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On this day in 2007, U.S. keyboardist Joe Hunter, a veteran session musician as one of the Funk Brothers who helped craft the distinctive Motown sound, died in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 79. Hunter performed with such legendary Motown acts as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Martha and the Vandellas. Find out what else happened on this date in music history here

Metallica Planning New Album

(hennemusic) A two-year world tour is enough to suggest a band needs some down time to chill out and relax, before feeling inspired again to create new music.

Unless the band is feeling like they're on a roll, and unless that band is Metallica.

"There is a really good vibe in the band at the moment," drummer Lars Ulrich tells the Danish tabloid newspaper Ekstra Bladet, during an interview at the band's headquarters in San Rafael, California last month. "Previously, Metallica would hang us by the throat when we came home from a mammoth world tour, but this time it's different. Therefore it does not appear to be a long time before we start work on a new album. I think we'll be ready in March and April - when the creative process reaches a boil we'll go into the studio." more on this story

Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck Reunite

(Gibson) It seems that two key components of the Jeff Beck Group might be coming back together. Rod Stewart had hinted at a reunion with Jeff Beck was a possibility in the fall and the project is now closer to becoming a reality.

"Jeff and I had a lunch together just before Christmas," Stewart told RollingStone.com. "He's going up to record some tracks with his band in February in San Francisco and to send them over to me, so we're making progress."

The record would be Stewart's first album of new material since 1998's When We Were the New Boys. Beck's most recent release was last April's Emotion & Commotion. But the album will be the first record for the pair since the late '60s gems Truth and Beck-Ola. more on this story

Johnny Rotten Vs Green Day

(Rock AAA) John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) has dubbed Green Day 'coat-hangers' insisting they haven't done enough to earn the punk tag. The former Sex Pistols singer blasted the band in an interview with the LA Times this week although he was more generous with his praise for pop princess Lady Gaga. Speaking to the LA Times he said:

"Many of the punk bands are cop-outs and imitators and have made it easy for the likes of Green Peace – Green Day, who I hate. I really … I can't stand them.

"To me, they're like coat hangers, and haven't earned the right, they haven't earned the wings, to be wearing the mantle of punk. They haven't had to go through the violence, and the hate, and the animosity that us chaps way back when had to put up with. more on this story

Rare Pearl Jams Coming

(Gibson) As previously reported, Pearl Jam are celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band all year long. Among the festivities: a destination festival in the summer, the release of Cameron Crowe's documentary on the band and the re-release of Pearl Jam's Vs. and Vitalogy albums.

The band's second and third album will be released on March 29 and will each feature three extra tracks, according to Antiquiet.com. Vs. will contain "Hold On" (originally included on the rarities collection Lost Dogs), "Cready Stomp" (an unreleased track rumored to be a Mike McCready instrumental) and "Crazy Mary" (a duet with singer-songwriter Victoria Williams, put out on a Sweet Relief compilation).

Vitalogy, meanwhile, will include alternate takes of some the hit album's best-known songs. "Better Man" (delivered in a sparse, organ and guitar only version) is featured on the album, as is a demo of "Nothingman" and a different version of "Corduroy." more on this story

What If Axl Called Slash?

(hennemusic) Slash has been asked a million times about his thoughts of a Guns N' Roses reunion with all the original members — he and Axl Rose have not been on good terms for many years — but when a reporter put it to him in a different way, Slash was taken by surprise:

What if Axl called your cell tomorrow morning and apologized for everything and promised to do whatever it takes to make a reunion work?

"All things considered, that would be a call I would be surprised to get," Slash said. "If that really happened, I would have to clean out my junk drawer, too, but I don't see it happening. But if it did happen, I would do whatever it takes to at least have a conversation about it." more on this story

Peter Criss To KISS and Tell All

(Gibson) Peter Criss has lived the rock and roll lifestyle as the founding drummer of KISS and now he's ready to tell all. In the fall of 2012, Criss will release his autobiography, Makeup to Breakup, via Scribner. Criss is writing the book with Larry "Ratso" Sloman.

"From sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll to multiple brushes with death, Makeup to Breakup will be Peter Criss' unvarnished and eye-opening life story," announced a press release.

"I am so blessed that I am finally going to write my autobiography, and I hope you enjoy the ride," Criss said in the release. "The best of all is I get to share my true feelings of my love for God, family, friends and fame. It's been a wonderful life." more on this story

Steven Tyler on Oprah Today

(hennemusic) Aerosmith frontman and new American Idol judge Steven Tyler will be appearing on Oprah today.

Tyler and the American Idol crew are scheduled guests on a busy lineup for Oprah on Wednesday, which also includes Jennifer Aniston and Piers Morgan.

In the teaser promo on Oprah's site, the host asks Tyler about the reaction of his Aerosmith bandmates to his Idol gig. more on this story

A Perfect Circle, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Korn, Stone Sour and Staind To Rock on the Range

Rock On The Range have announced a heavy weight lineup for their 5th annual event which will take place on May 21-22at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

The festival will be headed by A Perfect Circle (first performance of 2011), Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Korn, Stone Sour and Staind (first performance in two years).

The festival will also include performances from Danzig, Hollywood Undead, Bullet For My Valentine, Black Label Society and Alter Bridge. more on this story

Ringo Video Game?

(Gibson) Ringo Starr has initiated steps toward creating his own video game. As reported by UK.gamespot.com, the former Beatle has filed for trademark rights for the name "Ringo" to be applied to "computer game software" and "downloadable computer games via the Internet and wireless devices."

Starr has thus far declined to offer details, but it's speculated that an announcement regarding the venture will come at this year's SXSW Interactive gathering in Austin, Texas, in March.

The venture would mark the second instance in which the veteran drummer has been involved in the creation of interactive software. more on this story

Foo Fighters Set Album Release Date

(hennemusic) The Foo Fighters continue the teaser promotions for their new album, which now has a confirmed release date: April 12.

Following the original :30 teaser of "Bridge Burning," FF fans jonesing for another several seconds of new material can check out http://www.foofighters.fm and move the virtual tuner to 101.5 for another clip of a new track.

The Foos have announced their first U.S. show (so far) of 2011: a May 21 headlining appearance at the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, AL. more on this story

Aerosmith Starting From Scratch

(Gibson) Recording sessions for Aerosmith's first album of new material in a decade are coming along just fine, according to guitarist Brad Whitford. In a just-published interview with the Boston Herald, Whitford said the band is "really starting from scratch."

The sessions, which are being slotted around Steven Tyler's American Idol schedule, are taking place at producer Marti Frederiksen's home studio in Los Angeles.

"We basically go in the studio, just stone cold, and try to come out at the end of the day with another song, and so far it's worked great," Whitford said. "It has been great working at Marti's. His whole house is basically geared toward making music, so that's what we are doing all day long." more on this story

Singled Out: Red Week Day 2

Red released their new album, Until We Have Faces, this week. To celebrate the release we asked Anthony Armstrong to pick some of his favorite tracks from the release and tell us about them. Here is today's song: Faceless:

This is the title track for Until We Have Faces. When we finally realize we have let the world define us, we know that we are hollow. We only substantiate our very own apathy when we continue to not do anything about it. This song leaves us with an internal challenge. We discover that we are faceless, and it may be time for an alteration.

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

The Walkmen Announce Tour With The New Pornographers

The Walkmen have announced U.S. dates for this spring, including a run of co-headlining dates with The New Pornographers.

The Walkmen are hitting the road in support of their Fat Possum Records debut Lisbon.

The Walkmen's fifth album, Lisbon was recorded over a two-year period in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. A few songs that helped establish the record's tone were written during several inspiring and successful trips to Lisbon, Portugal. You & Me engineer Chris Zane (Passion Pit, Les Savy Fav, Tokyo Police Club) worked with the band from August to February, and then in March of 2010 the band traveled to south Dallas to finish the album with John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky) more on this story

Queen's Stormtroopers in Stilettos

(Gibson) Queen's forthcoming Stormtroopers in Stilettos exhibition is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the rock legends.

The exhibit, which opens in London on February 25 and closes March 12, focuses on the early years of the band – right through to their fifth album, A Day at the Races.

How appropriate, then, that Queen's first five albums, which together constitute one of rock's most creative and fertile runs, are set to be reissued in grand fashion on March 14. Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races will each be available in both standard single-CD form, and as a 2-CD deluxe package that includes new bonus content. All tracks have been remastered. more on this story

Jagermeister Tour Snowed Out

(Rock AAA) Promoters have been forced to cancel two shows on the current Jagermeister Tour featuring Hellyeah, All That Remains and The Damned Things.

Snowstorms which are hitting the Midwest of the US have forced organisers to postpone the shows in Chicago, Illinois last night (February 1) and Waterloo, Iowa tonight (February2). A statement released by FM Entertainment read:

Hazardous conditions with forecasts consisting of in upwards of 3 feet of snow and 50+ mph winds has lead us to this decision. The overall safety of the public as well as that of the bands are the priority and the major concern at this time. more on this story

Rush Up For Two Juno Awards

(hennemusic) On Tuesday, Canada's national music honors, the Juno Awards, announced the nominations for the 2011 event.

The usual rap and pop music artists snagged the headlines, but there were some highlight mentions for rock fans.

Rush received a nomination for "Music DVD Of The Year" for the "Beyond The Lighted Stage" documentary. more on this story

Digital Love For The Beatles

Apple Corps announced on Tuesday that The Beatles' 'LOVE' album and 'All Together Now,' the feature-length documentary about the making of The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil, will make their worldwide digital debuts this month exclusively on the iTunes Store.

Both titles are available for pre-order on iTunes starting today in most countries. 'LOVE' will be released on iTunes worldwide February 8 and 'All Together Now' will follow soon after.

The 'LOVE' album (US $12.99) includes exclusive, previously-unreleased 'LOVE' versions of "The Fool on the Hill" and "Girl," and comes as an iTunes LP featuring an art gallery that blends images of the Beatles with colorful photos from the acclaimed stage production. 'LOVE' will also be available to purchase and download as individual songs. more on this story

Restored Version of No Direction Home Coming on Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday

Backbeat Books will celebrate Bob Dylan's 70th birthday by publishing a restored edition of No Direction Home that will include 20,000 words edited from Ron Shelton's original manuscript. Here is the background info from the publisher:

New York Times music critic Robert Shelton met Bob Dylan when the young singer first arrived in New York in 1961. His review of the 20-year-old Dylan's appearance at Gerde's Folk City that September launched the career of the man who changed the course of popular music. Shelton became Dylan's friend and champion and, later, his biographer with the release of No Direction Home, hailed as the definitive unauthorized biography of the moody, passionate genius and his world.

Dylan gave Shelton access to his parents, Abe and Beatty Zimmerman, whom no other journalist had ever interviewed in depth; to his brother, David; to childhood friends from Hibbing, Minn.; to fellow students and friends from Minneapolis; and to Suze Rotolo, the muse immortalized on the cover of Dylan's 1963 album Freewheelin'; among others. No Direction Home took 20 years to complete and was acclaimed as "thoughtful and compassionate" by Time and "vastly comprehensive and rather magnificent" by Washington Post Book World. It was also heavily edited prior to publication. more on this story

Video: Phil Anselmo Jams with Warbeast

The Metal Den has a very special video treat for Pantera and Down fans to check out.

The site has posted a video of Philip H. Anselmo performing "Scorched Earth Policy" with Warbeast at The Rail Club in Ft. Worth, Texas on January 28, 2011.

Warbeast's debut album Krush The Enemy was released in 2010 via Anselmo's Housecore Records. Watch the video here

The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival Lineup Announced

The line up for this year's New England Metal and Hardcore Festival has been announced.

Returning to the Palladium in Worcester, Mass., the event will take place on Thursday April 14, Friday April 15 and Saturday April 16. As per usual this is an ALL AGES festival.

Bands performing on Thursday April 14 include Attack Attack, Vanna, MyChildren MyBride, Our Last Night, Stray From The Path, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Bullet For Pretty Boy, Lions Lions, Armor For The Broken, This Or The Apocalypse, I The Breather, Across The Sun, Too Late The Hero, Attila, Plee For Purging, Dr. Acula, The Crimson Armada, Legacy, Counterparts, Legion and others. Doors open at 1:00PM. Festival runs from 1:00pm to 10:45PM. more on this story

The Day Before The Music Died

(Gibson) Buddy Holly joined the The Winter Dance Party tour, in the winter of '58, for the cash. The Crickets had broken apart; he'd left his record company and was newly married with a baby on the way. To pay the bills, he was touring with a new band of Tommy Allsup on guitar, Waylon Jennings on bass and Carl Brunch on drums.

The headliners were Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (a.k.a. J.P Richardson). It was a tough and relentless tour in a harsh Midwest winter. The tour bus wasn't heated and broke down continually. Holly's drummer even suffered form frostbite at one point. Most of the musicians were ill with colds and flu.

On this day in 1959, Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper played the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Tickets were $1.25. The evening closed with The Big Bopper doing his mega-hit "Chantilly Lace." And then it was to outside to the bus. more on this story

The Scary Side of Slash

(Gibson) Slash stopped by the Gibson Music Lounge at the recent Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The Velvet Revolver guitarist took time out of his busy schedules to discuss movies, his favorite director right now and the work he's done on film soundtracks.

He was also in town to promote Slasher Films, his new movie production venture with Rob Eric. The horror movie company was inspired by Slash's love of scary movies from the '60s and '70s and the guitarist shared a couple of his favorites during in the video here

The Republic Tigers Announce Record Store Day EP

(Filter) The Republic Tigers will release a 4-song EP, "No Land's Man," on Record Store Day, April 16th.

Self-produced and recorded in the band's hometown of Kansas City, MO, "No Land's Man" includes three new songs, plus "The Nerve (Nervous Dancing)," an uptempo reworking of the song "The Nerve" from "Keep Color."

"No Land's Man" will be available exclusively at independent record stores in celebration of Record Store Day on April 16. The digital configuration of the EP will be available the following Tuesday, April 19 at all online retailers. In addition to the EP, the band will release a colored vinyl 7" piece featuring "Merrymake It With Me," the first track on the EP, and "Whale Fight," an exclusive b-side. more on this story

Bootsy Collins Sets New Album Release

(Noble) Bootsy Collins will release his new studio album "Tha Funk Capital of the World" in the UK on Monday 25th April 2011.

Released by Mascot Records, "Tha Funk Capital of the World" is a collective masterpiece so full of grooves, grit, guts and glory that Collins refers to as "the best thing I've ever done - a whole new chapter in the life of Bootsy." "Funk Capital" is Bootsy's first new studio album of original funk material since 2002's "Play With Bootsy." The album artwork features a dazzling 3D lenticular sleeve.

The new album features guest performances from actor Samuel L. Jackson, rappers Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Chuck D, P-Funkers George Clinton and Bernie Worrell, percussionist Sheila E, R&B legend Bobby Womack and guitarists Buckethead and Catfish Collins; the latter being Bootsy's brother and longtime six-string foil, who passed away during the disc's making. more on this story

3 Doors Down Debut at No 1

3 Doors Down's new single "When You're Young" was released yesterday and debuted at no 1 on the iTunes Rock Singles Chart.

The track has seen success at radio as well, debuting at #25 at Active Rock and climbing to #19, making it the #1 greatest gainer in the format.

"When You're Young" is the first single from the band's forthcoming and fifth studio album, Time of My Life due out this Spring on Universal Republic. more on this story

Klaxons Spring Tour

(Press Here) Klaxons will be hitting our shores this spring for a national headlining tour.

Their spring tour will see them performing on both of our fair coasts kicking off March 25 in Orlando at the Social and making stops at the Ultra Music Festival and Coachella.

They are touring in support of their recently released album, Surfing the Void, the follow-up to their Mercury award-winning Myths of the Near Future. more on this story

Never Shout Never Bonus EP

(WBR) Never Shout Never are offering a bonus three-song digital EP to anyone who purchases an item from the band's webstore , including CD and vinyl versions of NSN's two albums What Is Love? and Harmony.

This offer begins on February 1st at 1 a.m. PST and ends February 28th at midnight here. The EP will be delivered beginning February 14th

The Love (Live) EP features previously unreleased live versions of "Love Is Our Weapon" and "I Love You 5" from What Is Love? and "I Love You More Than You Will Ever Know" from Harmony. more on this story

A Day To Remember Progressing

(Rock AAA) A Day To Remember bassist Joshua Woodward says their journey from DIY shows in their home state of Florida to arena headliners have shaped them into the band they are today – and he believes they are improving all the time.

The rockers who are famous for their unique style, a hybrid of hardcore and pop- punk, are touring in support of their new album What Separates Me From You and Woodward reckons the fact they bring something so different from their peers to the table, sets them apart from the rest.

"We were just doing a signing today and one of the songs of our first record came on and we were like 'Gosh!' and you can just tell how far we have come from the first record so, hell, yes we've evolved," He said. "We're doing the same thing in that we are writing heavy music and catchy music, it's just that we've become better at it. more on this story