Today's Day in Rock News!

Today's Day in Rock


Stone Temple Pilots Add Tour Dates
Stone Temple Pilots, now fronted by Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, have announced a string of U.S. tour dates that will be taking place this fall.

The band will be playing the final dates of their spring tour this week. The new fall tour dates will be kicking off on September 15th in Cleveland, OH at the House of Blues.

The short trek will run for five dates including September 16th in Detroit, September 22nd in Cincinnati, September 23rd in Louisville, KY and wrapping up in St. Paul on September 25th. See the details here.




Slipknot's Corey Taylor Turned Down VH1's Rock Of Love
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor reveals in a recent radio interview that he was approached to star in VH1′s Rock of Love, taking over for Poison frontman Bret Michaels in the dating series.

Taylor told KISW 99.9 FM
(via Loudwire), "I wanna say about seven years ago, I got called about being on Rock of Love. I think Bret [Michaels] has passed on it, on one of the seasons, and I was like, 'Don't ever call me again.'"

He adds, "I was like, who in their right mind thought I was the perfect dude for Rock of Love 12 or whatever the hell it was. And I was just like, there's some idiots in this business. I'm just letting you know. I don't know if you got that memo. There's some stupid people who were given the keys to the kingdom."

Read the Loudwire report to find out what he would have done had he accepted the offer here.




Blink-182 May Make New Album With Matt Skiba
In the aftermath of Blink-182 recruiting Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba to take over for Tom DeLonge for their live dates this year, the band have been discussing making a new album with Skiba.

In a new interview with Alternative Nation, Skiba confirms comments that Travis Barker made in an earlier discussion with the site that the band was considering making an album with the new lineup.

Skiba says, "I think that's a great idea and it's something we have discussed. I'm pleasantly surprised to see Travis mention it to you guys. It's something I would be very excited to do and I've known the Blink guys for about fifteen years and we've become good friends. Playing songs I haven't written with Mark and Travis is a blast, so to go in and create music with them would be amazing."

He also holds out hopes that his position in the band will become permanent. "I think it's too soon to know. I'm about to go on an Alkaline Trio tour for a couple months. There's some time and some things that those guys need to figure out before we can start saying I'm a permanent member. But that is a hope of mine. If we're discussing recording an album, I think that seals the deal. But, we shall see, only time can tell."

Check out the full interview, including where his relationship with Tom DeLonge now stands, here.




Skid Row Rejected $500K Reunion According To Bach
(Classic Rock) Sebastian Bach claims Skid Row were offered half a million dollars for two reunion shows with him and turned it down. He's previously discussed how the band were invited to appear at the UK's Sonisphere festival in 2012, although the event was later cancelled. And he's lashed out in the past at the attitude of his former colleagues, accusing them of being "allergic to cash."

Now Bach tells Loudwire: "We got offered a reunion show at Sonisphere, and I can tell you all the details because it never happened. We were offered $250,000 per show for two shows, a Friday and a Saturday night.

"We were going to get paid half a million dollars and Rachel didn't want to do it. If you're in a company with somebody and they are turning down your work, that's really a bummer.

The singer says he's still part of the Skid Row corporation with bassist Bolan and guitarist Snake Sabo and continues, "It's a bummer being in a business with guys that commit breach of fiduciary duty on a daily basis. I'm still in a company with them. I'm still in the corporation." Read more here.




Metallica Win Loudness War
(Classic Rock) Metallica album Death Magnetic has been named the loudest-ever by a mastering expert. But he says the advantages of the approach are all-but cancelled out in the modern era.

Engineer Ian Shepherd compared a number of albums for dynamic range, the key element in the "loudness war." Death Magnetic topped his list - but lost significant amounts of sonic detail in the process.

The 2008 title scored a dynamic range rating of DR3, compared to the band's 1991 Black Album, which was much lower on the list at DR11. The least-loudest was Dire Strait's Brothers In Arms at DR16.

Shepherd says in his Production Advice blog: "Why is it crazy? Because it doesn't work. None of these 'loudness' differences will be audible in any of the most popular places we listen to music." Read more including the loudness list here.




Black Sabbath's Bill Ward Devastated By Loss Of Ozzy's Friendship
(TeamRock Radio) Former Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has described how he went through a period of grief over the end of his friendship with singer Ozzy Osbourne.

The pair were involved in a public war of words earlier this month after Ward said he couldn't consider a return to the metal icons for their farewell tour unless Ozzy performed a "righting of wrongs" over allegations he'd made about the drummer's abilities.

The vocalist refused to entertain the suggestion and told the sticksman: "Stop playing the victim," leading to an apparent closure of the door on a reunion.

Now Ward has discussed a period in May last year, after he'd undergone shoulder surgery, when he made a public appearance in the US to launch his artwork series.

He tells Joel Gausten: "I was still in a lot of grief. I was grieving the loss of one of my best friends - Ozzy Osbourne. I missed him so much it was devastating to me. When I did the presentation of the paintings, there were some things I was describing and I know I was crying." Read more here.




Kid Rock Breaking Records With Summer Tour
(hennemusic) Kid Rock is breaking a Michigan ticket sales record with the addition of his 9th and 10th shows at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Detroit as part of his summer tour.

The newly-announced dates in support of "First Kiss" will take place on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22, with tickets going on sale May 2 at 10 am. local time.

These shows shatter previous ticket sale records for the state of Michigan, previously held by Garth Brooks at approximately 107,000 tickets; the new dates will see Kid Rock sell over 145,000.

The singer is also breaking the record for most consecutive shows at the venue, formerly held by Bob Seger. Read more here.




Motorhead Say Lemmy Is Feeling Better, Reveal Illness Details
(hennemusic) Motorhead have issued an update on the status of frontman Lemmy Kilmister after he took ill in Sao Paulo, Brazil over the weekend and the band were forced to cancel two appearances at the city's Monsters Of Rock festival.

"Due to a food related tummy problem, unfortunately Lemmy was not able to perform the show in Sao Paulo," says the group. "He is already feeling much better and ready to continue the South America dates! Next stop Curitiba!

"Lemmy regrets this mishap very much and is looking forward to making it up to all the fans." On Saturday, Monsters Of Rock organizers announced Motorhead's last-minute cancellation due to Lemmy suffering "a serious gastric disorder, followed by dehydration." Read more here.




Jack White Ends Acoustic Tour With Message 'Music is Sacred'
(Radio.com) Jack White closed out his run of surprise acoustic shows in the five cities he had yet to play with a special message to fans and perhaps a not so-veiled advertisement for Tidal.

White streamed the show from Fargo, N.D., on Tidal, the streaming music service Jay Z started up with support from other artists like White that promises higher quality audio. The exclusive clip featured White playing solo hits like Lazaretto's "Just One Drink" and "Temporary Ground" and White Stripes favorites like "Hotel Yorba" and "We're Going To Be Friends."

But the music lover also expressed his concern about how people disregard music for convenience, telling the crowd, 'If you feel strongly about music and love music, tell people that. Tell people that music is sacred."

He added that music deserves respect and it shouldn't be assumed that it can be had for free, perhaps a dig at those that have complained Tidal is not actually for everyone, but for those who can afford to spend $19.99 a month.

'Music is not disposable and worthless," he said. "It shouldn't be treated that way." Read more here.




Motley Crue Think More Bands Should Do Retirement Contracts
(Radio.com) The end of Motley Crue as a touring rock band is coming near, with a New Year's Eve show scheduled for Los Angeles, as the band signed a legally binding contract to not tour beyond 2015.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, bassist Nikki Sixx spoke about the contract not being a publicity stunt, and thinks that more bands should follow suit.

"The whole 'reunion of the reunion of the reunion' thing--that's about money, and not about music," Sixx said, with everyone from Jay Z to Nine Inch Nails to The Grateful Dead as examples of what he means. Read more here.




Elvis Presley Songwriter Sid Tepper Dead at 96
(TeamRock Radio) Sid Tepper, the man who wrote more than 40 tracks for Elvis Presley, has died at his home in Florida aged 96, it's been reported. With his songwriting partner Roy Bennett, Tepper penned tracks including Once Is Enough, GI Blues, The Lady Loves Me, Puppet On A String and Stay Away for the King, while the duo received five credits of Presley's 1961 film Blue Hawaii.

In a 2005 interview for the book Elvis Presley: Writing For The King by Ken Sharp, Tepper said: "When Elvis started to make movies, they needed non-rock n' roll writers - people who could come up with special material songs and ballads.

"I believe that Elvis' movies and their songs made a mighty contribution to his career. They brought him to the attention of millions of people who otherwise would never have known the greatness of the King." Read more here.




Prime Evil Era Venom Members Reunite
(TeamRock Radio) Former Venom members Jeff 'Mantas' Dunn, Anthony 'Abaddon' Bray and Tony 'Demolition Man' Dolan have reunited in Venom Inc, the trio have confirmed.

They played together on three Venom albums: Prime Evil (1989), Temples Of Ice (1991) and The Waste Lands (1992) before Dunn and Bray teamed up again with original vocalist Cronos for 1997's Cast In Stone.

Now the "powerhouse of metal" are back together and have lined up live dates across Europe later this year, including an appearance at London's Scala on September 9. Read more here.




Refused Release First New Song in 17 Years
(TeamRock Radio) The post-hardcore pioneers Refused have just released a track called "Elektra", their first new material in 17 years and announced a new album in the process.

After the release of 1998's groundbreaking The Shape Of Punk To Come, the Swedish noisemakers disbanded before reforming for a handful of dates back in 2012 including sub-headlining the second stage at Download festival.

Now with Reading and Leeds festival dates ahead of them, Refused have unveiled new single Elektra - the opening track to new album Freedom. Check out the new song here.



Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett, Chris Squire On Billy Sherwood Album
(TeamRock Radio) Former Yes man Billy Sherwood has signed a deal with Frontiers Records for his upcoming album, Citizens. And he's lined up a who's-who of names from the world of prog to contribute to the record, which is due for release in early 2016.

Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett, Chris Squire, John Wetton, Jordan Rudess, Tony Kaye, Geoff Downes, Steve Morse, Steve Hillage, Patrick Moraz, John Wesley and Jerry Goodman have so far been confirmed, with more names promised in the coming weeks.

Sherwood had this to say: "Citizen is the story of a lost soul wandering through time and living through many lives during historic periods of time." Read more here.




Iron Maiden Release Behind The Scenes Video Of Remasters Project
(hennemusic) Iron Maiden recently remastered 19 albums from their catalog for iTunes and now the band are sharing a behind the scenes look at the project. Recording/mix engineer Tonty Newton and mastering engineer Ade Emsley explain the processes involved in updating audio from original master tapes to today's current technology.

"They've been remastered before, let's get clear about that," explains Newton. "And I'm quite aware, as well, that I've bought remastered albums of bands that sound awful…and I wanted to make sure that this was something special."

The project saw Iron Maiden remaster all 15 studio albums, 2 Best Of collections and 2 live albums from their original analogue sources exclusively for iTunes.

"The Mastering For iTunes procedure allows the listener to experience the music as close as possible to the way the artist intended it to be heard," says bassist Steve Harris. "So of course I was very keen for the Maiden albums to be mastered in this way.

"The iTunes process involves a different approach and it's great to finally deliver the music to our fans in as close to a pure and accurate sound as we could possibly achieve." Watch the video here.




The Who Release Video From Classic Quadrophenia Release
(hennemusic) The Who are sharing a preview of "Love Reign O'er Me" from their forthcoming package, "Classic Quadrophenia", due June 8 (June 9 in North America).

The project sees Pete Townshend create a new orchestral version of their 1973 concept album based around lead character Jimmy's search for an identity amongst the mods and rockers in Brighton in the mid-1960s.

Orchestrated by Rachel Fuller, "Classic Quadrophenia" features Townshend and guest vocalists Alfie Boe, Billy Idol and Phil Daniels joined by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Zeigler.

The preview clip of "Love Reign O'er Me" mixes new footage of Boe filmed on the beach at Brighton and intercut with scenes from Franc Roddam's 1978 movie.

"Classic Quadrophenia" will be launched with a world premiere concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on July 5, with Townshend and Boe performing alongside the orchestra and the London Oriana Choir. Check out the video and the album trailer here.




Visconti and Woodmansey Releasing Live Version of David Bowie Classic
(TeamRock Radio) Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey will release a live recording of their take on David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World on June 1st in the UK as a double album.

Producer Visconti, who's been behind the desk on 12 Bowie outings including the 1970 record, teamed up with Spiders From Mars drummer Woodmansey to perform the show last year.

The album, entitled "The Man Who Sold The World - Live In London" was recorded at London's Shepherds Bush Empire in September, featuring Heaven 17 vocalist Glenn Gregory, Marc Almond and Gary Kemp plus multi-instrumentalist Steve Norman. Read more here.





Stratovarius Releasing New Album This Summer
(TeamRock Radio) Stratovarius will release 15th album Eternal on August 14, they've confirmed. They took a break after their Polaris, Elysium and Nemesis trilogy and keyboardist Jens Johansson says they're now ready to deliver with the new record.

He says: "Since Polaris we have released a new studio album pretty much every two years. But after 2013's Nemesis we all decided to take a little bit of time off after we finished the world tour.

"Now we're all tanned and rested and it's about f***ing time to get back into the saddle. Everybody has been busy the last few months writing lots of new songs - and only the best has been recorded for Eternal." Read more here.




Soulfly Releasing New Album 'Arch Angel' This Summer
(TeamRock Radio) Max Cavalera has revealed Soulfly's 10th album will be called Arch Angel. It's set for an August release via Nuclear Blast and Cavalera reports the follow-up to 2013's Savages is the type of album that only comes along "once in a lifetime."

He tells Metal Wani: "It's pretty much done. I'm excited - it's an interesting record. It's an epic and mystic Soulfly album that we don't really do every day.

"It's one of those records that comes out once in a lifetime. It has really crazy sounds and different dimensions. It's more experimental than the other stuff but it's still heavy as hell, and it's still fast." Read more here.




Jethro Tull Streaming Rare Live Performance Of 'Aqualung'
(Prog) Jethro Tull have revealed an unreleased live performance of classic track Aqualung with TeamRock. It appears on the upcoming La Grande Edition of Minstrel In The Gallery, which is launched on May 4 via Parlophone to mark its 40th anniversary.

The 1975 title was their last to feature the early 70s lineup of Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Evan, Barriemore Barlow and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond.

It's been remixed by Steven Wilson and includes seven bonus tracks, a full concert mixed by Jakko Jakszyk and live footage shot in Paris in 1975. It's presented in a casebound book and comes with 80 pages of background history and notes by Anderson.

The 2CD and 2DVD La Grande editions will be accompanied by standard CD, digital and vinyl versions. Read more and stream the song here.





Behemoth To Make 'Redefining' Album
(TeamRock Radio) Behemoth frontman Adam 'Nergal' Darski says the band's next album will be a new chapter in their development. The Polish metal heroes have no fixed plans for the follow-up to 2014's The Satanist, but the singer knows they'll have to deliver a "redefining" record.

He tells Full Metal Jackie (via Loudwire): "I'm all about diversity and when we deliver every next record I really must make sure that it's a new chapter, something really refreshing, something redefining compared to what we've done before.

"To me it just feels natural that you go as long as we can with The Satanist, just to reach its potential fully - and take time, as much as we need, to recover to get the right perspective to get hungry again and then eventually come back and do another spectacular album." Read more here.




Muse Lead KROQ Weenie Roast Lineup, Talk New Album
(Radio.com) Matt Bellamy and Dominic Howard of Muse joined KROQ morning show hosts Kevin & Bean On Monday morning to announce they would be playing the station's Weenie Roast Y Fiesta 2015, May 16 at Irvine Meadows Amphiteatre in Los Angeles

It's hard to recall a time when Muse wasn't a massive rock band headlining stadiums, but Bean asked them if they recalled every opening for another band early in their careers.

'Yeah, yeah, there was a time, way back," frontman Bellamy said. 'Well, the first U.S. tour we ever did, it was a great tour, we were lucky enough to the opening act, first on, then it was Foo Fighters and the Chili Peppers. It was the Californication Tour, 1999. We just did the East Coast. That was really where we cut our teeth. We really looked up to both those bands and thought. 'Wow, we need to up our game here.'"

Regarding the band's forthcoming album, Drones, Bellamy said that 'it's a pretty specific narrative that runs through the first part of the album and ends on this song called 'Aftermath.' It kind of follows a journey. The album's a bit dark … but it's about the journey into becoming a psychopath and losing empathy, and it's kind of like a metaphor for what's happening in the world. Drone warfare and all this kind of stuff is going on where it's becoming acceptable to live without empathy, becoming very clinical and efficient in making decisions without emotion--taking humans out of the equation basically. The album sort of explores that journey in its sort of darkest formats." Read more here.




Slipknot Releasing Their Own Collectable Zippo Line
(TeamRock Radio) Slipknot are set to release a range of collectable Zippo lighters, designed by the band themselves. Percussionist Clown is leading the process, and the products will be on sale in time for the band's US summer tour.

Frontman Corey Taylor says in the video: "It's essentially us putting our creative caps on. Clown's working on some designs right now. He's so artistically visual that it should bring to life some very, very cool things."

He adds: "Zippo is a brand I've appreciated since I was young. Who can think of a heavy metal concert without picturing lighters up in the air?" Read more and watch the video here.




Marilyn Manson's Latest CD Changes Color When Played
(Radio.com) If you purchased Marilyn Manson's latest album as a physical CD when it was released this past January, you might have wondered what the story was with the non-traditional black polycarbonate discs that The Pale Emperor was printed on. Turns out, they do have a story.

The discs came courtesy of Sony, and were the same ones used by PlayStation in the '90s for their video games. The discs are harder for pirates to copy, but the reasoning from Manson's camp was an aesthetic one.

"When you open the CD it's pitch black, but we also added a thermal texture on top," the album's art director Hassan Rahim told Kill Screen (via Billboard). "After it gets hot during playback, the disc comes out all white." Read more here.




Rush's Alex Lifeson Appears On Renman Live
(hennemusic) Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson was the featured guest on the April 22 episode of "Renman Live", a web series hosted by music industry veteran Steve Rennie (aka "Renman").

The episode sees Lifeson discuss his career in music and Rush's upcoming 40th anniversary tour, among other things. Rush are currently gearing up to launch a North American tour on May 8 in Tulsa, OK. Named after Rush's 40th anniversary box set, "R40", the tour may the last one of its size for Rush.

Bassist Geddy Lee addressed the farewell tour question recently on VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show", saying "It's very hard to answer that question for a lot of reasons. The three guys in this band have different opinions on this point - everyone's in a different space right now. Neil has a young child at home and he's said numerous times that it's very hard for him to leave his daughter. She needs him.

"It's clear that we are at a point in our career that we have to slow down - and slow down dramatically," Lee added. "So, I'm not a guy who's in love with the farewell tour idea, but it's clear that this is going to be the last big tour that we're going to do for a while, anyway."





Singled Out: Raven's Destroy All Monsters
UK metal icons Raven release their new album "ExtermiNation" today (April 28) and to celebrate we asked bassist/vocalist John Gallagher tells us about the song "Destroy All Monsters". Here is the story:

This was an odd one... as we usually have the music first...but we did a live album that we recorded in Japan years ago called "destroy all monsters" obviously playing on the whole Godzilla thing... and my brother Mark (guitar player in the band) has been threatening a song with this title for yonks! So, he tells me he's got the song....and its great..and most the lyrics also.

The cool thing is you can take it literally about fighting off the monster horde... or about something more on the political end... and are there really any bigger monsters?