KK Downing Quits Judas Priest

"Fate has also stepped in and delivered the perfect replacement – 31 year old British guitar player Richie Faulkner – he has blended perfectly into the band and is a great talent who is going to help set the stage on fire." more on this story

Duff McKagan Slams Celebrity Rehab- Foo Fighters Farmrockers- AC/DC Premiere- Bon Jovi Homeless Shelter- Radiohead Giveaway- Sepultura Orchestra- more

The Day in Rock Digest for 04/20/11: Duff McKagan's former Guns N' Roses bandmate Steven Adler appeared on the "Celebrity Rehab", and when asked if he found that exploitative, Duff answered, "Yes. Absolutely. And the same with [Alice In Chains bassist] Mike Starr. I cringe, I think it's the worst thing for so-called sobriety. 'Hold on, we're having a breakthrough . . . Wait, we've gotta do makeup.' You know? There's a reason it's anonymous, because if you fail, you're failing on camera," he noted. "You're failing after you've been on this rehab show." more

The Foo Fighters could have performed for a sold out stadium, club or arena, but instead chose a farm with a Georgetown address, a Hornby postal code and a Milton phone number to play a full set on April 14. more

Sepultura will be releasing its very own special live CD/DVD set in the near future, featuring a full orchestra. The band was joined at a concert on the streets of downtown Sao Paulo by the Orquestra Experimental de Repertório of Brazil. You can view video footage of the event here

The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation has just opened a $3 million youth homeless shelter in Philadelphia. Now he's planning to open a restaurant in New Jersey, where people will be able to play what can afford. more

All five members of AC/DC will attend the exclusive world premiere of AC/DC "Live At River Plate" Friday, May 6 at London, England's legendary HMV Hammersmith Apollo. more

Ace Frehley is coming to the UK at the end of the year, to headline Hard Rock Hell V more

As part of Record Store Day, Radiohead released a limited edition vinyl single with two unreleased songs: "Supercollider" and "The Butcher." Now the band has released both songs to fans digitally, for free to anyone who purchased their recent album more

Silverstein have confirmed a number of details regarding their fifth studio album, entitled Rescue. The album has a street date of April 26th, and in support the band will be co-headlining a tour with Bayside more

Status Quo have a new studio album coming out called Quid Pro Quo and is released on May 30. more

Wednesday 13, known for his work in the group Murderdolls, has revealed the details behind his forthcoming remix album. The release, titled 'Re-animated,' will feature five songs taken from his previous 'Skeletons' CD. more

Malice have recruited journeyman metal lead singer James Rivera to front the band. James is the singer and driving force behind Helstar, and has been "the guy" for bands like Vicious Rumors, Seven Witches and Flotsam And Jetsam on numerous albums and world tours. more

The Resistance, the new Sweden-based metal band featuring former members of In Flames, The Haunted and Grave, will make its live debut at the second installment of this year's Close-Up Båten cruise more

Ringworm is currently recording their fifth full-length album, titled "Scars." more

Interpol and Blonde Redhead will perform at New York's Terminal 5 venue for the first-ever Sickday Fuzzy Sock Hop more

Attila will team up with In The Midst Of Lions, Legend, Us From Outside, and Miracle At St. Anna for a two-week spring tour. more

On this day in 1957, Elvis Presley started an eight-week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with "All Shook Up," which sold more than 2 million copies and became the biggest single of 1957.

On this day in 1968, Deep Purple made their live debut in Tastrup, Denmark.

On this day in 1991, Steve Marriott, former guitarist and singer with The Small Faces and Humble Pie, died in a fire at his home in Arkesden, Essex.

On this day in 1992, A Concert For Life took place at London's Wembley Stadium as a tribute to Queen singer Freddie Mercury and for AIDS awareness. Acts appearing include Liza Minelli, Elton John, Roger Daltrey, Tony Iommi, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, James Hetfield (Metallica), George Michael, Seal, Paul Young, Annie Lennox, Lisa Stansfield, Robert Plant, Joe Elliot and Phil Collen (from Def Leppard), and Axl Rose and Slash. Find out what else happened on this date in music history here

Queen's Brian May Teams Up With Lady Gaga

(Gibson) Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May plays guitar on a track on Lady Gaga's new album, Born This Way, according to The Daily Mirror. The two musicians paired up for the song "You & I."

"It's always been Gaga's dream to perform as Queen. If it wasn't for Queen, there would be no Gaga," a source told The Daily Mirror. "This collaboration with Brian May means the world to her."

Of course, Lady Gaga famously took her name from a Queen song, "Radio Ga Ga," thanks to producer Rob Fusari. In the past, Gaga (whose real name is Stefani Germanotta) has credited Queen frontman Freddie Mercury as one of her big influences. "Freddie was unique – one of the biggest personalities in the whole of pop music," she said. "He was not only a singer but a fantastic performer, a man of the theater, who constantly transformed himself." more on this story

Metallica's Lars Ulrich Contributes To Megadeth's Expanded Peace Sells 25th Anniversary Release

(EMI) Megadeth's breakthrough album Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, has been digitally remastered for the first time and expanded for a commemorative 25th Anniversary release in multiple configurations on July 12 by Capitol/EMI.

All of the versions, including a 2CD lift-top box, digital album, and a deluxe 5Disc+3LP box set, include a previously unreleased 1987 concert from the band's first world tour and new liner notes written by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Metallica's Lars Ulrich.

The deluxe box set also includes previously unreleased and rare mixes of the album's tracks and hi res audio for the remastered album and concert, as well as an expanded 20-page book, plus 8"x10" photos and reproductions of vintage Megadeth memorabilia. The cover of the box uses a new, unique process of lenticular 3D which reinterprets the original cover, creating the illusion of Megadeth's Vic Rattlehead character jumping out of the art. a lot more details

Duff McKagan Impressed With Current Guns N' Roses

(Gibson) Last October, Duff McKagan made headlines by joining former bandmate Axl Rose and the latest version of Guns N' Roses onstage in London. The reunion, which only lasted four songs, set off a firestorm of speculation that the event might set in motion a reunion of the original GN'R lineup—speculation McKagan quickly dismissed. Still, the Loaded bassist says it felt good to get back together with an old friend.

"The cool thing about that," McKagan told Music-News.com, "was Axl and I got to reconnect. We're grown-ups, you know. There's been a lot silliness. Lawyers and (expletive). You know, lawyers like to create a situation so that their jobs go on. And I know that. But it was just nice to reconnect. We had a nice dinner. That was much more important to me than actually getting up and playing."

McKagan was impressed, though, with his old group's current lineup. "It was fun playing with those guys," he said. "There are some really good players in that band." more on this story

Zakk Wylde Joining Lopez Tonight House Band

Zakk Wylde will sit in with the "Lopez Tonight" house band, Michael Bearden & The Ese Vatos on Wednesday, April 20th.

Wylde will jams with the band on a variety of material. Wylde will be featured throughout the entire show. "Lopez Tonight" airs on TBS at 12:00AM, EST/PST/11:00PM, Central.

Last week Zakk Wylde made an unexpected appearance on television show, "American Idol." Wylde performed with contestant James Durbin for a rendition of Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal". Click here to view

Linkin Park Go Iridescent For New Movie

(Gibson) Linkin Park's "Iridescent" will be featured in the upcoming summer movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The single features a new version of the track that appears on the band's most recent album, A Thousand Suns, and will play over the film's ending credits, according to Blabbermouth.net.

A Linkin Park song has been featured in each one of the Transformers movies – "What I've Done" was included on the first one and "New Divide" appeared in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Both songs hit #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Radio chart.

"The first two songs were huge hits and I have no doubt that this new song will be equally as successful," director Michael Bay said. Composer Steve Jablonsky weighed in on why the band and the film series are a good match: "Michael and I respond to Linkin Park because they have a cinematic sensibility to their music that translates to the big screen."

The band's own Joe Hahn will direct the video for "Iridescent," just like he did with "New Divide," which included Transformers film clips. more on this story

B.B. King, Pink Floyd Experience and Ray Manzarek & Robby Krieger of the Doors For Summer Concert Series

B.B. King, The Pink Floyd Experience and Ray Manzarek & Robby Krieger of the Doors with Dave Brock are all set to perform as part of the Summer Concert Series at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California as part of the 2011 OC Fair.

The Pink Floyd Experience will perform the classic Pink Floyd album, Animals, and more hits on Sunday, July 17.

On Friday, August 5, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors team up with Dave Brock to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the classic Doors album, LA Woman, and more hits. more on this story

Singled Out: A Loss For Words' Hold Your Breath

Today Marc Dangora from A Loss For Words tells us about "Hold Your Breath" from their latest album "The Kids Can't Lose". Here is the story:

About a year before we recorded our full length Matty and I recorded an early version of what would become the song Hold Your Breath. The song entitled "I Could Watch the Sky Forever" had music that was completely different from Hold Your Breath; just guitar, piano, and vocals. It sounded like a Mae song. We felt it was too slow and just not an A Loss For Words song. It was never intended to be released.

Later when we were writing songs for The Kids Can't Lose, Mike had a chorus riff he had worked out on acoustic guitar. Most of our songs begin on acoustic. We jammed out the parts he had into a full band song. But we still were missing lyrics. The lyrics to "I Could Watch the Sky Forever" just seemed to fit really well with the music we had. Hold Your Breath came together from there.

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

1991 Sonic Youth Film Getting Deluxe 20th Anniversary Reissue

(Gibson) Universal Music has announced it is reissuing a 20th anniversary edition of the film 1991: The Year Punk Broke, which documented Sonic Youth's 1991 European headlining tour with future grunge juggernaut Nirvana as their opening act.

Originally released in 1991 on VHS, SlicingUpEyeballs.com is reporting that We Got Power Films will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the film's release with an expanded version, which will include previously unseen additional footage of punk legends the Ramones, Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland and Gumball. Also included is a 42-minute film titled (This Is Known As) The Blues Scale, which features a number of live performances from the 1991 Sonic Youth/Nirvana tour that were omitted from the original film, including Sonic Youth's performances of "Inhuman," "Orange Rolls/Angel's Spit" and "Eric's Trip," as well as Nirvanas "In Bloom."

The expanded DVD will also contain a panel discussion with members of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. plus additional commentary from the film's director Dave Markey, a photo slide show, the original theatrical trailer and running audio commentary from Sonic Youth co-leader Thurston Moore and director Markey. more on this story

NFL Players Release Heavy Metal Album

(Gibson) One can be forgiven if news of a band consisting of pro football players brings to mind the Chicago Bears' "Super Bowl Shuffle." But metal giants (literally!) Free Reign are the real deal. Recently, Dallas Cowboy players Marc Colombo and Leonard Davis teamed up with former Cowboy Cory Procter (now a Miami Dolphin) and non-footballer Justin Chapman to form Free Reign. The group won the "Most Metal Athletes" award at last year's Golden Gods Awards and garnered raves from some of metal's biggest stars.

"We had a great response/vibe with some of metal's elite—Rob Halford, Vinnie Paul, etc.," said singer Colombo. "It reassured us we were on the right path."

Now, the group are releasing their first full length album, Heavier Than Metal, which hits stores today. With the upcoming NFL season in jeopardy due to a lock out by owners, Free Reign may have more free time to tour than they had originally figured. Still, the band are making football their #1 priority… for now. more on this story

Flaming Lips, Guided by Voices, Drive-By Truckers and Superchunk to Headline Hopscotch Music Festival

The Flaming Lips, Guided by Voices, Drive-By Truckers and Superchunk will headline the second annual Hopscotch Music Festival.

This year's event will take place on September 8-10 in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina and will feature 135 bands in 12 venues. Here are the details we were sent:

The festival will be highlighted by two nights in Raleigh City Plaza, the city's most captivating downtown space. On Friday, Sept. 9, the indie rock mold-makers Guided by Voices will join Southern rock re-inventors Drive-By Truckers in the Plaza, with punchy San Francisco pop band The Dodos opening. And on Saturday, Sept. 10, The Flaming Lips—the Oklahoma psychedelic pop band that consistently creates one of music's most thrilling live spectacles—headlines City Plaza. Merge Records flagship act Superchunk opens, along with Chapel Hill buzz band The Light Pines. more on this story

The Day Aerosmith Got a Grip

(Gibson) On this day 1993, Aerosmith released Get a Grip, which became their first album to debut at no 1 and sold 7 million copies in the U.S. It also won the band two Grammys. Gibson takes a look back: The early '90s weren't the easiest time for established rock bands. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Seattle's grunge scene had forged an alt-rock revolution on the radio, which left many of the '80s biggest groups in the dust. It seemed that bands had to alter their sound drastically or face the consequences of being – gasp! – unpopular.

Although Aerosmith had come to prominence way back in the mid-'70s, they had a huge resurgence in the late '80s with the albums Pump and Permanent Vacation and blockbuster singles "Angel," "Love in an Elevator" and "Janie's Got a Gun." But Pump had come out in 1989, a couple of years before Nirvana dethroned Michael Jackson on the album charts. After Aerosmith had a couple of multi-platinum successes, there was some uncertainty regarding how fans would receive the next album – Get a Grip, which would be released on this day in 1993.

Aerosmith wrote and recorded the album throughout 1992, and it seemed their (and record label Geffen's) main goal was to have as many hits on the record as possible. To optimize their chances, a bunch of collaborators were brought in to work with the band and write with frontman Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. more on this story

Primal Scream's Screamadelica Live Coming

Eagle Rock have set a May 31 release date for a Blu-Ray and a DVD/CD package celebrating one of the seminal albums of the 1990s, Screamadelica by Primal Scream.

The DVD and Blu-Ray will contain the full Screamadelica Live! concert production as performed by Primal Scream in 2010 at London's Olympia, the first time it had ever been performed in its entirety. Additionally, a second eight-song "Rock Set" of the band's most powerful tracks is included.

The DVD/CD package, with the full two sets (Screamadelica and the "Rock Set"), and the CD with only the Screamadelica portion, showcases the band accompanied by a full brass section, a gospel choir and specially-made background visuals. The Blu-ray edition not only boasts the full concert and rock set, but gets the full "Classic Albums" treatment, running three and a half hours of pure Primal Scream. more on this story

Dave Stewart Teams Up With Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Colbie Caillat For New Album

Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart's new album, The Blackbird Diaries, is set to be released on Tuesday, June 28th 2011.

Recently completed in Nashville, the album was produced by Dave Stewart and Mike Bradford and was recorded and mixed by John McBride at his famed Blackbird Studio.

The Blackbird Diaries is set to feature all new material including a co-write with Bob Dylan as well as duets with Stevie Nicks, Martina McBride, Colbie Caillat and features The Secret Sisters. more on this story

Five Finger Death Punch Surprised At Their Success

(Rock AAA) Five Finger Death Punch are working furiously on their fifth album but the success of their last release, War is the Answer, continues to take them by surprise with six top ten singles and sales still healthy. Guitarist Jason Hook recently took time out from their Las Vegas studio to explain to Bravewords.com how things have unfolded:

"We had a truly amazing year. We won a bunch of awards for 'best this' and 'best that'. War Is The Answer produced six top-ten singles; two of them went top five. We travelled our asses off and got to play in front of a sh*tload of cool people."

"You know, the truth is a couple of those songs were not released as singles. The radio stations put them into rotation on their own. I was watching the charts to track 'Walk Away', and I would see 'Bad Company' creeping up fast, before we even released it. Then I'd check back two weeks later and saw 'No One Gets Left Behind' at number 13! I was calling everyone, freaking out, saying, 'Do you guys realize we have three songs on the charts right now?' more on this story

Volbeat Announce Temporary Member

Volbeat had this bit of news for fans: Due to recent developments, our bassist and friend, Anders Kjølholm, has taken a necessary break from the U.S. tour and returned home to Denmark to be with his family.

Everyone is doing well, and we ask that you understand this is a personal matter and give Anders and his family the privacy they need...

Filling in for Anders and pulling double duty will be our good friend Josh Newton from The Damned Things (and Every Time I Die). more on this story

Why The Cars Reunited

(Gibson) One of the most pleasant surprises in the world of music this past year has been the reunion of '80s pop rockers The Cars. It was a reunion few could have foreseen, given the divisiveness caused by keyboardist Greg Hawkes and guitarist Elliot Easton founding The New Cars six years ago, notably replacing Ric Ocasek with Todd Rundgren. But all sins have been forgiven and the four surviving members of the band (bassist and co-vocalist Benjamin Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2000) have a new album, Move Like This, due in stores next month. Easton talked to MusicRadar.com about how the whole thing came about.

"My recollection of things is that I felt that a good amount of time had passed, and I hadn't spoken to Ric in a while," the lefty guitarist recalled. "So one day I just picked up the phone to call an old friend, you know? Ric and I chatted, and it was nice. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was writing songs. He said they were kind of different from other things he had written before, but he was very excited. I asked him what he was going to do with the songs, and he said, 'I'll probably make another solo record.' So I said, 'Why don't we make a Cars record?'"

Easton says the off-the-cuff joke turned into the real deal shortly thereafter "I guess he thought about it for a few weeks and called around to David [Robinson] and Greg, and everybody was up for the idea. Suddenly, it was like, 'Yeah, let's do that!'" more on this story

Eastern Conference Champions Release Party and Tour Plans

Eastern Conference Champions have announced an album release party in Los Angeles this Friday, April 22nd at Echo.

Their new album, Speak-ahh, is set to be released next Tuesday, April 26th and they kick off a west coast tour today in Santa Barbara, CA..

They have also added a string of dates with Neon Trees beginning on May 15th in Houston, TX. more on this story

Simple Plan Go To Prom With Rivers Cuomo

Simple Plan have released a new video for their song, "Can't Keep My Hands Off You", which features Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.

The song will be featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures film Prom. You can check out the video here

Simple Plan's new album is due out June 21st according to Atlantic Records and the group will be on the Warped Tour in June and July. more on this story

Godsmack's Sully Erna Solo Tour Similiar To Pink Floyd's The Wall Tour?

(Rock AAA) In a recent interview with 89x Radio Godsmack frontman Sully Erna looked forward to his solo tour which is sandwiched between Godsmack appearances and kicks off in Concord on May 13

"It's very cool, it's an eight piece band, a musical experience versus a rock show, and intricate musical experience, like back in the day when Pink Floyd did the Wall.

"That's what we're hoping to accomplish – really have people become aware of how important music is in our lives." more on this story

Ted Nugent Summer Tour Expands

(hennemusic) Ted Nugent has added more dates to his US summer tour; the new shows fill in more of Ted's calendar through the Midwest in August.

The I Still Believe Tour sees the return of vocalist/guitarist Derek St. Holmes; longtime fans will know Holmes as the singer of such Nuge classics as "Stranglehold," "Stormtroopin'" and "Hey Baby."

On May 16, Nugent will join the ranks of other guitar legends, including Jeff Beck, Steve Miller and Zakk Wylde, when he takes the stage at The Iridium in New York City to perform with The Les Paul Trio. For half of each set (8pm & 10pm), he'll sit in with The Les Paul Trio for a one-of-a-kind collaboration; Nugent will wrap up each set backed by an electric bass and drums to perform some of his biggest hits. more on this story

YouTube Stars 2cellos Ink Major Deal and Land Elton John Tour

Who needs A&R people when you have YouTube? That's how 2cellos were discovered and Sony Masterworks have signed them to a record deal and Elton John has asked them to join him on his European tour this summer.

Their debut album is slated for a July 2011 release and will feature Sulic & Hauser's unique spin on hits by Guns N' Roses, U2, Trent Reznor and Kings of Leon among others.

"I feel so blessed that all of this is happening – a record deal with Sony Masterworks and a tour with Elton John – who would have imagined?!" relays Luka Sulic. more on this story

The Sonic Secrets of Tool's Adam Jones

(Gibson) Sure, his band has headlined Bonnaroo and sold millions of albums, but Tool's Adam Jones does not get his due as a modernist riff-master. Maybe it's because the L.A.-based outfit play a prog-metal blend that's not exactly at the apex of popularity, compounded by often-lengthy compositions that dip into such dark waters as slow death, torture and prison. But the band nonetheless hit a nerve in their legions of fans and Jones generates a sonic kaleidoscope on stage.

The 46-year-old guitarist began his musical life as a violinist and first stepped into rock as a bass player in a band with future Rage Against the Machine stringman Tom Morello called Electric Sheep, inspired by the same Philip K. Dick novella that begat Blade Runner. Jones attended film school and developed his own approach to stop-motion animation—the technique that was used by Willis O'Brien to make the original version of King Kong. Jones used the approach to create Tool's striking videos for the songs "Stinkfist," "Prison Sex," "Parabola" and "Sober," among others.

When Jones founded Tool in 1990 with singer Maynard James Keenan, he was already developing a guitar approach that bridged the conventional and unconventional. Besides his knack for developing sharply honed riffs and his blasting deployment of angular power chords, Jones loves to pe into pure noise—using controlled feedback, string scratching, behind the nut bends, chiming arpeggiated chords and other moves to heighten Tool's already pitched level of drama. He also enjoys variations on open tunings, like B-A-D-G-B-E for "Prison Sex." more on this story

Michael Schenker Group Touring With Black Country Communion

(Noble) Michael Schenker Group will support Black Country Communion on their forthcoming UK tour in July 2011.

In a pairing that unites one of the most well-respected metal guitarists of all time with the hottest rock and roll band for years, BCC / MSG tour dates include - Llandudno Cymru Arena (July 23rd), Leeds o2 Academy (July 26th), Newcastle o2 Academy (July 27th), Glasgow o2 Academy (July 29th) and Manchester Academy (July 30th).

Featuring the talents of Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian, Black Country Communion's July UK tour will follow the release of their highly anticipated second album "BCC 2" on June 13th. BCC will also appear at London's High Voltage Festival on Sunday July 24th.

Devo Go Interactive

Devo have premiered their brand new interactive video for the track, "What We Do" from their first studio album in nearly two decades, Something For Everybody.

This truly groundbreaking video was directed by DEVO's own Gerald Casale along with Kii Arens and Jason Trucco and features the members of DEVO along with a cast of characters.

What makes the short film so unique is that the viewer has the option to scan the entire 360 degrees of the video viewing field to allow control of any focal point or character one chooses. more on this story

Off With Their Heads Plan Summer Tour

Off With Their Heads have announced a national summer tour with Dead To Me and Riverboat Gamblers.

Including punk rock pit stops at the Punk Rock Bowling Tournament in Las Vegas with Dropkick Murphy's on May 28th and Chaos in Tejas Fest June 4th.

Epitaph label head and Bad Religion founder Brett Gurewitz proclaims, "Off With Their Heads might just be the best punk band going right now." more on this story