Michael Anthony Jams Van Halen Classic With John 5

John 5's Van Halen connection goes back years as a fan; he then teamed up with David Lee Roth to write and record his 1998 album, "DLR Band." The guitarist has continued to write material with Roth and, last year, revealed that the pair had recorded a second project in early 2013.

"[Dave and I] just made another record, and it's, like, the 'California Sessions', [Dave] was calling it," said John 5. "And it's 11 of the greatest songs you'll ever hear, and it's just me and Dave, and we had Gregg Bissonette play drums on it. And it's unbelievable. And hopefully sometime it'll see the light of day. But he is, of course, busy with Van Halen and all that stuff. But it's an incredible record."

"I always go over to his house and we write music and things like that," he continued. "It's a lot of fun. I would just go over to his house during the day and write this music and then he would book the studio at night. So we would go into A&M Studios - Henson Studios, it's called now - and we'd record."

John 5 described the vibe of the material and Roth's performance. "It sounds just like Dave from that 'Van Halen I' or ' Van Halen II' or 'Women And Children First' era, [in terms of his] singing [style], and it's incredible, man. It's really incredible. He loves it too, so maybe it'll see the light of day sometime."

Read more and watch video of the jam here.

Jack White Get Innovate For Interactive 'That Black Bat Licorice' Video

The video offers three original films of differing themes that can be interchanged based on viewers' interaction with their computer keyboard or tablet screen.

The video trio also draws from the vision of three different directors - James Blagden, Brad Holland and White himself. Blagden created an animated clip, Holland a headbanging video, and White directed live action footage. Read more here.

Jimmy Page Honored At NME Awards

Organized by UK music magazine New Musical Express (NME), Page was on hand to receive a special one-off award from Royal Blood. "Well, well, well," began Page. "Thank you to Royal Blood. They said it's an honour to be giving this award but it's an honor for me. I trust so much in Royal Blood and what's gonna come from them is absolutely magic, isn't it? They really deserve Best Group."

"Thanks so much for this award, NME," he added. "It's a real honor to get it, but as far as whatever I've managed to do in music, I'm really just passing on the baton because for me, I've learned from records and my heroes. I got the music together and passed it on and it's for everyone."

The honor recognizes Page's as one of rock's most important and influential guitar players, writers and producers. Watch the video here.

Black Star Riders Perform New Songs Acoustically

The duo dropped by The Orchard to play their new single, "Finest Hour", and the album's title track. Due February 23 (Feb 24 in North America), the follow-up to the group's 2013 debut, "All Hell Breaks Loose", was recorded in Nashville with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, The Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains, Mastodon).

"The Killer Instinct" will be available in multiple formats: CD, Limited 2 CDs Digibook with a bonus disc that features 2 extra songs and acoustic versions of 4 tracks from the album, Limited Gatefold Black Vinyl and Limited Gatefold Clear Vinyl (available for mail orders only).

Black Star Riders will launch the album with a co-headline UK tour with Europe starting March 2 in Dublin, Ireland. Check out the unplugged videos here.

Umphrey's McGee Preview Their Abbey Road Album

The video includes their cover of the Beatles' track I Want You (She's So Heavy) which recognises the fact they were recording where the Fab Four did some of their most memorable work.

Frontman Brendan Bayliss says the first thing he did on arrival was asked to be shown to the corner of the space used most by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Bayliss tells Rolling Stone: "I couldn't believe they were just crammed there, doing 75 takes in a row till they got it." Guitarist Jake Cinninger clapped his hands to listen for the studio's trademark effect. "I heard that ambient tone - yup, that's Abbey Road. I wanted to witness it for my own ears, that time delay in the room." Read more and watch the video here.

Metalhead Rocks TV Talent Show With Led Zeppelin Classic

John Bonham's performance saw all four judges pitching to have him on their team. In the end, the 28-year-old from Dublin chose former Westlife singer Kian Egan as his coach.

After his performance led to all four experts turning their seats to signify they wanted him to progress, Bonham had to explain that having the same name as the late Led Zep drummer was merely a coincidence.

And he says he would never have compromised by singing a "safer pop song." He tells TeamRock: "The first thing they asked was whether that was my real name. It's a total coincidence, but I'm obviously a big Zeppelin fan.

"I only wanted to go through on my own terms. I didn't see the point in doing a safer pop song just to try get through. I thought I might as well be me.

"It's a tough song to sing because of the range in the vocals. It actually hadn't gone so well when I was practising, but the big arena and the crowd gives you such adrenaline and it worked out."

"I definitely did not expect to go through, I thought I wouldn't be what they were looking for. I didn't think many of the audience would even know Immigrant Song, but when I started headbanging halfway through, they all went crazy." Read more and watch video of his performance here.

Rush's Neil Peart, Tool's Danny Carey and Stewert Copeland Drum Jam

Also featured are South Park creator Matt Stone and Vertical Horizon frontman Matt Scannell. Further tracks were added to the original recording later.

Rush recently confirmed what's likely to be their last large-scale tour, while Tool continue work on the follow-up to 2006's 10,000 Days. Check out the video of the drum jam here.

Drowning Pool Celebrate Late Singer Dave Williams In New Video

Fans are asked to pledge $30 � all of which will go to the charity and they'll receive a Williams t-shirt in return. The band say: "People assume drugs and alcohol are the cause when the news reports that a rock star has died. Dave actually died of the heart disease known as cardiomyopathy � disease of the heart muscle and Dave didn't know he had it. It often goes undiagnosed and affects people of all races and ages.

"To celebrate Dave's life and contribution to music, we have partnered with the American Heart Association of Dallas and IndieGogo to raise both awareness of the disease, and funds for further research and development of new treatments." Read more and watch the video here.

A Look Back On Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi On His 67th Birthday

On giving birth to heavy metal, as told to Guitar Player: "I think it was the dramatics of it all. I used to listen to the old classical stuff with the dynamics in the music, and I wanted that sort of dynamics in what we were doing-something that was really dramatic and big. And that's what I tried to achieve guitar-wise. I wanted to make this big, powerful thing come over you-like what happens when you go and see a horror film. I wanted to create a huge sound that was really horrific in some ways."

On when he knew Black Sabbath had "made it," as told to Rock Cellar: "It was great when we started having hit albums and stuff, but I guess the first time we thought we had broken through on some level was with our first album. With that album we realized we had something different to offer, and then the next Sabbath album came out, which was Paranoid, and that went to number one, certainly in most of the world except for in America. (laughs) Then we sort of felt like we were doing something and achieving success and knew we were on our way."

On considering switching to playing right-handed, after the accident where he sliced off the tips of two fingers, as told to Guitar World: "If I knew what I know now I probably would have switched. At the time I had already been playing two or three years, and it seemed like I had been playing a long time. I thought I'd never be able to change the way I played. The reality of the situation was that I hadn't been playing very long at all, and I probably could have spent the same amount of time learning to play right handed. I did have a go at it, but I just didn't have the patience."

On coming up with great riffs, as told to Rock Cellar: "What I generally do is go into my studio for an hour or I might go in for ten minutes and just start playing some riffs and put them down. So I might do that for a few days and then I'll start listening to them with a more critical ear�. What makes a great riff, for me, is tension, drama and dynamics, but also you'll get some up-tempo stuff where you've got to create a different dynamic. With the heavier, slower stuff, it's pretty easy for me to put in the dynamics. But sometimes the up-tempo stuff is a little bit more challenging."

On his signature tone, as told to Guitar International: "I took a long time working on it. Years and years. I've never been totally satisfied with it. I always keep trying. Even now, on stage some nights it doesn't sound quite right. It's the building or the stage or whatever. But ninety-percent of the time I'm happy with it."

On first hearing Ozzy's debut solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, recorded with Randy Rhoads, as told to Guitar World: "It was quite good. I loved Randy's playing. I didn't rush out right away to buy Ozzy's album because I was into what we were doing at the time. But I was pleased for Ozzy. It was the spark that got him going, and it was exactly what he needed." Read more here.

Singled Out: Dauzat St. Marie's Time Slips Away

The song "Time Slips Away" is probably one of the most sentimental and retrospective songs we've ever written. We were actually on the road with Schuyler Fisk and were staying at her family's farm in Virginia when we wrote it. The family has an incredible old home on a large plot of land with rolling hills, horses and a pond. We fell in love with their place and Virginia in general, hence the lyric "and I never knew what true love was until I touched down in Virginia." Actually, all of the lyrics from the songs are lifted directly from the pages of our own life stories. For example, when we were teenagers we used to frequently drive 2,000 miles to Los Angeles simply to play shows at the Whisky and Troubadour with our rock band at the time. From that experience you get the lyrics "with 2,000 miles to go," "driving to life unknown," and "I never knew what freedom was until I drove to California."

The lyric "I never knew where I belonged until I woke up in New Orleans" is a reference to the feeling we got when we returned to that great city after having moved to Los Angeles 5 years prior. Our band Hydrovibe had just gotten a song in the movie Saw III, which put us out on our first real U.S. tour. The first show of the tour was the House Of Blues in New Orleans. We were excited because not only is the New Orleans area Heather's home, it also used to be one of the strong stomping grounds for Hydrovibe before we moved. We were also additionally excited because we were introducing our drummer and bass player to the city as well. When we hit the stage at the House Of Blues, there were around 650 lovely screaming people in the crowd�. and we were absolutely BEAMING! After the show, we went out and had a big time in the city (as one does). The next morning we were recapping what a great experience it was, and so was spawned the lyric "I never knew where I belonged until I woke up in New Orleans."

The lyric "we're so far from those places and the songs of yesterday" is really just a commentary on how far we've come in our career� and how much ground we've covered - both physically and musically. And finally, the lyric "the players keep changing, but the song remains the same" is a commentary on all the changes that have taken place in our careers - personnel, labels, management, agents, band members, etc. Our career is always in a state of evolution, but at the core we are very much the same as we always have been - point us toward the stage and we'll sing our hearts out for you.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the EP right here!

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