Jason Newsted Cancels Dates Due To Walking Pneumonia

On Sunday, Mustaine posted the following message on his Twitter account, "Jason we heard you're ill. So bummed, & I'm sure the fans are too. Get well soon. #MetalMilitia when you return? @JasonCNewsted."

Pearl Jam Debut New Songs at Chicago Concert

Pearl Jam performed for the first time Friday evening at Wrigley Field in Chicago debuting two new songs from their forthcoming "Lightning Bolt" but the show did not go as planned.

The show was initially planned to stretch 40 songs however a thunderstorm made the band empty the fans on the field after only performing for 45-minutes. antiMusic's Tony K was at the show and has these details:

After nearly delaying the show for three hours, the band returned right before midnight with Chicago Cub Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. Besides the new songs, guitarist Mike McCready performed a cover of the classic Eddie Van Halen guitar solo "Eruption" and Eddie Vedder wore an accordion for the Vitalogy song "Bugs" in its third ever performance.

The band performed three songs from the record, including the live debuts of two. First single "Mind Your Manners" flexes the band's punk muscle with some striking harmony vocals from drummer Matt Cameron and a scorching speed train guitar solo by Mike McCready. "Lightning Bolt" is radically different and is big on melody as bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Matt Cameron forcefully driving the band with fast and hard rhythms.

The first encore opened up with the premiere of "Future Days", a dramatic ballad performed by the band sitting with their longtime producer Brendan O'Brien on keyboards. All three of the songs feature the band in a different light and yet all of them find the band playing to their strengths. "Future Days" demonstrates the bands continued growth as songwriters. Instead of singing to the crowd, they performed with them rather than to them; as they age Pearl Jam continue their awareness and acknowledgement with their audience that we are all on this journey together. Read Tony's review of the show for more details.

Nirvana Reunites At Paul McCartney Concert

(Radio.com) One of the coolest supergroups in recent memory has struck again. "Sirvana," comprised of Sir Paul McCartney and the surviving members of Nirvana (Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and touring guitarist Pat Smear), reunited at McCartney's Seattle concert at Safeco Field Friday (July 19).

The all-star band first performed at the 12.12.12 Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden last year, and also played on Saturday Night Live. However, at both of those appearances, they only performed "Cut Me Some Slack," the song they did for the soundtrack of Grohl's Sound City documentary.

This time, they jammed on a few other songs, too: a cover of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" and three Beatles classic, "Get Back," "Helter Skelter" and "The End."

McCartney continues his Out There Tour next month at San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival before heading to Canada and later this year, Japan.

Check out high-quality fan-shot video and the full setlist here.

Metallica Promote New Movie and Play Secret Show

(Radio.com) On the cusp of the 30-year anniversary of their debut album, Kill 'Em All, Metallica were doing something they probably never imagined would (or really even could) happen three decades prior: The foursome was promoting a 3D motion picture event with jaw-dropping Hollywood effects, with the story centered around lyrics from Metallica's greatest hits.

On the fourth floor of the Hilton Bayfront San Diego, at the end of a seemingly endless hallway straddling the back of the building, far away from peering eyes, stood a line of reporters waiting patiently for their chance to get two minutes with the biggest rock band in the world. Metallica was in town, and everyone knew it. In fact, they had taken over Comic-Con's second day (Friday, July 19).

Looking for posters or signs indicating the legendary metal band's presence would have been futile; Metallica was in stealth mode. Yes, the band was talking to the press about the upcoming feature film Metallica: Through The Never, but word was spreading fast that the metal powerhouse was also playing a secret concert at a small, local venue. Probing for details about the concert produced the same answer for every reporter; "Sorry, I don't have any details."

When it came time to dig into the story behind the movie, drummer Lars Ulrich told Radio.com, "You know what, I've spent three years working on this movie and I don't have any idea what it means." Ulrich laughed, understanding that the answer left to much to be desired so he launched into a description of the film saying that the storyline is largely "ambiguous," much like singer James Hetfield's lyrics.

Immediately following our interview, Lars was whisked away to join his bandmates for a panel discussion in front of 6,000-person audience at Comic-Con's Hall H, a popular venue throughout the convention. All four members of Metallica, along with Antal and DeHaan, took questions from the audience and debuted the film's trailer along with an exclusive four-minute clip, shown in breathtaking 3D.

Hours later, a line wrapped around the historic Spreckels Theatre in downtown San Diego. Ticket scalpers lining the sidewalk were far from shy, with one enthusiastically shouting, "I pay cash money for tickets. Where are you? I know you got 'em!" The in-demand tickets were far less plentiful than the street hustlers would have liked.

Once inside, 20 oversized speaker cabinets hung from ceiling, blasting more sound than a small theater built in 1912 had likely ever been subjected to. The audience's foot stomping tested the balcony sturdiness, while chandeliers shivered as the Bay-area foursome took the stage to deafening applause, launching with crowd-pleaser "Creeping Death." A lot more details

Van Halen Perform First U.S. Show of The Year

(hennemusic) Van Halen played their first US show of 2013 Saturday as they closed out the RockUSA Festival in Oshkosh, WI and video from the show has been posted online.

The band topped the final night of the 4-day event, which also saw performances from Godsmack, Ratt, Anthrax and many others. The setlist was flush with Van Halen hits that spanned their first six albums: "Running with the Devil," "You Really Got Me," "I'll Wait," "Panama" and "Jump" were all performed.

"Thank you to everyone that came out to #RockUSA13 last night!!!," tweeted Wolfgang Van Halen. "We had a great time! Hope to be back soon!!"

Up next, Van Halen will play their only remaining show of the year at the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, CA on Wednesday (July 24); last month, the band played a series of rescheduled 2012 concerts in Japan. Check out the video here.

Varg Vikernes Speaks Out About Terrorism Arrest

Burzum mastermind Kristian "Varg" Vikernes posted a lengthy five part blog online over the weekend addressing his and his wife's recent arrest in France for suspicion of planning a terrorist attack.

Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the 1993 murder of Mayhem guitarist Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth and church burnings but was released early in 2009, according to Euronews. He and his wife were arrested, and later released, last week after his wife legally purchased four riffles.

After his release late last week, Vikernes posted a series of blog posts about the arrest. Here is part one: "Tuesday I woke up a bit earlier than I normally do. Yes, I normally wake up because the dog wants to take a leak on our lawn, around 7:00, but this morning I woke up because of a loud bang. I more or less jumped out of bed and saw that somebody was breaking into our home. Thankfully I immediately saw that it was actually the police, so I did not reach for any means of defence, and instead just raised my arms and waited for the police to enter. 'Ah, it's just the police'. My second thought was 'What on Earth are they up to? Are they actually smashing our entire entrance area just because of my blog?' I was not sure whether or not they were shooting into our living room or actually flashbanging our living room. After a total of three explosiones (that later turned out to be gun shots) and a lot of breaking of glass and door frames they entered.

"My pregnant wife, not yet aware that it was actually the police, tried to cover our youngest son and — she told me later — was about to reach for her 22 LR Browning lever action rifle, when she understood from my reaction that it was the police. Our youngest son, who was sleeping in our bed during that night (because my mother-in-law was visiting), and was therefore directly behind me and in front of the muzzles of the police's assault rifles. more on this story

Slipknot Starting To Feel Like A Family Again Since Paul Gray's Death

(TeamRock Radio) Frontman Corey Taylor has admitted that Slipknot have had to confront their own fear about recording without their late bass player Paul Gray. The bassist, one of the band's guiding light's died in 2010, forcing them onto hiatus from which they haven't quite returned.

Despite having hit the stage a number of times in the past three years – including a headline set at this year's Download Festival – they hadn't been able to get back into the studio.

That's about to change, says frontman Taylor. "We've all come a long way in the last couple of years," he says. "We've all started to get our own sh*t together and we're starting to feel like a family again – which is huge for us.

"As dysfunctional as this band has been in the past, we've always been there for each other, and we're really starting to reflect that now." He had more to say.

Rush Postage Stamps Released

(hennemusic) Rush fans can now purchase Canadian postage stamps featuring the legendary band as part of the official release of the Canadian Recording Artist stamp series.

Rush's stamp features the iconic Rush Starman. Along with Rush, The Tragically Hip, The Guess Who and Beau Dommage are also honored.

In addition to the stamps themselves, Canada Post is also offering postcards and limited edition framed prints (only 750 will be made available).

Check out an image of the stamp and find out where to buy them online here.

Aerosmith Star Ran Into Trouble With Obscene Dolls

(Classic Rock) Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton's rude sense of humor got him into trouble after he came up with an idea for obscene Beanie Babies. He had 8000 plush toys made – but the joke fell apart at the seams when his son took a few to school.

Hamilton tells Legendary Rock Interviews: "There's something I'd had for a long time, from the era of the Beanie Babies, called Obscenies. They're like the equivalent to Beanie Babies except they're dirty.

"I have a character named Scrotilla The Hun who is a rampaging d***, and a character named Robin Redbreasts who has breast implants.

"I would tell people about it and they'd be like, 'Well, when are you going to do it?' So I found somebody who had the connections to have plush toys made. There was some factory in China that was able to produce about 8000 of these things.

"My son got into the box of them and took some to school and got in trouble… and then I got in trouble!" Find out what he plans to do with them now.

Black Label Society Unplug For Unblackened Releases

(Gibson) Zakk Wylde-fronted metallists Black Label Society will be releasing their live acoustic performance, "Unblackened," on CD, DVD and Blu-Ray on September 23.

Filmed and recorded earlier in 2013 at Los Angeles' Club Nokia, Unblackened aims to show Black Label Society in a new light, featuring stripped-back versions of tracks such as "Stillborn" and "The Blessed Hellride," and making use of acoustic instrumentation and pianos.

DVD and Blu-ray versions will be available, but the double-disc audio release will have six additional tracks not found on the DVD including acoustic versions of "Queen Of Sorrow" and "Won't Find It Here," and covers of Leon Russel's "Song For You" and Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine." more on this story

Marc Bolan's Son Fighting For Rights To His Father's Songs

(Classic Rock) The son of Marc Bolan has sued a music publisher for $2 million, claiming copyright violation. Rolan Feld has filed papers in Los Angeles against Westminster Music Limited, alleging the firm has been selling rights to Bolan's back catalogue without a contract since 1969.

Glam icon Bolan – real name Marc Feld – signed a limited-term deal with Westminster in 1968. His son says the contract was never renewed, but the company has operated as if it had been. As a result, he says, he's the sole owner of the songs in question, and he's owed compensation.

His argument is based on US law for songs written before 1978, which allows for copyright to be held for 28 years, followed by a renewal period lasting a further 67 years. If the songwriter dies during the first time period, rights for the second period automatically belong to his heir. more on this story

Ritchie Blackmore No Longer Draws From Darker Places?

(Classic Rock) Ritchie Blackmore writes better songs now he's not influenced by negative energy, says wife Candice Night. She believes the former Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist turned away from those influences when he formed Blackmore's Night with her – and she thinks he's never looked back.

"He got incredible inspiration from darker places, and I would never criticise him for his ways at that point," Night tells Prime Time Russia. "But for me, caring about him on a personal level, I love to look over and see him smiling on stage, getting inspiration from a positive place. I think that's so much more healing and healthy.

"I think he's writing incredible songs and playing better now than ever before. I'm happier seeing him happier, so it works in a cycle."

What does Ritchie have to say and what does it have to do with Bob Dylan? Find out here.

Pixies, Andrew W.K. and More Added To Riot Fest

(Radio.com) Already boasting musical heavyweights Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, Public Enemy and recently reunited alt-rock legends the Replacements, Chicago's Riot Fest (scheduled for September 13-15) has announced a slew of additions to the line-up, including the Pixies, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Andrew W.K.

The line-up additions come as a handful of previously announced performers bow out of the festival, such as Bad Brains, Attack Attack! and most notably Motörhead, who've cancelled all 2013 tour dates while frontman Lemmy Kilmister deals with health issues.

Pixies will perform the show with Kim Shattuck of the Muffs handling bass duties, as founding member Kim Deal officially quit the band earlier this year. Undaunted, the Pixies released a new song, "Bagboy," their first new material since one-off 2004 single, "Bam Thwok."

"Along with everyone's favorites, we'll be playing songs that we haven't played in ages or never played live before," said Pixies frontman Black Francis in a press statement. "Songs like 'Brick is Red,' 'Havalina,' 'Tony's Theme.' and 'Sad Punk.' We've probably rehearsed some 80 songs, so we'll be able to change up the set at the last minute if we feel like it." more on this story

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi Looking Forward To American Tour

(hennemusic) Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is currently preparing for the band's North American tour, which starts Thursday (July 25) in Houston, Texas and posted an online blog about it.

"Getting ready for the tour of the USA and Canada," writes Iommi. "It's going to be strange after all the album activity being back on stage again. We're all really looking forward to getting going as the dates in New Zealand, Australia and Japan went so well!"

Sabbath are touring in support of their new album, "13." Produced by Rick Rubin, it's the group's first studio album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978's "Never Say Die." more on this story

Dream Theater's James LaBrie Offering Free Solo Song Download

(Classic Rock) Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie is to release his third solo album later this month and he is offering fans a free download of one of new album's tracks.

The album is called Impermanent Resonance and is out on July 29 in Europe and August 6th, 2013 in North America. Once again, LaBrie has worked closely on the songwriting with keyboard player Matt Guillory; the pair have collaborated ever since the release of the MullMuzzler album Keep It To Yourself in 1999. Former Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers also helped out during the writing phase, as well as playing on the album.

Other musicians involved are guitarist Marco Sfogli, bassist Ray Riendeau (Machines Of Loving Grace, Halford) and drummer Peter Wildoer (Darkane, Soilwork). All three were also involved on LaBrie's last solo album, 2010's Static Impulse.

LaBrie has posted a lyric video for the album track "Back on the Ground" and is offering fans a free download of the album's opening track "Agony". Check out the video and grab the download details here.

The Black Crowes Announce Fall Tour Plans

(hennemusic) The Black Crowes have announced a new leg of US dates for their Lay Down With Number 13 tour. The dates – running September 5th - December 14th – feature a mix of headline concerts and festival/special event shows.

This news comes as the band is gearing up for their co-headlining tour with the Tedeschi Trucks Band which runs July 19th in Nashville, TN through August 15th in Rochester Hills, MI.

The Black Crowes' Lay Down With Number 13 tour is their first trek since recently ending a two-year hiatus and is in support of the recently released the live album, "Wiser For The Time." more on this story

Joe Satriani Set For Special Edition Of Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp

(hennemusic) Joe Satriani is one of the featured guest musicians set to appear at special editions of the Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp next month in Napa Valley, California.

To celebrate its 80th anniversary, winemaker Louis M. Martini is partnering with Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp to present the best of both worlds in their "Wine, Wisdom And Rock Experience", set to take place August 16-18.

"The 'Wine, Wisdom And Rock Experience' at Louis M. Martini winery is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience packed into a twice-the-wow weekend," said Martini. "By combining classic cabernet with classic rock we're able to explore firsthand the lessons learned from making great wine and great rock." more on this story

Blitz Kids Announce Tour Plans and Release Delay

(TeamRock Radio) Blitz Kids will tour the UK in their own right in August and September, ahead of a trek where they will be supporting The Blackout, the band have confirmed.

They've also changed the release date of upcoming single Run For Cover as a result of overwhelming fan response. Singer Joe James says: "We didn't expect the reaction to be so positive – you guys have really gone mad for it, posting it everywhere and spreading the love.

"So we've decided to push back the release to coincide with our headline run, so we can make it even bigger." Video and more.

Houston Announce New Album Release

(Classic Rock) Houston have confirmed that their second album will be called II, and the new effort is due for release on September 2nd in the UK. The Swedish outfit's 2010 self-titled debut was listed at Number One in Classic Rock Magazine's best AOR albums list for that year, while single Truth Slips was named 17th-best overall track of the year.

The 10-track record sees producer and keyboardist Ricky Delin become a full-time member alongside vocalist Hank Erix and drummer Freddie Allen. Celebrated session man Tommy Denander recorded some of the guitar parts.

Allen says the final tracklist was selected from "a ton" of potential material. "Only the really good tunes made the cut – we wouldn't release an album with okay songs," he reports. more on this story

Dr Feelgood Leads Hrh Blues Weekender Lineup

(Classic Rock) New HRH Blues weekender launches with Dr Feelgood, Band Of Friends, Simon McBride and many more. Hard Rock Hell (HRH) announced announce its latest weekender, HRH Blues, in association with The Blues Magazine and TeamRock Radio.

HRH Blues will take place at Hafan y Môr Holiday Park, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, North Wales on March 21 and 22, 2014.

The all-star line-up includes Dr Feelgood, Band Of Friends (who celebrate the music of Rory Gallagher), plus some of the most talked-about names on the blues scene including Simon McBride, Stevie Nimmo, Jo Harman and Grainne Duffy. more on this story

Singled Out: Bruce Soord and Jonas Renkse

Today The Pineapple Thief's Bruce Soord tells us about "Frozen North," which is the first single from "Wisdom of Crowds," his collaborative album with Katatonia's Jonas Renkse. Here is the story:

Johnny Wilks, who works at Kscope (our label) sent me a rough idea he had back in 2009. Just a simple acoustic guitar part with him singing. We didn't have any lyrics back then so he'd sing these weird, baby like noises over the top. I should have kept them in! Then I remember he said to me 'I think it should go heavy'.

So I did just that. I tracked the first section with the strings and Spanish guitars, keeping it as delicate as I could knowing I was going to dive head first into a heavy section. I wanted to make people crap their pants when the drums came in. Then the track took on a life of its own.

When it came to the middle section, I remember I was playing around with Rage Against the Machine -style kill switch effects on my guitar, but my finger was too slow to keep up. So I triggered it with a Midi-gate instead, which created all those stutter effects in the middle. I've got to get my trigger finger trained up to do that live now though.

By this time I thought, what the hell, it's a long song, let's do a solo. So I did. And that was that. It all came together really quickly.

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

Metallica Release 'Through The Never' 3D Film Trailer

(hennemusic) Metallica have released the full theatrical trailer and poster for their upcoming 3D feature film, "Through The Never." The project has been described by its star Dane DeHaan as "a concert movie meets 'The Wall' meets Metallica."

"Concert films have a tendency to be filmed from the outside looking [at the band]," explains drummer Lars Ulrich. "We felt it would be much more interesting if we filmed from the inside looking out. We always play 360, so the primary concert element is kind of up on stage filming out."

"Through the Never" will debut in IMAX theatres across North America for a one-week engagement starting Friday, September 27. The film will then expand into additional theatres on October 4. Check out the trailer.

Iron Maiden Release 'Trooper' Video From Download

(Classic Rock) Iron Maiden have released a video showing their performance of classic track "The Trooper" at Download on June 15. The NWOBM giants headlined the Saturday night of the annual event – opening their set with a Spitfire flypast – while Slipknot topped the bill on the Friday and Rammstein closed proceedings on the Sunday.

Immediately after the festival, Classic Rock Magazine owners TeamRock launched new national DAB service TeamRock Radio by playing Maiden's Two Minutes To Midnight at 11.58pm. The station is available worldwide via its website.

Bruce Dickinson and co will bring their Maiden England world tour to a close at London's O2 Arena on August 3 and 4. Check out the Download performance video here.

Limp Bizkit Release New Video Featuring Lil Wayne

(TeamRock Radio) Limp Bizkit have released a video for their track Ready To Go, featuring rap star Lil Wayne. It's taken from upcoming seventh album Stampede Of The Disco Elephants, due out later this year.

Frontman Fred Durst last night took part in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, during which he discussed his falling out with Eminem. He said: "I don't speak much about it, but it really hurt my feelings at the time because I thought we were better friends than I supposed we were.

"I've learned there are better ways to deal with things that upset us. I have remained a loyal fan of his and choose to remember the good times we shared." Check out the video here.

Megadeth Release Dave Mustaine Meet And Greet Footage

(hennemusic) Megadeth have released footage of frontman Dave Mustaine's July 12 meet-and-greet and special autograph signing at the Guitar Center in Dallas, Texas.

The stop is one of a few Mustraine will be making at Guitar Centers while on the road with Gigantour which is scheduled to wrap up on August 11th in Toronto..

The festival, which launched earlier this month in New Hampshire, sees Megadeth headlining the event with tourmates Black Label Society, Device, Hellyeah, Newsted and Death Division – all personally picked by Mustaine.

Megadeth are on the road in support of their latest album, "Super Collider," which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 album chart last month with opening week sales of 29,000 copies. Check out the video footage.

Derision Release Predation Video

(Classic Rock) Derision have released Predation, the first track and music video from the band's as-yet-untitled second album which is scheduled for release in November.

Derision are Tony Smith (vocals), Eddie White (guitars), John Mellor (drums), Kirsten Slater (guitars) and Seddy (bass). They describe themselves as "an intense and energetic metal band from the north west of England".

And what about the title of Derision's new song? Well, the actual word 'predation' describes the scenario where a predator (an animal that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the animal that is attacked). It can also mean an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding. Watch the video and all will become clear here.