Metal Guitarist Calls Cops On Himself

Officers carefully approached him on his porch at 7.30am on October 27, but when they asked him to put down his weapon he did. They searched his home and discovered a second weapon which had been modified, which is an offence in California. Godfrey was charged with two felonies related to the guns and jailed, with bail set at $30,000. more on this story

Former Singer Sues Anthrax

(Rock News Desk) Singer Dan Nelson wants $2.5m from Anthrax after the 18 months of turmoil he spent with the band as they struggled to make comeback album Worship Music.

Nelson was named the thrash act's replacement frontman in 2007 after John Bush was sidelined in favour of classic-era singer Joey Belladonna. The reunion fell apart but Bush refused to return.

Anthrax recorded an album with Nelson, but on the verge of its release they announced he'd resigned saying he was too ill to tour. The singer retaliated with a statement saying he'd been dumped while he made arrangements to fly to Europe with the band.

Nelson now says he's entitled to $2.65m in compensation. more on this story

Metallica on New Rihanna Album

(hennemusic) Pop superstar Rihanna is getting a little heavy on at least one track on her new album, "Talk That Talk," and she went to the right place to do that – Metallica.

Advance previews of the record, due November 21, say the track "Red Lipstick" features a sample of Metallica's "Wherever I May Roam," with the tune's heavy guitar riff featured at the beginning of the Rihanna song.

"Red Lipstick" is reportedly credited as being written/produced by The-Dream, Rihanna, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, William Kennard, and Saul Milton. The song features the Metallica riffage plus samples "Saxon" by Chase and Status. more on this story

Alice Cooper Guitarist Makes Comeback After Paralysis, Coma, Stroke and more

(Gibson) Dick Wagner, famed for his guitar work with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, is played a show in Michigan on Friday that is some achievement. Wagner suffered a heart attack and stroke five years ago, leaving him unable to play guitar. He then suffered kidney failure, a coma, water on the brain, a head injury from a swimming pool fall and a near-fatal blood clot in January 2011.

"I've come back from a lot of major stuff," Wagner now tells The Detroit Free Press with bluntness. Wagner is the guitar player on Lou Reed's Rock 'n' Roll Animal and many Alice Cooper staples such as Welcome to My Nightmare. He's also played with Aerosmith, Lou Reed, KISS, Meat Loaf, Steve Perry, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart, Little Richard and many more.

In recent years, Wagner had to re-teach himself how to play guitar. "It was so terrible at first," he admits. "It was a lot of work, a lot of stress, but I came through it with sheer determination and some brilliant doctors."

Wagner reunited with Cooper and producer Bob Ezrin for 2011's Welcome 2 My Nightmare album, contributing the song "Something to Remember Me By" and guitar work to the album-closing "Underture." more on this story

Rolling Stones Members Comment on Possibility of 50th Anniversary Tour

(hennemusic) The members of the Rolling Stones spoke with The Guardian about the possibility of them playing for their 50th anniversary next year.

Ronnie Wood says he's having a long overdue operation next month to fix a cracked bone in his foot "so I'm ready for action next year, just in case." In case of a tour? "Fifty years!" he shrieks. "It's got to be done."

"I would like to think we'd do a tour," says Charlie Watts. "Um, if we don't, we don't. I mean, I've felt like that for the last 50 years. It's never bothered me if the Rolling Stones stopped tomorrow."

"I've no idea," says the non-committal Mick Jagger. "We don't really get together that much as a group." more on this story

Velvet Revolver May Find Their Voice This Year

(Rock News Desk) Duff McKagan is confident that Velvet Revolver will have a new vocalist by the end of the year.

They recently performed with Ours frontman Jimmy Gnecco at a benefit concert, of which McKagan says: "There was a singer there we might write some songs with.

"I think we may be looking at somebody in December, which is fun to think about. I believe in my heart of hearts it'll happen." more on this story

Led Sabbath: Iommi Talks About Jam With John Bonham

(Gibson) Gibson.com talked with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi during his recent Iron Man book-signing tour of the U.S. And at a bookstore in New Jersey, Iommi confesses that the promotional work is tougher than he thought: "Compared to playing music, this is hard work!" he chuckles. "You're meeting different people all day, there's lots of interviews… I'm pretty tired of it already. But I'll keep going. But I'm definitely ready for bed after a day of constant promotion."

Here is just an excerpt from the interview: Iron Man is full of fascinating anecdotes, but I certainly didn't know about Led Zeppelin's John Bonham jamming with Black Sabbath.

No, very few people knew that. As I say, this is my private life that I've never laid bare before. Are there tapes of that jam? I really don't know. They might exist on the end of some master-tapes we had, but I certainly don't have them. John was a good friend, best man at my first wedding, and he liked us. We jammed through "Supernaut" [from 1972 Sabbath album Vol. 4]. John loved that track.

Though we ended up just jamming 12-bar blues at the end. "Supernaut" got too complicated for John! He was going all over the place. Read the full interview here.

Zakk Wylde Moving Ahead With Un-Blackened DVD Plans

(Banana 101.5) Zakk Wylde previously mentioned plans for an acoustic based DVD with some guest musicians like Slash and Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell. According to the Black Label Society frontman, they will be executing that plan in the very near future.

In his recent interview with UWeekly, the former Ozzy axeman revealed that the two previously mentioned projects are just the beginning of Black Label's exploration with their lighter tendencies:

"Well, actually 'cause we did the mellow thing, so basically that's the precursor because we're going to do an 'un-blackened' DVD. You know, we did the two DVDs with the heavy show, so now we're going to do the un-plugged DVD. So, we're going to have some string sections in there, pedal steel guitars in the background, some guests … some of my rockstar buddies to sit in there and stuff like that. We're setting that up while we're doing the Priest thing." more on this story

Sammy Hagar Comments on Van Halen Grammy Concert Reports

(hennemusic) Rolling Stone caught up with Sammy Hagar at Chickenfoot's recent New York show to get his take on the Grammy Awards' announcement that their November 30 Nominations Concert special will include "a special, live announcement from an iconic group regarding their historic band reunion set to take place" on the Grammy stage on February 12, 2012" – which was followed by the tweet, "Who do u predict the reuniting band will be @ #GRAMMYnoms? Does this hint make u wanna 'Jump' & 'Dance the Night Away'?"

Hagar tells RS that any VH reunion won't include him. "If Van Halen play, it will be Dave, Eddie, Alex, and Wolfie [Wolfgang Van Halen], his kid – it wouldn't be Mike [Anthony] and I.

"First of all, we wouldn't be invited and second of all, if we were invited, we probably wouldn't do it. If Eddie is in the same condition he was the last time I saw him, I don't want to step onstage with him." more on this story

Journey Receives Legend Award

(hennemusic) Journey received the Legend Of Live Award Thursday night at the 2011 Billboard Touring Awards in New York, part of the Billboard Touring Conference.

The award honors groups or individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to live music and the touring business, and acknowledges the recipients' commitment to the art of performing live and reaching fans through the concert experience.

Journey remains a hugely successful touring band, having sold nearly 1 million tickets and averaging more than $600,000 a night at the box office on this year's "Eclipse" tour, according to Billboard Boxscore. more on this story

Godsmack's Sully Erna Plans 3D DVD

Godsmack singer Sully Erna has invited fans to a special upcoming solo show next month which is set to be filmed.

According to Erna's website, the hometown show will take place at on December 16 at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, MA.

The concert will be filmed for an upcoming 3D DVD. Loadwire reports that Erna plans to lead an eight-piece ensemble as they play his debut solo effort 'Avalon' from start to finish. Read their full report here.

James Durbin Recruits In This Moment Members For His Band

(hennemusic) James Durbin has added two new players to his band. Drummer Jeff Fabb and guitarist Blake Bunzel have left Southern California metal group In This Moment to join Durbin, who releases his debut, "Memories Of A Beautiful Disaster, On November 21.

Durbin shared the news in a recent interview withNoisecreep... "I'm really excited about the guys I have playing with me," said James. "My lead guitarist, Dylan, also plays in a metal band called Archer - who you might know from them opening for bands like Black Label Society. Our bassist, Tyle, played in a glam band called Dirty Penny. Our rhythm guitarist Blake Bunzel and drummer Jeff Fabb left the band In This Moment and are now doing this with me full time."

A few days later, In This Moment let their fans in on the news, via their Facebook page, writing: "We want to announce that Jeff and Blake are no longer a part of In This Moment. They have left the band to support American Idol contestant James Durbin, and we wish them the best in their future endeavors. We are embracing this change with open arms, and a renewed spirit…. sometimes you have to let go of whats in your hands to reach for something greater! more on this story

Axl Rose Takes Negative Stories Personally

(Rock News Desk) Axl Rose says he takes all the negative stories about him personally, and it takes him a long time to get over each one.

He admits he's suffered from poor-timekeeping all his life, and regrets touring with Guns N' Roses in 1991 as the classic lineup began to disintegrate. But in a candid interview with That Metal Show he finds time to laugh at himself and joke about what he does in his downtime.

"It's like two decades of people talking and most of the time they're talking about things somebody who had a bias started. They could have said them jokingly," Rose says on That Metal Show. "'Axl's a dictator' – I know exactly where that started. It started with a woman who was interviewing us and Izzy called me 'the Ayatollah' in the interview. It just rolled from there. It didn't hit me I should nip this in the bud."

Asked how he manages not to take things personally he says: " I think I have, then I have to work at getting over it. It takes a really long time." A lot more here.

Jonathan Davis Says Korn Can't Win With Their Fans

(Banana 101.5) Jonathan Davis made an unusual series of comments regarding Korn's upcoming dubstep-infused record 'The Path of Totality.'

Jonathan Davis is did some heavy anti-promotion for the band's new album 'The Path of Totality,' when speaking with Kerrang! recently. Davis forewarned hardcore fans that the album they made with a barrage of different dubstep artists is most likely not for them:

"People are going to be pissed about this record. That's made me even more excited about it. I don't give a flying f— what people think. We can't win with Korn fans. Some are so stuck in 1994." Find out what he thinks of being the godfather of nu-metal.

Sepultura Announce Lineup Change

Sepultura have replaced drummer Jean Dolabella with 20-year-old drum prodigy Eloy Casagrande.

According to the band's website, Casagrande is from Sao Paulo, Brazil and he won the Modern Drummer Undiscovered Drummer Contest as a teenager in 2006. "When I got the invitation to join Sepultura, I was in shock," said Casagrande. "I'm a fan of the band for years; it'll be an honor to play with them.""

Commented guitarist, Andreas Kisser, "I'm sure Eloy will do a great job with Sepultura. He's already a musician who shows a lot of strength and technique, although he's young. We did a rehearsal with him and it was fantastic; he played the old and new material as if he was in the band for a long time. Sepultura will show the world another Brazilian talent on the drums." more on this story

The Eagles Pondering Musical and Documentary

Timothy B. Schmit is currently focusing on his solo endeavors but says that The Eagles have some possible projects up their sleeves including a musical.

Ultimate Classic Rock reports: Schmit told VH1 Classic Radio that while 2012 looks "very slow" for The Eagles at this point, there are other things in the works, such as "a documentary of the history of the Eagles. There's talk about a musical. You know, Broadway."

He said, "But that would be, I would think, two to three years down the line at the soonest. But as far as touring, I haven't heard, so far there's nothing planned." more on this story

Cheap Trick To Open Restaurant And Museum

(Gibson) Rock band Cheap Trick have announced plans to open a rock and roll themed restaurant and museum in Chicago.

According to Yahoo News, the band's manager told Reuters that the plan is for Cheap Trick to play a key role as an anchor tenant in a new entertainment district being developed on South Michigan Avenue, where Chess, Brunswick and Vee-Jay Records were once based.

Cheap Trick Chicago would include a radio station, a performance area and instrument museum, and a restaurant. Cheap Trick came out of Rockford, Illinois, just 60 miles west of Chicago. more on this story

R.E.M. Member Explain Break Up

(Gibson) R.E.M. may have split up, but they cannot stop talking about it. In an interview with U.K. newspaper The Guardian, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills all talk about their split.

Guitarist Peter Buck reckons global success changed the dynamic of R.E.M. "Once we had a hit single, things changed a little bit," Buck admits. "We were, like: Wow, there's so many young people out there. Like, teenage girls. One show, while Michael was talking [to the audience], Mike says to me: Look how many people there are. I think at least one person in this place has murdered somebody. And, well, yeah – if you've got 56,000 people in a place, I guess there is a murderer out there. I would like to think that we don't draw an extra number of them, but you never know."

Buck also admits that he, Stipe and Mills have different work tempos. "The three of us have … not different goals, but different ways of approaching what we want to do," he said. "And mine is radically different from the other guys. I've found as I get older that I like to work quickly and spontaneously. I don't like doing the same thing over and over again." more on this story

Metallica Riot Concert Promoters Released On Bail

(hennemusic) Four organizers of last month's cancelled Metallica show in Gurgaon, India have been released on bail.

The Hindustan Times reports Rajesh Kumar (General Manager, DNA Entertainment Networks) and his colleagues Umesh Chinara, Ashok Singh and Savio Faleiro were granted bail against surety bonds of Rs 30,000 each.

The four were taken under custody on October 28 against fraud charges and breach of trust for the last-minute cancellation of the Metallica concert, and were sent to police custody for around six days; last week, they were placed in judicial custody for 14 days by a local court. more on this story

Sebastian Bach Revisits Reason for Split With Skid Row

(Rock News Desk) Sebastian Bach has hit out against his former Skid Row bandmates for the way the treated him before his dismissal.

The frontman was fired from the band in 1996 after refusing to sing new material that he did not like, which he states has since appeared on Skid Row's albums featuring replacement vocalist Johnny Solinger.

Bach says: "I refused to sing them because I didn't think they were as good as 18 & Life. I didn't get into this business to sing music I don't like. I can't sing a song that I don't love. They'd come up with an idea, I'd go to the microphone, and my mouth would shut. It wasn't in my control." more on this story