Today's Day in Rock News!

Today's Day in Rock


Jimmy Page Releasing Sound Tracks Box Set
(hennemusic) Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page will release "Sound Tracks", a box set featuring the guitarist's work on films "Lucifer Rising" and "Death Wish II", along with additional archive material on March 6 and he has released streams of some of the tracks from the collection .

The package presents work from both projects plus a companion disc of previously unreleased tracks - the same format Page designed for the extensive Led Zeppelin reissues series.

Recorded at Page's home studio in Plumpton and The Sol studio in Cookham in the late 70s and early 80s, "Sound Tracks" includes an all-new booklet containing a written track-by-track insight by the guitarist for the archive material amidst a collection of original artwork across 36 pages.

Page explains: "The archive material and work included here serve as an illustration of the ongoing process at the time of these two projects." "Sound Tracks" will be available as a 4CD, 4LP and signed deluxe edition. Check out the streams here.



Kanye West Ridiculed In New Song
(Classic Rock) Comedy metal band Steel Panther have come out swinging in a new song about Kanye West following an incident at the Grammy Awards. West momentarily interrupted Beck's acceptance speech for his record Morning Phase winning Album Of The Year at the annual event in a flashback to a similar stunt with Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. In both cases, the rapper was attempting to protest the decision not to award the honors to Beyonce.

West later told the media that the decision to give Beck the prize over Beyonce's self-titled record was disrespectful to "the craft" of music. Steel Panther have stepped into the ring on the issue, posting a short song about the rapper on Facebook.

Accompanied by piano, Panther frontman Michael Starr declares West's music "sounds like hamster turds" and that he sounds like "a donkey fart", adding that "Beck should kick you in the nuts with steel toed boots to make it right."

The group says: "For your consideration for next year's #Grammys… #Kanye" Check it out here.




Def Leppard Delay Their New Album Plans
(Classic Rock) Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott says a busy 2015 tour schedule and "an unprecedented amount of offers" to release their 11th album have pushed the project into later in the year.

Songwriting sessions for the follow-up to 2008's Songs From The Sparkle Lounge early last year yielded the beginnings of 15 tracks, which guitarist Phil Collen described in September as "really heavy and very melodic."

Between live commitments and guitarist Vivian Campbell's stem-cell treatment for cancer, the group resumed studio activity in December, with drummer Rick Allen recently revealing the majority of 16 songs are close to completion.

Leppard were planning to have the record ready for release in time for the spring 2015 touring season, but Elliott now reveals to Billboard the project has been moved back due to "an unprecedented amount of offers from various different people to release this record, which we weren't expecting and has changed the whole dynamic of how we want to put this record out." Read more here.



Tool and Motorhead Captured In New Recording Studio Video
(Classic Rock) Tool guitarist Adam Jones is sharing video filmed by Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee as the two bands work on new projects in the same recording facility in Los Angeles.

Last month, Tool confirmed their fifth album was moving forward as they continue to record the follow-up to 2006's 10,000 Days. The guitarist revealed last summer that a 2007 lawsuit brought aginst the band by his best friend contributed to the delay as members dealt with the negative effects of the eight-year long legal battle.

Jones can be seen in footage posted on his Facebook page - titled 'Hanging With Heroes' - and shot by Dee at the studio complex where both bands are in session.

Dee says: "Hi, everyone. I'm in the studio. I've been working hard all day today. I'm going into the lounge. I know that Adam is here - they're next door to us, the guys from Tool."

The drummer runs into Jones and Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell. He says: "What are you guys doing here, Adam?" who replies, "We're working on some tunes, having fun, bugging you guys."

Watch the video here.



Banned Cradle Of Filth T-Shirt Causes More Controversy
(TeamRock Radio) A banned Cradle Of Filth t-shirt is causing a media storm after it was included in a museum exhibition. The notorious t-shirt features an image of a nun masturbating on the front, with the words 'Jesus is a cunt' emblazoned on the back.

It was banned by New Zealand's chief censor in 2008, but is now appearing as part of an exhibition called T-shirts Unfolding at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. It is being displayed in an area of the gallery marked for over 18s only.

However, according to The New Zealand Herald, a lobby group Family First called the exhibit "horrific" and "offensive" and is appealing to authorities to take action.

The group say: "We don't think it's art. We don't think any group should be subjected to this level of vile hate language." Read more here.




Machine Head Filming DVD At Upcoming Concerts
(Classic Rock) Machine Head have announced that they will be filming a pair of shows that will be taking place in California this coming weekend for a future DVD release.

The band performed a UK tour in December following the release of their eighth album Bloodstone & Diamonds, and launched a two-month winter US run last month.

Billed as 'An Evening With', the group are playing longer than usual sets that feature material from the latest album alongside tracks from their back catalogue.

Machine Head will film shows at The Regent in Los Angeles on Friday, February 20, and at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on Saturday, February 21, for a concert DVD. Read more here.



Eddie Van Halen's Smithsonian Interview Video Steaming Online
(hennemusic) Video has now gone online from Eddie Van Halen's interview at The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington on February 12 to help launch the institution's new 3-year initiative "What It Means To Be American."

The project is aimed at engaging leading thinkers, public figures and Americans from all walks of life to explore how the United States became the nation it is today.

Van Halen joined host Denise Quan for the session, where he discussed his family's journey from Holland to America, his musical roots and, as things developed, his need to build his own guitar - which turned out to be a hybrid of a Fender and a Gibson - to create the sound he heard in his head.

The rocker then recounted his long history of tinkering with guitars, amps and electronics under the evening's theme, "Is rock 'n' roll about reinvention?"






Dimebag Darrell House and Studio Video Tour Released
(Classic Rock) A video tour of Dimebag Darrell's house and personal recording studio has been released. Filmed by Guitar World, the clip takes fans around the late Pantera guitarist's house and reveals a home that entirely matches the iconic musician's personality.

Pantera and Damage Plan memorabilia adorn the walls alongside posters of Judas Priest and some of Dime's other favorite acts in the short 3:24 long video clip.

Dimebag was shot and killed on stage during a Damageplan gig in Columbia, Ohio on December 8, 2004 by gunman Nathan Gale, who also killed three more people and injured seven others that night. Watch the video here.



Rob Halford Open To Resurrecting Fight
(Classic Rock) Rob Halford says he's open to the idea of resurrecting his 1990s band Fight. The Judas Priest frontman formed Fight after his 1992 departure from Priest. The band released two albums, 1993's War Of Words and 1995's A Small Deadly Space.

Halford was joined in Fight by guitarist Russ Parrish - aka Satchel from Steel Panther. On the possibility of future work with Fight, Halford tells Scenstr: "I've just been through a patch with the people who were looking after me previously. It took a while to get everything knocked back into shape legally and to get out of the hell that I was going through.

"But the good news is my solo back catalogue is slowly being put back out there into the world again. And, if the opportunity arises, I would love to do that again." Read more here.




Former Trivium Member Forms New Supergroup
(TeamRock Radio) Former Trivium drummer Nick Augusto has formed a new band with members of Insense and Before The Mourning. The new band will be called Corrosion.

Augusto was sacked by Trivium in the middle of a tour last year, and replaced by his own drum tech Mat Madiro.When he arrived back home in Florida, Augusto met up with childhood friend Christopher Cussell, guitarist with Before The Mourning.

He then got in touch with friends in Norwegian metal outfit Insense who agreed to help out. Singer Tommy Hjelm and guitarist Martin Rygge are onboard for the new band. Read more here.




Voivod 'Back In Prog Rock Mode'
(Classic Rock) Voivod drummer Michel "Away" Langevin says the veteran Canadian band are staying true to their roots on their latest single We Are Connected. Following its premiere last month, the tune will be issued as one half of a split release with Century Media labelmates At The Gates on 7-inch vinyl on April 7.

Langevin tells the Edmonton Sun: "We're back in prog rock mode. Especially the new single, it's shameless prog rock. We still try to keep it thrash metal, though. I try to keep the double kick going just so it's punky. We won't forget the roots, that's for sure."

We Are Connected marks the first new music from Voivod since 2013's Target Earth; it's also the first track featuring new bassist Dominic 'Rocky' Laroche, who joined the group last summer following the departure of Jean-Yves 'Blacky' Theriault. Read more and stream the song here.



David Ellefson Was Shocked At Drover's Megadeth Exit
(Classic Rock) Megadeth bassist David Ellefson says he was "shocked" when he heard the news that drummer Shawn Drover had quit the band. Drover announced his departure from the group in November and was followed mere hours later by a similar statement from guitarist Chris Broderick, leaving Ellefson and mainman Dave Mustaine as the remaining members in the lineup.

Ellefson soon followed the duo's news by confirming the band would continue as he and Mustaine move forward with plans to add new members and record the follow-up to 2013's Super Collider starting in March.

The bassist is now sharing details about how he found out about Drover's exit and what transpired in the hours after the news first broke. Ellefson tells 100PercentRock.com: "Well, you know, there were some things leading up to it that I certainly was in tune with, and paying attention to. Actually, I swear the day it happened I was shocked. It's funny, a friend of mine sent me a text, he goes, 'hey, I just heard Shawn Drover quit Megadeth.' And I was like, 'That's odd…' and the next thing you know my phone started just blowing up.

"So I called Shawn, I said, 'what's going on man?' He said, 'yeah dude, it was time.' And I was like, 'all right,' you know. So we just had a conversation about it." Read more here.



Apocalyptica Stream New Song 'Cold Blood'
(Classic Rock) Apocalyptica have issued "Cold Blood" as a preview to their upcoming eighth studio album, "Shadowmaker." The song follows the title track as the second tune released from the project, produced by Nick Raskulinecz - who has worked with Foo Fighters, Deftones and Mastodon - and due in April via Eleven Seven Music.

"Shadowmaker" features former Scars On Broadway guitarist Franky Perez on vocals, and there's talk that the singer could become a permanent member of the group following the upcoming tour to promote the record - a trek that will see them open for Sixx AM's spring shows in North America.

Cellist Eicca Toppinen says the band wanted to challenge themselves following a year-long break. Toppinen tells The Rockpit: "It's always hard to talk about albums without being a nerdy musician. I think it's a totally new kind of record for Apocalyptica, especially because we have one singer on the whole album, and I think it's making the whole album more solid. It's more of a band record compared to the album that we have had guest vocalists, so I think it's more solid.

"We had a break when we stopped touring for 7th Symphony, we had one year off, we didn't write a single song for a record, nothing except for Wagner Reloaded, but for the regular stuff, nothing. And after the break, we came together and if we wanted to do something, we have to do exactly what we want to do and this record is the result of that, that journey." Read more and stream the song here.




Supertramp's Carl Verheyen Unplugs For Covers On New Album
(Classic Rock) Supertramp guitarist Carl Verheyen has just released his second acoustic solo album, Alone, via Cranktone Entertainment. The follow-up to 2014's Mustang Run - and companion to 2001's Solo Guitar Improvisations - sees Verheyen mixing original compositions with songs by The Beatles (All You Need Is Love, Norwegian Wood and In My Life), Peter Gabriel (Mercy Street), Pat Metheny (Last Train Home), Elton John (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road) and Mark Knopfler (Going Home: Theme Of The Local Hero).

Verheyen says he chose his cover tunes carefully for this project. He adds: "Most of the material on this album is covers of songs I like. Three John Lennon tunes form a little suite in the middle of the set. I recorded some jazz standards, a Peter Gabriel song, a few originals, a movie theme and a Pat Metheny tune.

"My goal is simple: I only cover a song by another composer if I feel I have something new to say about it. A good musician makes music sound different and the object is to make the standards your own." Read more and check out a video here.



Judas Priest's Ian Hill Talks Redeemer Of Souls
(Classic Rock) Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill says 2014's Redeemer Of Souls is "the best album" the veteran band have ever done. Issued last summer, the group's 17th album delivered their first-ever US Top 10 debut and their highest UK album chart entry in 34 years - landing in the No. 12 position.

Frontman Rob Halford declared Redeemer will be "revered" a decade from now, and is so enthusiastic about Faulkner's songwriting skills that he's already itching to make another record.

Ahead of their appearance at Australia's Soundwave Festival series later this month, Hill backed up Halford's comments in an interview with the event's Lindsay McDougall.

Hill says: "Obviously, whatever album we do, it's gotta stand up to what went before. But with the endless quality material that Richie and Glenn and Rob were churning out, it was evident from the start that this album was gonna be a classic, and that's the way it's turned out.

"People say, 'What's your favorite album?' and everybody always says the latest one. Only this one is, you know?! I think it's the best, obviously, classic Priest album. You can't really count Nostradamus, being sort of a standalone, one-off sort of album. But I think Redeemer is the best album that we've done." Read more here.




Satyricon Announce New DVD Release
(TeamRock Radio) Veteran Norwegian black metallers Satyricon will release their upcoming DVD Live At The Opera on May 1 via a newly-signed deal with Napalm Records.

In sync with the release of 2013's self-titled, eighth studio album, the band played an exclusive, one-off show at Den Norske Opera & Ballett in Oslo, Norway on September 8, 2013, where they were joined by the Norwegian National Opera Chorus as part of the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival.

Frontman Sigurd 'Satyr' Wongraven explains how the project came together. He says: "The whole thing started with us doing one song, To The Mountains, a year and a half before the actual show. We performed at a closed event in the main hall of the opera with the Royal Norwegian Opera Chorus. It was very inspirational.

"I then said to the conductor that I would love to do a whole show like this. He loved the idea, I was serious about it, and he was serious about it. We spent approximately one and a half year working with composer and arranger Kjetil Bjerkestrand on the choral arrangements."

Satyr continues: "For something that we planned for so long, put so much work into, and something this unique - of course it would be nice to film it and record it. But I made it very clear to the people around Satyricon that I`m not going to turn this into a recording session where you can buy tickets." Read more here.




Soilwork Working On New Album
(TeamRock Radio) Soilwork are back in the studio working on their new album, frontman Bjorn 'Speed' Strid has confirmed. They're working with producer Jens Bogren again, who was behind the desk for The Living Infinite and 2010's The Panic Broadcast.

They began demos for the follow up to 2013's The Living Infinite in December - with Strid insisting the band were sounding "better than ever." Now they're in the studio in their homeland of Sweden to lay down tracks on album no.10.

Strid tells GoetiaMedia: "We've actually entered the studio. Dirk Verbeuren has started to lay down some of the drums already. I'll go up to the studio in Stockholm this week." Read more here.




Nazareth Announce New Singer
(TeamRock Radio) Nazareth have moved quickly to bring in a new frontman in the wake of Linton Osborne's departure. The Scottish veteran rockers have snapped up Persian Risk singer Carl Sentence to take over vocal duties, after being blown away by his first audition.

Bass player Pete Agnew says: "We take great pleasure introducing to you our new singer, Carl Sentance. We had been looking at Carl from afar for some time and very much liked what we saw, so we asked him to come up and sing a couple of songs with us in the studio.

"He came in on Tuesday and completely blew us away in the space of half a song. He was offered and accepted the job right there and then. As you can imagine, we are dying to get started with rehearsals but it's going to have to wait." Read more here.





Kurt Cobain Movie Moved People To Tears Says Love
(Classic Rock) Courtney Love says director Brett Morgen did a "fantastic job" on the Cobain: Montage Of Heck, the documentary about late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

While daughter Frances Bean Cobain served as the project's executive producer, the Nirvana frontman's widow had no editorial input but did provide Morgen with access to her personal archives as a way of providing material and support for the first fully-authorised Cobain film.

Montage Of Heck - which includes unreleased songs by the Nirvana leader - had its world premiere at last month's Sundance Film Festival and just debuted at the 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival. It will see a UK release in April and US television premiere on cable network HBO on May 4.

Love shared her reaction to seeing the film during an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman. Love says: "I just came back from Berlin. It's anguish. It's very moving. I've seen it now three times, and I'm probably not going to see it again. It's too much. People were in tears." Read more here.



Nightwish Release 'Elan' Video
(Prog) Nightwish have released a video for their new single Elan. Elan will feature on the band's eighth album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, which will be out next month via Nuclear Blast.

On the video, mainman Tuomas Holopainen says: "The long awaited Nightwish music video Elan is finally here. Inspired by the untold stories of abandoned places around Finland, the video was nearly a year in the making and features some of the most loved Finnish actors and actresses."

The track has been officially released after it was leaked earlier this. The leak was described by the band as a "huge blow." Watch the new music video here.




The NX Streaming New EP Online
(TeamRock Radio) Northern riffers The NX are gearing up to release their debut EP "Night Heaver" onto the world but fans can get an early listen as they're streaming it online right now.

Speaking about the record, drummer Luke Walker says: "We're excited for the year ahead, finally getting to release Night Heaver that we've worked so hard on and now we're ready to play as many shows as possible on the back of it.

"Touring means partying with new friends and bands we meet on the road so we're excited about that. A lot of partying and puking but also making sure we put on the best shows we can, get the crowd involved and spread the good word of The NX party nationwide. Remember to take the next day off work to recover!"





Pentagram Reveal New Album Plans
(TeamRock Radio) Pentagram have announced they will release their eighth album in the summer. Bobby Liebling's doom outfit have re-signed with Peaceville Records ahead of the new album's release and worked with producer Mattias Nilsson at studios in Baltimore, Washington DC and Virginia.

Additional vocal and guitar production took place in Knoxville, Tennessee with Travis Wyrick - the Grammy Award-winning producer who worked on the band's previous album, 2011's Last Rites.

The current Pentagram lineup includes Liebling, guitarist Victor Griffin, bassist Greg Turley and drummer Peter Campbell. The band say: "Pentagram is happy to return to the label that helped relaunch interest in our debut album and introduce us to a new metal audience in the 1990s.

"Peaceville Records has been an ally to us throughout the past 20 years. We are happy to have them by our side once again as we record our fourth album under their banner. Never properly recorded songs written by Bobby in the 70s will be heard on the album as fresh as they were when they were written over 40 years ago." here.




Rex Brown Explains Pantera's Rise to Fame
(TeamRock Radio) Former Pantera bassist Rex Brown says the band's success was down to hard work and came at a time when the rock scene was changing. And he credits word of mouth as a major contributing factor to their rise to success in the early 90s as they didn't have a lot of support from MTV.

He tells Do You Know Jack?: "Everything was kind of changing at that point. All the hair bands and all that kind of stuff. Everybody was kind of stale.

"If you think about just songs in general, there were some pretty good songs that the look took away from all that. We just came around at a time that we saw a crack and we slipped through it, and we put a lot of hard work and did a lot of touring.

"We toured non-stop. We had 32 days off on the Cowboys From Hell tour, and that was the total time period between 18 months on, and then directly back in the studio."

He continues: "We just came in at a time when people needed us. We would stay out in the parking lots until six in the morning signing autographs. I think that really made a huge difference between us and other bands that were just, 'Go on the bus and bye.' You meet one guy, and he goes, 'Man, those guys were cool.' And he tells another friend, and it gets around like that." Read more here.



Wire Streaming New Song 'Joust and Jostle'
(Prog) Veteran UK rockers Wire have released a stream of their new single Joust & Jostle and announced their self-titled 14th album will be released on April 13th.

The follow-up to 2013's Change Becomes Us will launch on CD and vinyl.
The band also announced that take to the road across the UK the same month to promote their new material.

Included in the live run is another round of their Drill festivals, this time taking place at the Lexington, London on April 14-18. It's their fourth headlining festival they've organized after previous set in London along with dates in Seattle and Brighton. Artists joining the bill will be announced in due course.




Dzyen Release 'As One' Video
(Prog) Dzyen have launched a music video for their track "As One," which comes from their upcoming debut album It's Pronounced Zen, which is pencilled in for an April release. The full-length studio outing is the follow up to their self-titled 2013 EP.

The core band features guitarist Scott Goodrum, bassist Bryan Tulip and drummer Romeo Ferrari. For the new track they've hooked up with former Tesseract frontman Ashe O'Hara - just one of many guest musicians who appear on the upcoming record.

It will also feature artists including Periphery's Spencer Sotelo, Monuments Chris Barretto and John Browne and Tesseract and Skyharbor frontman Dan Tompkins.

The band say: "We are planning - planning being the operative word - to have our album finished by February or March and unveil our new vocalist." Watch the video here.




Hasse Froberg & Musical Companion Reveal New Album Details
(Prog) Hasse Froberg & Musical Companion have revealed details on their upcoming album. Titled HFMC, it will launch on March 27 via Glassville Records and will be the follow-up to 2012's PowerPlay.

Froberg is joined in the project by lead guitarist Anton Lindsjo, keyboardist Kjell Haraldsson, drummer Ola Strandberg and bassist Thomson. Froberg says: "I've never experienced a recording like this before. So many strange things happened along the way and I've been living so close to this music for so long - so right now I feel exhausted, yet hopeful.

"This being our third album, from day one I've had the intention to make this an album I'm proud of. Honestly, me and the lads have really done our utmost to give you our strongest album to date." Read more here.



Black Rainbows Release 'The Prophet' Video
(Classic Rock) Black Rainbows have released a video for the song "The Prophet," which is taken from the band's "Hawkdope" album, released on March 14. The album is the follow-op to 2013's "Holy Moon."

"I'm so happy with the Hawkdope album and can't wait to get out on tour," says the band's Gabriele Fiori. "As you may have noticed from our past few EPs, we're moving away from the stoner sound and getting equally into the older head bands and space rock vibes of Ladbroke Grove. I think this new record will be a hit with fans of both new and old music. Fry Your Mind!"

The band, who describe themselves as "the bastard offspring of '70s hard-rock swagger and '90s stoner-groove", are in the process of setting up a mini UK tour for June.