We have a shorter report than normal today due to illness. We hope to be back to full strength for our next report.

Metallica Find Freedom On New Album

(Gibson) Now that Lulu has come and gone, Metallica fans are wondering when they'll be hearing from the metal legends next. Drummer Lars Ulrich recently provided an update to Spin magazine.

"We're free and clear of our record contract. The world's our oyster," Ulrich said. "We can basically do whatever we want. And we're going to start figuring that out."

Indeed, the creative process is in the very early stages. "We're still throwing ideas around," Ulrich said. "We work in stages. Some people will write a song from beginning to end in one go. We don't do that. We'll develop, like, 10 ideas and do a couple cycles. We'll do a verse, chorus and maybe an intro, and then we'll leave them and go develop 10 other ideas. So it's a little early yet because we haven't gone back yet and started tweaking anything. Right now we're throwing ideas at the canvas and picking out great riffs." more on this story

Hear Unreleased Pantera Song

(Banana 101.5) Pantera recently announced that their only unreleased song would be included as part of the 'Vulgar Display of Power' 20th anniversary reissue and now fans get a sneak peek at the track 'Piss.'

Vinnie Paul previously explained the story behind the Pantera oddity:"The reissue has a song called 'Piss,' which I had forgotten about it. Some parts of it were taken for other songs, and at the time, it was the only song that did not make the record. In Pantera, we never had songs that didn't make the record. If we were going to write 11 songs, then we'd write 11 quality songs. Some bands write 40 songs and then hope they have nine good ones in the bunch. That sucks. Why not concentrate on writing 9 great ones and forget the 31 others? Anyway, this song, at the time, didn't feel right to go on the record, so we put it on the shelf. When I started digging through archives, we were happy with it. It is the only undiscovered complete Pantera track there ever was and it will be part of the package. It should be cool to hear the first new thing from the band since 2000."

The lost 'Vulgar Display of Power' track rounds out the deluxe edition package which also comes with a DVD showcasing ultra rare footage of the band's 1992 Monsters of Rock performance in Italy. Have a listen here.

Van Halen Surprise Fans With Another Rare Song

(hennemusic) Van Halen earned rave reviews for their first night at New York's Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, and the band brought it again on Thursday.

Van Halen switched up the setlist a bit, opening with their 1981 classic "Unchained," marking the first time this tour that the show hasn't opened with their Kinks' cover of "You Really Got Me."

With some rare, classic album cuts making random appearances during the first half dozen shows so far, Van Halen did it again for night 2 in NYC, dusting off the "Diver Down" track "The Full Bug." Check out video here.

Monkees Tribute Davy Jones

(Gibson) Friends, bandmates and fellow musicians continue to pay tribute to The Monkees' Davy Jones, who died Wed (February 29) of a heart attack in his hometown of Indiantown, Florida.

In a statement, Monkees singer/drummer Micky Dolenz said, "The time we worked together and had together is something I'll never forget. He was the brother I never had and this leaves a gigantic hole in my heart."

Monkees bassist Peter Tork added, "It is with great sadness that I reflect on the sudden passing of my long-time friend and fellow-adventurer, David Jones. His talent will be much missed; his gifts will be with us always. Adios to the Manchester Cowboy."

Guitarist Michael Nesmith said simply that Jones' "spirit and soul live well in my heart among all the lovely people." more on this story

New Rush Album in May

(hennemusic) Good news for Rush fans: not only is the band's new album, "Clockwork Angels," on the horizon, it now has at least one release date confirmed.

Two music sites - Amazon.co.jp and HMV.co.jp have announced a May 23rd release date for the album in Japan.

No word, yet, on release info from other territories; consider that these are from music retail sites and not officially from the band themselves, so while it's a promising sign that things are in motion, we'll await further news to confirm more details. more on this story

Staind Deliver Eyes Wide Open Video

(hennemusic) Staind have offered up a new video for their track, "Eyes Wide Open," from the band's 2011 self-titled album.

Staind are currently playing a series of Soundwave Festival shows in Australia; they'll return to the States for the MASSCHAOS 2012 tour with Godsmack and Halestorm, which starts April 13 in Augusta, GA.

Earlier this year, the three bands held a contest for fans to create the name for the tour and, following a fan vote of the Top 5 suggestions, MASSCHAOS was the winner. Check out the video here.

Tenacious D Rises Again

(Banana 101.5) The comedic folk-metal duo Tenacious D, which is comprised of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, will return with 'Rize of the Fenix,' the follow-up to 'The Pick of Destiny,' on May 15th.

After their film 'The Pick of Destiny' tanked at the box office, many believed that it would be the end of Tenacious D. Jack Black pokes fun at that very assumption on the title track to their new album:

"When the pick of destiny was released it was a bomb / And all the critics said that the D was done / The sun had set and the chapter had closed / But one thing no one thought about / Was the D would rise again / Just like the phoenix." more on this story

Iron Maiden Preview New Tour

(hennemusic) A new TV commercial for Iron Maiden's upcoming North American tour has surfaced.

The Maiden England World Tour hits the U.S. and Canada, opening in Charlotte, NC on June 21, and finishing in Houston, TX, on Aug 18.

The trip will be followed by further dates around the world in 2013. The 2012 show will closely mirror, in terms of production and content, the original 1988 concert video of the same name, shot on the "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour." Check out the commercial here.

Ginger Baker Film Coming

(hennemusic) There's a new film about Cream drummer Ginger Baker on the horizon. "Beware Of Mr. Baker" is the work of writer/producer Jay Bulger, who spent three months living with the rock legend in South Africa where Ginger has spent the previous decade living in seclusion.

The visit resulted in a piece, "In Search of Ginger Baker" - the article and the numerous hours of interviews Jay captured on film became the premise for the documentary, and in the spring of 2010, Jay returned to South Africa with a small crew to finish making the film.

Baker's legendary status as drummer for Cream and Blind Faith is backed up on film by stories from his ex-wives, children, and many of the greatest living musicians that worked with Ginger, including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts, Mickey Hart, Carlos Santana, Max Weinberg, Chad Smith, Femi Kuti, Neal Peart, Simon Kirke, Marky Ramone and many more. Read more and check out a preview here.

Black Keys Star Asks How Is Rock Dead?

(Gibson) Echoing Mark Twain's famous quote, The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach contends that reports of rock and roll's imminent death are greatly exaggerated. In an interview with WGRD, the Black Keys frontman refuted the notion that authentic groups of the sort that sprang up during the grunge-era are nowhere to be found.

"I think that it's so lame of an argument, it seems so stupid," Auerbach said. "It's like the press needs something to talk about. Being 16 years old and getting an electric guitar is never going to get old. There's always going to be kids making music. There's always going to be kids in bands." He then added: "Everything is cyclical. It'll come back around and be popular. The Foo Fighters are like the biggest band in the world. They play stadiums. How is rock dead?"

Auerbach refrained from citing the Black Keys as an example, but he did point out that the acclaimed duo distills rock music to its no-frills essence. "We just do our thing, man," he said. "People come to see a rock and roll show. They come to see The Black Keys. We're not going to be like Cirque du Soleil on stage. It's just us playing music." more on this story

Bush Unplugged

(hennemusic) Bush are currently on the road with Staind in Australia, and are also playing dates on the Soundwave Festival. The UK rockers are promoting their latest album, "The Sea Of Memories."

Next month, Bush join Nickelback and Seether for a full North American tour; things kick off April 10 in Moline and run through the end of June.

While in Sydney, Bush stopped by Triple M radio to perform a 6-song unplugged set for a group of contest winners; the event was filmed for Triple M's Garage Sessions. Check it out

Lennon and McCartney Liverpool Houses Protected By Govt

(Gibson) John Lennon and Paul McCartney's Liverpool homes have been give special "listed" status by the British government.

The Liverpool Echo reports that Heritage and Tourism Minister John Penrose made the announcement about giving a the Grade II listing honor to 20 Forthlin Road (Macca's home) and 251 Menlove Avenue (Lennon's house) while visiting the home Lennon shared with his Aunt Mimi.

John Penrose said: "It's almost impossible to overestimate the significance the Beatles had – and continue to have – on western life and culture since they first came together in the early 1960s.

"These houses, unremarkable from the outside, have been painstakingly preserved and restored so visitors today can get a real sense of how life must have been for the group as they were starting up. more on this story

Elvis Costello Rocks Classics For Bruce Springsteen Week

(hennemusic) Elvis Costello joined Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's tribute week to Bruce Springsteen on Thursday.

Elvis and The Roots performed "Brilliant Disguise" from 1987's "Tunnel Of Love," as well as ""Fire," a song Bruce wrote in 1977 but didn't release himself until his 1986 live compilation "Live/1975-85." Both Robert Gordon and The Pointer Sisters recorded the song in 1978.

It's all Springsteen to close out the week on Friday: Bruce is the sole guest on the show and he and the E Street Band will perform, as they did to kick off Fallon's tribute on Monday. Check out video here

John 5 Praises New Rob Zombie Flick

(Banana 101.5) Rob Zombie will return this year with an original film centering on witchcraft called 'The Lords of Salem.' Being that he is scoring the film, Zombie's guitarist John 5 has seen some of the footage and says it looks "incredible."

Rob Zombie is currently in post production on his new film 'The Lords of Salem,' his first non-remake, non-sequel, live-action feature since his directorial debut 'House of 1000 Corpses.'

After months of filming, the project is in post-production and while it is expected this year — a trailer has yet to be released. more on this story

Slash's Typical Day

(hennemusic) Slash is currently spending some time in Australia. On Sunday, the guitarist joined his touring singer, Myles Kennedy, and his band Alter Bridge, at the Soundwave Festival in Sydney.

Slash was on hand Monday morning at Triple M radio in Sydney to launch his new single, "You're A Lie"; it's the first song from his sophomore album, "Apocalyptic Love," due May 22.

The Triple M crew asked Slash to run down a typical morning when he's at home in Los Angeles. "We have alternating days when we take the kids to school," explains Slash, "and we have a car pool…so I do car pool – if I can get away with it – only once a week. The school doesn't want to see me down there. I've carried a grudge against school since I was a kid and they can feel it." Check out video here.

The Beatles First Hard Day's Night

(Gibson) On this day in 1964, The Beatles began filming what would become their first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, at Marylebone train station in London. Gibson takes a look back: With Beatlemania running rampant in both Britain and America and spreading rapidly to other countries, The Beatles were riding high in early 1964. Having scored a couple of #1 albums and an armload of #1 singles, the Fab Four had properly conquered the music world and were set to make their mark in another medium. On this day in 1964, The Beatles began filming A Hard Day's Night.

Although John, Paul, George and Ringo had become huge pop stars, the movie didn't have a lavish budget. Shot in black-and-white, A Hard Day's Night was made for the relatively small sum of £200,000 (around $500,000). Both the writer and the director of the film had been selected because The Beatles had been fans of their previous work. Director Richard Lester had made The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers – each of whom the boys loved. Meanwhile, writer Alun Owen had proven he could pen his share of Liverpudlian dialog in his play No Trams to Lime Street.

To get a sense for how Lennon, McCartney and the guys talked to each other and to outsiders, Owen spent a few days with The Beatles as they sprinted through their busy schedule. He described the experience as "a train and a room and a car and a room and a room and a room," a line that would make it into the screenplay. McCartney would later praise Owen's work: "Alun hung around with us and was careful to try and put words in our mouths that he might've heard us speak, so I thought he did a very good script."

With the screenplay complete, The Beatles reported to Twickenham Studios and Paddington Station on March 2 to begin the filming process. Although the movie wasn't shot exactly in order of how the scenes occur, the shooting schedule followed the general events of the film – something than Lennon later noted. "Normally in pictures, you do things back to front, like the end, you make a film of that on one day and then the next day you do the beginning," John said. "But in this one, we almost did it in sequence."

At Paddington, the boys boarded a train at 6:43 p.m. and continued to shoot some of the scenes that take place early in the movie while it was traveling. McCartney remembered it being a whirlwind introduction to moviemaking.

"So it was very exciting, we got on a train … one day, and so the train took off and we were in a film," Paul said. "And there were these little girls, schoolgirls in gym slips who were actually models, and we were of course, quite fascinated with them."

more on this story

Singled Out: Breaching Vista's Nervous

Today Breaching Vista frontman John Maksym tells us about the song "Nervous" from their latest album "Vera City". Here is the story:

Nervous is about my own personal struggle to find and regain my confidence after a rather disheartening experience in a previous band. Line up changes within that band took me right out of my comfort zone but I went along with it for the sake of keeping the original line up together and as an effort to keep our friendship in tact. After some touring and then some time off, we regrouped to head into the studio. Our bassist-turned-lead-singer had gotten together with our guitarist to write all of the new material. I was completely left out of the writing process, which again was something I had always been a part of. The last straw was being told that I wasn't needed in the studio either. I lost my interest in the bands future and walked out. It was tough to walk away from something that I was so passionate about, and something I had invested so much of my life towards, but the part that hurt the most was having my best friends completely cut off my involvement.

So while the song may seem to come across as a confused relationship, it's really just me confronting the memories that tore down my confidence and reminding myself that while I lost some motivation, drive, and time in my pursuit of a music career, I'm now in a position where I can pick up where I left off. Nervous focuses on one of those cynically rearranged takes on the catchphrase "Two steps forward, One step back." My version is a cautious "One step forward, Two steps back" because I'm nervous about whether or not I can do this on my own. The song was originally written as a solo acoustic song back in 2006 when I finally decided to pull up my socks and start playing live again after half of a year of sitting around being bummed out. My Breaching Vista band mates really liked the song, and we spent about 2-3 years trying out various full band arrangements before settling on the Vera City album version.

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