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On this day in 1976, Deep Purple split up at the end of an U.K. tour. David Coverdale went on to form Whitesnake, Jon Lord and Ian Paice formed a band with Tony Ashton. The classic line up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord & Paice reformed in 1984. Glenn Hughes returned to Trapeze and Tommy Bolin put together his own band, (but would die before the end of the year). Find out what else happened on this date in music history here
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Rock is Dead?

Nielsen Soundscan recently said that rock continues to be the best selling genre of music, but Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate has a different take on the current state of rock. Gibson reports: Tate sees a pretty gloomy future for rock bands, unless they can adapt to new ways of doing things.

The singer talked to Classic Rock magazine about how things have changed in the music industry and how his band is trying to change.

"Rock is pretty much dead. If you look at the numbers, it's definitely not the music of the times anymore," Tate said. "If it's gonna keep moving, bands need to embrace new ideas. There's a lot of elements to rock that, mentally speaking, are kinda boneheaded. Like the whole 'chunk-chunk-chunk' guitar progression – the stuff you play when you're learning the damn thing. You would hope bands would get beyond that." more on this story

Hear New Red Hot Chili Peppers

(hennemusic) The Red Hot Chili Peppers have just released the first single from their forthcoming album.

The track is called "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie," comes from their new album "I'm With You," which hits stores on August 30th.

Produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, the disc is the band's first studio album in five years and marks the debut of new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined in the fall of 2009 following the departure of John Frusciante. Listen to the new song here

Paramore Deliver Monster Video

Yesterday Paramore premiered their new music video for the new song "Monster" on MTV.com.

"Monster" is currently featured on the soundtrack for Transformers 3: Dark Of The Moon. Check out the video here

The band will also be playing a string of dates this summer including a handful of appearances on the 2011 Warped Tour and a performance at New York City's Terminal 5 on September 7th for the first night of The Fueled By Ramen 15th Anniversary shows. more on this story

Ugly Kid Joe Complete Comeback Album

(Gibson) The reunited Ugly Kid Joe have completed a new album, their first since 1995's Motel California, drummer Shannon Larkin has confirmed.

The lineup for the sessions is Whitfield Crane (vocals), Klaus Eichstadt (guitar), Dave Fortman (guitar), Cordell Crockett (bass) and Larkin, the same lineup as their second album, Menace to Sobriety.

Larkin, who also is in Godsmack, revealed the album's status in an interview with California's 107.7 The Bone at the Mayhem Festival. "A lot of the songs, Klaus wrote in '98," Larkin said. "It's a fun band – it's funny, you listen to the songs and it makes you laugh. Just a good-time rock band, y'know?" more on this story

An Evening with Primus Tour

(BH) Primus have announced a very special fall tour which is billed as "An evening with Primus," that will feature two full sets.

The trek is in support of Green Naugahyde, the band's first studio album in 11 years out September 13, 2011 on ATO Records and Prawn Songs.

The tour begins on September 23rd in Boston, makes its way west, and ends on October 22nd in Los Angeles. more on this story

Watch Bruce Springsteen's Surprise Club Tribute To Clarence Clemons

(hennemusic) The 400 people at the Wonder Bar Sunday night saw another legendary evening of music in Asbury Park. The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports Bruce Springsteen joined J.T. Bowen and the Sensational Soul Cruisers for a 45-minute set at the club as part of a "Tribute to the Late, Great Clarence Clemons."

Bowen was the lead singer of Clemons' band, The Red Bank Rockers, in the 1980s. Clarence's son, Nick Clemons, opened the evening playing with his band. The Sensational Soul Cruisers then played their first set and were joined by Bowen for the second one. Midway through the second set, they played Clarence's hit with Jackson Browne, "You're a Friend of Mine," and Springsteen came over to the side of the stage to watch.

Bowen then called Springsteen up to play at 9 p.m., marking the first time Bruce has performed in public (outside of Clemons' private memorial service) since Clarence's passing on June 18. The set with Bruce included a variety of Clarence's songs, rare Springsteen tracks and soul covers. More including video here

Metallica Wanted To Hurt The Listener With St Anger

(Rock News Desk) Metallica's Lars Ulrich says the band's infamous St Anger album was deliberately conceived to sound bad – and it was a musical experiment he's glad they carried out.

Discussing the "abysmal" drum sound on the record Ulrich says: "That was on purpose. It wasn't like we put it out and then somebody went, 'Woops!'

"I view St Anger as an isolated experiment. Once in a while, as we've been known to do, we have to f**k with the boundaries. We'd already done Ride the Lightning, which I believe is a fine record – it didn't need redone."

The drummer acknowledges many fans feel the album would have benefitted from some trimming, and even the better tracks are too long. But he says: "When we heard the recording from beginning to end, I felt – and it was mostly me – the experience was so pummelling that if became almost about hurting the listener." more on this story

New Gig for Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy Andy Hurley has a brand new gig in the band Enabler. Here is the official word:

Enabler have announced the departure of their rhythm section, drummer Brian Serzynski and bassist Bubba Nitz. Lead guitar player Logan Kelly has amicably left the group as well.

Replacing Serzynski and Nitz will be Andy Hurley (Fall Out Boy, Racetraitor, Kill the Slavemaster, etc.) on drums, and Amanda Daniels on bass guitar. more on this story

Play About Late AC/DC Singer Bon Scott Opens

(hennemusic) The Australian theatre production of "Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be: The Story Of Bon Scott" is up and running in Melbourne.

The play documents the story of the AC/DC signer through his various bands - including the Spektors, the Valentines and Fraternity - before he went on to become the second singer for AC/DC.

Musician/actor Nick Barker scored the role of Bon, while Australian rock legend Doug Parkinson tells part of the story; Parkinson and Scott started their careers in the pubs of Australia at the same time. more on this story

Elton John Plans New Album With Bernie Taupin and T Bone Burnett

(Gibson) Elton John – who has revamped his old Rocket Records label through a new business, the Rocket Music Entertainment Group, with artists James Blunt, Lily Allen, Leon Russell and Ed Sheeran – has said he'll begin his new album with T Bone Burnett next January.

According to a new interview in Music Week magazine, Elton said: "We've booked two weeks in the studio in January and Bernie [Taupin] is writing as we speak and I just want to make an album of good songs. I'm just going to go in the studio and write and see what happens and maybe just write before I go in and I really enjoyed working with T Bone and look forward to that experience again."

He also said he was delighted to see Leon Russell's career back on track after their collaboration on The Union last year. "He's got money in the bank, his fees have gone up, he's happy," said Elton. "He now wants to make a record to define himself, so it opened the door for him in a big way. Everything I wanted to do [with him] has been achieved. He's got his respect back. My main concern was he was being neglected and forgotten about and he wasn't just a one-track writer. He wrote so many great songs and was so integral on other people's records." more on this story

Circa Survive and Maps and Atlases Fall Tour

Circa Survive are hitting the road this fall for a headlining tour that will feature direct support from Maps and Atlases.

The trek is set to kick off on September 22nd at the Chameleon in Lancaster, PA and States and Sleeper Agent will split opening duties.

In other news, Circa Survive has begun writing the follow-up to their Atlantic debut "Blue Sky Noise," which debuted at #11 on the Billboard 200 chart upon its release in Spring 2010. more on this story

X Japan Frontman Tributes Taiji Sawada

(Rock News Desk) X Japan mainman Yoshiki has paid tribute to former bassist Taiji Sawada, who died at the weekend after a suicide attempt following his arrest on a plane.

Sawada, 45, was a member of X Japan between 1985 and 1992 and guested with his former colleagues on stage in Japan last year. He was the subject of police action on July 11 after an incident on a flight from Tokyo to Saipan, when it's alleged he disrupted air crew duties and thrown punches and kicks at windows and seats. He was subdued by other passengers and place in restraints until his arrest when the plane landed in Saipan.

While in custody last week he attempted to hang himself using a bed sheet in his cell. He was taken to hospital and placed in intensive care, where doctors discovered he was brain dead. On Sunday his fiancee and mother decided to switch off his life support and he died around noon. Yoshiki has paid tributes to the bassist. He says: "The news of Taiji's death has left me speechless. I don't know how to cope with the loss yet." more from Yoshiki here

Sonisphere Festival To Go Global?

(RockAAA) Stuart Galbraith admits the Sonisphere Festival touring marathon has been brilliant but the boss is always looking forward and he reveals talks to take the festival outside Europe are already underway.

Speaking to RockAAA backstage at the final Sonisphere Festival in Spain on Saturday night he said: "Tomorrow morning I fly back out to Istanbul where we are looking to redo a deal for Turkey for next year and there are a couple of territories we are looking at, one of which may come off for later this year, and we are already looking for new territories for next year too.

"We are looking outside Europe and we are looking at the Middle East, India and South America at the moment. Sonisphere was always intended to be global. It was always going to be easiest for us to get a solid base in Europe and build it here, consolidate it and grow out from there which is exactly what we are intending on doing." more on this story

Cheap Trick Lucky To Be Alive After Stage Collapse

(Rock News Desk) Cheap Trick believe they're lucky to be alive after they managed to escape from a collapsing stage in Canada at the weekend.

The band were performing at Ottawa's Bluesfest when a freak storm rolled in and destroyed the canopy, supports and lighting rig above them. They got out of the way just in time – and were only saved from the falling debris because their great truck prevented the structure from reaching the ground.

The vehicle's driver, first name Sandy, was later revealed to have suffered the only serious injury during the incident in which around a dozen people were hurt. Frontman Robin Zander has released a phone video he shot moments after the drama unfolded, in which the crewman can be seen receiving medical attention before being taken to hospital with a pierced abdomen and broken pelvis. more on this story

Slash's Homecoming

(Gibson) With Slash playing a concert in Stoke-on-Trent in England next weekend, his British relatives have been reminiscing about the guitar great's time in Britain. Slash, who was born in Hampstead in 1965, spent his early years traveling between Los Angeles and England with his parents – Tony, an artist, and Ola, a costume designer.

According to the Independent as the young Saul Hudson neared school age, he was sent to live with is grandparents near Stoke. "He came to Blurton to live with his gran because he needed an education," said Ian Hudson, Slash's uncle.

Slash stood out from the crowd, even as a kid. "He wore denim trousers and a corduroy jacket and had this thick head of hair, so girls were keen on him and the lads right jealous. But he was a gentle, loving, nice boy," said Uncle Ian. more on this story

New 2-CD Rush Collection Released

Universal Music Enterprises released the two-disc Rush: Icon 2 collection today (July 19, 2011)

The collection now include the original Rush ICON collection released in 2010, plus a second CD featuring 11 songs culled from their classic Mercury Records live albums: All The World's A Stage (1976), Exit…Stage Left (1981), Grace Under Pressure Tour 1984 (2006) and A Show Of Hands (1989).

On August 2010, as part of the launch of its successful ICON Series, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) released the single disc, 12-song collection Rush ICON featuring tracks from their first 12 Mercury studio albums. more on this story

Simple Minds Frontman Jim Kerr Goes Solo in America

Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr releases his first solo album, Lostboy! AKA Jim Kerr, in North American today.

The album, available since last May only in the UK and Europe, entered the UK charts at #94 and the UK Independent Chart at #8.

The U.S. deluxe edition release will feature three additional bonus tracks (Mr. Silversmith, Karma to this Rain, Sad Stone Child), as well as feature a specially enhanced package. more on this story

Joe Bonamassa Backs Beth Hart on Her Kevin Shirley Produced Album

Beth Hart takes on classic soul covers on her forthcoming album Don't Explain, a project that grew out of her friendship with guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

Produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes), the album features Hart's interpretations of ten songs, with Bonamassa on guitar and his ace band filling out the tracks.

Don't Explain is scheduled for U.S. release on September 27 on J&R Adventures, the independent label founded by Bonamassa and his longtime manager and business partner, Roy Weisman. It will be released in Europe via Mascot Records on September 26. more on this story

Wes Borland Discusses Bizarre Paul Gray Encounter

(RockAAA) Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland spoke to RockAAA exclusively at Sonisphere UK and although they didn't arrive in time to witness the 2 minute silence for the late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray he said that his first meeting with Gray was in bizarre circumstance.

"I was on tour with my other band Black Light Burns and I remember pulling over and meeting him up with Paul's bus somewhere at the side of the road in the middle of the night and hanging out.

Like, being lit by headlights and just haning out in the middle of the road, and talking for twenty minutes. It was a surreal way to meet him for the first time" more on this story

Warbringer's America Torn Asunder Tour To Feature Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, and Diamond Plate

Warbringer are set to headline the America Torn Asunder tour this fall that will feature support from friends Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, and Diamond Plate.

Warbringer will be hitting the road in support of their forthcoming new album, "Worlds Torn Asunder," which is set for release on September 27th.

"We are really excited to be going out on the first ever Warbringer headlining tour," states singer John Kevill. "Many of you out there have seen us opening for a whole slew of different tours, and we felt it was finally time to go out there and do our own, doing a full-length set that will have material from all 3 of our albums. It's looking to be pretty killer, and we hope to see all you guys raging at the shows!" more on this story

Tommy Lee Discusses Roller Coaster Drumkit Gimmick

(Rock News Desk) Tommy Lee admits he's made his job three times harder by devising the roller coaster drumkit he's using on the current Motley Crue tour. But he says it's important to keep outdoing himself – and he's already trying to think of an even more spectacular set-up for the band's next stint on the road.

Lee's kit is welded to a bogey on a circular rail which stands perpendicular to the stage. During the show he invites a member of the audience to join him as he plays a drum solo while the bogey rolls up and over – meaning he's playing against gravity for most of the stunt.

"Everything to do with this is absolutely wrong. Playing upside down is insane – it's two or three times more difficult than normal." He tells MusicRadar. "Your feet want to come off the pedals, your arm want to drop. All of your body is fighting gravity. The only time it's comfortable is when you're in the ground position. The rest of the time everything's out of control." more on this story

George Thorogood Celebrates Chess Records Heroes

(Gibson) George Thorogood and The Destroyers' new album, 2010 South Michigan Avenue, celebrates his Chess Records heroes including Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf and Buddy Guy.

The album, named for the address of Chess Records' Chicago headquarters, was produced by Tom Hambridge, who won a Grammy in 2010 for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Buddy Guy's Living Proof. Guests on 2010 South Michigan Avenue include Guy and Charlie Musselwhite, while the tracks include blues classic by various Chess greats as well as two Thorogood originals.

To support the new release, Thorogood has launched a new webisode series which features commentary from himself and Tom Hambridge, giving fans an in-depth look at the inspiration behind the album and how they went about reinterpreting blues standards. more on this story

Movie Resurrected Anvil

(RockAAA) Anvil were fading into obscurity before the movie made about their struggle shot them into the limelight.

During a fulsome interview with Danish rockzine Diskant at the Copenhell Festival, Anvil drummer Robb Reiner talked about the impact, 'Anvil! The Story of Anvil' has had on his life, catapulting him from a C-list rocker into the sort of recognition he felt was only for superstars. "It's crazy, I'm a rocker, not a movie star, but it made us into movie stars. It turned Lips and I into very, very famous people.

"I never expected that kind of recognition. You know Paul McCartney knows who we are! We met Paul McCartney, and he went, 'hey it's the Anvil boys' and I'm like 'Paul McCartney know who I am?'" more on this story

Kaura Will Be Defined in September

(APR) Kaura is set to release their debut full-length CD/DVD, That Which Defines Us, on September 20th, 2011.

Produced by singer Malcolm Guess, the album is a testament of dedication, taking over two years to record with the assistance of rock luminaries such as Sylvia Massey (Tool, System of a Down, Danzig), Ken Andrews (Failure, A Perfect Circle) and Michael Romanowski (Dredg).

Central to the album's sound were instruments that the band collected on their travels to India, Thailand, Bali, Cambodia, Laos, and Nepal. more on this story

The Static Jacks Hitting The Road With The Wombats

The Static Jacks have announced Fall Tour of North America with The Wombats in addition to their special festival appearances and current dates with Manchester Orchestra.

The tour is kicking off October 21st at the 9:30 Club in DC and is set to wrap up in mid-November in Seattle, WA.

This will be the band's first trek following the release of their debut album If You're Young (due out August 30th on Fearless Records). more on this story

Doro Pesch Adds New U.S. DVD Release Show

Doro Pesch has announced a second U.S. DVD release show for this September. Here are the details we were sent:

In 2008, legendary metal queen, DORO PESCH, celebrated her 25th anniversary concert at the ISS Dome in her hometown of Dusseldorf, Germany.

With over 8,500 people in attendance, the magical, full-documented performance included guest appearances by Overkill's Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, Grave Digger's Chris Boltendahl, former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen, Scorpions' Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker, Liv Kristine (Leaves' Eyes), Floor Jansen (After Forever), Axel Rudi Pell and many others. The set was recorded in its entirety and resulted in the mammoth 25 Years In Rock 2 DVD/CD set which includes the once-on-a-lifetime concert as well as out-takes from DORO's 2,500th concert and more. 25 Years In Rock will finally be available to North American fans on September 13, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records. more on this story

Middle Class Rut Cover Bob Dylan Classic

(PH) Today Middle Class Rut released a limited edition vinyl 10" that features their cover of Bob Dylan's "Hurricane."

The two B-side tracks are "Dead Set", off their 25 Years EP, live from XFM Studios in London and the first ever live, acoustic recording of their radio hit "New Low", off their debut album No Name No Color, from BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London.

Only 1,000 copies have been created and they will be made available exclusively online and in person at their shows.

Check out their cover of "Hurricane" a day early and a short behind-the-scenes video here.

Beady Eye Add Date To American Tour

Beady Eye have added a Boston, MA show to their upcoming North American Fall 2011 Tour.

The band (Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock) will be giving Boston fans a first live taste of their debut album, Different Gear, Still Speeding on December 10th at the House of Blues as part of a series of concerts beginning in Vancouver, BC on November 29th, including a return stop in New York City on December 9th and concluding in Boston on the 10th.

The band will be joined by Matt Jones on keyboards and Jeff Wootton on bass for all dates. more on this story

Singled Out: Razer's Do You Want It

Today Chris Catero from Razer tells us about "Do You Want It" from their brand new album "Dark Devotion," which hit stores today. Here is the story:

The song "Do You Want It" actually was a very weird co-write with the ex-Megadeth guitar god Marty Friedman who I've been friends with for many years and have even played with on an off in his touring band. Originally the song was an instrumental tune called "It's The Unreal Thing" that Marty had been working on for his "Music For Speeding" record while still living in Phoenix where we do (he now resides permanently in Tokyo, Japan). This was around 2005 and I had been up at his house checking out tracks he was working on and he played me a working version of the song. I immediately heard the chorus melody in my head over the tune's kick ass main riff and told him "Dude this should be a vocal song!" where he promptly told me to get to it then haha! he finished up his record and after it came out I kind of went away with the tune and wrote lyrics and melodies, did some rearranging and worked up a version now titled "Do You Want It" with the Razer guys (this before our singer Chris Powers joined the band). It was an odd co-write in that Marty and I never sat together and worked on this, the vibe was kind of like "Here you paint your part of the picture, and then I'll take it away and paint my own thing on top of it" but what it ended up as totally worked! The tune made some Razer demos at the time but ultimately sat on the shelf after we revamped the band with Chris now singing.

Fast forward to late 2010 and our management started talking to us about doing some new tracks and a couple covers with the idea of putting out an expanded version of our "Dark Devotion" album. As a writer I'm never one to give up on a good song (I have plenty of tunes in my own back catalog that are waiting to be used) and I suggested we re-approach "Do You Want It" as it just has this over the top anthemic quality that I thought we could use. So I went back to the demo version we originally did and tightened up the arrangement while working with our guitarist Jeromy Graves on some additional guitar stuff as he's awesome at tasty "icing" guitar parts. Powers pretty much killed vocals (as he always does!) and our producer Chuck Alkazian added some great production elements and made the tune sound enormous so the final piece was actually getting Marty to send me some solos for the it. Given that we had done this weird, off beat co-write I thought it would be really cool to have him on this, and Friedman definitely brought the heat with what he played! Even before we became buddies he was one of my most favorite guitar players; not only is he technically brilliant but even more so in his feel and phrasing, so to have his talents on the track really topped it off.

Lyrically I like using colorful words and this was definitely a tune I could use some cool wording and phrasing. I also purposely left the lyrics somewhat vague because "It" is something different to everyone and I want people to form their own mental movies to the tune. I'm big into sports so it has that "let's go kick some ass" vibe for me...so for whatever "it" is to you go get it already damn it!

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

. Remake-Remodel: Moody Bluegrass Two... Much Love: A Nashville Celebration of the Moody Blues

It is a hallmark of well-written material that it can be adapted to a wide variety of genres and the Moodys material proves to be a good fit for the old-timey, distinctly American music. - Read the full Moody Bluegrass Two... Much Love: A Nashville Celebration of the Moody Blues review