Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist Hospitalized

"Gary Rossington has been hospitalized in Wyoming with an abdominal infection. We are awaiting further tests and treatment, once we receive information on Gary's status we will release additional information. Thank you for your understanding & support." more on this story

Scott Weiland Plans Purple at the Core Tour

Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland will be launching a special North American solo tour next month.

The tour has been dubbed the "Purple at the Core" tour which references the first two Stone Temple Pilots album's "Core" and "Purple" and Weiland plans to perform songs from both albums on the tour.

Weiland will also be performing his solo material as well as songs from his former band Velvet Revolver.

The 20-city tour will kick off on March 1st Flint, MI and the initial 15 dates have been announced with more expected soon. more on this story

Queen's Brian May Teams Up With Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi

Queen guitarist Brian May and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi revealed in a new interview that they are making an album together.

The two legendary guitarists broke the news in a special feature in the latest edition of Kerrang! magazine where musicians ask questions of other musicians. Here is the excerpt where they revealed their plans, according to NME.

Iommi asks, "When are we going to get to work on that album of riffs together? You know what I'm talking about…" May replies: "Yes, I do know what he's talking about and I'm very, very keen. The record he's talking about was supposed to be a secret but I guess he's blown it now!"

May explained that when he visited Iommi's studio, he was surprised by the amount of unused material Iommi has. "I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them," May says. "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!"

Guns N' Roses Play Surprise Unplugged Show

Despite Axl Rose's previous differences with Tommy Hilfiger, he led Guns N' Roses in a surprise acoustic concert this week for the fashion icon.

The band played a nine-song set Wednesday night at the Soho House in West Hollywood during an after-party celebrating the launch of Tommy Hilfiger's new store.

The Guns N' Roses set included "You're Crazy," "Used to Love Her," "Welcome to the Jungle," "Better," "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Patience," Neil Young's "Don't Let It Bring You Down," "Paradise City," and an encore of the hit Guns N' Roses cover of the Bob Dylan classic " Knockin' on Heaven's Door." Check out video clips from the show here.

Alice In Chains' Black Gives Way To Dinosaurs

Alice In Chains revealed on Thursday that they will be releasing their new album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, in May.

The new album following their acclaimed 2009 comeback album "Black Gives Way To Blue" and was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones).

The band will be launching a North American tour on April 25th in Miami. The trek is set to run until May 25th with their appearance at Rocklahoma.

The band have also announced appearances at two international music festivals; the Download Festival at Donnington Park in England and the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil. more on this story

Cradle of Filth Cancel North American Tour Over Visa Issues

Cradle of Filth's 28 Days Closer to Hell Tour of North America has been sidelined by visa issues. The trek was schedule to kick off next week.

The group's management had this to say, "Cradle of Filth are really sorry to tell all of their fans that their U.S. tour '28 Days Closer to Hell' is going to have to be canceled, due to U.S. immigration issues beyond the band's control.

"They have been desperately trying to solve these problems, but it has become evident they are not going to be resolved in time for the band to embark on a tour that starts next week.

"The band sincerely apologize to all their fans and to the other acts on the tour and want to assure people they have made every effort possible to go ahead with the tour." more on this story

Danzig Taps Doyle, Corrosion Of Conformity and The Agonist For Tour

Fans will be soon be getting two Misfits for the price of one... at least former Misfits as Glenn Danzig has invited former Misfits star Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein to join him on tour.

Glenn announced the first let of the Danzig 25th anniversary tour which will feature support from Corrosion Of Conformity and The Agonist.

Glenn Danzig plans to perform a Danzig set and also a special Misfits set with Doyle, which will mark the first time the two have performed together on stage.

The first leg of North American dates have been announced and European dates are also planned. The North American leg kicks off on April 17th. more on this story

Whitesnake Releasing Live in Japan Album and Home Video

Whitesnake have set an April 23rd North American release date for their new live package, "Live in Japan."

The new live collection is set to be released in several formats including a deluxe 2CD/DVD edition, Blu-ray and a standalone DVD.

The release will feature a performance from the band's "Forevermore World Tour" recorded during their coheadlining show at the Loud Park Festival in Japan on October 11, 2011.

The bonus CD is set to include previously unreleased outtakes and acoustic versions of songs from their "Forevermore" album that were recorded during soundchecks on the 2011 Japanese tour.

Additional DVD content includes various band photo slideshows and fan-shot videos. more on this story

All That Remains, Hellyeah and In This Moment Tour

All That Remains are teaming up with Hellyeah and In This Moment for a coheadlining tour of North America.

The bands will be alternating the headline spot on the tour which will feature support from Nonpoint.

The trek is set to kick off on March 18th in Albuquerque, NM and will conclude on April 13th in Seattle, Wa.

All That Remains will be hitting the road in support of their new studio album, A War You Cannot Win, and they will follow the tour with a series of additional dates and festival appearances. more on this story

Robert Plant To Appear On 60 Minutes In Australia

(hennemusic) Robert Plant will be appearing on a new season of (Australia TV) "60 Minutes."

The Led Zeppelin singer will guest on this week's program, which airs Sunday, February 17th, Channel Nine at 7.30p.m. (Australia time).

Plant will sit down with 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown to discuss a variety of topics, including his former band; the show teases the interview by asking "could 2014 see the return of Led Zeppelin?"

"I've got nothing to do in 2014," says the singer in the episode's promo. Check out the promo here.

JEFF The Brotherhood Expanding For Spring Tour

JEFF The Brotherhood will be hitting the road next month for a North American spring tour.

The duo, brothers Jake (guitars, vocals) and Jamin Orrall (drums), plan to perform half of the show as a duo before they are joined by an additional guitarist and keyboard player.

Jake had this to say about their plans, "We are doing the show half classic and half beefed up jam style. We've been playing just the two of us for 10+ years and frankly it's starting to get boring, so f**k it, let's mix it up. Who's gonna stop us?"

The tour is set to kick off on March 27th in St. Louis and the band also plans to make appearances at the Coachella Festival, Mission Creek Festival and the Middle of the Map Festival. more on this story

HIM Set New Album Release

HIM have inked North American and UK record deals for the release of their new album, Tears on Tape.

The new album is set to be released in North America by Razor & Tie on April 30th and it will be released in the UK and Ireland by DoubleCross on April 29th.

The new album was recorded in their home country of Finland with long-time producer Hiili Hiilesmaa and once again mixed by long time-band associate, Tim Palmer (U2, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Robert Plant).

Phil Anselmo Launching Horror Film and Metal Festival

Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual's Philip Anselmo is teaming up with true crime author Corey Mitchell to launch the Housecore Horror Film & Metal Festival.

The film and music festival will take place just prior to Halloween on October 25-27, 2013 at Emo's Complex, East Austin, TX.

The festival is set to include seven screens that will show more than 70 horror, true crime, and heavy metal films, short films, documentaries, classic horror films, music videos and more.

The screenings will be followed by live music featuring heavy bands that were selected by Phil Anselmo.

Organizers have announced the initial music lineup for the event which includes Anselmo's band Down, Crowbar, and Phil's new extreme metal band Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals. More details here.

Hawthorne Heights Plan Summer Album Release Under New Deal

Hawthorne Heights announced that they plan to release their new album this summer to coincide with the Warped Tour and they have inked a deal with Sony / RED distributed Red River Entertainment for the release.

The band is currently recording the new album with producer Brian Virtue (30 Seconds To Mars, Chevelle, Audioslave).

They had this to say, "We're really excited to be working with Red River and Sony RED! Our biggest successes have been done while working with some of the same people at RED. Life as an independent artist had its bonuses, but there were a lot of things that were simply unattainable during that period of our career - working with a top tier producer such as Brian Virtue and the exposure that RED distribution offers, being two prime examples. Our new album is going to take a lot of people by surprise and with the team we have in place, we've never been as hopeful for the future as we are right now! "

As previously announced, the band will be joining the Warped Tour for first time in six years when it kicks off on June 15th in Auburn, WA. more on this story

Former Rolling Stones Manager To Keynote New York Sound City

Former Rolling Stones Manager and record producer Andrew Loog Oldham is set to be the keynote speaker at this year's New York Sound City event. We were sent these details:

Oldham will be joined by the veteran music industry executive & manager Danny Fields (Iggy and the Stooges, Ramones, Velvet Underground, Nico, The Doors, MC5) for an hour-long conversation delving deep into the heart, blood and sweat of Rock and Roll.

New York Sound City will take place on Monday March 11th with a day of music industry panels and roundtables at The Wythe Hotel followed by an evening showcase at The Knitting Factory in Williamsburg Brooklyn. more on this story

Singled Out: Fit For a King

Today Fit For a King guitarist Bob Lynge tells us about the song "Hollow King (Sound of the End)" from their forthcoming album "Creation/Destruction," which is set to be released on March 12th. Here is the story:

This was actually the last we song wrote for the record Creation/Destruction. And it is personally one of my favorites. It encompasses a wide range of musical styles. It starts off aggressive and in your face, and weaves in and out of some very melodic parts, and finalizes with a phrase as aggressive just as the beginning.

From the very beginning of the writing process for this song, things went as smoothly as possible. I had written the first 30 seconds of the song instrumentality, and wanted to go ahead and start writing lyrics with Ryan, and then start recording vocals. The music was super fast paced and we were really pleased with the way everything was sounding, so we really wanted to kill it vocally. We decided to have super fast vocals to start the song off ("You've got blood on your hands.") We feel like the vocal patterns are something similar to something that Linkin Park would do. So we were super stoked on that!

The song then courses through some heavier parts that give off a sort of "Meshuggah-ish" vibe, then moves into a more legato part. The music is very drawn out and completely vocally driven ("I will not wait for the flames to consume me..."), then moves on into the pre chorus, which moves smoothly into the chorus.

The chorus in this song is my favorite on the record. Instrumentality, it came together with ease and flows nicely with the rest of the song. The melody came as easily as possible. It was just one of those things that you start randomly humming while you're driving. It just popped in my head one day and it integrated into the song perfectly ("Silence has taken over me... My words are lost and I am giving in.")

Then the rest of the song consists of a handful of aggressive riffs and a pretty nasty breakdown ("This is the price that you pay") up until the bridge and last chorus.

Overall, this song is as hard-hitting and as melodic as we were able to make it. The sound of this song is a perfect representation of what Fit For a King is about. Everything from the heavy riffs, the melodic choruses and the dark message, this is the sound we love making.

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

Ace Frehley Selling Private Guitar Signings

(hennemusic) Ace Frehley will hold private guitar signings/meet and greets in Las Vegas, NV on Sunday, February 17.

Each fan will have the opportunity to meet with Ace in a "private" setting, obtain a photo of Ace signing their guitar, and appear in a photo with Ace and their guitar.

Ace is in Vegas this week to participate in the Rock N' Roll Fantasy Camp at the MGM Grand; other players include Alice Cooper, Mike Portnoy (Adrenaline Mob, former Dream Theater) and Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess. more on this story

Ginger Wildheart Delivers Black Valentine

(Classic Rock) Ginger Wildheart's Hey! Hello! project with New York singer Victoria Liedtke has launched a new track, Black Valentine.

The Classic Rock Roll of Honour award winner says: "Hey! Hello! allowed me to enter the world of lyrical fiction – much in the vein of Sparks, who are a massive influence on Victoria and I."

He explains of the track: "Black Valentine is that person in your life who doesn't understand personal space and turns intimacy into an endurance test. It's a new person in your life who is still on trial and not doing a great job so far.

"But you give them a second chance – and a third. Hell, you're lonely… what else ya gonna do?" Take a listen here.