Henry Rollins Doesn't Feel Bad For Robin Williams Because of Suicide

"When someone with this level of exposure dies in this way, it is confusing," Rollins says. "An Oscar-winning actor, well-paid, with a career that most performers could only dream of - how could anyone so well regarded and seemingly fortunate have as much as even a single bad day, much less a life so unendurable that it has to be voluntarily voided?

"I am sure some will strongly disagree with what I'm about to say," he continues, "And I also understand that his personal struggles were quite real. I can't argue with that. But I simply cannot understand how any parent could kill themselves."

Rollins goes on to question how a parent would voluntarily leave their children in the distress of dealing with their own death, and is quick to point out his inability to fully grasp the complications of both addiction and depression. He includes a personal tale of living with someone dealing with depression.

"The hardest part about being around her was you knew there was nothing you could do to help," Rollins says. "I get it, but then again, maybe I don't."

Despite his self-admitted lack of full understanding of the human brain and how someone could take their own life, Rollins has a definite stance with how he reacts to suicide: "When someone negates their existence, they cancel themselves out in my mind."

"I no longer take this person seriously," Rollins says. "I may be able to appreciate what he or she did artistically but it's impossible to feel bad for them. Their life wasn't cut short - it was purposely abandoned. It's hard to feel bad when the person did what they wanted to. It sucks they are gone, of course, but it's the decision they made. I have to respect it and move on." Read more here.

Former Dream Theater Member Reimagines Van Halen Classic

The track, which originally appeared on "Van Halen II", was initially inspired by Van Halen jamming on an acoustic guitar during a New Year's Eve party at Ted Templeman's house; the producer had Eddie record the tune for the band's second album.

"Spanish Fly" followed the groundbreaking instrumental, "Eruption", from Van Halen's 1978 self-titled debut, the tune which introduced Eddie to music fans around the world.

Check out Sherinian's version here.

Motley Crue Accept Alice Cooper's Ice Bucket Challenge Onstage

As part of the viral video campaign that is raising funds for the ALS Association, the band donated $10,000 to the cause. Motley Crue also called out Aerosmith, Def Leppard and KISS to take the plunge onstage and to match their donation.

"WE ACCEPT Motley Crue's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge!," tweeted Paul Stanley of KISS. "Friday Night in Indy. $10,000 and a whole lotta ice water!"

Watch the video here.

Between The Buried And Me Preview Upcoming Release

Voclaist/keyboardist Tommy Rogers says: "You can watch us play any of our songs live online, so we wanted to give our fans something a little different - an intimate live performance of us playing in a studio.

"We wanted to give the fans something that made them feel a little closer to us and made them almost feel like they're at practice with us." Check out the teaser video here.

Marty Friedman Praises Babymetal's Mix Of Meshuggah With Japanese Pop

And he believes Japan's latest export Babymetal - fronted by three schoolgirls performing a mix of pop and metal - deserve credit for their work.

Friedman tells Rolling Stone: "Babymetal, if you strip off that heavy metal guitar stuff, all you have is your basic fun, quirky, Japanese pop stuff. But the interpretation is super-metal.

"To me, it sounds like Meshuggah with Japanese pop on top of it. So for someone like me who's been playing metal forever, it's really fresh to hear. I mean, I can hear another Pantera song, and it's great, but we've heard it before a billion times."

More here.

Nonpoint Launch Studio Video Series

In the video update, singer Elias Soriano says: "It's going to have something to sing along to. It's going to have something to pit to. It's going to have something you're going to want to jump around to. It's probably going to have something that you're going to want to rip the person's face off next to you."

The Return, released via Metal Blade Records, is Nonpoint's first record since 2012's self-titled album. Watch the new "In The Studio With Nonpoint" video here.

MoeTar Release New Music Video

The band say: "We, the members of MoeTar, could not be prouder of this true labour of love. We love each other. We love music. We love you. We took all that love, put it into a Krups Coffee Grinder/Love Processor, and out came this record."

MoeTar features singer Moorea Dickason and bassist Tarik Ragab. The duo previously worked together in politically-charged funk/pop band No Origin. Watch the new video here.

The Ben Miller Band Going Their Own Musical Way

The trio, comprised of Ben Miller, Doug Dicharry and Scott Leeper, began as organically as their idea to use a washboard - not to mention, an electric spoon - at every show. Miller began attending and later hosting open-mic nights in Joplin, Mo. while working a "cruddy job" in the tech department of Wal-Mart.

"It was pretty tough for me to work at a job like that," the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist told Radio.com over the phone. "My brain started to eat itself. Boredom is a really great motivator. I didn't have anything and that helped the boredom. It made me have to do something."

The Wal-Mart techie by day, performer and host by night eventually met the trumpet playing Dicharry at the open mic night. On the weekends, Miller would play solo shows for dinner crowds at the same restaurant where Dicharry worked as a waiter and where the washboard became a quick way to get people's attention.

"In the middle of the set I'd call out to [Doug] to play washboard with me. He'd leave his tables and come over and pick up the washboard and play a song and went right back to waiting tables," Miller said. "People loved it because they had no idea he was a musical genius and his tips went up hugely."

After opening for ZZ Top last year in Europe - a role they'll reprise in the States this fall - they no longer play for tips at local restaurants. They also might not be the lone wolves they claim to be on their current single, "The Outsider," which Miller wrote after watching an episode of the MSNBC prison show, Lockup.

"The people in there have to become a group for safety. You have to stick with your race and you have to stick with your kind and you give up something for that safety. You give up your autonomy," he explained. "You can't come from your own perspective completely. It has to be colored by what's good for that group."

For Miller, the song is a reminder that even though they've been accepted by some music fans he needs to resist the temptation to just follow the crowd and "maintain a sense of his own perspective rather than sublimating it or deferring to a group." More.

Carl Newman Discusses The New Pornographers' New Album

In a 2001 interview, Newman talked about the absurdity of the Pornographers being billed a "supergroup" when only one of the Canadian band's six members was actually famous. That was fellow redhead and only non-Canadian member, Neko Case, who already had alt-country fans under her spell with her first two solo albums. "They have the posters with our five pictures and our five names, and you look at it and you go, 'Who the f-k are those guys?'" he says. "I know Neko but� Carl Newman?! Who the f-k is that?'"
Thirteen years later, not much has really changed. "Obviously, there's still that element," Newman tells me. "I mean, [Neko's] definitely the most famous person in the band. I know that there are people that like the band and don't know who I am, couldn't pick me out of a police lineup."

When the New Pornographers formed, Newman was identified as the "singer, songwriter, and guitarist." That was back when the band - comprised of Newman, Case, Dan Bejar, John Collins, Kurt Dahle and Blaine Thurier (Newman's niece, Kathryn Calder would officially join the band in 2006) - considered themselves to be a democracy, voting on everything. "As time went on, I thought, 'That's stupid, why would we vote on everything?" Now, most people would identify Newman as the leader of the New Pornographers. Occasionally, even Newman himself.

"The whole idea of a leader is weird," he says. "Sometimes I think, 'Oh no, I'm not the leader. We don't have a leader.' And then sometimes I think, 'Yeah, I'm the leader. And I'm not very good at it, I should be better. I should be a better leader!'

"But, it's not for me to say," Newman continues. "I didn't give myself that title, but I know I am in a slightly elevated position in the band. But, you know, I'm not going to go to my bandmates and go, 'Say it, say I'm the leader!'"

Perhaps the main reason he's become the band's default leader is because, unlike Case and Bejar, the New Pornographers is his full-time gig. "I don't think I could support myself with my solo career," Newman says. His third solo record, 2012's Shut Down The Streets, under the name A.C. Newman, may not have stormed the charts, but the album, inspired by the birth of his first son and the death of his mother, did help set the tone for Brill Bruisers.

"I think with my solo album, I got a lot of stuff out of the way, I did that consciously: 'This is just the record where I address a lot of stuff that's happened to me in the last year or two.' I felt like it was a palette cleanser," he says. "When it came to make Brill Bruisers, I felt like I could just make a rock record, what I thought was a fun rock record." A lot more.

Singled Out: Holy Ghost Tent Revival's Got Anew

This song was originally written in ballad form. Lyrically, it came from a time in my life when I needed change. A lot had happened the past year, band roster-wise and I was becoming more self aware. It had been in my back pocket for a couple years by the time we showed up in East Falls to record the album. We all wanted it on the record but due to it's slow meter we weren't sure how it would fit. The morning of the last day in the studio our producer walked into the control room yelling, "FRESH POTS" meaning the coffee was hot and asked Ross to play straight eighth notes on a piano bench with brushes.

We had to work quickly that day to keep on schedule with the rest of the mixing process, so Bill, the producer, was running a tight ship. His idea for the song took a lot of concentration and exactness that made the atmosphere a little tense at first. Personally, I was wary of letting go of the old and accepting the new. The arrangement was killer and so unique but it was hard to recognize the song as a whole because it was layered so specifically from the drums to the clarinet. An eighth note pattern, then a kick drum, then snare and hi-hat ... the cymbals, bass, piano and so and so on. It wasn't until I got to record the vocal track that it all started making sense to me. The lines were flowing over the drum and bass groove effortlessly and my hips were swinging by the time the chorus came around. And that's a good sign no matter who's singing or at what tempo.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself, learn more about the album and grab their current tour dates right here!

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