab it at the link which follows this article). The funny thing is that this didn't hurt their CDs sales; in fact it helped the band build their fanbase.

So when Philly saw a recent article by U2's manager in GQ Magazine discussing the problems with file-sharing, Philly felt compelled to offer up his counter argument. Here it is: U2's manager Paul McGuinness' recent article is well-reasoned, well-informed and commendable in its aims - though it's crazily short-sighted. It falls at the last hurdle when envisioning future solutions to the problems file sharing causes for the music industry, and is filled with logical blind-spots on the current state of the business. He's got the numbers right, but the headspace is all wrong.

To his credit, Mr McGuinness is here wading into an argument that, as he notes, often involves untold abuse for those willing to stick their oar in. Furthermore, it's one that doesn't affect his untouchably profitable bread-and-butter, U2. So who am I to gainsay him? Last year my band Gama Bomb released their third album free of cost as a download with the permission of our record company, Earache Records. This, to my knowledge, makes us the first signed band ever to do so. We took this step because we personally consume music in this way and were aware our previous albums were largely being consumed as shared files. To release another CD in the traditional way seemed futile. Also, as a band playing a niche form of music on a small budget, we were aware of the potential PR power of such a move. The label agreed, we did it, and that's why I feel qualified to dust off my soap box on this one." - more on this story

Kid Rock Will Be Born Free in November With New Album Release

Kid Rock has announced the follow-up to his block buster triple platinum 2007 album 'Rock and Roll Jesus.' Rock's new album "Born Free," was produced by Rick Rubin and mixed by Greg Fidelman and is set to hit stores on November 16th from Atlantic Records.

Here is part of the announcement with some comments from Kid Rock: The first single from the album will be, appropriately, "Born Free" which hits radio September 14th. "Born Free" is in many ways a transformational album for Kid Rock. While there is still the edge, wit, and swagger of previous albums, he doesn't rap, there's no metal – there isn't even a parental warning sticker.

Says Kid Rock, "The catalyst for this record was Detroit, and my thoughts on the world through the lens of Detroit. Watching everything go downhill over the past few years, the economy, the loss of jobs everywhere, I wanted to make a record that reflected the times but that still had soul." - more on this story

Depeche Mode Founders Martin Gore and Vince Clarke Working Together Again

The chief songwriter for Depeche Mode's first album is collaborating with the man who took over songwriting duties in the group after he left. Martin Gore is collaborating again with his Depeche Mode co-founder Vince Clarke (who went on to co-found Erasure with Andy Bell and Yazoo [known as Yaz in the U.S.] with Alison Moyet).

depeche-mode.com reports that Gore is working on a new project with Clarke and that so far very little is known, apart from one a single title: "Zaat".

The site reports that Clarke broke the news to fans via Twitter last Friday with this message, "Am working on the track 'Zaat'. Collaborating with Martin (Gore) (from Basildon)." - more on this story

Social Distortion Going Acoustic For Animals

Punk icons Social Distortion are about the last band you would expect to go unplugged but when a good cause arises the band answers the call.

Social Distortion announced last Friday that they will be performing a two song acoustic set at the Animal Acres Gala 2010 on September 11, 2010.

According to the band's statement, Animal Acres is a farmed animal sanctuary and compassionate living center just north of Los Angeles in Acton. Last year's Gala raised over $185,000.00 for farmed animal rescue and protection efforts. - more info here

Ramones Jam To Feature Billy Sheehan, The Misfits' Michael Graves, Armored Saint's Jeff Duncan, Sugarcult's Marko DeSantis and Marky Ramone

We received some exciting news for Ramones fans: Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, David Lee Roth), Michael Graves (The Misfits), Jeff Duncan (Armored Saint), Marko DeSantis (Sugarcult) and Andy Hilfiger (bassologist/Fashion Guru) are the first fully confirmed artists to join Marky Ramone while he slams out a full concert of The Ramones.

You will hear the music that defined many generations and inspired many bands. Marky's set list is comprised of 31 historical Ramones songs such as SEDATED, K.K.K., PSYCHOTHERAPY, BLITZKREIG BOP, PINHEAD and more!

The legendary Rock Hall of Fame drummer for The Ramones is performing a special all-star fund-raising concert on Friday, October 8, 2010 at 8pm in the MI Concert Hall. Doors open at 7:30pm. - more on this story

Dio Era Rainbow Videos Now Online

Bob Daisley has a special tribute to his former bandmate and friend Ronnie James Dio, he opened his personal vaults and is sharing the Dio treasures with the world. Gibson reports that Daisley, who played with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore and Uriah Heep, among others, has posted rare video footage of Rainbow, shot just before the release of the Long Live Rock 'n' Roll album in 1978.

Daisley posted the video to honor the memory of Ronnie James Dio, shown here at, arguably, his peak. Daisley played with Dio in Rainbow for two years, joining the band at the tail end of the Long Live Rock 'n' Roll sessions and playing on the tracks "Kill the King," "Sensitive to Light" and the epic "Gates of Babylon."

The Dio incarnation of Rainbow imploded in 1979 when Dio left the band to replace Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. The band took another major blow the following year when powerhouse drummer Cozy Powell left because of the band's shift toward more commercial music. Daisley, himself, left in 1979 and joined Osbourne's new band, along with guitarist Randy Rhoads. - more on this story

Singled Out: Against All Will (Soulfly, Puddle of Mudd and Dead Kennedy's)

Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Against All Will is a relatively new band featuring former members of Soulfly, Puddle of Mudd and the Dead Kennedy's. We asked guitarist Jimmy Allen to tell us about their new single "The Drug I Need," from their album "A Rhyme & Reason". We now turn it over to Jimmy for the story:

The song "The Drug I Need" is about a relationship that had gone bad but I couldn't seem to quit seeing this girl. She was like a drug. I knew the girl was a mess from the start and it wasn't going anywhere... but I was so addicted to this girl and her issues and drama that always seemed to follow her in life.

When it did finally come to an end, it felt like I was getting clean and sober. (We both know you can't hate something you've never loved) this was the last song we recorded in Korn's Hollywood studio while working on the 'Rhyme & Reason' record. It really took on it own life after that. It's one of my favorites to play live. That song is my therapy.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the band - more on this story

Blink-182 Poke Fun at Guns N' Roses

Blink-182 had "a bit of a go" at Guns N' Roses during their headline set at the Reading Festival on Sunday night, following the controversial end to GN'R's set on Friday night.

NME reports about Blink's onstage banter: "I'm sorry you guys missed out on Guns N' Roses on Friday night," Hoppus said. "But Tom's going to play the intro to 'Sweet Child O' Mine'."

DeLonge then attempted to play the song, though after trying he said: "I haven't practiced it! Axl Rose is naked with my dad." - Axl wasn't the only target for their humor

Sufjan Stevens At Odds On New Album

We have good news and bad news for Sufjan Stevens fans. The good news: he is releasing his first full length collection of original songs in five years. The bad news: it isn't named after a state of the union and won't have a unifying concept. But read on for details about some trippy topics that will be covered.

Sufjan Stevens' new album, The Age of Adz, will be released October 12 on Asthmatic Kitty Records. The album is available for pre-order now until September 25, with pre-orders receiving music digitally two weeks prior to the physical release date.

Stevens is planning a North American tour of large, elegant venues—including two nights at New York's fabled Beacon Theatre and The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles—in support of the new record. With a dozen dates already sold out, Stevens will tour with his large ensemble performing alongside projections. - more on this story

Guns N' Roses, Chili Peppers, Heaven and Hell and Scorpions Stars To Tribute Led Zeppelin's John Bonham

Thirty years after his death, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham will be remembered with a tribute concert by some of Los Angeles' finest drummers, including his son Jason.

The Daily Express reports that former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith, Heaven and Hell man Vinny Appice and Scorpion James Kottak will be part of the tribute show, entitled Bonzo: The Groove Remains the Same, at the Key Club in Hollywood on September 25.

The event has been organized by Whitesnake drummer Brian Tichy, who told Blabbermouth.net: "Not a day goes by where I don't think of John Bonham's snare sound, and it hit me – 'Why isn't there a Bonzo tribute where every drummer gets up... and plays their favorite Zeppelin song?' I thought of all the drummers I know that worship at the altar of John Bonham and being in L.A., there are so many here." - more on this story

Singled Out: The Other's Back To The Cemetery

Hey all, this is Rod Usher from "Europe's No. 1 Horror Punk band" The Other. Please notice the quotation marks because this was a description that I lifted from a review of our new album and not something I made up myself. Speaking of our new album: which is our fourth CD/LP "New Blood" is out [today/ August 31st] in North-America on Steamhammer/SPV/E1 Entertainment and for those of you who like Horror-influenced Punk-Rock-Metal-Goth with inspirations drawn from bands like The Misfits, Danzig, The Damned and countless horror movies and books, you may want to check it out.

It's hard to single out one track from the album really because every title has a little history to it. But I think "Back To The Cemetery" is the one that is most interesting and diverse… It all started out years before we founded The Other at a time when I was working in the intensive care unit of a hospital. Patients died all the time but I usually had nothing to do with this until one day I had to help the coroners after an autopsy. They took the corpse and I had to clean up the steel-tub after that. Lots of blood and pus....not very pleasant. The corpse looked all messed up and since we don't have open casket ceremonies in Germany it was going to be buried just like that. Too many horror movies made me think "Man, imagine some graverobber digging up THAT corpse…".

A few years later I went to see Gunther von Hagens' "Body Worlds" which I found to be both fascinating and sick and I thought: "Well, at least those dead bodies are put to a good use" and that again reminded me of Ed Gein, who also used parts of the women he killed to stitch up some "nice" chair covers. I was reminded of all that again when watching "Fight Club", where soap was made from human fat… When coming up with the chorus for "Back To The Cemetery" – just because it sounded good - I had to find a reason for somebody to go to a cemetery and keep coming back. And in these times, where everything needs to have a reason, a use and a value, the idea came to me, that even dead human bodies can be a natural resource that hasn't really been exploited yet. Graverobbers could make a damn good business by digging up corpses and selling that fat to make fake boobs, selling the testicles in Asia as an aphrodisiac, making lamp-shades out of skin…well, you get the idea. Obviously this is not meant to be a serious song, but rather a satire on a society that will use everything to make a profit. Hmm, this could actually be a good videoclip or maybe a horror-movie. But until then, please check out the song – or rather the whole album – and let other monster-fans know about The Other. Stay scared! Rod Usher - more

Avenged Sevenfold Keep Making History With Nightmare

The title track to Avenged Sevenfold's new album, 'Nightmare,' has hit the top of the Active Rock Radio chart in the U.S. this week.

According to their label, Warner Bros. Records, this is the first time the band has achieved Number 1 in radio airplay.

It has enjoyed airplay at Active Rock, Mainstream, and Modern Rock radio stations across the country and was the No. 1 Rock Song on iTunes in the U.S. and the U.K. in its debut week. - more on this story

Ozzy's Diary and Blizzard Reissues Delayed

Fans who were hoping to have the 30th Anniversary reissue editions of Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums in hand around Thanksgiving won't be thankful for this news.

The Metal Den reports that the 30th-anniversary editions of Ozzy's first two solo albums, 1980′s "Blizzard Of Ozz" and 1981′s "Diary Of A Madman", have been apparently postponed, this according to CD Japan.

This is important to fans because these editions are said to have the original drum and bass tracks restored (unlike the 2002 reissues of these albums, which saw the replacement of the original bass and drum tracks by Osbourne's then-drummer Mike Bordin and -bassist Robert Trujillo). - more on this story

Paul Rodgers Confirms Aerosmith Offer

Back in January when Aerosmith were considering replacing Steven Tyler, a writer for Classic Rock overheard Joe Perry recruiting Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers for the gig. Now Rodgers confirms that it did take place in a new interview. Gibson reports:

"Well, yes, I was, actually. Joe Perry came up to me at another awards celebration. And he said that Steve was not really interested in touring anymore at the moment, and they were all ready to tour and that they were looking for somebody to take that slot. And I said to him, 'You know, maybe you guys ought to rethink that.' And I'm happy to see that they're up and running now because they're a fabulous band."

Rodgers said that part of the reason for his hesitance to join the Boston rockers was that he had already done something similar with Queen: "Queen was an exception -- joining forces with an actual band that existed. Because in the past I've always formed a band and then written a whole catalog of songs for that band." - more on this story

Queens of The Stone Age's Hard To Find Debut Being Reissued

Queens of The Stone Age mastermind Joshua Homme is giving fans a special treat this fall with the reissue of QOTSA's hard to find self-titled debut album.

The album is being released by Homme's Rekords Rekords which has also announced the release of Alain Johannes' Spark (Oct. 5), Mini Mansions self-titled debut (Nov. 2).

Queens of The Stone Age Queens of The Stone Age is highly sought after, out of print album, the debut release from Queens of The Stone Age has been recreated by Homme as it was initially envisioned, with three tracks that were initially cut from the record reinstated. - more on this story

Slash Gets His Own Radio Station

All Slash, all the time. That dream will soon come true with the launch of "Slash FM," Slash's very own A.P.E. Radio station

Throughout its limited-time run, beginning with its debut on Thursday, September 2nd, "Slash FM" will broadcast a wealth of exciting content, including selected playlists of some of the guitar god's favorite songs, such as tracks by AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Beatles, Soundgarden and Metallica.

Of course, songs from Guns N' Roses and Slash's solo work will also be aired, and punctuated with behind-the-scenes stories told by Slash himself. - more on this story

Altar (Sunn 0))) and Boris) and BXI (The Cult's Ian Ashbury and Boris) Announce Shows

Sunn 0))) and Boris are joining forces for Altar and Boris will team up with The Cult's Ian Ashbury for BXI for some upcoming shows. Here is the announcement and dates

As BORIS wrap up their latest month-long North American tour with two California shows this week, they're also prepare to join forces with several allies for their upcoming live work with ALTAR and BXI performances scheduled in New York.

First up, ALTAR (comprised of SUNN 0))) and BORIS as one group) will perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Monticello, New York alongside Sleep, Iggy & The Stooges, Sonic Youth and countless more in a massive outdoor space. Two days later ALTAR will make another appearance, this time alongside the first official performance of BXI (BORIS and Ian Astbury of The Cult), which will all go down at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, which has been inarguably dubbed "the loudest room in NYC," and presented by All Tomorrow's Parties and The Blackened Music Series. - more on this story