Today's Day in Rock News!

Today's Day in Rock


Van Halen Announce North American Tour and TV Appearance
Van Halen has announced that they will be launching a massive summer and fall tour of North America and to celebrate they will be shutting down Hollywood Boulevard next week for a Jimmy Kimmel Live concert.

The legendary band will be kicking off the tour on July 5th in Seattle, WA at White River Amphitheatre and will conclude the trek on October 2nd in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl. Kenny Wayne Shepherd will be the support act for the trek.

The special Jimmy Kimmel Live concert will be taking place on March 30th and portions of the performance will be broadcast on the late night TV show on March 30th and 31st.

The Kimmel performance will also be historic as it will be Van Halen's first time playing on U.S. television with band's founding frontman David Lee Roth.

The tour and Kimmel performance will be promoting the release of the band's new live album "Tokyo Dome Live In Concert", which will be released on March 31st and features the group's performance from June 21st, 2013 in Tokyo. See the tour dates here.



Scott Weiland Apologizes To Fans
Former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland has issued a public apology to fans over his behavior toward VIP ticket holders at the final stop of his recent Scott Weiland And The Wildabouts tour.

Several fans recounted their unpleasant encounters with Weiland during a meet-and-greet session in Boston where the fans paid extra money to meet Weiland and take a photo with him.

One fan posted on the Stone Temple Pilots Below Empty forum that Weiland said "Let's get this s-t done with" when it came time to take a photo with the singer. Other fans posted about similar experiences.

Now Weiland has posted an apology on Facebook for his behavior. He writes, "I would like to make a sincere apology to the fans that were at the meet and greet in Boston.

"I'm embarrassed by my behavior and some of the things that I said. Fans don't deserve that. Without our fans and supporters, we would not be able to do what we're doing.

"I put my all into the show that night and honestly was just beyond exhausted…either way, I acted like a total a-hole and for that I'm truly sorry. - Scott".





Tom DeLonge Reveals New Song 'The Invisible Parade'
Estranged Blink-182 star Tom DeLonge has released "The Invisible Parade," a new song from his forthcoming debut solo album, "To the Stars...Demos, Odds and Ends."

DeLonge's new solo album is set to be released on April 20th in various formats and "The Invisible Parade," follows the release of "New World," the first song revealed from the effort.

The new track shows his more acoustic side and is a personal track from DeLonge as it was inspired by his brother Shon, who Tom has previously revealed is a member of Naval Special Warfare. DeLonge explained the inspiration on Twitter. He wrote, "I wrote this song about my brother coming home to San Diego after the war."

As we reported earlier this week, the new solo album will not be the only new album that DeLonge plans to release this year. Last week he tweeted "I am putting out 4 albums in one year - this year." He then posted another message giving more details, "To clarify, 2 albums with Angels [and Airwaves], 2 albums from myself. 3 of them are released with novels. This has been in the works for a couple of years."




Iron Maiden Optimistic About Bruce Dickinson's Cancer Fight
(hennemusic) Iron Maiden has issued an update on singer Bruce Dickinson's health status as he recovers from recent cancer treatments. The band announced Dickinson's cancer diagnosis on February 19, saying a small cancerous tumor at the back of his tongue was discovered during a routine visit to the doctor just prior to Christmas; a seven week course of chemotherapy and radiology treatment was completed and the prognosis is for a full recovery by late May.

"Over the last few days, Bruce has been to see his specialists and following examinations, including visual, we're delighted to update everyone that the situation remains extremely optimistic for a full recovery," says the group.

"We will still not have final confirmation that the cancer has been completely eradicated until Bruce can have an MRI scan in May, as previously advised in manager Rod Smallwood's recent message to fans, and the period to full recovery will continue for a few months yet.

"Typically, Bruce's immediate reaction to the specialists' good news was to be as active as feasibly possible, taking in a couple of visits to the Maiden office, one to the Hybrid Air Vehicle hangar to see latest progress, and a brief trip to his local pub, much to the surprise and delight of all his friends there!" Read more here.




Metallica Album Secret Revealed By Mixing Engineer
(Classic Rock) Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was responsible for turning down the sound of Jason Newsted's bass on 1988's ...And Justice For All, according to mixing engineer Steve Thompson.

Thompson was behind the desk at Bearsville Studios, New York overseeing the final stages of the album, which has often been criticized for its lack of audible bass.

And Thompson insists that while he was happy with the bass sound when mixing the record, it was Ulrich who wanted it reduced. He tells Ultimate Guitar: "What I wanted to do and what Lars wanted to do was totally different, which kind of upset me a little bit. I loved Metallica and was very familiar with them.

"I listened to the tracks and said to myself, 'These sound like ass.' I chased everybody out of the room and redesigned the drum sound and brought the guitars up. Jason Newsted killed it on bass. Perfect marriage with Hetfield's guitars.

"Lars comes walking in a couple of minutes later and listens to about a minute of it and goes, 'Turn that off. What happened to my drum sound?' We had to get the drum sound up the way he had it. I wasn't a fan of it. So now he goes, 'See the bass guitar?' and I said, 'Yeah, great part, man. He killed it.' Lars said, 'I want you to bring down the bass where you can barely, audibly hear it in the mix.' I said, 'You're kidding, right?'" Read more here.



Peter Hook To Play Entire Joy Division Catalog At Special Show
(Radio.com) Peter Hook has announced that he plans to perform the entire Joy Division catalog of songs at a very special show that will be called "So This Is Permanence" in May.

Radio.com reports:As for what the Joy Division catalog refers to, it means the band's two proper releases, 1979's Unknown Pleasures and 1980's Closer, both of which have been performed in completion plenty of times.

But, it also refers to 1981's Still, a collection of unreleased Joy Division tracks that came out a year after Curtis' death. This will be the first time that Still will be performed live in its entirety.

"So This Is Permanence" will take place on May 18 at the Christ Church in Macclesfield, England, the city where the band's legendary frontman grew up and eventually took his own life in 1980. Read more here.




Creed's Scott Stapp Completed Rehab Program
Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti reveals in a new interview that his Creed bandmate Scott Stapp completed treatment in a rehab facility following his disturbing behavior last fall.

Stapp made headlines in November that began when posted a video online that claimed he was homeless and he was eventually placed on psychiatric hold after threatening to kill himself, leading many to believe he was no longer sober.

Tremonti now tells Loudwire that Stapp sought treatment. "Thank God he got through it all and his family got him into treatment. I think he went through a 90-day program. I know he went to get help and now he's out of the treatment, so hopefully he stays sober."




Tesseract Forced To Cancel U.S. Shows
Tesseract announced on Tuesday that they have been forced to cancel their planned performances in the U.S. next month due to "visa issues and unlucky timing".

The band was scheduled to perform at the Texas Independence Festival in Austin on April 10th and follow up the next day with a concert at The Bomb Factory in Dallas.

Here is what the band had to say about the cancelations, "It's with the deepest regret that due to reasons outside of our control, Tesseract are no longer able to play the Texas Independent Festival in Austin or The Bomb Factory in Dallas next month.

"A combination of visa issues and unlucky timing have meant that despite our hardest efforts, it is simply not possible for us to get to the USA for these shows. We are totally gutted as we've been looking forward to playing with some of our really good friends, drinking lonestar and eating Texan steak, but most importantly playing to you guys.

"We will however be touring the US later this year with dates in both cities and we may have some new music to play you by then too. Once again, we are very sorry for any disappointment caused, but we'll make it up to you in the fall."




Lynyrd Skynyrd Look Back With 'Sweet Home Alabama' Live Album
(hennemusic) Lynyrd Skynyrd will release an expanded version of audio from their 2008 live DVD, "Sweet Home Alabama", on CD and digital formats for the first time, on June 2.

The updated package presents the original 14-track set by their mid-90's lineup in concert at Rockpalast's Loreley Festival in 1996, and adds three songs recorded live at the Hamburg Musikhalle on December 5, 1974 with the band's original lineup: "Working For MCA," "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama."

The group are currently playing shows across North America and recently announced dates for a European tour, which opens April 21 in Glasgow, Scotland. Check out the tracklisting for the new release here.




Sugar Ray, Uncle Kracker, Better Than Ezra and Eve 6 Under The Sun Tour
Sugar Ray and Uncle Kracker have announced that they will be teaming up again this summer for the next installment of the Under The Sun Tour which will also feature Better Than Ezra and Eve 6.

The tour is scheduled to get underway on July 17th at the Wildhorse Casino in Chandler, AZ and will cross the U.S. before conclude in Atlanta, GA at the Delta Classic Chastain Park Amphitheater on August 26th.

Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath, had this to say about the trek, "It's that time of year, my friends. The time when the Under the Sun 2015 Tour comes into your town to bring you some of the biggest bands and biggest hits of a decade we all know and love: The 90's!

"So grab a cold one, call some friends -- or come make some new ones! -- and enjoy some of the music that's become the soundtrack of our lives. It's gonna be a rad summer!" See the tour dates here.




Whitesnake Stream New Version Of Deep Purple Classic 'Burn'
(hennemusic) Whitesnake have revealed an online audio stream of the classic Deep Purple track, "Burn", as a preview of their upcoming May 19 release, "The Purple Album."

The group's 12th album sees frontman David Coverdale re-recording classic songs from the Deep Purple's Mark 3 and Mark 4 records he appeared on: "Burn" (1974), "Stormbringer" (1974) and "Come Taste The Band" (1975).

"It's a tribute. A homage," explains Coverdale. "It's a huge thank you from me to Deep Purple for the opportunity I was given over 40 years ago. As I said to Ritchie, you guys set me on an incredible journey that continues today and I couldn't have asked for better teachers."

Whitesnake recently announced the first series of dates for a North American tour in support of the project, with shows set to begin May 28 in Airway Heights, Washington. Read more and stream the song here.




Tremonti Release 'Another Heart' Lyric Video
(hennemusic) Tremonti, led by Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, have issued a lyric video for the track, "Another Heart", from their forthcoming second album, "Cauterize."

Due June 9, the follow-up to 2012's "All I Was" was produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette (Alter Bridge, Slash). "Another Heart" is the latest tune previewed from the project, following "Flying Monkeys" and several other songs from the upcoming release.

Tremonti now features bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, who joined the group at the start of their fall 2012 tour - on 24 hours notice - to fill in on bass for Brian Marshall. Check out the video here.




Deep Purple's Ian Gillan Makes Ritchie Blackmore Admission
(Classic Rock) Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan has recalled how he used to go to the pub during bandmate Ritchie Blackmore's guitar solos. And the only thing that stopped him was the group's success as the 1960s and 1970s progressed, making it more difficult to pull off the sneaky feat.

Blackmore bowed out of Purple in 1993. Recent attempts by David Coverdale to reunite the MkIII lineup as a tribute to late keyboardist Jon Lord failed to work out.

Gillan tells Radio Rock: "I love extended solos. I used to like them in the old days a lot - because it used to give me time to go to the pub for a drink. I used to have to tell one of the roadies, 'When Ritchie looks like he's nearly finished, come to the pub and let me know.' Every night; I'm serious."

He describes Blackmore's solos as "his personal orgy" and adds: "In England there used to be pubs near the stage door. But when we started playing bigger places, of course, you can't leave the building." Read more here.



AC/DC Thought AC/DC Bandmates Were Boring?
(TeamRock Radio) AC/DC icon Bon Scott asked to travel with Y&T in 1976 because he wanted to escape from his "boring" bandmates, Dave Meniketti has recalled. And the veteran mainman admits to regrets over laughing at Motley Crue when they played their debut show with his outfit in 1981.

Scott, pictured above in 1976, asked to share a basic van with Y&T that didn't have enough seating, meaning he had to sit on the floor. Meniketti tells 93.3 WMMR: "The very first day we did soundcheck together, Bon came back he was like, 'What are you guys travelling in?' We showed him, and he was like, 'Would you mind if I come with you?

"'These guys are really boring. They won't let me drink. They won't let any groupies on the bus.' He figured he was going to have more fun with us - and I'm absolutely certain he did." Read more here.



W.A.S.P. Releasing New Album This Summer
W.A.S.P. has announced that they will be releasing their new studio album, entitled "Golgotha", this August under a new worldwide deal that they just signed with Napalm Records.

W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless had this to say about the new deal, "W.A.S.P. are excited to announce they have signed an exclusive recording contract with Napalm Records.

"We chose Napalm for their personal belief and professional commitment to our career. We're looking forward to years of great success together starting with the release of our upcoming album Golgotha".

Napalm Records' Thomas Caser adds, "It is a true honor to announce this signing today, a dream has come true. With their impressive career and ability to create musical masterpieces W.A.S.P have always been one of the most influential Metal bands out there since the beginning of their career. We are thrilled about the upcoming album Golgotha which will be released this summer!"

"Golgotha" follows the veteran metal band's 2009 album "Babylon."




Bernie Torme Crowdfunding New Album
(Classic Rock) Bernie Torme has launched a crowdfunding campaign for his next solo album. The Irish icon - known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne and Ian Gillan - issued Flowers & Dirt last year after a crowdfunding campaign which smashed its target in 24 hours.

It was his first album in 15 years and he's moved fast to outline his plans for the follow-up. Torme says: "I am really so delighted to be doing another album with PledgeMusic.

"Last year when I did a PledgeMusic campaign for the first time I really had no idea what was going to happen or how it would all pan out. Suffice to say it went absolutely brilliantly, lots of pledges, lots of pledgers, by the end I had received over 400% of my goal." Read more here.




Saxon Mixing Things Up On New Album
(Classic Rock) Saxon frontman Biff Byford says the band's 21st album will have a "brutal" sound. They've started work on the follow-up to 2013's Sacrifice with drummer Nigel Glockler.

He was allowed to leave hospital last month following brain surgery in the wake of being diagnosed with an aneurysm during Saxon's winter UK tour.

Byford tells Metal Wani: "He's just done the drums on the album. He's doing good, he's working out and getting fit. I'm writing lyrics now and doing melodies.

"It's a mixture of rock and roll and heavy metal, as always. Some tracks are going to be brutal and other tracks are going to be about driving motorcycles and having sex and fun. So it's a mixture again." Read more here.




Mastodon Excited By Game Of Thrones Involvement
(Prog) Mastodon's Brann Dailor says they couldn't turn down the opportunity to contribute a track for the second volume of the Game Of Thrones mixtape as they're such big fans of the show.

They selected White Walker for the Catch The Throne compilation which also features artists including Anthrax, Killswitch Engage and Mushroomhead.

And Dailor says it was an easy decision to make as it gave them a chance to show another side to the band. He tells FasterLouder: "We're big fans of the show, and the writer is a big metal fan. Brent Hinds met some of the cast and one of the writers at Sonisphere, and we just kept in touch. They told us about this mixtape.

"Last year it was kind of a hip-hop thing, and they said they wanted to branch out and make it more of a mixtape and have other kinds of music involved. One of the styles they wanted was to include some metal bands.

"We get together and watch it - we're big fans. So when the opportunity presented itself we were excited to be a part of it. We're excited with what we were able to come up with, even if it's not a metal song per se." Read more here.




Floor Jansen Puts ReVamp On Hold To Focus On Nightwish
(Prog) Floor Jansen says she is so busy with Nightwish that she has "no time" for her other band ReVamp. Confirming that ReVamp are officially on hiatus, Jansen admits she would fear for her health if she were to work full-time with both bands.

Jansen tells Metal Blast: "It's inevitable, and from the day I joined Nightwish it has affected ReVamp. I found it very difficult to do both things at the same time.

"When I joined Nightwish, we were in the middle of the writing process, we had just planned to go to the studio, and we had to postpone the release. In between tours I was recording an album, promoting an album, and then when I started to tour with Nightwish, I was also touring with ReVamp, which was just a lot.

"This is not something that I wish to do, if only because of my own sanity and health, and because I feel that both bands need 100% of your devotion and time, and doing both at the same time just isn't possible for me.

"So now it's full-on Nightwish time, and there's no time for ReVamp." Read more here.




Origin and Morgoth Added To Neurotic Deathfest 2015
Origin, Morgoth, Centurian and Korpse are the final acts announced for the Neurotic Deathfest 2015 which will be taking place on April 17-19 in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

The new additions take the total band count for the 12th annual installment of the festival to 42 bands. Bloodbath, Obituary and Entombed A.D. lead the lineup.

The lineup also includes Devourment, Nader Sadek, Broken Hope, Pyrexia, Tribulation, Internal Suffering, Benighted, Internal Bleeding, Dead Congregation, Sinister, Disavowed, Soulburn, Liquid Graveyard, Mass Infection, Gorod, Kronos, Ingested, Holocausto Canibal, Jig-Ai, Nominon, Unfathomable Ruination, Acranius, Cardiac Arrest, Incinerate, Regurgitate Life, Hideous Divinity, Contrastic, Perfecitizen, The Walking Dead Orchestra, Near Death Condition, Bleeding Utopia, Abhorrent Decimation, Neuroma and Slaughter To Prevail.





Van Halen Stream 'Hot For Teacher' From New Live Album
(hennemusic) Van Halen have released an online stream of their 1984 hit, "Hot For Teacher", as a preview to "Tokyo Dome Live In Concert", ahead of its release on March 31.

The fourth single from the "1984" album peaked at No. 56 on the US Billboard 100 following the band's first (and only) No. 1, "Jump", and follow-up tunes "I'll Wait" and "Panama."

Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth recently delivered the introduction for a new video featuring a cover of "Hot For Teacher" by YouTube personality Trisha Paytas.

Van Halen's first-ever live album with Roth will be available as a double CD, four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl, and digitally. Stream the song here.




Dan Patlansky Release 'Backbite' Video
(Classic Rock) Dan Patlansky has released a new music video for "Backbite," taken from his forthcoming album Dear Silence Thieves, the follow-up to 2013's Wooden Thoughts.

Patlanksy, who's supported the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Everlast, will play London's Borderline venue on the day the album is released in the UK, April 27th.

The will be the kick off of a short national tour. He returns to the UK in November as the main support on Joe Satriani's Shockwave tour. See the dates and watch the video here.




Gary Clark Jr. Reunites With Friend That Inspired Him
(The Blues Gary Clark Jr. has appeared in a documentary where he meets up with the friend who got him into blues music. The guitarist last year hailed Eve Monsees, the childhood companion who took him to his first-ever concert.

Speaking while accepting his Grammy award for Best Traditional R&B Performance, Clark said: "I wouldn't be playing guitar, I wouldn't be playing music, if it weren't for her."

The Rolling Stone video includes a clip of Clark and Monsees, both in their teens, performing Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride And Joy at a talent show they went on to win. Watch it here.




Singled Out: Young Guns' Rising Up
Today Young Guns singer Gustav Wood tells us about "Rising Up" from their forthcoming album "Ones and Zeros," which will be released on June 9th in North America. Here is the story:

Like most of our songs "Rising Up" spent a long time being written, changed and then changed again. We decided to move ourselves to a different location as we had hit a creative wall, and so packed some bags and studio gear and stayed in John and Fraser's parents house while they were away for a few weeks.

We'd been working on what would become "Rising Up" but were having trouble making all of our ideas and things that we wanted out of the song to sit together and make sense. There were a few key things that we liked, which were; the big stomping heavy riff that kicks the song off, the fact that the chord progression was the same throughout the whole song (an idea we'd tried many times before but had never been able to get onto a recorded album track so far), and the general attitude of the song itself. It felt lairy and raucous and heavy but in a really interesting way.

We had decided, as we had with everything on the album, that whatever we did we wanted it to be new and interesting creatively speaking, and not a repeat of ideas we had already done in the past.

To that end, if something was to be heavy, like the riff was, the challenge was how to make it heavy without doing what we would usually do, so the 'chorus' riff was played on single strings in drop-B tuning with an octave pedal to add even more low end and heaviness without having to track loads of guitars and doubled it up with a super distorted low synth that slid between the notes and really added a modern feel.

We had Ben play hi-hats consistently throughout the whole song, instead of the standard crash and ride style that we would have traditionally gone to. We used synths for extra atmosphere in the verses to open them up and contrast the tightly coiled nature of the chorus and sequencing for more rhythm and melody moments which was really exciting for us.

We liked the attitude and swagger that the song had and so for the vocals we channeled Michael Jackson and that's where the opening line of 'yeah, they say that your best ain't good enough' comes from. We could really imagine him singing that and so that was the vocal that stuck (out of the countless ones I'd written for the song previously).

We also liked the contrast of the big riff and groove contrasting with the air-y nature of the back half of the vocal melody with the falsetto arrangement, and didn't try to 'over-hook' the chorus so that the main melody in the bridge between chorus and verse two would stand out which again has more of a pop sensibility to it.

When it came to the middle 8, we talked for a long time about the hip hop sequencing pattern, as there are elements to it (and the whole song in general) that we hadn't attempted before. There is always the discussion of balancing who you are as band, or rather what people's perceptions of your band is, and what you want to do to be creatively satisfied, but for us this album had to be about taking risks and pushing ourselves into new places sonically and so we decided to keep it in.

There's a defiance and a swagger to the song and we felt that, as we have done since day one, the best course of action was and always is to be true to yourself creatively and do what feels right and is therefore the most honest.

We took it into the studio in Bath to do the album and as soon as the riff dropped in our producer Steve stood up and put his fists in the air and we knew we'd achieved what we wanted to.

I'm glad the track made the cut because it's super fun to play live and feels like a fresh exciting rock song and I love hearing it super loud when we play it, even in soundcheck.