Bob Dylan Facing Hate Speech Investigation

In the interview Dylan is quoted as making a reference to the war of independence fought between Croatian and Serb forces in the 1990s: "If you got a slave master or [Ku Klux] Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood." more on this story

Rolling Stones Announce 14 On Fire Tour Dates

(hennemusic) The Rolling Stones have announced a series of tour dates for their 2014 14 On Fire Tour. So far the band has announces dates in Asia, Australian, New Zealand and in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

For the Australian tour, the Stones will play shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Hanging Rock and Auckland, in addition to the recently sold-out concert at the revamped Adelaide Oval on March 22. Mick Taylor will be a special guest for the shows, which open March 19 in Perth.

"Can't wait to reconnect with all our friends in Australia & New Zealand," said Mick Jagger. "It's been a while since we've played to you all, so we are looking forward to being back on stage & playing your favourite songs."

"We all had such a ball this year and so we wanted to keep it going!," added Keith Richards. "The energy between the band is better than ever and we're all looking forward to coming back Down Under. I can't wait to get back on the stage with the boys"

Check out all the announced dates and more details here.

Former Iron Maiden Singer Paul Di'Anno Retiring From Music

Former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno, who fronted the metal legends for their self-titled debut and their sophomore album "Killers", has announced that he is retiring from music.

Some lucky fans will be able to witness Di'Anno take the stage a final time before he hangs up his microphone for good. He tells fans, "For anyone who doesn't already know - I am retiring.

"But, there are still have a bunch of shows to do, that could not physically be placed into 2013 - even though I was contracted to do them during that period. So there's those shows (here and there) mostly in far off places, that I'll keep my word to perform at.

"In the mean time - here are the 11 remaining shows for this year (making a total of 101 shows in 2013). Hope to see many of you metal heads at some of them." See the dates.

KISS, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Vince Neil and More To Rock For Kids

KISS, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie and Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil lead the lineup for a special concert this week that will benefit the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy.

The all-star benefit concert will feature the cover band Hairball backing the special guests which will also include Dee Snider, Stephen Pearcy of Ratt, Tom Keifer of Cinderella, Kip Winger, Jack Blades of Night Ranger, Joey Tempest of Europe and others.

The event will be taking place tomorrow, December 5th at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Brennan Rock & Roll Academy state that their mission is to offer "children of the Boys and Girls Club a unique opportunity to not only learn about musical instruments, but to also grow and gain confidence by performing and working in groups."

More details and the latest additions to the event here.

Lamb of God Frontman Randy Blythe's Book Release Details

(TeamRock Radio) Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe's book about his Czech manslaughter trial ordeal will be published next year, it's been confirmed. Dark Days: My Tribulations And Trials appears via Da Capo Press on June 24 in the US, although international release details have not been confirmed.

A brief excerpt appears in the firm's forthcoming titles catalogue: "After three days … I would arrive at Prague's Pankrac Remand Prison, a crumbling 123-year old hellhole where the Nazis had imprisoned, tortured, and executed thousands of Czechs.

"No one spoke English, and I spoke no Czech. I didn't even have a watch and had no earthly idea what time it was. But I soon found out," said Blythe. more on this story

Metallica Announce Additional Tour Dates With More To Come

Metallica have announced the next set of tour dates for their upcoming summer tour of Europe where they will be letting fans that purchase tickets select their set list.

The new set of dates includes stops in The Netherlands, Belgium, and England and they will be announcing additional dates some time this week. Last week the group announced three dates in Germany for the trek.

The tour will feature Metallica By Request where the band will be playing one new song but will allow fans with tickets to vote for the songs that they want the band to play for each show.

"We are once again psyched to break free of the four walls in the studio to get energized by our devoted European friends for a couple of weeks next May and June," says drummer Lars Ulrich.

"On top of that, the fact that all our nutty fans will pick the songs we play should be some next level fun and take a big load off my shoulders as the guy who usually writes the set list!" more on this story

Billy Joel Launching Indefinite Residency at Madison Square Garden

(Radio.com) Billy Joel announced an ongoing residency at New York's Madison Square Garden. Joel will perform one concert there per month "for as long as his fans continue to want to come, which should be a long time," noted Hank J. Ratner, the president and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Company, at the event.

Prior to the announcement, Joel had already announced concerts at the famed arena on January 27, February 3, March 21 and April 18, all of which have sold out, according to his official website.

Another date was announced at the press conference: May 9, which is Joel's 65th birthday. Dates for Billy Joel's concerts past May will be announced at a later date, and he promises a unique show every night.

Like the other permanent residents of the Garden (The Knicks, The Liberty and The Rangers), Joel has been given his own custom logo. See it and read more here.

Jim Root Skipping Stone Sour Tour To Focus On Slipknot Album

(TeamRock Radio) Good news and bad news for Slipknot fans. The band are indeed planning a new album, but Jim Root won't take part in Stone Sour's upcoming US tour because he's concentrating on writing songs for Slipknot's comeback album.

Guitarist Root and frontman Corey Taylor are members of both bands, but they'd been concentrating on Stone Sour after the death of Slipknot bassist Paul Gray derailed that outfit's career in 2010.

After a few years deliberating on their future, they'll release their first album without Gray next year – and Root has decided that project needs his attention most.

Stone Sour say in a statement: "It was a difficult decision, but as the fans have wanted another Stone Sour tour and Jim had responsibilities to the writing process with Slipknot, we feel this is the best decision where everyone wins." Find out who will be taking his place.

Pearl Jam Rarities To Be Offered At Pop-Up Store

(hennemusic) Some rare Pearl Jam items will be available at a one-day Pop-Up Shop at Seattle's Showbox Market this Saturday, December 7, with proceeds benefitting The Vitalogy Foundation and local charities.

Presented by Pearl Jam's Ten Club, the admission-free event provides fans with an opportunity to purchase hard-to-find collectibles for themselves, and unique holiday gifts for loved-ones-who-love-Pearl Jam.

The Pop-Up Shop will include rare, limited-edition Pearl Jam and Ten Club collectable items, including an on-site raffle for a Gibson "Jack Casady" signature bass signed by all members of Pearl Jam. Other items

Queen Ink New Record Deal

(hennemusic) Queen have signed a new, long-term deal with the Universal Music Group. The new deal, which covers the world outside of North America, comes three years after Queen first signed with Universal Music.

That move saw the band release music through Island Records for the first time in its history and signalled the start of a major re-mastering and repackaging programme, providing live tracks, alternative takes and other additional content for Queen's 15 studio albums.

Queen marked their 40th anniversary in 2011 with a major marketing campaign and a series of high profile events, including the Stormtroopers in Stilettos exhibition staged in London and a major BBC TV documentary on the band.

"We have also enjoyed working with Universal," said Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor. "In spite of being the biggest music company in the world they succeed in retaining a very hands-on personal relationship with their artists, something we much appreciate." more on this story

Prince To Headline Essence Festival

(Radio.com) In celebration of the Essence Festival's 20th anniversary next year, Prince will lead the festivities down in New Orleans, much as he did for the festival's 10th anniversary.

The four-day event will take place at the Superdome during Fourth of July weekend (July 3-6) 2014. This year's festival included sets from Beyonce, Brandy, Janelle Monae, Emeli Sande, Jill Scott and Maxwell. Additional performers, speakers and events will be announced in the coming weeks.

Prince has been releasing new tracks throughout the year, including "Breakfast Can Wait," "Groovy Potential," "Extraloveable Reloaded" and "Ain't Gonna Miss U When U're Gone,'" prepping fans for his forthcoming album tentatively titled Plectrum Electrum. more on this story

The Who Release Tommy App

(Gibson) As a complement to the deluxe version of The Who's Tommy that was just released, Universal Music has developed what they call "the world's first-ever digital box set." The app is available to download for free through iTunes for smart phones and tablets.

In the app the user can enjoy the first five songs from Tommy for free. You can listen to samples of the remaining songs or purchase them through iTunes for use in the app. The main focus of the app is the book written by Richard Barnes. The first chapter including photographs is available for free while the rest of the book can be downloaded through an in-app purchase.

The Tommy app also include the original album artwork by Mike McInnerney, which can be viewed with remarkable detail and clarity, all while listening to the album if you've purchased it. There are also five live videos included from The Who's Live At The Coliseum '69 concert, including "See Me Feel Me." For those who want to challenge their inner Pinball Wizard, there is a pinball game in the app based on the poster for the band's NYC Metropolitan Opera House gig in 1970. more on this story

Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Aerosmith Lead Hellfest Lineup

(hennemusic) Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Aerosmith will headline France's Hellfest next June. The three-day festival in Clisson, France runs June 20 – 22, and will feature more than 120 bands.

Iron Maiden will make their first-ever Hellfest appearance with a headlining slot on Friday, Aerosmith will headline Saturday, and Black Sabbath will close out the weekend event on Sunday.

Black Sabbath are currently playing live dates throughout Europe in support of their latest album, "13." The band has just released a new live DVD, "Black Sabbath – Gathered In Their Masses." more on this story

U2's The Joshua Tree Enters Grammy Hall of Fame

(hennemusic) U2's landmark 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree", is among the new entrees into the 2014 Grammy Hall Of Fame. U2's smash is among 27 recordings announced Tuesday by The Recording Academy for induction in 2014.

The Irish rockers' biggest album spawned three hit singles ("With Or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Where The Streets Have No Name") on its way to selling more than 25 million copies worldwide, including 10 million in the U.S. alone.

Rock albums joining U2 include Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush", George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Cosmo's Factory" and the Woodstock soundtrack. more on this story

New KISS Book Released

(hennemusic) "KISS In Sweden 1976-2013", a new book about all the times KISS have visited Sweden over the past five decades, is now available. The 336 page book features almost 1000 pictures, including more than 600 photos - most of which have never been published before.

"Our story begins when KISS lands at Torslanda Airport just outside of Gothenburg around 4 PM on the 25th of May 1976," explains authors Johan Falk & Roney Lundell.

"They arrive by plane unmasked and a Swedish photographer takes a few shots as KISS are about to embark on their first tour in Sweden, a tour which has generated scandalous headlines in the media long before the plane even landed.

"KISS will come back to visit Sweden again in 1980, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2008, 2010 and 2013 and the band (or parts thereof) have made promotional visits here in 1982, 1985, 1987, 1992 and 1994.

"The story of KISS in Sweden ends as Gene and Paul board an aircraft taking off from Kristianstad Airport in Everöd at 4 PM on the 8th of June 2013, bound for Norway." more on this story

Tommy Castro's New Band The Painkillers Releasing New Album

(The Blues Tommy Castro and his new band The Painkillers will release 13-track album The Devil You Know on January 21 and he says it sees him using the blues like he's never done before.

He's assisted by bassist Randy McDonald of the Castro Band, keyboardist James Pace and drummer Byron Cage plus guest appearances by Joe Bonamassa, Samantha Fish, Tab Benoit, Mark Karan and others.

"I challenged myself to add different sounds and new rhythms to my style while remaining true to my roots," says Castro. "I wrote using ideas for songs and ideas for sounds together in a way I'd never done before, using drum rhythms to drive the lyrics." more on this story

Kompendium Give Fans A Different Look At 'Beneath The Waves'

(Prog) Magenta mainman Rob Reed has launched a companion edition of his award-winning Kompendium album Beneath The Waves. The 2012 record features guest appearances by Steve Hackett, Francis Dunnery, Gavin Harrison, Nick Beggs, Jakko Jakszyk and many others and it was named Best Album of 2012 by the Classic Rock Society.

Beneath The Waves: Elements offers a new look at the concept album, presenting over two hours of music including unreleased songs, demos and alternate takes, plus a fully-instrumental mix of the original work.

Reed tells Prog: "It took over 3 years to make the album, which meant the songs went through some pretty drastic musical transformations. Some were even dropped from the finished album due to time constraints.

"Elements showcases those tracks for the first time, alongside material that shows the development and musical building blocks of the original album. It's a fascination companion to the Beneath The Waves itself."

The new edition includes a new version of the track A Moment Of Clarity, featuring vocalists Steve Balsamo and Tesni Jones, available in the video here.

AC/DC Pinball Machine Released

(hennemusic) A new AC/DC pinball machine has been released by Stern Pinball, Inc. The AC/DC Luci Premium pinball machine features an entirely new original artwork package by Steve.

The new pinball machine game includes twelve classic AC/DC hits including "Back in Black," "Highway To Hell" and "You Shook Me All Night Long."

Other features of the new pinball machine include a lower playfield, ball-shooting cannon, drop targets, a mechanized Hell's Bell and animations of the band. more on this story

The Quireboys Premiere 'Mother Mary' Video

(Classic Rock) The Quireboys have released a video for their single Mother Mary, due for release on December 16. It's taken from the band's seventh album, Beautiful Curse, which was released in June after being recorded on an extremely tight schedule.

Guitarist Paul Guerin explained at the time: "Twelve tracks in twelve days sounds like a walk in the park. But considering we only had four completely written tracks, we had our work cut out. The last note was recorded at 17.15 and at 17.20 we were on the tour bus."

The band are gearing up for an extensive unplugged UK tour which begins at the end of January. The intimate shows will include classic tracks, deep cuts and new material, with Spike and co promising "surprises, banter and stories" along the way. Watch the video here.

Extreme Guitarist Performs 'More Than Words' On The Voice

(hennemusic) Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt appeared on NBC's reality singing competition The Voice on Tuesday to perform the band's 1991 hit, "More Than Words."

Bettencourt was joined by contestants Cole Vosbury, Will Champlin and James Wolpert for the performance of the hit song on the series' weekly results show.

"More Than Words" appeared on the Boston band's sophomore effort, "Extreme II: Pornograffitti." The song reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, helping push the album to double platinum status. Watch the performance here.

Beasto Blanco Release 'Live Fast Die Loud' Video

(Classic Rock) Beasto Blanco, the band led by Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric, have released a video for their song Live Fast Die Loud, the title track to their debut album.

Says Garric: "I've been touring non-stop for 10 years with Alice and I've learned a lot from one of rock'n'roll's most entertaining villains. Beastö Blancö has given me the chance to be me and let loose."

He continues: "With Beastö Blancö we have set out to create a live, raw power, rock'n'roll band that will allow us to indulge the influences and imagery that have shaped our collective musical background."

Besides Garric the video features Calico Cooper, Tiffany Lowe (Combichrist), Chris Latham (Paperback Hero), Jon Siren, Eric Snyder (The Beast) and Ara Sarkisian (The Engineer). Watch the video here.

Spirits Of The Dead Release 'Golden Sun' Video

(Classic Rock) Classic Rock is streaming the video premiere of Golden Sun by Spirits Of The Dead. The track comes from the Norwegian psychedelic stoners' third album, Rumours Of A Presence, set for release on December 9 via The End Records.

The Oslo-based four-piece say: "We live in an age where most people spend their lives transfixed by glittering pixels on a smartphone screen, immune to the magic that sparkles and flashes in the air, dead to the provocative crackle of synapses hidden within their own weather-beaten skulls.

"But that magic definitely exists. It exists in the music of Spirits Of The Dead. These are songs that surround you like the warmth of a brightly-coloured cloak amid the icy, hostile squall of life's never-ending blizzard. These are songs that send waves of exhilarating electricity through your bloodstream, causing your heartbeat to quicken and your limbs to flail in breathless pursuit of spectral grooves yet to be tamed." Watch the video here.

The Guitar Style Of Randy Rhoads

(Gibson) It's hard to fathom, but Randy Rhoads built his entire legacy on, essentially, two studio albums with Ozzy Osbourne. Sure, there were the Quiet Riot albums released in Japan before Randy hooked up with Ozzy, and there was the posthumous live album Tribute, but by the time he recorded Blizzard of Ozz, Randy had already created and defined an entire style. Sadly Randy was taken from us far too young, and we'll never know where his style would have evolved to had he lived. Randy had a deep love of classical guitar and it's clear that he would have moved further and further into that world, but he had such a strong rock/metal voice too, equal parts Eddie Van Halen and Mick Ronson in inspiration but 100% himself in execution. Let's look at a few aspects of Randy's sound, and ways that you can incorporate them into your own music.

Triple-tracking: Perhaps the most recognizable, stand-out aspect of Randy's style is his use of triple-tracking in the studio: one take of the solo panned in the middle and then additional takes panned left and right. This is a great way to thicken up your solo tone and to create a sort of 'hyperactive chorus pedal' effect. If you're recording a composed solo for one of your own tracks, give it a try. But a word of advice: Randy didn't have the luxury of comparing waveforms on a computer monitor to make sure his various takes lined up with each other, and that's actually part of the charm. Although Randy was a master at nailing three killer takes of each solo, there are still slight, barely perceptible differences in each take - a very slightly differently-timed slide here, a harder pick attack on that note there. If Randy were able to edit out these differences in the way that we can now, his triple-tracked solos wouldn't have had quite the dimension and depth that they do. So if you're triple tracking at home or in the studio, allow yourself the luxury of ignoring the computer screen completely and using your ears instead.

Your Tone Is What You Hear When You're Playing: Now, this one could be a bit contentious: Randy's guitar sound was notoriously noisy when he wasn't playing, but his tone was incredible. In fact, his guitar rig was so noisy that his pedalboard was nicknamed 'the Chip Pan' by Ozzy because it made a noise that sounded like chips (french fries) sizzling in a pan. As producer/engineer Max Norman told Guitar World, "Well, we tried to gate it. You had to gate it to stay sane. Mostly we gated it on the return end of the signal chain, so it wouldn't chop the sound up. Gating is a pretty messy business. In the end, I basically had to ride the signal in and out manually using faders on the mixing console." Of course, noise gate technology has come a long way in the last 30-plus years, so it's a lot easier to keep a guitar rig like that under control these days. So don't be afraid to dial in a sound that has a little bit of extra filth and fizz when you're not playing, as long as you have an effective way to control it.

By the way, the Chip Pan featured a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, an MXR Flanger, Ten Band Equalizer Stereo Chorus and Distortion+, a Roland FV-2 Volume Pedal, and one of two tape delays (a Roland RE-201 Space Echo or a KORG SE-500 Stage Echo) and one of two analog delays (MXR Analog Delay or Yamaha E-Series).

The Pickup Toggle Kill-Switch Trick: Randy was a fan of a trick that was particularly popular among guitarists of his era: turning the neck pickup volume control down on his Les Paul, and using the toggle switch to flip between the wide-open bridge pickup and silence (well, as silent as the Chip Pan would allow). You can of course perform this trick with any guitar that has separate volume controls for each pickup, including the Gibson Custom Randy Rhoads Les Paul Custom .

Singled Out: AM Aesthetic's We Caught Fire

Today Rob Suchecki from alt rock trio AM Aesthetic tells us about the band's brand new single "We Caught Fire". Here is the story:

This song is really interesting for us because we've never had a song that sounds even remotely like it before. We were all sitting around in our apartment one night, and Pat and I picked up our guitars and just started playing it. No conversation, no "hey what do you think of this riff?" -- we just simultaneously played the song together without ever playing it before. Within 5 minutes, I was singing the chorus melody over the guitar riff.

We have a small studio setup in our place where we do all of our recordings, so we immediately plugged in and laid down the demo track for "We Caught Fire." RJ demoed out the beat, and the song was more or less a framework of what it is today after about 20 minutes. There was just something about it that grabbed us; it was a moment where the three of us knew we had just uncovered something musically that we didn't realize we had in us. It's a departure from the more aggressive, loud riff rock songs we've put out previously, and is the more "friendly" side of AMA in 2014.

We had just begun our relationship with BHI maybe a month prior, and we were actually really nervous to show them "We Caught Fire" because it was such a departure from what we usually sound like. The song reminded us all of music we are influenced by, but we generally had a box we tried to keep ourselves in up until that point. We sheepishly played the demo in the office and the response was surprisingly positive from everyone. That moment was the Pandora's box opening that enlightened us to the idea that we can push our own boundaries, and we really feel our album reflects that.

The plan is to release the second and maybe even third singles this winter in an effort to show a glimpse into the wide spectrum of the album, up until the full release in early 2014.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and check out the video here, plus learn more about the group right here!