Van Halen Premiering New Song On TV Tonight

Earlier this week, Van Halen added three more shows to their North American tour; new dates include Manchester, New Hampshire; University Park, Pennsylvania; and St. Louis, Missouri. more on this story

Blink-182's Travis Barker Threatens Legal Action Over Nude Photos

(Banana 101.5) Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is threatening a gossip website with legal action after they posted some leaked pictures of Barker's "drumstick."

The website MediaTakeOut.com posted nude pics of an "unnamed musician" that they received from a female admirer. The anonymity was canceled out by the instantly recognizable tattoos that were also visible in the pic and it didn't take long for word to get out that Barker was the musician in question.

TMZ reports that Barker's attorney has served the website with a cease and desist letter in hopes that they won't have to take further legal action to remove the photos. more on this story

Godsmack, Staind, and Halestorm Plan Mass Chaos

(Banana 101.5) Godsmack, Staind, and Halestorm have dubbed their upcoming join venture the Mass Chaos Tour and have announced the specifics of the 20-date trek.

The tour will be co-headlined by Godsmack and Staind with support from Halestorm and will kick off in April.

Godsmack is planning a live release that may include studio recorded cover songs, while Halestorm will release their next album 'The Strange Case of…" on April 10th. more on this story

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Tour

(Gibson) The Boss is back with a vengeance in 2012. Bruce Springsteen is releasing a new album. He's giving the keynote address at South by Southwest. And now, he's announced he'll be hitting the road for a string of U.S. dates with the E Street Band, according to Rolling Stone.

Bruce Springsteen and pals will begin a 19-date tour on March 18 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. The trek will wind its way up the East Coast, including multiple dates in New Jersey and at Madison Square Garden, before hitting New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and wrapping up May 2 in Newark. The group will tour Europe in the summer and return for another North American trek in the fall.

It will be the first E Street Band tour without saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who died last year. There's no word on if Clemons spot in the group will be filled by another player. Springsteen's new studio album, Wrecking Ball, will be released on March 6. more on this story

Mayhem For Slipknot?

(Banana 101.5) An Ibanez guitar representative may have leaked some top secret info at this weekend's National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) when he casually named Slipknot as a headliner on Mayhem Fest.

Every year thousands of aspiring and professional musicians converge on NAMM in Anaheim, California — it's sort of like Comic-Con for musicians. NAMM gives vendors a chance to show off their latest instruments and often times well-known musicians appear to endorse their own signature series products. A rep for Ibanez guitars was showing off Slipknot guitarist Mick Thomson's signature axe when he volunteered a bit too much info on where the guitar will soon be played.

In a video you can see Ibanez rep Russ Rosenfeld accidentally say that Slipknot is headlining this year's Mayhem Festival, which kicks off in late June. Read more and check out the video here.

Joy Division Fans Vs Mickey Mouse

(Gibson) The Walt Disney Company has drawn the ire of some Joy Division fans for using the band's iconic Unknown Pleasures album cover as the basis for a T-shirt design featuring Mickey Mouse.

But Disney is free to use the image since the original cover is in the public domain and was never actually owned by Joy Division. It was taken from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. It depicts CP 1919, the first radio pulsar ever detected (in July 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell).

Factory Records co-founder Peter Saville told The Guardian last year that the image was the only time the band gave the label an album cover suggestion. "They gave me the title too but I didn't hear the album," Saville said. "The wave pattern was so appropriate. It was from CP 1919, the first pulsar, so it's likely that the graph emanated from Jodrell Bank, which is local to Manchester and Joy Division. And it's both technical and sensual." more on this story

Black Sabbath Come Full Circle

(hennemusic) Black Sabbath have updated fans about the progress on their new album and announce that things have come full circle for them.

They write, "The guys have moved writing sessions from Los Angeles to Birmingham, England. Sabbath has gone back to where it all started and it's been just amazing. This is where the writing of the album will be completed. Funny how it all goes full circle sometimes."

Sabbath moved the sessions following the recent news that guitarist Tony Iommi has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphocytes, a type of cell that forms part of the immune system. more on this story

John Sykes Pulls Out of Mike Portnoy Project

(Gibson) Former Whitesnake guitarist and Gibson signature artist John Sykes has pulled out of his planned collaboration with ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy.

MelodicRock.com reports that no official reason has been given for Sykes' departure, but it is understood that a new guitarist will be brought in to the project, along with a yet-to-be-named bass player.

Portnoy isn't exactly looking for work at the moment. In addition to his current band Adrenaline Mob, the drummer also is working with guitarist Steve Morse, multi-instrumentalist Neal Morse of Spock's Beard, Dixie Dregs bass player Dave LaRue and vocalist Casey McPherson (Alpha Rev, Endochine) in a new band called Flying Colors. An album is currently in the recording stage, and is due on March 27. more on this story

Creed's Mark Tremonti Releasing Solo Album in An Unusual Way

(Gibson) Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti will release his debut solo album, All I Was, in the spring [in an unconventional way].

The album features Tremonti – an accomplished shredder, especially after hitting the woodshed with Rusty Cooley – on lead vocals as well as guitar, while Eric Friedman provides backing vocals, bass and guitar. Garret Whitlock handles the drums.

Tremonti has finished tracking the majority of his guitar parts, and mixing will begin in February. Tremonti recently said the album would likely have a unique distribution model. "We're trying to do it different," Tremonti said. "We're trying to every month put out two songs with, you know, your ringtones, your T-shirts, with – I'm gonna do instructional DVDs and the other guys will do instructional stuff, tutorials on how to play the songs and whatnot. After six months we'll release the whole album, and if everybody downloads the songs along the way, they'll get a signed copy of the whole record. We'll do everything we can to make it appealing to people." more on this story

Joe Cocker Returns With Hard Knocks

429 Record have released Joe Cocker's 21st album, entitled Hard Knocks, this week. They had the following to say about the disc:

"Hard Knocks" is a collection of 9 all-new songs plus a cover version of the Dixie Chicks' "I Hope." Produced by Matt Serletic (Matchbox 20, Carlos Santana), "Hard Knocks" has the timeless "Cocker" sound fusing soul, pop and rhythm and blues into an undeniably infectious mix of a singularly unique contemporary style.

The first single, title track "Hard Knocks," has been racing up the AC Radio charts reaching #19* last week. Cocker will also be interviewed on a forthcoming edition of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday—date TBD. more on this story

Gwar Set For Tour With Municipal Waste and Corey Smoot Tribute Show

Lock up your garden gnomes because Gwar have announced the initial dates of the second leg of their "Return of the World Maggot Tour".

The tour kicks off with a special tribute show for fallen band mate and friend Cory Smoot, AKA Flattus Maximus, in Richmond, VA, at The National Theater on Friday March 16th. All proceeds from the Richmond show will benefit the "Smoot Family Fund" which has been established to help support Cory's widow and their unborn child.

Municipal Waste and California's Ghoul will join the mayhem for the full run and egacy of Disorder will join the tour on March 20th in Boston and the tour will run through April 11th in Fort Collins, CO. more on this story

Local H Recruit Sanford Parker For New Album

Local H are hard at work on their next album at Engine Studios with metal producer Sanford Parker (Bloodiest, Pelican, Yakuza), with whom Lucas recently worked on his second solo album.

The new Local H album, tentatively titled Hallelujah! I'm A Bum, will be out this summer.

"Sanford's awesome," Lucas says. "He's been at the forefront of the most interesting things happening out of Chicago for a while, and it's truly an invigorating experience to work with him. And, if he would quit f***ing feeding me all this whiskey, I'd be alright."

Local H has been road-testing the new songs for the past year. Songs slated for recording include audience favorites "Another February" and "Paddy Considine."

Lucas has been documenting the recording sessions, posting a series of iPhone videos that reveal snippets of songs on the band's

Facebook page more on this story

Extreme Plan Pornograffiti Concerts

(Gibson) Extreme will perform their 1990 breakthrough album Pornograffiti in its entirety in Japan later this year.

The band quietly unveiled Japanese dates over the weekend on their official website. They will play consecutive nights at the Tokyo Dome City Hall on April 16 and 17, and at Namba Hatch in Osaka on April 18. Although no other dates have been announced, it would be rather unusual for the band to go to all the trouble of re-learning all of the material for only three shows.

The album's full title is Extreme II. Pornograffitti (A Funked Up Fairy Tale). It peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200, and included the song "More Than Words," which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991. The album's other acoustic-based track, "Hole Hearted," reached #4. But the majority of the album's tracks were post-Van Halen rockers, including "He-Man Woman Hater," which features intro and outro solos by Dweezil Zappa. At the time Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt also contributed to Dweezil's solo album Confessions, including a ripping solo on a cover of the Bee Gees' "Staying Alive." more on this story

Judas Priest's K.K. Downing Going Into The Hotel Biz

(Gibson) K.K. Downing, who left the veteran metal band Judas Priest last April, is embarking on an ambitious project to build a hotel on his sprawling estate in England.

According to the Shropshire Star, Downing has proposed a 63-room hotel with pool, spa and restaurant be built on his 320-acre Astbury Hall estate. Downing said: "I am speaking to various corporations about investment and I'm optimistic we can start pushing through with the plans for development this year.

"The next step is putting together all the costing of everything, which includes the golf, practice areas and purpose built clubhouse – as well as the hotel, leisure and spa facilities. more on this story

Mychildren Mybride Plan New Beginning With New Album

Solid State Records have set a March 13th release date for Mychildren Mybride's new self-titled album.

Guitarist Robert Bloomfield calls the album is a new beginning for the band, adding, "I really do feel we found our sound. It's definitely MCMB still, but with this new flare that we've all loved and understood but never figured out a way to translate it to our music."

"I feel like everything we've done as a band all comes together in this one record," Bloomfield says. "Everything we've learned along the way. We put all our love and hate into it. It's the best album in our career so far."
In celebration of the release, the band will be setting sail on a two-month trek alongside FOR TODAY, A SKYLIT DRIVE, STICK TO YOUR GUNS and MAKE ME FAMOUS that includes dozens of stops throughout the U.S. and Canada, culminating in a spot at the infamous New England Metal and Hardcore Festival in Worcester, MA. more on this story

The Apples in Stereo Reissue Classic Album on Vinyl

Yep Roc Records have reissued The Apples in Stereo's classic debut album, Fun Trick Noisemaker, on vinyl this week.

Originally released in 1995, the album has not been available on vinyl in more than 15 years. The reissue includes all of the original artwork, liner notes, rephotographed paintings by Steve Keene, and a four-color poster insert.

Upon its original release in the spring of 1995, All Music Guide called The Apples in Stereo's debut full length "one of those records that marks a sea change in musical attitudes." Fun Trick Noisemaker facilitated that shift by moving the focus away from the negativity of the grunge era, towards a sunnier, more psychedelic vision of rock music. more on this story

The Veer Union and My Darkest Days Spring Tour

The Veer Union are teaming up with fellow Canadians My Darkest Days to head south for a series of Spring tour dates in the United States.

The late March/early April run will mark The Veer Union's first US dates in over a year and will kick off on March 30th in South Bend, In.

"We are excited to announce we will be hitting the road with the boys in My Darkest Days in late March," said vocalist, Crispin Earl. "The last live show that we played in the USA was in Kansas City in 2010, and it was a party. Can't wait to 'Get that money, smack that money' in 2012!" more on this story

Running Wild Return With New Album

(Freeman) Running Wild have reunited and will release their brand new album "Shadowmaker" in Germany on April 20th, in Europe on April 23rd and in the US/Canada on April 24th 2012 on SPV / Steamhammer.

The album will be released as a limited first edition in a black jewel case with silver printing and slipcase plus a 40 min bonus DVD with a making of and a track by track commentary by Rock N´Rolf. The double gatefold LP will come with printed inner sleeves and clear vinyl. There also will be a box set limited to 1.000 copies worldwide. It contains 2 LPs, the black jewel case with the DVD, a poster, a sticker, a postcard and a 30 page book in LP size about the history of the band.

The cover of "Shadowmaker" is the most unusual in the history of the band, but when you listen to the title track and read the lyrics, you will understand the meaning of it. It was created by Rock N´Rolf and Jens Reinhold (Evergrey, Freedom Call, Virgin Steele etc...), who also will do the complete artwork for all configurations. more on this story

Kid Rock Guitarist Kenny Olson Going Solo

Kenny Olson, Kid Rock guitarist and founding member of Twisted Brown Trucker Band, is going solo.

Foxy Music/Firebird have announced a February 7th release of Olson's debut solo album, Kenny Olson Cartel.

To give fans a taste of what is coming, the album's first single "Up All Night," is being offered as a free download here.

Singled Out: Blessed By A Broken Heart's Forever

Today Blessed By A Broken Heart drummer Slater and guitarist Sam Ryder tells us about their new song "Forever" from their brand new album "Feel the Power," which hit stores this week. Here is the story:

Slater: Forever has got to be my favorite track on the record. It's just so melodically infectious. The life of the song has an interesting story. I couldn't sleep one night, tossing and turning in my bed, and this riff came to mind. Usually when I write, I'm in the studio with a piano or a guitar bangin' it out, but this time, the progressions, melodies, and even the arrangement was all magically coming together all in my head. It was 4am, but there was no way I was gonna sleep and possibly forget this potential smash hit come the next morning…So, I went downstairs to my recording studio, fired up the rig, and just hit record.

Everything was just flowing out of me, and the song was completely demoed out in a few hours. It's the most technical & melodic composition I have ever composed, yet was also the fastest song to ever come together. Ironic? The guitars and big synth allowed the song to keep that turbo 80s vibe, but the feel, progression, and arrangement made the song pop radio worthy.

I was so stoked on this song being "the one," I had to tag team up with Shred Sean to get his shred touch all over it. So, I immediately flew up to New York City with my mobile recording rig in a suitcase. I got off the plane, we went to his parents Deli to get some fuel, and went back to his lower east side pad to join forces on this one. He laid down some sick leads over the meat and potatoes, and then slapped his special shred sauce all over the chorus by composing the lead vocal melody on the chorus. Then it was time for the solo… I just looped the section, hit record, and he did what he does best. The most fun was the last part of the solo where the synth leads dual up with the shred… very "Dragonforce" like. It's the climax of the song.. and explodes into the soft bridge.

Although the solo shows the virtuoso of his playing, the slow bridge solo was our favorite. Blessed had never had a slow section with smooth & sexy shred. He laid it down and called it "The Sex." When he laid down the sex solo over the synth pads, we felt like we composed a musical movement from an 80s romance flick. Its cheese, but in a serious way.

The song was so busy musically…with leads + synth + pads, we thought it would be impossible to write vocals over it, and the song was gonna stay instrumental. We titled it "feel the power."

A few months later, Sam Ryder joined the band and loved the song. So his first assignment & challenge was to make sick lyrics and vocals for the tune. We told him that if he could do it, then he was officially in the band…

Sam continues the story here!