Deftones' Chi Cheng Dead At 42

Cheng was taken to the emergency room and at 3:00 a.m. today (Saturday, April 14) after his heart suddenly stopped. He left this world with me singing songs he liked in his ear." more on this story

Shots Fired At Every Time I Die Concert

Gunshots were fired during Every Time I Die's performance at The Jamboree Music Festival in Toledo, Ohio on Saturday night, forcing the band to cut their set short.

The band explained via their Twitter page, "We apologize to everyone at Jamboree that stuck around only to see our set cut short. When guns are involved there is a venue protocol.

"Maintaining safety while trying to avoid a panic riot is a tightrope walk that not many have practiced. We hope that everyone is safe."

Frontman Keith Buckley had this to say: "I won't use tonight's event to push an agenda. I'll just say that the social contract our community honors was broken by the ONE. not the many." more on this story

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne Deny Break Up Reports

A representative for Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon has denied tabloid reports that the celebrity couple were breaking up after 30 years of marriage.

The reports claimed that the couple were living in separate houses, had not seen each other for several weeks and were each seen not wearing their wedding rings.

They reportedly moved out of their California home and Ozzy allegedly rented a mansion while Sharon has been staying in a fancy hotel, which the tabs turned into speculation that they are splitting up.

Ozzy had been working on his first album with Black Sabbath since the late 70s and is now preparing for a tour with the band.

The Birmingham Mail contacted a spokesperson for Sharon to learn if there was any truth behind the reports and were told that Ozzy and Sharon "were still together" and added "They've both got huge work commitments."

The spokesperson explained there was an explanation why they were living at part at the moment, "She is at the hotel for work and he is starting his Black Sabbath tour. Of course they row but they are still together.

"Sharon and Ozzy have spent long periods of time apart before when she was working in the UK. The marriage is not on the rocks." Read the Birmingham Mail report.

Guns N' Roses Release 3D Movie Trailer

(Classic Rock) Guns N' Roses have released a trailer for their upcoming 3D concert movie "Appetite For Democracy" and you can view it online.

It was shot during the band's Appetite For Democracy residency at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas last year – when it's claimed they turned Sin City into Paradise City.

Axl Rose plans to release the movie in cinemas, Blu-Ray and DVD in the summer, with TV broadcasts promised in due course. more on this story

Keith Richards Joins Eric Clapton at Crossroads Festival

(hennemusic) Keith Richards made a surprise appearance at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday, joining Eric Clapton on the second night of his Crossroads Guitar Festival.

The Rolling Stones guitarist jammed with Clapton on the blues standard, "Key to the Highway," before sticking around for another tune.

"Now we're gonna rock it up," said Richards, before launching into "Sweet Little Rock N' Roller."

All profits from the festival – which has been held every three years since 2004 – benefit Clapton's Crossroads Centre for substance abuse in Antigua, a treatment and education facility founded by the guitarist. Check out video of the jam and backstage footage here.

David Lee Roth TV Special Airing This Week

(hennemusic) Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth is featured "Revealed: David Lee Roth" is a new half-hour special airing on U.S. based cable network Reelz this week.

In the show Roth shares his thoughts on the band's early days, comeback, and what it's like to be a Samurai swordsman.

Reelz is sharing two bonus clips that weren't included in the show. The first has Roth talking about James Bond and his favorite Bond girls; and the second is David and his beloved dog, Russell, with their version of "Home On The Range." Check it out.

Aerosmith To Headline Harley-Davidson Anniversary Concert

(hennemusic) Aerosmith have been announced as headliners for Harley-Davidson's 110th Anniversary Celebration in Milwaukee over Labor Day weekend.

The Boston rockers will perform at the Marcus Amphitheater on August 30, as part of a lineup that includes Toby Keith (Aug 29) amd Kid Rock (Aug 31).

The weekend will also feature more than 60 acts, including ZZ Top, The Doobie Brothers, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and more. more on this story

Black Sabbath and Queen Guitarist Discuss Collaborative Project

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi and Queen's Brian May spoke with Birmingham Mail about their collaborative project and the unusual plans they have for their possible release.

"When I was first ill, Brian May came to visit me at my house in Lapworth," Iommi said. "I played him some of my stuff, rock riffs that I'd never quite got round to developing, or decided not to use. He said I ought to do something with them.

"It's early days yet, and all my attention in on Sabbath for the foreseeable future, but we may well find some way of working together on them, and making them available in some shape or form.

"One of the ideas we had is that we could make the riffs available, get fans to use them in songs of their own, and see what they come up with. That way they'd effectively be recording with Brian and myself."

May adds: "I heard some of the hours of unreleased guitar jams Tony has on tapes and hard drives," he said. "I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them.

"The idea was to put all these riffs out in some form so that people could build their own songs from them. You could make your own music with Tony Iommi on guitar! How great is that!" more.

John Lawton Reunites With Uriah Heep

(Classic Rock) Uriah Heep will tour with former frontman John Lawton at the helm, the band have confirmed. He'll stand in for Bernie Shaw, who's taking time off for a routine medical procedure, for concerts in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland during May.

It's the first time Lawton will have hit the road with Heep since 1995. He bowed out of full-time duties in 1979 after a three-year stint.

He'd already been booked to make a one-off guest appearance with Mick Box's outfit in Spain in July. The band say: "As the shows will be recorded for official bootlegs, it promises to be a real treat for the fans.

"The sets will be skewed to songs reflecting John's original tenure with the band – a celebration of classic 1970s Uriah Heep. this will be a unique chance to catch such a nostalgic performance." more on this story

Gene Simmons Kiss N' Tells on Toy Hunter

(hennemusic) KISS bassist Gene Simmons was featured on this past week's episode of Toy Hunter, a reality series airing on The Travel Channel.

Simmons contacts program host and toy dealer Jordan Hembrough to have him search for some rare KISS memorabilia.

The series is sharing clips from the episode, entitled "Kiss N' Tell." The first video shows Jordan at a flea market hunting for KISS goodies, while the second has the host arriving at Gene's house with the results. Watch it here.

Sebastian Bach Doesn't Remember Reason For Skid Row Feud

(Classic Rock) Former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach says he's forgotten why he fell out with bandmates Snake Sabo, Scotti Hill and Rob Affuso. And he's astonished bassist Rachel Bolan has managed to stay angry at him since his departure in 1996.

The frontman tells The Classic Metal Show: "I have talked to Snake, Scotti and Rob in recent years and I have nothing against them.

"I have not spoken to the bass player in about 16 or 17 years. I don't know how it's possible to be mad at somebody for something that happened 17 years ago.

"If I was ever mad at the bass player I don't remember what it was about. 17 years – that's a long time. If somebody put a gun to my head and said, 'Why are you mad at the bass player of Skid Row?' I would not be able to tell them." He elaborates on the only problem he could think of.

Black Sabbath Tease New Album With Together Again Video Clip

(hennemusic) Black Sabbath have issued some new video footage of the band in the studio working on their forthcoming album, "13."

The project is the first Sabbath studio album in 35 years (since 1978's "Never Say Die") to reunite Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler; the guys added Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine for the sessions as original drummer Bill Ward chose to sit things out over a contractual dispute.

"One of the things I'm really proud of is the fact that we were kids that had a dream." says Ozzy, "and here we are, 45 years later, making another Sabbath record." more on this story

Megadeth Close Vic' Garage Studios

(hennemusic) Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine is sharing some news about his recording studio, Vic's Garage, in San Marcos, California.

"It's a sad day at Vic's Garage," posted the guitarist. "Mustaine Music Studios has moved, Super Collider was the last project there. The jam room jammeth no more! What great memories here. So many fun 'successes' thanks to you!"

Megadeth recently finished recording their new album, "Super Collider," at Vic's Garage. Mustaine is sharing photos of the empty space where the studio once was. Check them out

Joe Walsh Details Blues and R&B Album Plans

(Gibson) Joe Walsh is at work on a follow-up to his acclaimed 2012 solo album, Analog Man. Speaking to Billboard.com, the Eagles guitarist said the album will mix original material with "real obscure R&B and blues songs."

Pitching in on the project are some high-profile guests, including Dr. John, Robert Randolph, Keb' Mo', Jim Keltner and Jeff Beck bassist Tal Wilkenfeld. "I'll say, loosely, I've started a blues album," Walsh said.

"Half of it is original, and half of it is old Howlin' Wolf or John Lee Hooker. I told everybody to bring a song in and everybody did, be it an old blues song or some idea. We went through some old Stax records from, like, the Otis Redding days, Sam & Dave stuff that were just albums tracks, and did our version of a whole bunch of stuff." Walsh added that he doesn't yet have a timeframe in mind for the album's release.

In the same interview, the veteran rocker mentioned that Eagle co-founder Bernie Leadon will be a special guest on the forthcoming "History of the Eagles" tour. "I never really got a chance to play with him," Walsh revealed, "but we've been in contact. We see him from time to time, and I'm really glad he's coming because it's going to take the show up a notch, and I'm really looking forward to playing with him, finally." more on this story

Cheap Trick To Rock Leno

(hennemusic) Cheap Trick will perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday, May 1st following their Budokan anniversary shows.

The band recently announced plans to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the legendary show in Budokan, Japan, which was captured on the "At Budokan" live album

Cheap Trick will play their entire April 28th, 1978 Budokan set on April 28th at the John Varvatos Bowery boutique in New York City.

On April 30th, Cheap Trick will perform the entire April 30th, 1978 Budokan set at the El Rey in Los Angeles, CA. This show will air live nationally on AXS TV. more on this story

Earth Vs The Wildhearts Anniversary Tour Expanded

(Classic Rock) The Wildhearts have added six more shows to their UK tour marking the 20th anniversary of debut album Earth Vs The Wildhearts.

In addition to the four shows already completed in Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham and Wolverhampton, they'll appear in Bournemouth, London, Bristol, Leicester, Newcastle and Leeds in June.

The extension comes after the shows – featuring Ginger, CJ, Jon Poole and Ritch Battersby – received rave reviews. Frontman Ginger has said he's never enjoyed Wildhearts performances more.

If the format follows the first run, they'll perform all 11 tracks of the 1993 album followed by an audience-participation set in which the crowd cheers as two song titles are held up on placards, and the track that gets the loudest shout is performed. more on this story

Machine Head Celebrate Phil Demmel's 10th Anniversary With The Group

Machine Head's Robb Flynn and Dave McClain took to their Facebook page to celebrate guitarist Phil Demmel's 10th anniversary with the group.

Frontman Robb Flynn had this to say: Ten FREAKIN' YEARS IN MACHNE HEAD!!!??? MAN, has it flown by. Crazy...Technically it's almost 11 years as Phil began jamming with Machine Head back in June 2002, a month after Ahrue (who?) quit.

"We were getting ready to do a festival run that summer to close out the Supercharger tour. On the itinerary was headlining Germany's With Full Force Festival for the first time so we were playing some really cool festivals and we needed a guitarist. I probably wasn't quite ready mentally at the time, so while I enjoyed those first practices with Phil; it wasn't until the first show on July 1st, 2002 at The Ambassador in Dublin, Ireland that it became apparent to me. That's all it took to completely erase the memory of our old guitarist for me. Just looking stage right to see Phil rocking-out and in my head saying "Hey, I remember THAT guy."

"It was a great feeling. Right then and there I knew we had our guy. Phil has been in Machine Head for ten years officially today, but I've known Phil Demmel for *cough* 26 years! Though it's hard to remember, I met Phil somewhere back in 1986, when I was 18 years old. He was in VIO-LENCE and I was in FORBIDDEN EVIL, we practiced in a Fremont, CA warehouse district behind a studio / jam room called Fast 'N Furious owned by Pat Sauger and the Annihilation guys. Vio-Lence was moving in to rehearse at F 'N F and Phil and couple of the other guys came by to watch a Forbidden Evil practice.

"I remember liking him, he was very friendly, always smiling, and had a cool car (LOL)! I started going over to Vio-Lence practices and watched in awe as they produced some of the most ferocious riffs and songs I'd heard. Thrash metal bordering on punk rock. I LOVED it! Little did I realize, but the Vio-Dudes had their eyes on me to replace their then-guitarist, Troy Fua. And while Phil will insist to this day that he "stole me away," I happily left Forbidden Evil, eager to play in such a ferocious group, and in January 1987 I played my first show with Vio-Lence.

"We made a heck of guitar team back then and that was something we worked at. But there was always a natural chemistry that didn't take much effort; we complimented each other's style. We started writing instantly and the riffs flowed easily. Back then in many ways we were the odd couple, Phil was, and remains, more outgoing. He could talk to most people about anything, all the chicks loved him! I was always more introverted and would lose myself in my guitar. But we weren't so odd when it came to hanging out as we partied like HELL, we RAGED, and being around him really brought me out of my shell. I looked up to him in a lot of ways. He came from a stable family that was very supportive of him in whatever he did. I didn't have any of that. It was great to see and to just be around as those things made me a better kid and later a better man.

"Ten years, plus five years before that, plus a ten year break-up in the middle somewhere, but we're still together singing Careless Whisper whenever we get hammered! We've lived A LOT of life together. We've experienced more crummy two month van tours than I care to remember, the two of us driving all night on only a few hours' sleep only to end up as bed-mates in a crappy Motel 6's double bed next to Debbie Abono's bed. Entire tours eating one meal a day at Denny's, and then hoping the club would feed us, all while loading our own gear in and out of vans, then when life got good, out of trailers!

"There was no road crew back then except for Joe (our manager back then, riding in the van with us, who is still with us now!). There were fights, hilarious 3-hour-drunken wrestling matches, hotel rooms destroyed, more arguments than I can even remember, a lot of tears cried, and so many more good times and full-on-side-splitting-belly-laughs I could write a book about it. We've played A LOT of sh*tty clubs to 50 people, and we've stomped a mud hole in the ass of 30,000+ people countless f**king times.nAs I'm writing this, it dawned on me, we've written 6 albums worth of material together, and are about to write a 7th... wow... some pretty goddamn good metal I'll tell you that. I'm grateful you are in Machine Head. We are lucky to have a band member like you. You're a great guitarist, a great songwriter, a great team mate, and above all a great friend. I love you dude."
Dave McClain had this to say: "Seems like yesterday that Phil rolled his amp into our practice room and first jammed with us. I remember thinking when the jam session was over, that it felt like a perfect fit. At first, it was just going to be a temporary gig for some European festivals that we were doing. A last hurrah for Phil before he retired from music. Lucky for us (and hopefully him) he didn't retire and wanted to be in MH on a permanent basis. We welcomed him into our Island of Misfit Toys with open arms! Ten years later, we've been thru great times, trying times and down-right horrible times. I would not trade any of them for anything and I'm proud to have experienced them with our Phil! Love you, duder and here's to another ten years!" more on this story

Van Halen Release Unplugged 'You Really Got Me' Video

(Classic Rock) Van Halen have released a video of the band performing the Kinks classic "You Really Got Me" in a live acoustic session. An electric version was on the band's debut album.

In a separate introductory video frontman David Lee Roth explains that due to licensing restrictions it couldn't be included in the DVD that came with the deluxe edition of 2012 album A Different Kind Of Truth.

He also says: "It's the first time Van Halen have ever recorded live, much less downtown-style on acoustic guitar. So be a little forgiving." Check out the videos here.

The Jam's Bruce Foxton Releases New Video

(Classic Rock) Bruce Foxton, formerly of The Jam and Stiff Little Fingers, currently with From The Jam, has released a video for his track "Don't Waste My Time."

It's taken from his upcoming album Back In The Room and features guest appearances by soul guitar icon Steve Cropper and Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet. Big Country's Mark Brzezicki and From The Jam frontman Russell Hastings contribute too. Even Paul Weller makes an appearance on the LP, guesting on three tracks.

Foxton says: "What an honour to have both Paul and Steve play on the album, I'm at my best when I am part of a band. That's why making Back In The Room has been such a blast."

The album was released last year via a crowdfunding campaign. Don't Waste My Time is released as a single on April 28. Watch the video here.

Def Leppard Release Behind The Scenes VIVA Hysteria Video

(hennemusic) Def Leppard's Las Vegas residency, "VIVA! Hysteria", wrapped up this weekend at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Now, Leppard are sharing some behind-the-scenes video to help answer a staging question posed by fans.

When it's all over, the band will have performed 11 shows between March 22 and April 13.

"VIVA! Hysteria" featured two sets from the band at each performance: the first was a wild card collection of songs that changed from night to night; the second presented the band's 1987 album, "Hysteria," from start to finish. Watch the video here.

Thirty Seconds To Mars Release Mysterious Teaser Video

(Radio.com) Thirty Seconds To Mars aren't giving much away in a teaser for their "Up In The Air" video. In the 38-second clip, director Bartholomew Cubbins (the alias of Thirty Seconds frontman Jared Leto) focuses in on a spinning silver ring while a woman keeps count.

Her creepy countdown leads to one ominous deep bass tone in which viewers get another view of the ring. This time it's spinning out of control while a well-dressed man with a gas mask on watches off to the side. Another alarm sounds and the black and white warning "Mars Is Coming" appears.

The woman's voice is heard one last time, this time shouting "Faith," one of four words featured in the title of the band's new album, LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS, out May 21.

Next the intro of "Up In The Air" starts to play while images including a cockatoo, red glossy lips, a lion and a woman who looks a lot like Dita Von Teese flash rapidly by. For the clip, which was shot in early February, the guys put out a casting call for "a female bodybuilder, a voluptuous male, natural redheads and a person who can perform tricks on a pogo stick," all of which may or may not have found their way into the video. Watch it here.

The World of Guitar According to Joe Bonamassa

(Gibson) Joe Bonamassa could serve as a great example for all aspiring players. Opening for B.B. King at the ripe age of eight, Bonamassa has since approached his career with workmanlike steadiness, touring relentlessly and often cutting multiple albums in a single year. His latest, An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, will be followed by a new studio album slated for release later this year. Below, we present highlights from several recent interviews.

On how to construct a great guitar solo, as told to Guitar World (2012): Solos are basically 16-to-24-bar marathons. If you run a marathon, you can't start sprinting, but at the start people need a bit of fireworks to grab their attention. Then you have to back off and say something with a melody before you start barnstorming. And then there's pacing. A lesson from the old blues guys is they were never in a hurry to get to anything musically. They were like, "It'll happen when it happens." I love that idea.

On how the blues continually evolves, as told to M – Music & Musician (2012): I think Zeppelin is as much blues as Robert Johnson. How would you describe Robert Johnson? Well, that would be traditional blues, the way it first started. Then 40 years later that would be Zeppelin. How would you describe the blues I play today? It's blues updated for 2012. It's like a car—and cars don't look the same as they did in 1926.

On his favorite guitars for studio and stage, as told to Guitar World (2012): Besides the [Les Paul] Goldtops, Gibson also did some in sunburst for me, and they painted one black, so I've been playing those a lot. I also have three real '59 Les Paul Standards, and I've been playing two of them onstage. Over the course of a concert, you'll see a '61 dot neck ES-335 … a Firebird I and two '59 Les Pauls. More.