Wanna Hear Tom Cruise Sing Guns N' Roses Classic?

Tom Cruise plays the role of Stacee Jaxx, the biggest rock star in the world; in the film, he sings renditions of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City." Audio of Tom's GNR cover has surfaced. Listen here.

Slipknot's Knotfest Music Fest To Feature Deftones, Lamb Of God and more

Slipknot are launching their very own hard rock and heavy metal music festival that will take place naturally enough in America's heartland.

The first-ever Knotfest will feature Slipknot, Deftones, Lamb Of God, Dethklok, Serj Tankian, Cannibal Corpse, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Urge, Prong, Gojira and more.

Knotfest will debut on Friday, August 17 in Council Bluffs, IA at Mid America Motorplex and Saturday, August 18 in Somerset, WI/Minneapolis, MN at Somerset Amphitheater. more on this story

New ZZ Top Songs Online

(hennemusic) After nine years, ZZ Top finally issue new music on Tuesday as their "Texicali" EP is released.

Produced by Rick Rubin, the four-song set offers a preview of the group's full-length album, as yet untitled, that will be released late this summer or early fall. Fans purchasing the four songs will benefit from a pro-rated discount on the purchase of the full album when it is released.

"Texicali" features "I Gotsta Get Paid," "Chartreuse," "Over You" and "Consumption." Hear some of the new tracks here.

Hatebreed Plan 10 Years of Perseverance Tour

Hatebreed will be hitting the road this fall for the North American "10 Years of Perseverance" tour.

The trek will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the band's 2002 major-label debut, Perseverance.

The tour features direct support from Whitechapel and special guests All Shall Perish and Deez Nuts, and kicks off on September 13th in Clifton Park, NY. more on this story

Five Finger Death Punch Launch Suicide Prevention Initiative

The Five Finger Death Punch camp sent over word that the band has launched a suicide prevention initiative promoting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

In cooperation with the Lifeline, the band has filmed a public service announcement, which will be placed on all broadcast, cable and web outlets interested in supporting the initiative. The PSA can be screened here:

In addition, Five Finger Death Punch has independently filmed a visually arresting video that accompanies the single release of "Coming Down," which will premiere on VEVO on June 12 at 9:00AM Pacific. more on this story

Neil Young and Crazy Horse American Tour

(hennemusic) Neil Young and Crazy Horse have announced a North American tour, with shows kicking off October 3 in Windsor, Ontario.

They will be touring in support of their new release, "Americana," which hit stores today. It's the group's first album together since 2003's "Greendale," and their first with the full Crazy Horse line-up of Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank "Poncho" Sampedro since "Broken Arrow" in 1996.

The songs on "Americana" are all classic American folk songs, including "This Land Is Your Land," "Gallows Pole," "Tom Dooley" and "Clementine." more on this story

Jack White Expands North American Tour

(hennemusic) Jack White has announced the addition of a handful of US shows to his August tour in support of his new release, "Blunderbuss."

The album debuted last month at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 138,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Tickets for the newly-announced dates below go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 8th at 10 AM local time. more on this story

Stone Sour Recruit Skid Row Member For New Album

(Gibson) Skid Row bass player Rachel Bolan is laying down the bass on the forthcoming album by Stone Sour.

In an interview with TheBackstageBeat.com, Bolan said the call from Stone Sour/Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor came out of the blue one morning. "He's like, 'Would you be interested in playing bass on the new Stone Sour record?' So, of course, I said yes, 'cause I'm a huge fan of the band and they're all really, really great guys."

Bolan is recording 23 songs for the double-disc concept album, which is the follow-up to 2010's Audio Secrecy. The band officially split with bass player Shawn Economaki a few months ago, after he left mid-tour in 2011 to tend to personal issues. His replacement at the time was Jason Christopher, who ironically has now joined the touring band of former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach. more on this story

Fuel and Smile Empty Soul Supergroup World Fire Brigade Set Debut

Fuel and Smile Empty Soul supergroup World Fire Brigade will release their debut album, Spreading My Wings, worldwide on August 28th.

World Fire Brigade at its core is veteran songwriting trio Brett Scallions (frontman of Fuel, as well as lead vocalist with Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors), Sean Danielsen (lead singer/guitarist of Smile Empty Soul) and Eddie Wohl (producer/mixer for Anthax, Ill Nino, Smile Empty Soul, Jesse Malin, 36 Crazyfists and more).

Of Spreading My Wings, Scallions commented, "This is a record filled with all emotions, songs that fall back and forth from major to minor. I love that it's a heavy record with sing-a-long melodies. You don't hear that too much in this style of music." more on this story

Fountains of Wayne, Dr. John and Other Guest On New Harry Shearer CD

Harry Shearer (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons, A Mighty Wind) has set a August 27 release date for his new album, Can't Take a Hint, which features a all-star cast of musical collaborators.

Due out on Courgette Records through The Orchard on August 27, 2012, the set features giants of pop, R&B and jazz whom Shearer has gotten to know in his travels: Dr. John ("Autumn in New Orleans"), Glee's Jane Lynch ("Like a Charity"), the Fountains of Wayne ("Celebrity Booze Endorser"), Jamie Cullum ("A Few Bad Apples"), Alice Russell ("Trillion Dollar Bargain") and Judith Owen ("Your Thing"), and others. Shearer himself plays the bass on many of the songs.

Supporting these vocalists is a who's who of instrumentalists and producers: guitar stars Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Steve Lukather, Beach Boys/Brian Wilson musical director Jeffrey Foskett, producer John P. Fischbach, guitarist Bruce Gaitsch, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, session ace CJ Vanston and Memphis artist Charlie Wood. more on this story

Fear Factory Streaming New Album Online

Fear Factory release their new album, The Industrialist, in North American today and are currently streaming the effort online.

The Industrialist is the second album written by vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares since reuniting in 2009 after a seven-year split. Listen to the album stream here.

The Industrialist is a conceptual record based around a short story written by Bell. The record again pairs Fear Factory with producer Rhys Fulber and was mixed by Greg Reely (Paradise Lost/Skinny Puppy/Machine Head), with additional tracking by Logan Mader (Gojira/Divine Heresy). more on this story

Beach Boys Reunion Album Released Today

(Gibson) The Beach Boys today release That's Why God Made The Radio, their first album in decades to feature all surviving original members.

That's Why God Made The Radio features the current line-up of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks. Marks joined the band at age 13 in February 1962, playing rhythm guitar and singing harmony on their first four albums before departing in October 1963.

The new album, the band's 29th, is the band's first record to feature original material since 1992's Summer In Paradise, and the first to feature guitarist/vocalist David Marks since 1963's Little Deuce Coupe. Additional musicians to appear include guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Tom Bukovac and songwriter Jim Peterik (who collaborated on several songs and famously co-wrote Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger"), while the album closer, "Summer's Gone," is a co-write between Brian Wilson, producer Joe Thomas and Jon Bon Jovi. more on this story

Fitz and The Tantrums Kick Off American Tour Tonight

Fitz and The Tantrums are kicking off their extensive North American tour tonight at WorkPlay Soundstage in Birmingham, AL.

In addition to its headline dates, the band will play a two-night stand with Dave Matthews Band at New York's Jones Beach Amphitheater (6/12 & 13), join Ben Harper at the Santa Barbara Bowl (6/30) and the Hollywood Bowl (7/1), and make its return to Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre for a Fourth of July show with Blues Traveler.

Fitz and The Tantrums will also perform at numerous festivals (including Bonnaroo and Outside Lands). more on this story

Lionheart Launching The Lifer Tour

Lionheart will be hitting the road later this month for a North American headlining tour titled, "The Lifer Tour".

The tour kicks off on June 24th in Soledad, Ca and the band will be joined on the trek by Thick As Blood and Dead Icons.

The band will be touring in support of their recently released new record, "Undisputed" which came out on May 8th via Mediaskare Records more on this story

Jane's Addiction Expand Theatre of the Escapists Tour

(hennemusic) Jane's Addiction have announced additional summer dates for their "Theatre of the Escapists" tour.

The newly-announced shows make up the third leg of the band's current tour in support of their latest album, "The Great Escape Artist.">

New dates include stops in Indianapolis (Aug 23), Omaha, NE (Aug 25), Colorado Springs (Aug 26), Magna, UT (Aug 28), Vancouver (Aug 31), Portland (Sep 4) and Las Vegas (Sep 7). more on this story

Johnny Depp Jams With The Black Keys

(Gibson) Actor and musician Johnny Depp made another surprise guitar playing appearance, this time at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles.

NME.com reports that Johnny Depp and his beloved Les Paul Special jumped on stage with The Black Keys to play on their songs, "Gold On the Ceiling" and "Lonely Boy."

Depp was also presented with the prestigious MTV Generation Award at the ceremony. After viewing a montage of his movies, Depp said: "This is the get out of the business award. Based on watching all of those clips there is clearly something wrong with me." more on this story

The Cult Make Top 40 Return

(Gibson) The Cult had burst back into the Billboard Top 200 chart with their new album, Choice of Weapon.

The album debuted at #36 their best effort since 1991. Choice of Weapon also entered the Billboard Rock album chart at #17.

Gibson guitar great Slash debuted his new album, Apocalyptic Love at #4. One other notable debut this weeks sees the posthumous Ya Know? album, from punk icon Joey Ramone, enter the Top 200 chart at #180. more on this story

Joe Lynn Turner Made Joe Bonamassa A Singer

(Classic Rock) Joe Lynn Turner has taken credit for coaching blues star Joe Bonamassa into his singing role.

The former Rainbow vocalist, who later performed with Yngwie Malmsteen and Deep Purple, hired the young guitarist to appear on his 1985 solo debut Rescue You – but reveals Bonamassa was too scared to approach a microphone.

"Not many people realise this now he's huge: Joe was on my first solo album. He was 16, I think," Turner tells Geeks of Doom. "I had to kick his ass to sing. I was like, 'Come on,' like a coach, you know. I was like, 'You've got the tone, you've got the blues, you've got the soul. You got it! Just keep singing.' more on this story

Stuart Adamson Wanted Mike Peters To Front Big Country

(Classic Rock) Big Country mainman Stuart Adamson suggested Mike Peters should front the band long before his tragic suicide, says the Welsh singer and guitarist.

He remains proud to be fronting his old friend's outfit – and he's also preparing a unique movie-and-music tour with his own squad, the Alarm.

Peters was named as Adamson's replacement in 2010 when Big Country returned. But he says the idea was discussed before the Scotsman hanged himself in a Hawaii hotel in 2001. more on this story

Dr Feelgood Members Missed Out On Wilko Cash

(Classic Rock) Former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson was about to sign a deal giving his bandmates a share of his songwriting royalties when they fell out and split up.

It's one of many anecdotes that appear in his just-published book Looking Back At Me, which started as a collection of photos but has become much more as the musician – who's enjoying a new lease of life as Ilyn Payne in the TV series Game of Thrones – shared his memories with co-author Zoe Howe.

Johnson says: "I had got quite rich because of songwriting. Before we'd done the last album I had gone to the publishers at United Artists and said to them, 'I've made a fair bit of bread from these songs, and I'd never have written them if it hadn't been for the others, and I think they should share it. Can you write up some kind of contract where we share out the publishing money for this album?'

"They were a bit taken aback but it just seemed reasonable to me. Fortunately, we hadn't sorted that out by the time we broke up, so they never got their share." more on this story

B Sides

Singled Out: XFactor1

Today Ricky "Qball" Wolf from XFactor1 tells us about three songs from their brand new album "famous.last.words", which was unleashed today. Here is the story:

Bring It On. - ....was one of the those songs that just really came together nice and easy. Everyone in the band really understood that it was supposed to be fun like a real rock anthem song always is. We ripped right through it in the studio because everyone was so comfortable. We'd love to see this song find its way to the MMA arena. This song screams "I challenge you....to an ass kickin' and a cold beer"!

The Stroke - I've always loved this song because you could dance a little and still get the rock too. Of course it was the ladies getting busy that was always a plus. I know the band wasn't exactly crazy when I suggested it as a cover for us to record. But that didnt last long. LOL! Since the guys understand the music biz a little better than most bands it was the message/meaning about the song that helped win them over. Rock is raunchy, decadent, and at times, bittersweet. Just how we like it.

Over & Out - Everyone knows the best songs are the storys of our lives. Real passion, pain and emotion bring out the feeling. We've all been there and felt the pain of a break up. Thats how we write. From the heart. We thought this song came out great in the studio and it was the last one written for this record. Like pappy said "if the ladies aint payin attention, you aint pulled the right heart strings". Pappy was a wise man.

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

Aerosmith Satisfied With American Idol Jam

(hennemusic) Aerosmith have a new single, "Legendary Child," to promote, and the band did just that last week when they performed the track on the American Idol season finale.

In addition to the new tune, the Boston band also rocked Idol with their classic, "Walk This Way." Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford spoke with Access Hollywood following the Idol finale about the experience.

"It was a moment we've been looking forward to," explains Hamilton. "The opportunity - no matter where it is - to bring the news that we've got a new record out, a new song 'Legendary Child.' I can't believe it – it's up on iTunes, and it's just an unbelievably exciting satisfying moment." Watch it here.

Sebastian Bach Releases I'm Alive Video

(hennemusic) Sebastian Bach has released the video for "I'm Alive," the new single from his 2011 release, "Kicking & Screaming."

Directed by Devin DeHaven, the "I'm Alive," video is for the third single from the Bach solo effort.

Sebastian is currently playing shows in Europe; this week, he's set to perform at the Sweden Rock Festival (Thu), Hamburg, Germany (Fri) and the Download Festival (Sun). Watch the video here.

Life After Guns N' Roses For Slash

(hennemusic) Slash recently sat down with Time magazine to discuss his past, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame event, and the difference between his first solo album and the new one.

"[The first solo] record was what I would consider an isolated, one-off project, that's something I think I had in the back of my mind for a while. When I finally had the opportunity to do it, I did it," explains Slash. "What happened was I met Myles Kennedy and he sang a couple of songs, and so we did a tour to support that record, and it was during the tour that I thought I should make another record and just do it with just him."

Slash kicks off a series of UK and European dates starting June 6 at London's Hammersmith Apollo. Watch the interview clip here.

Anniversary of Stiv Bators' Death

(Gibson) On this day in 1990, American punk rock singer Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys and The Lords of the New Church died after being hit by a taxi in Paris, France. Gibson looks back:

It was June 5, 1990 and Stiv Bators, a cult hero from the New York punk scene was wandering the streets of Paris. For an outrageous rock and roll talent talent, known for his full-throttle performances that included self-mutilation, Iggy and Sid Vicious-style, his end was eerily unremarkable.

A little intoxicated as he strolled, Bators was hit by a car. Nothing too serious it seemed, or maybe his threshold for pain simply disguised the extent of his injuries. He casually mentioned the accident to his girlfriend Caroline t but said he didn't need medical treatment. Later in the evening, however, Stiv Bators began to have problems breathing. His girlfriend called for an ambulance but it was too late. Bators died from a blood clot and internal bleeding.

Which is where rock and roll legend and myth come into play. Stiv Bators was a massive Jim Morrison fan and had just visited the Doors enigma's grave in the Pre Lachaise Cemetery. Some say that Bators had told his girlfriend that he'd like his ashes scattered over Jim Morrison's grave in Paris and that she complied with his wishes. However, film director John Waters, who directed Bators in the movie, Polyester, claims in the director's commentary on the DVD that Stiv Bators' girlfriend instead snorted his ashes.

Bators had exploded on the New York punk scene in the Dead Boys alongside Cheetah Chrome, Jimmy Vero, Johnny Blitz and Jeff Magnum when they opened for Brit punks The Damned at CBGB in April 1977. Signed by Seymour Stein to Sire Records (Stein had previously signed The Ramones), they released Young Loud and Snotty, an outrageously powerful slice of NYC punk, but the album failed to sell. As the label tried to move the band ever pop-wards, the Dead Boys split.

After some solo adventures, Bators found his greatest success when he moved to England and formed Lords of the New Church with The Damned's Brian James, Sham 69's Dave Tregunna and Barracudas' drummer Nicky Turner. The band released three albums and an EP, but it was Bators' post-Iggy stage antics that draw the band their cult following. One night, Bators almost hanged himself on his microphone cord and was recorded as clinically dead for two minutes. more on this story