Pearl Jam Announce North American Tour and Start New Countdown

On Monday the band launched a second countdown clock which will reach zero on Thursday at noon PST. Speculation this time is that the countdown has to do with the band's rumored song called "Mind Your Manners." more on this story

Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington Announce U.S. Live Date

Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington have announced a new U.S. music festival appearance as well as the release of their new single in the U.K.

The band, now fronted by the Linkin Park frontman, has been announced as a headliner for the inaugural Rockwave Festival at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida on September 21st.

The new festival, presented by local radio station 96-KROCK, will also feature performances from Jane's Addiction, Filter, Anberlin, Beware Of Darkness and more.

Fans across the pond will be able to purchase "Out of Time, the band's debut single with Bennington on vocals on July 15th via Spinefarm Records in the UK.

"I've loved STP since I was 13 years old, and they've had a huge influence on me," says Bennington. "When the opportunity came up to do something creative with them, I jumped at the chance.

"The guys in Linkin Park have been incredibly supportive of me undertaking this project while I've continued to work on new music with LP." Stream the song here.

Layne Stayley's Father Joins Alice in Chains Onstage

(hennemusic) On tour in support of their new album, "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here," Alice In Chains were joined onstage recently by Phil Stayley, the father of the band's late singer, Layne, and video of the event has surfaced.

Guitarist Jerry Cantrell introduced Phil to fans from the stage during the band's July 1 Canada Day performance at FoxFest in Burnaby, British Columbia.

"We always like to remember our brothers," said Cantrell. "This one is for Layne Stayley and Mike Starr," as the band launched into the 1994 track, "Nutshell."

Stayley died from a drug overdose in his Seattle apartment on April 5, 2002 at the age of 34; bassist Starr died from a prescription drug overdose in Salt Lake City on March 8, 2011 at the age of 44. Check out video here.

Five Finger Death Punch's Jason Hook Appearing in Counting Cars

Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Jason Hook will appear in an episode of Counting Cars on the History Channel tonight, July 9th, at 9 PM Eastern / 8 PM Central.

According to the show's webpage, the episode is entitled "Floodpocalypse Now." The synopsis does not mention Hook but does provide these details: "Danny tries to score an ex-police motorcycle without getting busted, while a watermain break threatens to put the shop permanently under water. Will Danny be able to get the shop back up and running, or will it be a complete washout?"

The show stars Danny "The Count" Koker and the crew at his Las Vegas car and motorcycle customization shop. Hook had this to say about his appearance on the show, "I'm a great admirer of Danny's custom motorcycle work.We both live in Las Vegas and I stop by the shop from time to time.

"It's crazy that he has his own hit show now, it's even crazier that I got to sit in on an episode!"

Sammy Hagar Reveals Birthday Bash Details

(hennemusic) Sammy Hagar has announced the dates for his annual Birthday Bash shows in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Sammy and The Wabos will perform at the Cabo Wabo Cantina on October 7, 9, 11 and 13.

Tickets will be handled similar to last year through a registration and random drawing system. Fans can expect registration for the drawing to happen at the end of July - stay tuned for specific dates and details.

The Red Rocker celebrated his 65th birthday at his Cabo club last year, along with special guests including Chickenfoot bandmates Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani, Matt Sorum, Kenny Chesney, Billy Duffy of The Cult, Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains, and Denny Carmassi of Montrose. more on this story

Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Announces Guitar Center Appearances

(hennemusic) Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has scheduled a series of Guitar Center appearances while the band tours in support of its latest album, "Super Collider."

Mustaine will host meet-and-greets and special autograph signings at the Guitar Center locations in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Brookfield, WI during the month of July.

Megadeth are on the road for their Gigantour festival, which launched last week in New Hampshire. Gigantour 2013 wind its way through North America, hitting cities throughout Canada and the U.S. before it wraps up on August 11th in Toronto.

Gigantour sees Megadeth headlining the event with tourmates Black Label Society, Device, Hellyeah, Newsted and Death Division – all personally picked by Mustaine. more on this story

Geoff Tate Says Queensryche Drama Is Good For Business

(Classic Rock) Geoff Tate says the drama surrounding Queensryche has been good for business. Two versions of the band are currently in existence after the original outfit fired him last year, and a court ruled both parties were free to use the name until a final hearing in November.

Tate tells The Classic Metal Show: "What we're doing in November is, we're dissolving our corporation. It has nothing to do with music – it has nothing to do with 'he said, she said;' it's just paying off the members of the corporation.

"Who has the money to buy it will buy it. Whoever has the most money will get it. It's as simple as that. It's rules and regulations – it's a paint-by-numbers kind of thing."

He insists that, since music has nothing to do with those legal matters, the media controversies have no value whatsoever – except for one thing. "All it did was create publicity, which Queensryche hasn't had in years," he says. "And I've gotta tell you, Gene Simmons was right: any publicity is good publicity." More from Tate here.

Metallica Make First Roskilde Festival Appearance In A Decade

(hennemusic) Metallica returned to Denmark's Roskilde Festival on Saturday for the first time in 10 years. The event, which marked the band's only European show of the year, was also a return to drummer Lars Ulrich's homeland.

Metallica first played the iconic Danish festival in 1986 on their "Master Of Puppets" tour; fans can check out some of that performance on the "Cliff 'Em All" video package.

Up next, the band launch an 8-date Asian tour on August 10 in Tokyo, a trip that will see Metallica's first shows in China. more on this story

Queen Manager Has Freddie Mercury Gorilla Art Removed

(hennemusic) A Freddie Mercury gorilla sculpture has been removed from a Norwich, UK street exhibit over copyright issues after Queen's manager contacted organizers.

Organizers of Go Go Gorillas, a public art trail in Norwich, were contacted by Queen's manager Jim Beach on behalf of the Freddie Mercury estate, according to The BBC.

The estate claimed the suit "worn" by the gorilla breached copyright, and it asked the Freddie "Radio Go Go" Gorilla sculpture, which Norfolk artist Mik Richardson took three days to create, to be "taken off the streets". more on this story

Bronz Mainman Shaun Kirkpatrick Dies

(Classic Rock) Classic Rock has learned that Shaun Kirkpatrick, the main guitarist/writer for the NWOBHM band Bronz, died of a suspected heart attack this past weekend.

Bronz were one of the first bands from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal era to hit America, touring their debut album Taken By Storm, notably as support to Ratt. The record went on to sell over 200,000 copies worldwide, while single Send Down An Angel featured heavily on MTV.

Follow-up album Carried By The Storm had to wait 25 years for release but when it finally emerged it received positive reviews, Classic Rock's Malcolm Dome describing it as being full of "classy, melodic hard rock". After the success of Carried… Kirkpatrick re-formed Bronz for selected live shows. more on this story

Perry Farrell Working On New Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros Music

(Gibson) Perry Farrell has confirmed that he's working on new material with both Jane's Addition and Porno For Pyros, as well as with his wife Etty Lau Farrell.

In a posting on his Facebook page, Farrell wrote, "This summer has been so far gratifying. I have been active recording Jane's Addiction, Porno For Pyros, and PerryEtty Vs. songs. There is nothing more gratifying to me than making a beautiful song. A song that people will fall in love with. They should be lovesick to hear it again. That's how I feel about the songs as they are being born."

Farrell had previously reported that the band was planning to begin work on a follow-up to The Great Escape Artist, noting that he was going through a particularly prolific creative phase. "I haven't written this much or been this prolific since I started when I was in my 20s," Farrell told Antiquiet. "It's been coming out fantastic. I'm super-excited."

At the time, Farrell explained his decision to step back from plans to make the new album a sequel to The Great Escape Artist. "I had thought that it would be a great idea," he said. "However, I just came up with this other twist to doing the next record. At this point I want to start fresh with a fresh angle." more on this story

Dream Theater Updating Their Official Biography For Reissue

(Gibson) The official authorized biography of Dream Theater will be reprinted in a revised version which will now cover the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy, the subsequent welcoming of Mike Mangini into the fold and the band's successful touring on the back of the album A Dramatic Turn Of Events.

The new version of Lifting Shadows: The Authorized Biography of Dream Theater by Rich Wilson features all-new interviews with the band members and others close to the band. The book traces the band's history from their mid-1980s Long Island origins through to the present, in full, frank and revealing detail.

Meanwhile, the band's next album is now in the mastering stage. Due September 24, mixing of the self-titled album wrapped up a few weeks ago, and last week guitarist John Petrucci posted an Instagram photo of the completed mixes locked up in a case on their way to the mastering studio.

The band has announced the first leg of their European tour in support of the album, kicking off in Portugal in January 2014 and wrapping up in Finland in late February. A North American tour is being scheduled and is due to kick off in March 2014. more on this story

Manic Street Preachers Release New Video

(Classic Rock) Manic Street Preachers return this autumn with Rewind The Film, their first studio album since 2010′s Postcards From A Young Man. As a very early taster for the release, they've just unveiled a video for the title track.

Rewind The Film (the song) features the Manics' James Dean Bradfield trading vocals with special guest Richard Hawley, who comments: "I am so chuffed to have been asked to sing with the mighty Manics, can't tell you what it means to me.

"The whole experience is something I'll treasure forever – I love the Manics and what they stand for, and to be a tiny part of that means the world to me."

Rewind The Film (the album) is released on September 16 with a single, Show Me The Wonder, coming out the week before. The new full-length is said to showcase a more reflective, stripped-back sound while maintaining the classic Manics melody and unique lyricism.

Watch the video and read more details (including tour dates) here.

Joe Satriani To Perform National Anthem At U.S. Grand Prix

(hennemusic) Ahead of his upcoming North American tour in support of "Unstoppable Momentum," guitarist Joe Satriani will perform the national anthem at the U.S. Grand Prix in Laguna Beach, California on July 21.

In addition to Satriani's appearance, the ninth consecutive year at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the U.S. Grand Prix will also see a concert featuring the original members of Bob Marley's The Wailers, as well as a wide assortment of activities over the 3-day weekend event.

Satriani is currently on the road in Europe; that swing wraps July 13 before the guitarist launches his North American dates in San Diego on August 29. more on this story

Praying Mantis Reveal New Lineup

(Classic Rock) Praying Mantis have revealed their new lineup after firing vocalist Mike Freeland and drummer Gary Mackenzie, as Classic Rock reported yesterday.

Dutch singer John 'Jaycee' Cuijpers will front the band from now on, with countryman Hans in't Zandt behind the drumkit. The lineup is rounded out with guitarist Tino Troy, bassist Chris Troy and guitarist Andy Burgess.

The band say in a statement: "John and Hans are seasoned professional musicians, with vast experience of playing alongside bands such as Toto, Vengeance, Jan Akkerman and Steve Lukather, and will bring a extra dimension to the Mantis sound." more on this story

Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx To Continue Selling Stage-Played Basses

(hennemusic) On the band's recent Canadian tour, Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx launched a campaign to sell his stage-played basses, and now he says he's going to carry on with the new tradition for the group's upcoming 2013 shows.

"Had such a great time doing this on the last tour I have decided to continue to do it," posted Sixx on Monday. "I really enjoyed meeting all the fans and hearing their stories during the meeting, but the best part for me was hearing what the bass meant them and what they were gonna do with it. Thank you for making this great."

"I also plan on doing this in Vegas, as well," he adds, "and we have some special packages were working on for the residency." more on this story

The Union Announce Fall Tour

(Classic Rock) The Union have announced a UK tour which will see them playing eight shows in November. Later in November they'll make their first trip to Japan, supporting Thunder at two shows there.

Thunder guitarist Luke Morley and former Winterville vocalist Pete Shoulder are riding high with recent album "The World Is Yours," their third outing, which was released in March.

Last month they recorded a show for a future DVD release, performing an acoustic set followed by an electric one. Grab the UK Tour dates and ticket information here.

Singled Out: Counterparts' Witness

Today Counterparts frontman Brendan Murphy tells us about their brand new single "Witness" which was released today and comes from their brand new album "The Difference Between Hell and Home" (out July 23rd). Here is the story:

I wrote the lyrics to Witness in the studio. I remember the demo being called something like Fefeater, a hybrid of the word Fefe and Defeater. I don't know if "Fefe" was being used to describe the Fefe Dobson, or one of the other hilarious things you can find about it on Urban Dictionary, but either way, it became "Witness" (thankfully) because of the line "I am my own false witness." The meaning behind the song is extremely personal to me, and I don't want to delve too deeply into it for fear of my friends and family having me committed, but I won't leave anyone in the dark completely haha. The song is about how you go through life, and nothing feels right, but you can't quite put your finger on it. It gets so bad where you almost wish you had something to blame it on. Whether it be some sort of illness (mental or physical) or anything that would give you a reason to feel miserable all the time. I still haven't found mine. No one likes to admit that they are the problem, but if you're like me you've spent 22 years trying to figure out what's wrong with you and you've been constantly left in the dark, the idea starts to creep in.

I wrote the lyrics and when I recorded the vocals, it was the first time anyone had heard the song completely finished. At that point, we knew that we wanted it to be the single. It's got everything that Counterparts kids are used to, and a bit more to kind of draw in the people who are on the fence about the band. Max did a great job with the video, taking the words I wrote and creating a story to go along with it. I hope everyone likes this song as much as we do.

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

Rolling Stones' Keith Richards Reflects On Altamont Murder

(Classic Rock) The Rolling Stones kept playing while Meredith Hunter was murdered in Altamont in 1969 because they wanted to provide a distraction, says Keith Richards.

The 18-year-old drew a gun on members of the Hells Angels after they'd prevented him from climbing onto the stage in their role as Stones security. He was stabbed to death by Alan Passaro moments later.

"There was the terrible murder going on in front of us, which we all could see. As events turned out, security wasn't what it should be," Richards tells Absolute Radio.

He recalls the Stones had already stopped playing once that night, in an attempt to calm the unruly crowd, and decided to take the opposite position when the Hunter incident began. "I don't know if it was scary," he says of the earlier part of the show. "It was just like, 'Wow, you have go to do something about this before it turns into a full-scale riot.' We handled it the best way we could – I just stopped playing, and it happened to work."

When the stabbing took place, he explains, "It was a matter of, 'Quick, do something, and distract people from the Hells Angels.' We didn't know the cat was dead, or anything, but we saw what was going on."

The Stones appeared in London's Hyde Park yesterday for the first time in 44 years. Their 1969 show took place just two days after the death of former member Brian Jones. Read what his girlfriend Anna Wohlins had to say.

Franz Ferdinand Release 'Right Action' Video

Franz Ferdinand have released a new music video for the song "Right Action," which has been released as a digital single and on 7-inch vinyl.

Press Here sent over these details about the video and song: Directed by Jonas Odell, the three minute clip sees the Franz Ferdinand live experience juxtaposed with imagery inspired by the graphic style of a series of books on Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology published by Pelikan in the late 50s through to the early 80s.

The strong graphic style of those books - clean, bold and simple - reflected the confidence and optimism of the content. That graphic style is appropriated in this video.

The single, "Right Action," recorded in a day at Club Ralph, London and produced by Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip and mixed by David Fridmann, is featured on their forthcoming album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, which will be released on August 27th. Watch the video here.

Blackmore's Night Release Dancer And The Moon Video

(Classic Rock) Blackmore's Night have released a video for their track Dancer And The Moon. It's the title track from Ritchie Blackmore and co's most recent album, which was launched last month.

The new album is available in standard CD format and also as a deluxe digipak including a 40-minute documentary and acoustic versions of four songs.

The last track on the album, "Carry On… Jon," is a tribute to Blackmore's Deep Purple bandmate Jon Lord, who died last year. Check out the new video here.

Iron Maiden Release Video Tour Diary

(hennemusic) Iron Maiden have released video diary of their Maiden England European summer tour. The trip is a continuation of the tour which played across North America last year.

The stage show closely mirrors, in terms of production and content, the original 1988 concert video of the same name – reissued on DVD this year - shot on the "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour."

Iron Maiden kicked off the trek in Bilbao, Spain in late May. The band will wrap up the European dates with two homecoming show at the O2 Arena in London early next month. Check out the video here.

God Damn Release Red Checker Video

(Classic Rock) Rising stars God Damn, described by Ginger Wildheart as the "best new band you'll see for a while", have released a video for their track "Red Checker."

The band considered holding off on the release as guitarist and vocalist Dave Copson is in hospital following a serious traffic accident – but his family say he wanted the world to hear the new music.

The video's song is taken from their Heavy Money EP, which is available as a free download. You can check out the new music video here.

Epica's Simone Simons On Latest Episode of Wikimetal

The latest episode of Wikimetal features an exclusive interview with their special guest, Simone Simons from Epica. The show sent over these details:

The vocalist was very nice, talking about her career, the band's last CD "Requiem For The Indifferent" and Epica's sixth album, that is already on the way.

Simons also talked about her main influences and her future plans to record a solo album. You can listen to the full episode here or you can skip directly to the interview here.