Today's Day in Rock News!

Today's Day in Rock


Gregg Allman Hospitalized
Allman Brothers Band legend Gregg Allman has reportedly checked himself into a hospital for an undisclosed illness, forcing him to cancel or postpone several concerts.

Allman's official site and Facebook made no mention of the hospitalization as of Wednesday night, but his Facebook page did announce that Tuesday night's concert in Boise, ID had been postponed with the new date to be announced.

The news of the hospitalization came from a report from Oregon Live. The publication reported that Allman checked himself into a hospital on Monday but did not indicate what caused the veteran rocker to do so.

Peter Dammann, the artistic director of the Waterfront Blues Festival, said on Monday that Allman was canceling his entire tour including Sunday's appearance at the festival.

"He decided to cancel the gig tonight in Boise yesterday," Dammann said on Monday. "This morning I called up his agent and said, 'What's going on?' They said, 'We're evaluating, we'll get back to you.'

"A couple hours later, I got a note from management that said, 'We're canceling the whole tour.' They didn't give us any specifics on what's happening with Gregg."





Foreigner and Styx Tour Buses Catch Fire
(Radio.com) Two tour buses for Foreigner and Styx's Soundtrack of Summer Tour were damaged in a fire at a parking facility in Philadelphia on Wednesday, according to the local CBS affiliate.

CBS Philadelphia reports that "the fire started shortly after noon at a tour bus parking facility at 2nd and Callowhill Streets near Penn's Landing" and the station has video footage showing the rear of one tour bus engulfed in flames and another nearby bus also on fire.

Firefighters were on the scene quickly and were able to put out the fires. The buses were not occupied and both bands reported via their social media pages that no one was hurt and the fires would not disrupt their tour plans.

Styx reassured fans on Wednesday, posting on Facebook, "Thank you for all of the tweets, messages, and comments. We're all okay and the buses were not occupied. No one was hurt. Also, the show is still on for tomorrow evening in Camden, NJ."

Watch the local CBS video report of the fires here.





Kansas Lead Singer Steve Walsh Leaving The Group
Classic rock band Kansas revealed to fans that lead singer Steve Walsh will be leaving the group and his final performance with the band will be taking place next month.

The band posted the following message to their Facebook page on Wednesday, "On June 30, 2014, Steve Walsh informed the members of Kansas that he is resigning from the band.

"His last performance with Kansas will be August 16, 2014, in Sioux City, Iowa, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. As Kansas continues on, the band wishes Steve only the best in his future endeavors, and thanks him for the 41 years."

The Sioux City date is the final stop in the band's current leg of their summer tour. They are scheduled to return to the road on September 12th and have dates scheduled until early November. This is no word yet on who will be taking over lead vocals in the band.





Almost 150 Rare Bob Dylan Acetates Discovered
(Gibson) Nearly 150 previously unknown acetates of songs Bob Dylan was working on at the turn of the '70s have been discovered. As reported by Rolling Stone, the acetates were made by Dylan as he was recording the 1969 album, Nashville Skyline, and the 1970 albums Self Portrait and New Morning.

The recordings, which are currently in the hands of collector Jeff Gold, previously belonged to a woman who owned the Greenwich Village building where Dylan had rented a room to use as a studio. It's assumed Dylan simply left the acetates at that location when he moved out of the space.

The material includes alternate mixes, alternate takes and a handful of never-before-released outtakes. Among the latter are electric versions of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom Prison Blues," and a gospel-tinged take of "Tomorrow is a Long Time."

Columbia Records owns the master tapes for Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning, but it's likely the newly discovered acetates are the only sources for the in-progress mixes. more on this story







Ian Gillan To Sing Smoke On Water With 1000s of Guitarists
(Classic Rock) Deep Purple's Ian Gillan is backing a world record attempt for the most number of amateur guitarists playing at the same time. The singer will take a break from Deep Purple's world tour to front Guitars On The Beach, the massive attempt on the world record for the greatest number of guitarists simultaneously playing one song together - with the band's classic Smoke On The Water one of the songs being performed.

It will take place on Lyme Regis beach on Saturday, September 6. Gillan - who has sold more than 100 million albums and has a home in the Dorset seaside town - astonished organisers by volunteering to take part.

After hearing that organizers were planning to include the Deep Purple hit in the set of songs for the giant beach band to perform, he sent them a note saying: "I hear you might be doing Smoke with the massed guitars and if that is the case I thought I'd offer my services if you need a singer."

Guitars On The Beach organizer Geoff Baker says: "My jaw hit the floor. This is sensational news." more on this story





Rob Halford May Collaborate With Lady Gaga
(Classic Rock) Rob Halford says he and Lady Gaga have discussed a possible collaboration. The Judas Priest frontman met Gaga backstage at one of her gigs in San Diego earlier this month. At the time, she tweeted a picture of the pair.

Now Halford has told how he and the pop superstar talked about working together in the future. He tells The Huffington Post: "It was a real moment come true.

"We didn't really have much time to talk. She's busy. I'm busy, but we've agreed to get together at some point and just hang out and maybe do something. I don't know if that will ever happen, but I love her to death." more on this story





Label Calls Out Band For Disappearing Singer Hoax
(TeamRock Radio) The supposed disappearance of Upon A Burning Body frontman Danny Leal has been branded a "publicity stunt" by the band's furious record label boss. Ash Avildsen, CEO of Sumerian Records, says the hoax was pulled behind his back and he has called on the band to apologies.

Last night fears were growing over Leal's safety after the band posted a message on Facebook claiming he had not been seen since Monday. It followed a series of worrying tweets from Leal in which he seemed to suggest he was being watched and that someone had broken into his house.

Avildsen says in a statement: "I woke up to a ton of missed calls and just saw all this stuff about Danny Leal of UABB posing as though he's been abducted or kidnapped. My phone hasn't stopped ringing since.

"As a child, we all learn the story The Boy Who Cried Wolf and it sticks within our consciousness for a reason. I do not condone this type of publicity stunt. This was done behind my back and I am not OK with it. In my eyes, there's never a time to use the possibility of real-life abduction, injury or murder of someone you care about to promote anything, especially an album.

"If you need to resort to that, then you have lost the plot." more.




Weezer Reveal Their Latest Unusual Album Cover
(Radio.com) Weezer have become synonymous with interesting album covers - they had a picture of Jorge Garcia's Hurley character from Lost plastered on their last, with its predecessor featuring a flying dog in a living room.

When the band released the title of their upcoming ninth album, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, it almost seemed as if Weezer was toning down the outrageousness and getting a little less goofy for their first album since 2010.

And then, well, they released the album cover. With the newest installment of their weekly Weezer Wednesdays video series, the band debuted a clip titled "My Mystery" that included in it, among footage of the band performing and of a sleeping child, the album artwork for the new album.

At first glance, the cover had a sort of Where the Wild Things Are feel to it, from the scratched title in the sky to the giant monster crawling through the mountainside.

As it turns out, the photo was created as part of a series by artists Chris McMahon and Thryza Segal, the focus for which is apparently adding monsters to paintings found in thrift stores. Check it out here.




Linkin Park Reacts To CHVRCHES Criticism, Blames Media
(Radio.com) It took CHVRCHES months and the prodding of a reporter to make mild digs at Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda regarding his previous comments that could easily be construed as critical of CHVRCHES, chiefly his naming the band (and others) as "Disney commercial music."

Shinoda did not need nearly that much time to fire back, taking to his namesake website last night to unleash a rant about the whole situation, easily as critical of the media as he is of the Scottish thorns in his side.

"As we released THE Hunting Party, I spoke on various occasions about the inspiration of the album," Shinoda begins. "Part of the answer is that the album is a response to a surplus of danceable, safe, indie-pop music that's taken over 'rock.' A year ago, we knew the indie-pop thing was a style that our band is capable of making. But we were not interested in pursuing it. Why? Because there is a LOT of it out there. It seemed far more exciting for us to go against the grain."

He continues: "They were asked to respond to a version of the comment that was not consistent with what I actually said. Now, to be clear, it's a journalist's tendency (if not their main objective) to sensationalize this kind of commentary, and make a fight where there is none. Let's not let them have that.

"I learned a new term this year: 'click bait.' Click bait is when someone titles a piece in a sensationalized way in order to get more clicks. It's what I did with the title of this post."

For the curious, said post was titled "Pointless Dicks: @CHVRCHES, Laziness, and Cowards." Shinoda eventually takes a step back.





Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner Writing A '60s 'X-Men Style' Film
(Radio.com) Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner is joining forces with Last Shadow Puppets bandmate Miles Kane to write an "X-Men style film" together. Turner and Kane, who first teamed up to form the Last Shadow Puppets as a side project in 2007, are now prioritizing a film together, Digital Spy reports.

"It's gonna have a sort of X-Men kind of vibe and sort of set in the '60s, but I can't give anymore away than that," Kane said, adding that they likely won't have a starring role in the film. "We're not planning to be [in the film] but we may have a little cameo."

But a film isn't the only collaboration they may have in mind; the duo hasn't ruled out more Last Shadow Puppets material in the future. It's something we always talk about, y'know?" Kane added. More.





Cradle of Filth and Paul Allender Part Ways
(TeamRock Radio) Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth says a parting of the ways with Paul Allender has been in the cards for a year due to the guitarist being based on the other side of the Atlantic.

Filth frontman confirmed Allender had left the band while he also laid the blame for the split at Allender prioritizing his side project White Empress ahead of his own band.

Filth tells Bleedin' Loud: "Paul has left which not everybody is aware of. We weren't planning on it, because it was the kind of thing that has been, kind of, brewing for the last year or so. Not so much on a personal level, but living in America and then him doing his side project and getting kind of lost in that."

Another issue which caused the splintering of the relationship between Allender and Cradle was his reluctance to embrace a second guitarist, which is something Filth says the band may want to look into again. more on this story





Sepultura Frontman Dismisses Max Cavalera Claims
(TeamRock Radio) Sepultura frontman Derrick Green has blasted claims made by Max Cavalera that the band won't be recording any more studio albums. Green vowed the band will continue to release records as he compared former main man Cavalera's claims to high school level gossip.

Cavalera told Hard Rock Haven he'd "heard a rumour" that Sepultura's 2013 album The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart would be their last.

Green tells TotalRock: "It's absolutely ridiculous. All this stuff is ridiculous. If people really wanna know what's happening, then they can easily ask us, and we've never come to that conclusion at all.

"We definitely wanna have another album, for sure. For us, we play all the time - many, many different places and we try to do as much as possible with our music and show that on stage. Not be so much in the media talking about other people and other bands and things like that.

"I passed that in high school, like a long time ago. You get face to face and f***ing speak to us. But other than that, it's just bullsh*t." More




Cannibal Corpse Reveal New Album Details
Cannibal Corpse have announced that Metal Blade Records will be releasing their 13th full length album, "A Skeletal Domain," on September 16th in North America.

The band recorded "A Skeletal Domain" at Audio Hammer Studios with producer Mark Lewis, who has worked with The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, DevilDriver, Battlecross and more.

Cannibal Corpse Alex Webster's had this say about the making of the new album, "At the end of the day, we're still making a death metal record, no matter where it's being recorded."

He adds, "Consistency is often confused with repetition. We are established with what we do as a band, and we could relax and not push ourselves, but we try to push the envelope. That's what makes this exciting

"Anyone who really listens to this album with an open mind will hear that it's not same-old same-old." Mark Lewis would concur with Webster's analysis and even goes a step further by claiming that "there are moments on this record that have never happened in musical history."

The band will be spending most of the summer on the road including appearance as part of this year's Mayhem Festival beginning this Saturday in San Bernardino, CA. more on this story






Genesis Cofounder Anthony Phillips Releasing Box Set
(Classic Rock) Genesis founding guitarist Anthony Phillips has signed to Esoteric Recordings and will release a 5CD retrospective box set later this year. Phillips founded Genesis alongside Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks with whom he recorded the albums From Genesis To Revelation and Trespass.

Since leaving the group in 1970, he has worked on a range of projects including solo albums The Geese And The Ghost, Wise After The Event, Slow Dance, 1984 and Field Day.

He has to date also released 10 albums in the "Private Parts And Pieces" series and four volumes in the Missing Links series. His back catalogue will be celebrated with the release of a 5CD deluxe boxed set in October entitled Harvest Of The Heart.

It will feature recordings made between 1969 and the present day. In addition, the set will include 10 previously unreleased songs and the rare track Compression by Mike Rutherford - previously unreleased on CD - which features Anthony and was the B-side to Mike's 1980 single Working In Line. more on this story





Godsmack Members See Side-Band As Long Term
(TeamRock Radio) Godsmack duo Shannon Larkin and Tony Rombola say their new band is a long-term project. And they say Blue Cross Band is different to their regular gig with Godsmack, which they describe as like being part of a gang.

The pair are turning down the volume and looking to increase their musical longevity with the Blue Cross Band, formed with frontman Ray Cerbone and bassist Brian Carpenter.

Drummer Larkin tells News-Press.com: "I see myself doing the Blue Cross Band after Godsmack. This is a style of music I can see myself playing well into my 60s.

"When I hit the drums in Godsmack, I'm trying to kill 'em. In The Cross, I shut my eyes and I'm into the lyrics and the song and Tony's guitar playing and Brian's bass. It's a band thing, whereas in Godsmack, it's like a gang thing. We're out to pummel." more on this story





Suicide Silence Release 'You Can't Stop' Video
(TeamRock Radio) Suicide Silence have revealed a new music video for the title track from their upcoming album, You Can't Stop, ahead of the album's release later this month.

"You Can't Stop" is taken from the album of the same name, due out on July 15th in the U.S., July 11th in Europe and July 14th in the UK. It features lyrics written by tragic former frontman Mitch Lucker.

It will be the band's first album featuring new frontman Eddie Hermida, who was drafted in following the tragic death of Lucker in a 2012 motorcycle accident.

Watch the video here.





Judas Priest Preview 'Sword Of Damocles'
(hennemusic) Judas Priest have released a new online preview clip for the song "Sword Of Damocles", one of the tracks found on their forthcoming album, "Redeemer Of Souls."

Due July 8 in North America, the project will be issued in a standard version and a deluxe edition with five bonus tracks. The night before the album hits stores, members of Judas Priest will appear on the North American rock radio series Rockline.

Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and Richie Faulkner will join host Bob Coburn on Monday, July 7 at 8:30 PT / 11:30 ET. Fans can phone in to speak with Judas Priest during the program at 1-800-344-ROCK (7625).

Check out the song preview here.




Guns N' Roses Release Live 'You Could Be Mine' Video
(hennemusic) Guns N' Roses have released a new live video version of "You Could Be Mine" from their new release, "Appetite For Democracy 3D: Live From The Hard Rock Casino - Las Vegas."

Released on July 1st on DVD and Blu-ray, the package features the band filmed in concert on November 21, 2012 during their first residency in Las Vegas.

The Blu-ray includes the complete concert film in both 3D and 2D plus an interactive 3D photo gallery, and the standard DVD presents the 2D version of the film.