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On this day in 1991, Metallica held a playback party to launch their self-titled album [aka Black Album] at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Kurt Cobain and Chris Novoselic from Nirvana both attended. Find out what else happened on this date in music history here
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Dancing With The Motley Crue Stars Rejected

(hennemusic) "I've never hit the PASS button so quick." That was Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee's reaction Tuesday to receiving an offer to appear on the next season of "Dancing With The Stars," the tv dance contest show.

"Ok! Ready for the funniest sh*t ever!!!," tweeted Lee. "Dancing With The Stars just offered me a spot on the show!! I've never hit the PASS button so quick."

So, no high-stepping for Tommy, who will be back on TV soon enough: Lee is developing "Culture Shock with Tommy Lee," an investigative travel show for the SyFy network. more on this story

Kings of Leon Deny Break Up Rumors

(Gibson) Although Kings of Leon have canceled the rest of their North American tour and are going through a tumultuous time, the band has refuted rumors of a split. Drummer Nathan Followill took to Twitter to explain things, according to NME.com.

"Bummed about the tour not happening. So sorry 4 all the fans," he wrote on his Twitter account. "We just need some rest. Thanks 4 understanding. WE ARE NOT BREAKING UP!"

The controversy around Kings of Leon stems from the band's Dallas concert last weekend, which ended prematurely after frontman Caleb Followill left the stage because he was sick. Following the show, Nathan tweeted about his embarrassment. "Not so good morning 4 me today. Ashamed & embarrassed by last night's fiasco… Can't apologize enough, utterly gutted. A million I'm sorrys." more on this story

Led Zeppelin Experience Fall Tour

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience is heading back out on the road this fall to make up some of the canceled dates from their previous run.

The group pulled the plug on the spring tour after singer James Dylan became ill and was unable to complete the trek.

Jason Bonham started the tour to tribute the work of his late father John. He said of their previous tour: "I never imagined that the tour would have received the overwhelmingly positive reactions that it did. It's been beyond my wildest dreams to come out represent my family, my father and the music of Led Zeppelin." more on this story

Alice Cooper Wants To Barbeque Lady Gaga

(Gibson) Alice Cooper sings with pop star Ke$ha on his new album, and he said he's got an idea for a collaboration with Lady Gaga.

"I thought it would be good to put Lady Gaga on stage on a spit and barbeque her in the meat dress," he said, according to The Daily Star. "That would be great, people in the audience would come up and take chunks of meat off her."

While the Gaga-cue is just an idea at this point, Cooper did actually work with Ke$ha on the forthcoming release, Welcome 2 My Nightmare. The two sing together on "What Baby Wants." more on this story

Beastie Boys Action Figures Released

(Gibson) Now you can own your very own Beastie Boy… or at least an action figure version of the rock and rap stars.

The 11.5-inch dolls of Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D were made for the band's new video, "Don't Play No Game that I Can't Win," and are now available on the Beasties' website, according to RollingStone.com.

The toys come as a set of three, with additional outfits and accessories. But, they're not cheap. The figures will set you back $750. They come packaged with the Beasties' Sounds of Science retrospective and all proceeds will benefit Pablove Foundation and Alex's Lemonade Stand, charities that each raise money to fight childhood cancer. Check out the Beastie Boys figures in action

Original KISS Members All Penning Memoirs

(Gibson) KISS fans will soon have their pick of memoirs from the band's original members. Guitarist Ace Frehley's No Regrets will hit stores on November 1, drummer Peter Criss has a book planned for 2012 and bassist-singer Gene Simmons and singer-guitarist Paul Stanley are working on a chronicle of the band's early years, according to BraveWords.com.

Simmons and Stanley are collaborating with journalist Ken Sharp on Nothin' to Lose, a book that tracks KISS's early history from its start in 1973 through to 1975's live album, Alive! The book also will include interviews with Criss and Frehley, as well as other rock stars from the era. Nothin' to Lose is set to come out via IT Books next summer.

IT Books Editor Denise Oswald spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the book: "It's also an amazing depiction of New York in the early '70s – it's Manhattan, it's Queens, you have members of The Ramones , members of Blue Öyster Cult, touring with and playing with KISS. You really get this incredible portrait of a time." more on this story

Guitars In Danger?

(Rock News Desk) Guitar makers will run out of the specialist woods needed to build premium instruments within the next decade, the head of Gibson has warned.

Henry Juszkiewicz, chief exec of the firm which makes Les Pauls, says deforestation and over-harvesting has led to a chronic shortage of rosewood, maple, ebony, mahogany and spruce. And it could mean the end of the guitar as we know it.

Juszkieqicz tells the Independent: "The true wood guitar is going to disappear very quickly. We need to act now – because it just won't be around in ten years. more on this story

Between The Buried And Me Fall Tour

Between The Buried And Me will headline the Saints & Sinners tour across North American this fall.

The tour is set to kick off on October 27 in Charlotte, NC and will also feature Animals as Leaders and TesseracT.

"It will be so exciting to get back out on the road and play some tunes for all our wonderful fans," said BTBAM guitarist Paul Waggoner. "Our anticipation for this tour is massive and I hope that sentiment is shared by all the metal geeks out there. The bill is loaded with some of the most forward-thinking, virtuosic musicians in the genre and the audience can expect to hear all 12 notes in every humanly audible octave many times during the course of the evening!" more on this story

Ian Gillan On Deep Purple Album Progress: We're Useless

(Rock News Desk) Ian Gillan says Deep Purple's "useless" work ethic is the reason why there hasn't yet been a follow-up album to 2005′s Rapture of the Deep – and their slow progress has even hampered work on his next solo release.

But the singer seems to be relatively convinced there will be another LP, despite bandmate Roger Glover's recent comments that Purple were joining the ranks of bands who felt a series of EP releases are now a more viable way of releasing recorded work.

Gillan tells BraveWords: "I don't know about that. I don't know much about the business, or the 'industry' as it calls itself now. But it's hard to imagine exactly what you're going to do with a project once you've finished it – especially as you're part of a generation that was born with records."

But first there has to be a record; and it seems the band haven't got very far into the process. "We're Useless – it's typical Purple," Gillan says. more on this story

New Found Glory Set New Album Release

Epitaph Records have announced an October 4th release date for New Found Glory's new album Radiosurgery.

"Our music is constantly evolving and changing and when this band puts out an album we always try to offer something different," explains guitarist Chad Gilbert. "With this disc we wanted to go back to the music that got us into punk and incorporate influences from those albums."

For this latest venture, New Found Glory was aided by producer Neal Avron, who worked with the band on Catalyst in 2004, and has honed his chops in the interim with artists like Fall Out Boy and Linkin Park. more on this story

Peter Hook To Play Joy Division Album In Full On Tour

(Gibson) Joy Division/New Order member Peter Hook is returning to the U.S. to play the Joy Division album, Closer, in full in concert.

This follows his Stateside visit last year, when Hook and his band, The Light, performed Unknown Pleasures in its entirety.

Hook and The Light are returning to many of the same venues where they previously played Joy Division's debut, performing its follow-up album this time around. In addition, the band will play Unknown Pleasures in Denver and at select dates in Canada and Mexico. more on this story

Guitarist Fires Back At Former Rainbow Singer

(Rock News Desk) The guitarist accused by ex-Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner of releasing music illegally has lashed back at his former collaborator, saying he's done nothing wrong – and Turner is lying, not him.

Scott Rolaf has made the album Light of Day, featuring Turner's vocals, available for free. But the singer yesterday insisted the release was illegal, stating that he'd severed all ties with the guitarist after becoming unhappy with the way the partnership was working. Turner said: "I never confirmed plans to release the album but Rolaf published it without approval from me. That misled my fans, members of my street team and reputable media outlets. These actions are, in my opinion, nothing more than an attempt by Scott Rolaf to gain fame on my name."

Now the guitarist has lashed back, saying the singer is only interested in money. Rolaf tells Rock News Desk: "The truth of the matter is money – or the lack of it. I worked hundreds of hours on this record. I never took a dime from him and helped him out on over a dozen of his own projects he did for hire. He said, 'Hey, can you help me out? I need the money.' His words." more on this story

Band Battling Video Game Company For Their Name

(Rock News Desk) An unsigned UK band are locked in what they call a "big business bully-boy" battle with a games corporation who are trying to take their name from them.

Ubisoft recently announced plans for a music videogame to be called Rocksmith. But a band from Southend, England, has been called Rocksmith for four years – and mainman Kris Ford registered the title four years before that.

He only discovered Ubisoft's plans when they filed to register "Rocksmith" as a trademark in March this year. His attempts to defend his property have cost him hundreds of pounds already and could cost him thousands more. more on this story

The Dillinger Online Escape Plan

(Sub) The Dillinger Escape Plan have launched a brand new web site at dillingerescapeplan.org.

The website will act as the new portal for all current and upcoming activity and shows, collecting media shared on social platforms (flickr, youtube, vimeo), media feeds, as well as by blog and media entries from the band itself.

The site will host exclusive offers and media such as the free download of an unreleased remix of "Black Bubblegum" by Sergio Vega (Deftones) and a special limited-edition Party Smasher shirt to celebrate the launch. more on this story

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi To Release Autobiography This Fall

(hennemusic) More details are surfacing about the upcoming autobiography by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.

The unofficial Black Sabbath website Black-Sabbath.com reports "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath" will be released in the United States on November 1 in hardback by Perseus Books/DeCapo Press and in Europe on October 13 through Simon & Schuster.

The cover art comes in two versions: purple for the US and red for everywhere else. [with an Iron Maiden font used in the title...] more on this story

Shins Plan New Album

(Gibson) It's been four years since the last Shins album (2007's Grammy-nominated Wincing the Night Away), but the wait is almost over for fans of the Portland-based alt-rockers. James Mercer and Co. will put out a new Shins album next year, via Mercer's own Aural Apothecary label, according to Billboard.

Aural Apothecary is associated with Columbia Records, which also is the home of Mercer's project with Danger Mouse, Broken Bells. In addition The Shins have announced a run of tour dates from now until October.

The band's current touring lineup is Mercer, Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer, Yuuki Matthews of Crystal Skulls, singer/songwriter Richard Swift and singer/songwriter Jessica Dobson. more on this story

Devildriver Frontman Urges People To Get Off Drugs Following Amy Winehouse Death

(RockAAA) Devildriver frontman Dez Fafara hopes that the tragic and untimely passing of Amy Winehouse can help people battling a drug addiction to face it head on and do everything they can to beat it. And he also claims he walked out on Coal Chamber because the other members were hooked on methamphetamine and he feared his being in the band was helping feed their addiction.

In an interview with Noisecreep he said: "Get off drugs. Get off hard drugs. If you're on hard drugs right now and you're listening to this, get off hard drugs — now. Your spirit will tell you what's good and what's bad, and you know what you're doing. I feel sorry because she's a great artist, man. Her first record is amazing — I listen to everything from blues to black metal, I'm not just that solid metal guy – I feel sorry for everyone around her. Great talent.

"My whole thing is, if I see you going over the deep end, you're not going to do it on my watch. I left Coal Chamber because they were all on drugs, on methamphetamine, and I knew me going on stage was feeding them money, feeding them drugs. I left. And with Jon (Miller), this time I don't have to leave, you leave." more on this story

Former Rainbow Singer Going Solo

(Rock News Desk) Former Rainbow singer Doogie White, who's currently with Tank, will release his first solo album in October.

It includes collaborations with Black Country Communion keyboardist Derek Sherinian, former Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray and singer Patti Russo, among others.

It's called As Yet Untitled – White explains: "I always thought it should be called that. Journalists always had a line that so-and-so are in a studio recording an album as yet untitled. Now I've actually done that." more rock news

Gwar Lose Their Beefcake

(Rock News Desk) Gwar bassist Beefcake the Mighty, also known as Casey Orr, has quit the band citing pressures of work.

He says: "I can no longer devote the time and effort required to maintain my position in the group. It would't be fair to everyone involved for me to stay and not be able to give 100%.

"I'll miss the insanity and playing with my brothers. If I can ever be of help to them, they know they only have to ask." more rock news

Home Of Metal Exhibition

(hennemusic) Black Sabbath. Judas Priest. The Moody Blues. The English Beat. The Spencer Davis Group. ELO. Birmingham has a rich musical heritage…the city just hasn't done much of anything to promote it.

But that's likely to change given the success and attention the current "Home Of Metal" exhibition at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is bringing to the city.

The exhibition showcases 40 years of hard rock and the birthplace of musical legends from the city; it's on now until September 25. more on this story

Devy Too Old To Be A Strapping Young Lad

(Rock News Desk) Devin Townsend has underlined he has no plans to reform Strapping Young Lad – because he's no longer a strapping young lad.

He says: "When I was in my mid-20s, Strapping was very much where I was at. Then when I grew out of that emotionally I didn't feel the need to do it any more. I moved on to other things.

"It's been a difficult transition since a lot of people are confused as to why it happened. But there won't be a Strapping Young Lad reunion." more rock news

New Oh, Sleeper Album Coming Next Month

Solid State Records have set a September 27th release date for Oh, Sleeper's third studio album, Children of Fire.

Produced by Andreas Magnusson (Black Dahlia Murder, Haste The Day) and mixed by Machine (Lamb of God, Chiodos), Children of Fire features twelve tracks. The band has premiered the song, "Endseekers," here.

"With every record we try to push the limits of what we can do with our sound," says guitarist James Erwin. "This record is an expansion of our sound and the best incarnation of the band to date. Also this is the most in depth we ever taken a concept record. Instead of 12 different stories that tie together around one theme, this album is one complete story where every track acts as a chapter in that story. Listeners will really have to grasp every part of the story to understand it fully." more on this story

Def Leppard Guitarist Talks Nirvana

(Rock News Desk) Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is amongst a number of rock musicians remembering Nirvana's iconic Nevermind album on its 20th anniversary.

He says: "At the 1992 MTV awards we were the sacrificial lamb. It was Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Chili Peppers and Def Leppard. People were quite hostile towards us, which I thought was a joke. A new kind of music comes out that's all about not wanting to be like anyone else – and then you're narrow-minded?

"Unfortunately we got lumped in with all these awful hair bands, which we didn't really think we were part of. So when Nirvana came up it was like, 'Yeah, it's going to f**k us a bit.' But it was also great music." more rock news

Dr Jeff Beck

(hennemusic) Rockers are being honored with degrees all over the UK this summer. First it was Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson (Queen Mary University, London), then former Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord (University Of Leicester), and now Jeff Beck has been added to the list.

All three musicians have received Honorary Doctor Of Music degrees, with Beck picking his up at the University of Sussex.

Your Local Guardian reports Beck, who was born in Wallington and lived on Demesne Road, spent his early years singing in a church choir before going on to form The Rumbles in neighboring Croydon. more on this story

Iced Earth and Symphony X Song Controversy Addressed

(Rock News Desk) Iced Earth new recruit Stu Block has moved to stamp out speculation over a track he's written for the band's new album called End of Innocence – because Symphony X have a song with the same title on their next release.

"It was written and named way before I know they had the same song name. I have the Pro Tools stamped dates to prove it," Block explains.

"I was going to change it; but the song is about my mum, who's currently battling cancer. I really couldn't change it because of the depth of it." more rock news

Machine Head's Rush and Lady Gaga Connections

(RockAAA) Machine Head drummer Dave McClain says their new album has come together with a little bit of help from veterans Rush and Lady Gaga's vocal coach.

Speaking to Sami Jarroush of the Rock It Out Blog, McClain also it was singer Rob Flynn's exhausting schedule which forced the band to pull out of a recent New York show. McClain recalled the metallers reasons for having to cancel a scheduled performance appearance at the Mayhem Festival concert at Darien Lake Performing Arts Centre in Darien Centre on July 26.

"Robb (Flynn, guitar/vocals) got sick. He's been flying back on every off day back to Oakland and mixing the (new Machine Head) record ('Unto The Locust'). The record's done this week, but he's flying back and he's wearing himself down," He said. "And so he just got to the point where he just got sick and decided to sit it out and get better. And then he's flying out again tomorrow, 'cause the record is done this week, so he's gotta fly back out. So he's really running himself ragged, but he's killing it." More including the brief Rush and Gaga coach mentions here

Social Distortion TV Special This Weekend

Social Distortion are set to appear in the next episode Guitar Center Sessions which airs this Saturday, August 6th.

Guitar Center Sessions features exclusive performances and intimate conversations conducted by Nic Harcourt.

The episode premieres Saturday, August 6th at 10pm ET/PT in 2D hi-definition on DIRECTV'S Audience Network (channel 239) and in 3D on DIRECTV'S n3D Get a preview here

Noel Gallagher Announces Live Dates

(Gibson) Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will play three shows in Ireland and England in October.

According to NME.com, Gallagher's band will play Dublin Olympia Theatre on October 23, Edinburgh Usher Hall on October 27 and then London HMV Hammersmith Apollo on October 29.

These three concerts will be Gallagher's first shows with his new band. Gallagher has said he will play new material as well as Oasis songs. Tickets will be available starting at 9 a.m. on Friday, August 5. more on this story

Ginger Wants Fans Help Funding New Album

(RockAAA) Having recently left Michael Monroe's band, Ginger has embarked on a mission to find fan pledges to fund an exclusive triple album

He plans to have fans pay £20 each to enable the recording of the album which will consist of thirty songs, and then those who have participated get to vote for the tracks which will make it on to the commercial release.

"I love music being independent. Always have," Ginger says in his project statement on Pledgemusic.com. "The D.I.Y approach has appealed to me since I watched the original punks gatecrash the charts and infuriate the press. But the thing was, they couldn't be stopped because the people were behind their militant stance and the mainstream could only stubbornly hope that they'd just go away. But we never went away. Revolution was born. more on this story

Singled Out: We Aeronauts' Fleet River

Today James Cunning from We Aeronauts tells us about "Fleet River" from their brand new "Chalon Valley'" EP which was just released. Here is the story:

Often songs come from the obvious things; girls, death, or historical/literary sources. But every once in a while one will come along that captures something special. A specific memory, like an aural photograph- you can always rely on it to trip those wires in your brain that remind you of a profound and happy time. We're lucky enough to have two of those songs. One is our EP title track 'Chalon Valley House Band' but if you listen to that the story kind of tells itself. The other is 'Fleet River', and I'm going to tell you that story now.

Back in mid-2008 we were a fairly new band, having taken a holiday at the tail end of 2007 to write songs. We've always been pretty far apart from each other- over the past 4 years various members have taken up long term residence in Canada, India, Spain, Mongolia, Nigeria and Serbia. In March of 2008, Greg, our singer and guitarist, had announced an imminent trip to Canada at the end of the year to live, long term, with his girlfriend. He'd also written a song, 'Haste Ye Back' about his move, which really affected all of us- it was a pretty confessional, honest song and I think partly because of the subject matter, we've never been able to come up with a full band arrangement. That song is Greg's explanation to us, and as such, it was our responsibility to respond, not join in. I see Fleet River as that response.

On a weekend in April that year, my other band (Keyboard Choir) was playing 2 shows in London and Brighton with a band from Brighton called Power Up! ahead of the release of our debut album. We arrived in London on the Friday night and it took us ages to find the venue, the George Tavern in Stepney. It was the first time I'd been there and I've returned many times since. It's a beautiful old building, not really built for live music, but it works- a proper grimy old London pub, the sort that is perennially on the edge of existence. It stands on its own, on the corner of an interchange. All of the other buildings around it look like they've been demolished- hence the opening line- 'this place looks like it's been through world war three'.

The Saturday show was in Brighton- one of my favourite places. It's a stunning city- a kind of sanitized, mini-London, or a super sized, more cultured Oxford. Either way, it's a happy medium for me. We were playing with Power Up! again in a small, underground venue with an over-zealous sound limiter, meaning our set was constantly interrupted as the mains supply was cut – but we had bought our own monitors with us so managed to bypass the system. As a resident of Brighton, Greg had turned up and a few of my friends- Sal and Monica, had made the trip too. Afterwards we were all going to go home, and while the rest of Keyboard Choir jumped in the van to Oxford, I decided to stay with Greg in Brighton and spend some time with my friends.

Chris and Kathy from Power Up! took us firstly to the Freebutt, a lovely old pub. This was in the transition period where the pub was not a venue- but it was still a club. It reverted back to a venue a few months later, and we played a couple of shows there. After that we walked over to Kemptown, where Chris and Kathy knew someone who was having a party. We stayed pretty late- and this is where the out of tune accordion line comes in- the music stopped at the party and this man stood at the edge of the 4th Floor balcony, which had been cut from the roof, and sang songs. Behind him there was mist snaking up the adjacent street which led down to the sea and the moon had an eerie, green quality as it filtered through fog, illuminating the chimney stacks that peppered the rooftops at eye level in every direction.

We made our way home, and stayed at Greg's house. The next morning Greg played me 'Haste Ye Back' and it really hammered home that soon it could be the end for our band. That morning was beautiful- my Sal, Monica, Greg and I met up with Kathy and spent the morning rooting around the junk shops in the lanes before heading down to the beach. It was a clear day- still mid-April, but hot enough to be summer, and the sun beat down on the waves as they crested all the way to the horizon. Greg is the person in the lyrics for whom the town is not the one that they once knew. The final lyrics- the call and response part, is kind of intended as a rallying call for the band to stick together.

It's called 'Fleet River' because the journey began in London, and the river Fleet is a subterranean river there. The story is quite hidden and there can be multiple interpretations of it. I love hidden things in cities, like old abandoned tube stations and subterranean rivers. The opening 2 and a half minutes sound like moving water to me- so that's enough of a relationship with the song for the title to be right.

Since that weekend I've only seen Sal, Monica, Chris and Kathy a handful of times by chance but the song always reminds me of those three days. I'm not sure if they know about the song, or if they've even heard it. I read a review of the song the other day that mentioned the lyrics being about looking around the valleys and foothills of France- where Chalon Valley House Band was written, and I can totally see how it fits that mould too- but for me, it will always have that rustic, Polaroid quality to it that reminds me of that balmy April weekend when I was 22.

I wrote the chord progression and lyrics on the Sunday, played it to Greg, and weeks later we were at ATP vs. Explosions in the Sky, when he played me his final guitar part for the song. We played it live within two months and it's one of the only songs from that era that is still a shoe-in in our sets to this day. I think the whole band has their moment in the sun on the recording too- Anna's distant wailing, Tom's bass harmonic, Ads' Trumpet solo, Jeremy's pounding drums and the Shoegaze guitars at the end- the song would be incomplete if you took any of them away.

Oh, Greg did leave for Canada later that year, but he came back 6 months later – and he's still here.

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