Original Guns N' Roses Members Confirm Coachella Reunion
At least three original members of Guns N' Roses will be reuniting. The band has been confirmed to headline the 2016 edition of the Coachella festival and both Slash and Duff McKagan posted images promoting the appearances.
The original lead guitarist and original bass player posted images on social media featuring the classic two-guns wrapped in roses Guns N' Roses logo over a backdrop of the festival site with "Coachella" written in the bottom corner.
Slash posted his image to his Instagram account and McKagan added the photo to his Facebook page. The same image was added to Guns N' Roses' social media accounts. McKagan also added the classic GN'R logo as his profile picture on Facebook.
Izzy Stradlin, Matt Sorum, Steven Adler and Gilby Clarke had not made similar social media post at press time, but Axl made the following emoji filled post on Twitter "Ok,ok... It's "confirmed!" Guns N' Roses is Headlining Coachella 2016!! See Everyone There!!"
Festival organizers announced the lineup on Monday. The 2016 edition of the festival will be taking place over two weekends (April 15th, 16th, 17th and 22nd, 23rd, 24th) at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, California,
Guns N' Roses are scheduled to headline the Saturday night lineups of the festival which will also include performances from The Damned, Gary Clark Jr., Ice Cube, Disclosure, Zedd, ASAP Rocky, CHVRCHES, Halsey, James Bay, Grimes, Courtney Barnett, Run The Jewels, The Arcs, RL Grime, Lush, Zhu, Deerhunter, Unknown Moral Orchestra, Rhye, Lashes, Vince Staples, Tchami, Nina Kravitz, Snales, Rufus Du Sol, Lost Frequencies and more.
The Friday night lineups will feature the return of LCD Sound System with a headline set as well as performances from Ellie Goulding, Sufjan Stevens, Jack U, M83, Underworld, The Kills, Foals, Of Monsters and Men, Volbeat, and more.
Calvin Harris will be headlining the Sunday night lineups for the festival with support sets from Sia, Major Lazer, The 1975, Rancid, Miike Snow, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Cold War Kids, The Chainsmokers and more. See the full lineup
Fans Taking Over Entire Sunset Strip For Lemmy's Memorial(Classic Rock)
Lemmy's memorial event in West Hollywood on Saturday is to be extended across the entire Sunset Strip, organizers have said. It was announced following the Motorhead icon's death on December 28, and was originally to take place at his spiritual home, the Rainbow Bar And Grill, between 2pm and 2am on January 9 (Saturday).
But operators say in an update: "Due to the overwhelming and supportive response to Lemmy's memorial, we are now using the entire Strip to compensate for overflow.
"The Rainbow will close from 5.00 until 9.00 for a private service - however the Roxy and Whisky will remain open to accommodate those looking to show their respects during this time." Read more here.
Rollins Band's Jason Mackenroth Dies From Cancer
Jason Mackenroth, who played drums with Rollins Band, Mother Superior and the Blue Man Group, died on Sunday (January 3rd) after a battle with prostate cancer.
His former Rollins Band and Mother Superior bandmate Marcus Blake broke the news with the following online message on Sunday, "Today, I lost a great friend, Jason Mackenroth to prostate cancer. He was an incredible drummer and had the most incredible sense of humor you could ever know. I am in shock. I find it hard right now to put into words my love for him and his friendship. We traveled the world together making music, talking about his favorite band, Kiss, and laughing until our guts hurt.
"He was not only an amazing drummer but he was an excellent father and husband. Life is too short. Be like Jason. Make someone you know smile like he made me smile. A simple thing like that means so much. I miss you, Jason.
"Please donate to Jason's wife, Jaye Mackenroth and her kids on the surviving family's Gofundme page. Jason's family needs financial assistance with living expenses so they can remain in Las Vegas until the youngest son, Joren, graduates from high school in June 2016. With the loss of Jason's income, this is a real challenge." See the photo that Marcus posted and get the GoFundMe link here.
Wolfmother Streaming New Song 'Gypsy Caravan'
Wolfmother have released a stream of the new song "Gypsy Caravan". The song is the latest track previewed from the forthcoming album "Victorious," which will be released on February 19th.
The new album was recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles with acclaimed producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, AC/DC, Chris Cornell, Bruce Springsteen).
Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale played guitar and bass on the album in addition to lead vocals and for the drum tracks he recruited Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Bruce Springsteen, A Perfect Circle) and Joey Waronker (Air, Beck, REM) to perform on different tracks on the upcoming album.
Stockdale had this to say about the effort, "Back in the early days, I'd play guitar, bass, and drums and then present the ideas to the band and we'd work on the arrangement together.
"I thought it would be cool to get back to demoing ideas by myself and playing everything. It's a good way to do things because it can make the style more cohesive." Check out the new song here.
Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess Was Almost On Pink Floyd's The Wall(Prog)
Dream Theater star Jordan Rudess has revealed to Prog that he came tantalizingly close to appearing on Pink Floyd's legendary 1979 concept album "The Wall."
"Many years ago I had a friend by the slightly unusual name of Bleu Ocean," recalls the Dream Theater keyboard maestro. "He was a very good drummer; I believe he had been one of the studio drummers for The Monkees, playing with them behind the scenes. Anyway, Bleu got the job of assembling a marching band that would appear on the song Bring The Boys Back Home.
"I was hanging out at Bleu's home one day and he said, 'Come on man, come to the studio and watch the recording of the track. You could even be a part of it'. Well, I wasn't a drummer - by that point I'd have been around 18 years old and had long since decided that keyboards would be my life - but I'd played some very basic snare drum when I was in Third Grade.
"So I went with him to the session. I walked in, someone gave me a drum and some sticks. I'm playing along and having a really good time but as I'm doing so I become aware that Bob Ezrin [producer] is looking at me across the room, eyebrow slightly askew and finally he says: 'I don't think so'.
"After he'd picked me out I went and sat in the control room and long before anyone else we got to hear a playback of that track, though of course we had no idea of what it meant or where it would fit in the overall puzzle of Pink Floyd's album." Read more here.
Axl Rose's Jimmy Kimmel Live Appearance Confirmed, Then Canceled(hennemusic)
Axl Rose has cancelled tonight's (January 5th) scheduled appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host revealed to viewers during Monday night's broadcast.
"Axl Rose was supposed to be here tomorrow," Kimmel said, "but he will not be here tomorrow…for reasons known only to Axl Rose. Or maybe he will be here," he added while laughing, "maybe he's just trying to keep us guessing."
Rose's appearance was listed on the program's website early Monday but his name was removed from the schedule by mid-afternoon. The singer was expected to reveal details of a Guns N' Roses reunion that will see the band headline Coachella over two weekends in April while reportedly in talks for a possible 25-date stadium tour of North America this summer. Read more here.
Voivod Releasing New 'Post Society' EP Next Month
Voivod have announced that they will be releasing a new EP, entitled "Post Society" on February 26th as a digipak CD as well as digitally via Century Media Records.
The EP will include 5 studio tracks including two brand new songs, the tracks that were released on their recent vinyl-only split with At The Gates and Napalm Death, and a cover of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine".
Voivod's Michel "Away" Langevin had the following to say about the release, "More songs from out in the woods! In between tours, we are steadily finding our way through recording the next album at RadicArt studio.
"Many riffs were composed on the bus but until the North American tour with Vektor in 2016, we will spend most of wintertime in Montreal writing another batch of material. Meanwhile, we hope you will enjoy this EP of good old thrash-prog-punk-metal or whatever people want to call Voivod nowadays :)" See the tracklisting here.
Doll Skin Release New Lyric Video Ahead Of Metal Allegiance Dates
Doll Skin have released a lyric video for the track "Wring Me Out" from their new EP "In Your Face" ahead of the launch of a series of tour dates later this week with supergroup Metal Allegiance.
The short west coast tour includes the following dates: January 7th in San Diego, CA at Ramona Main Stage, January 8th in Las Vegas, NV at Count's Vamp'd, January 9th in Los Angeles at the Whisky A Go-Go and January 10th in San Francisco, CA at The Regency.
Vocalist Sydney Dolezal had this to say about the trek: "Metal Allegiance is a bunch of amazing musicians in a band together, and you know how that ends.. with amazing music and a kickass show! I'm so excited to have the opportunity to be on the road with these guys!"
Guitarist Alex Snowden adds: "I'm so psyched to have this opportunity to share the stage with such talent. Metal Allegiance really knows how to throw down and we can't wait to be a part of that."
Check out the "Wring Me Out" lyric video here.
Warbringer and Enforcer Launching North American Tour
Warbringer and Enforcer are kicking off their North American co-headline tour tonight (January 5th) in New York City. The trek will feature support from Exmortus and Cauldron.
The kick off show will be taking place at the Gramercy Theatre and the tour will be criss-crossing the U.S. and Canada before wrapping up on February 21st at the Pour House in Raleigh, NC.
Warbringer frontman John Kevill had this to say about the tour, "The band sounds f***ing killer right now and I can't wait to get out there and assault the stage. It is worth mentioning that I've seen a number of 'people leaving bands' news pieces recently. Most often they cite the complete impossibly of making a living playing music, and the difficulty of the touring lifestyle.
"Well, I can say from experience that all of that is true. It's tough, there's no denying that. But that isn't what I want to talk about here. What I want to talk about is what has kept me going for the 10+ years and 1000+ concerts I have done with this band I started right after finishing high school. I've seen more of the world than I ever thought was possible, met thousands of people from all walks of life, and from them learned much of the world.
"Among other things, I learned to remain humble and to always remember what an honor and privilege it is to perform songs I made with my friends, to complete strangers who live thousands of miles away who will come out on a work night to see me and my fellow band dudes banging our heads. Too many people lose sight of this. So that is why I am still here, and why I will see you guys on each of the 47 dates of this tour. Be ready. I am." See the dates here.
The Cult Release 'Hinterland' Video(hennemusic)
The Cult have released a new music video for the song "Hinterland", a track from their forthcoming album "Hidden City," which is set to be released on February 5th.
"'Hinterland' is a place both real and imagined, a hidden city symbolic of a new Rome," explains singer Ian Astbury. "Through the eyes of several witnesses, we observe a young woman as she realizes her enlightened self in a dystopian dream world.
"'Hinterland' is filled with symbolism, reflecting a new aeon in the shift of human consciousness as we realign with our planet's natural rhythms." Watch the video here.
Elvis Costello Releasing Detour Live Concert Film(Kayos)
Elvis Costello's new concert film "Detour Live At Liverpool Philharmonic Hall" is set to be released on February 12th by Eagle Rock in DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats.
The release, which was captured during Costello's 2015 "Detour", will include performances of classic tracks like "Watching The Detectives," "Accidents Will Happen," "A Good Year For The Roses," "Shipbuilding," "Alison," "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down," "Peace Love And Understanding" and more.
Costello is joined on several tracks by Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe and the bonus DVD tracks will include performances of "Love Field," "Either Side Of The Same Town," "Brilliant Mistake," and "Ascension Day." See the tracklisting here.
Motorhead's Ace Of Spades Back On UK Charts Following Lemmy's Death (hennemusic)
Motorhead's 1980 classic, "Ace Of Spades", has returned to the UK singles charts following the December 28th death of leader Lemmy Kilmister placing in the top 10 at midweek.
According to the Official Charts Company, "Ace Of Spades" has climbed 94 places to Number 9 at the midweek point on the Official Singles Chart update.
The track peaked at Number 15 upon its release in 1980, and last entered the Top 40 22 years ago, hitting Number 23 when it was re-issued in September 1993.
The confirmed weekly UK chart positions will be revealed on Friday. Read more here.
Diamond Head Announce Their Seventh Studio Album(Classic Rock)
Diamond Head will release their self-titled seventh album on March 11. And mainman Brian Tatler has admitted he had no plans for a studio return - until new vocalist Rasmus Bom Andersen injected a spark of energy to the band.
The NWOBHM icons, acknowledged as influences on Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and many others, hadn't recorded anything since 2007's What's In Your Head?
Tatler says: "Ras has certainly renewed the energy. I had no interest in doing a record - but after working with Ras on the European tour, that suddenly changed.
"I wanted to make a record with him. He's a confident singer and he's not trying to fill anyone's shoes." He continues: "This album has an echo of the early albums, but I always try to push out music forward. When we began, Ras said we should write as a band, just like we did at the beginning. There's no substitute." Read more including the track details here.
Cream and Clapton Manager Robert Stigwood Dead at 81(Classic Rock)
Band manager, producer and impresario Robert Stigwood has died at the age of 81. The Australian looked after the affairs of Cream in the 1960s and continued to work with Eric Clapton after the band split.
Along with Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, the Bee Gees and several other acts, Stigwood found success as producer of musicals including Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar, and movies such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease and The Who's Tommy.
He'd started out as a co-owner of Robert Stigwood Associates, a theatrical agency that led to his career as the UK's first independent record producer, alongside colleague Joe Meek.
He's remembered as the victim of a notorious incident in 1966, when competitor Don Arden threatened him with violence for discussing a potential management switch with the Small Faces. In some versions of the story Arden vowed to throw Stigwood out of his own office window - in others Arden is said to have hung him out of the window by his feet. Read more here.
Rhine Streaming New Song 'The Spell of Dark Water'(AsherMedia)
Rhine have released an online stream of their new single "The Spell of Dark Water". The track will also be included on their forthcoming album "An Outsider," which is set to be released on February 5th.
Vocalist and guitarist Gabe Tachell had this to say about the song, "This is our attempt to mix prog rock with a black n' roll kind of vibe, but more playful than sinister, with a made up story about a man chasing a mermaid... and of course he dies."
The forthcoming album, 'An Outsider,' is the follow up to Rhine's 2011 debut 'Duality', which was first a solo effort by band founder Gabriel Tachell (guitar and vocals) whom is now joined by Alex Smolin on guitar (ex-Metameric), James Porter on bass (Ideofone), and Carlos Delgado (Inferion, ex-Death Crowned King) to collaborate on this project. Check out the new song here.
Trace Your Steps Release Animal (Creature Of Habit)
VideoTrace Your Steps have released a music video for the song "Animal (Creature Of Habit)". The song appears on their forthcoming album "Beating Hearts and Uncertainty," which will be released this Spring.
Guitarist Ian Schneider had this to say, "We really wanted to take our time with this release and put everything we had into it. After parting ways with our former drummer, we decided that while we searched for a replacement we would make sure that this song was the best it could possibly be.
"'Animal' is the collaborative effort of everyone in this band, and we felt it captured everything we try to portray in our music, ranging from the chorus to the breakdown. "We incorporate a lot of different elements into what we create and we thought this track really showed who we are as a band from every angle."
The new video was directed by Anthony Lopardo at Slate Media and the song was produced by Ian Schneider & Andover Studios, and mixed and mastered by Westfall Studios. Watch the video here.
New U2 Album Compares To 'Zooropa' Says The Edge(Radio.com)
When U2's Songs of Innocence unceremoniously hit iPhones in 2014, the legendary rock band confirmed plans for a companion project titled Songs of Experience. The Edge announced in a recent interview with Q Magazine the album would be made available to fans in the near future.
The guitarist called the project a nod to William Blake and said the recording process was comparable to working on 1993's Zooropa. The Edge noted Zooropa's producer Brian Eno "would love to see us making albums a bit more like that.
"Where we go, 'You know what? We're not going to second-guess any of this. Let's just go for it.' I think there's a quality you get when there's a certain momentum to the process." Read more here.
Chris Stapleton And Kings Of Leon Rock Lynyrd Skynyrd Classic(Radio.com)
Grammy nominated Chris Stapleton took the stage at Nashville's downtown New Year's Eve bash with a host of other big names like Kings of Leon, Kelsea Ballerini and Wild Cub.
After performing earlier in the night, Stapleton came back on stage to help close the show. He joined Kings of Leon towards the tail end of their set to cover Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man."
While KOL's singer Caleb Followill took on vocal duties for the song's first verse, Stapleton oversaw the second, lending the lyrics his trademark howl and growl. The audience couldn't get enough, responding in kind with excited cheers.
Throw in a rip-roaring guitar solo from Matthew Followill and 2016 sounded like it got off to a killer start. A fan in the audience captured the performance. Check it out here.
Johnny Rawls Announces New Album 'Tiger In A Cage'(MPM)
Blues star Johnny Rawls has announced that he will be releasing his new album, "Tiger In A Cage," on February 19th via Catfood Records and it includes a special duet with Ed Brent.
The album was recorded at the Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas and was produced by Jim Gaines, Tiger In a Cage also features backing by The Rays: Johnny McGhee - guitar; Bob Trenchard - bass; Richy Puga - drums; Dan Ferguson - keyboards and accordion; Andy Roman - alto/tenor sax; Mike Middleton - trumpet; Robert Claiborne - trombone; Nick Flood - baritone sax; Jon Olazabal - percussion; with vocal backing by The Iveys.
In other news, Johnny Rawls was recently nominated once again by the Blues Foundation in the "Soul Blues Male Artist" category for the upcoming Blues Music Awards to be held in Memphis in May.
Ramleh Kicking Off U.S. Dates Next Week
Ramleh have announced that they will be doing some rare appearances in the U.S. with a series of west coast live dates next week in support of their double album "Circular Time."
The tour will feature electronic sets at half of the shows and rock sets at the others and will kick off on January 13th in Oakland, CA at the Life Changing Ministries.
They will also be making other stops in San Francisco at the Elbo Room on the 14th, and two shows in Los Angeles beginning on the 15th at Echoplex and concluding the short tour the next night at the Complex. See the dates here.
Arena Announce New Live Release XX(Prog)
Arena will release a live release entitled XX next month, they've announced. XX will be released in DVD and 2CD formats on February 12 via Metal Mind Productions.
The package is described as "a veritable feast for all prog fans" with "more than two hours of darkly sublime beauty, interviews with Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer, and more."
The album and DVD was recorded in Poland last year, during their 20th anniversary tour, which followed the launch of eighth album The Unquiet Sky. See the track details here.
Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman Preview Acoustic Album(Prog)
Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman have launched a teaser for their acoustic album Weir Keeper's Tale. They've also streamed the track Seek For Adventure in full.
The nine-track title will be released on January 8 and it's available for pre-order now. Wakeman offered the following comments about the upcoming release:
"Damian and I both wanted to capture a real cohesive album of our songs outside of the writing we do with Headspace and other heavier bands. It gave us an opportunity to really focus on the songs as singer-songwriters, and to concentrate on telling individual stories." Check out the new song and preview clip here.
John Lydon Reflects On Inspiration For Sex Pistols Hit Anarchy In The UK(Classic Rock)
John Lydon has recalled the political landscape and inter-band tensions that inspired the Sex Pistols hit Anarchy In The UK. As the 1976 single approaches the 40th anniversary of its release in November, Pistols frontman Lydon - aka Johnny Rotten - says it was about the band's own problems as much as it was about the country's issues.
He tells Mojo: "Anarchy In The UK came from all the despondencies and discrepancies within the band in the early days. There were some really bad moments and everyone was always on the verge of quitting, except me.
"I felt under serious pressure - and so did others, I think - and was trying to coin phrases and write words that would unite us as a band, as we were so bitterly opposed to each other and Anarchy In The UK was the end result."
Social unrest also played its part in Lydon's writing process though. He adds: "The ideas in that song had been rattling around in my head for years, but I had never had an outlet. Then there I was all of a sudden, a singer in a band.
"The people running the country at that time were running it into the ground, with a pompous us-and-them attitude that Margaret Thatcher would come to exemplify. Young people were constantly being told that they had no future." Read more here.
Gojira Release Video From Recording Studio(TeamRock Radio)
Gojira are giving fans a glimpse into their creative process with the release of a short online video showing the band at work on their upcoming sixth album.
The footage was filmed at French band's newly built New York studio owned and designed by frontman Joe Duplantier where they are working on the follow-up to 2012's L'Enfant Sauvage.
Drummer Mario Duplantier said in September last year that his focus was fully directed on finishing the album, which is now expected in the spring. He said: "All my energy right now is on Gojira."
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