Doctors spent two days trying to avoid the extreme measure � but surgery was deemed essential to keep him alive as the disease began to spread through his body.

"I had a meeting with Lars [Ulrich] in San Francisco...to explore what the focus was going to be this time around," he said. "I'm still sort of thinking about what that is going to be. I'll ask a lot of questions and we'll probably listen to some of the riffs that they've been writing. Usually I'll hear something that will sort of indicate the direction and then we'll talk about it from there."

Of course, that's far from the only project Rubin is working on. He's also produced the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album, I'm With You, which is due out August 30. Rubin shared his thoughts on the band's new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.

He says: "I've shattered three ribs on my left side. I'll keep everyone updated but for now I'm resting so I can get back to rocking on stage as soon as possible."

Doctors determined that Aaron had acute appendicitis, and rushed him into emergency surgery the remove the ruptured organ.

Simmons and long-time girlfriend Shannon Tweed appeared to be struggling to stay together last week when they appeared on a series of TV shows to promote the new series of their Family Jewels reality show.

"The process has been much more of a collaboration between the whole band," Lee told Billboard.com. "Usually it's me and one main co-writer...This time everybody had something to do with it from the ground up."

(The 1st Five) NOFX are hitting this road this Fall. They will be joined on all stops by Anti-Flag and Old Man Markley. The Bouncing Souls will be joining them at the last two stops of the tour. more

(Noble) Black Country Communion's second album "2" hit the No. 1 spot in the Official UK Rock Album Chart this week, overtaking the Foo Fighters album "Wasting Light". more

(SRX) The forthcoming Alice Cooper album 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare' will be released as a fan pack physically and on the iPad. Along with all the material available on the printed version, the iPad album fan pack will feature a digital version of the album along with video footage recorded at the Download festival, interactive elements and other additional content. Classic Rock and Metal Hammer publisher Chris Ingham said that the brief from Alice Cooper's management was to 'put Halloween in a box'. more

(BMN) Pepper Keenan, who has spent the last few years focusing on his guitar-playing duties in Down, rejoined his Corrosion Of Conformity bandmates on stage this past Saturday, June 18 at Kristonfest in Bilbao, Spain. Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen more

(BW&BK) Metallica's ...And Justice for All album (1988) will be released on green vinyl, and will be on sale this Thursday, June 23rd from 1 PM (PDT). Only 1,000 of these sets were pressed. 500 copies will be sold to members of The Metallica Club at Metallica.com more

(Rock News Desk) The struggling EMI label may be put up for sale, say owners Citigroup. The record company has seen a number of big-name artists move away in recent years and was the subject of legal action because Citigroup claimed they'd been misled over its value before they bought it from previous owners Terra Firma. more

(BW&BK) Hollywood Records have confirmed that the BBC documentary, Queen: Days Of Our Lives, will air in the US on the A&E Channel on June 27th. It will premiere at 8 PM and rerun at 10 PM (EST). The version that is to be broadcast is a unique edit for the U more

The Swan King has lined up a late-July run with Git Some more

On this day in 1966, Reg Calvert manager of The Fortunes, Screaming Lord Sutch and the owner of offshore pirate radio station Radio City was shot dead by a business rival during a confrontation.

On this day in 1966, working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded from start to finish, a new John Lennon song "She Said She Said." The song was reportedly based on a bizarre conversation that Lennon had with Peter Fonda while John and George Harrison were tripping on LSD.

On this day in 1977, Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten was attacked in a brawl outside the live music venue Dingwalls in Camden, London.

On this day in 2000, 39 year-old Karen McNeil who claimed she was the wife of Axl Rose and that she communicated with him telepathically was jailed for one year for stalking the singer.

The guitarist checked himself into rehab in April, just a day before Bon Jovi launched the final leg of their two-year world tour. Triumph and session man Phil X stood in until Sambora returned in time for the European series of dates two weeks ago.

Dokken concedes that even though the chemistry became rapidly frayed, he still stands by the music the band made. "In the end we did some great records together," Dokken said. "Some people believe our tension made our records better."

RockAAA caught up with the band backstage at the Download Festival and Hambel spoke at length about Steele, who died suddenly last year.

"His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years.

"He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music.

And he's apologised for repeatedly misleading fans by announcing release dates for new album Gold Cobra which turned out to be wrong.

The German band are riding high with new album Blood of the Nations featuring vocalist Mark Tornillo. But two years ago their future didn't look so bright, and Dirkschneider was concerned that if he rejoined the band his solo act UDO would suffer. He tells Sleaze Roxx: "We reunited in 2005 for some festival appearances and it was a lot of fun. There were no plans to do more than those appearances, to record or continue further. But promoters wanted us to keep doing and I was on a break from UDO so I said, 'Why not?'"

The tour opens in San Diego, June 30th, and marks the first time in 13 years the original line-up of vocalist Eric Martin, guitarist Paul Gilbert, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Pat Torpey, has toured North America!

This reissue is a 28-track collection that includes the original 10-song album with four bonus tracks, all produced by Butch Vig and mixed by Alan Moulder. The second half, Black Crosses, is a collection of alternate versions and unreleased songs.

Vedder tributed the E Street Band member Clarence Clemons with the late sax legend's first name painted across the front of his ukele; Clemons passed away last Saturday following a stroke at his Florida home.

Revel Young Ian arrived a healthy six pounds and nine ounces with his proud Dad tweeting: "it was the happiest day of his life."

Joining the Carnival this summer will be Theory of a Deadman, Alter Bridge, Black Stone Cherry, Adelitas Way and Emphatic.

Mirror Ball: Live and More, the group's latest album, documents Def Leppard's power as a live band officially for the very first time. Spread across the two-disc set is all the familiar fare, plus three newly recorded studio tracks that prove the group's songwriting mojo remains fully intact. As has been the case for 20 years, the tandem force of guitarists Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen propel the action forward. Prior to embarking on the current Def Leppard tour, Campbell and Collen shared their thoughts about their influences, their different styles and the future of Def Leppard.

The Wildheart recently announced his departure, citing disagreement with management and dissatisfaction with some elements of the band's live show. He played his last concert with Monroe at the weekend

The Canadian tour titled "Precious Cargo" will begin on September 15 in Halifax, NS and will continue through October 8 in Victoria, BC.

The two albums represent the final two pieces of the Devin Townsend Project, a quartet of albums that began with the ambient, restrained Ki and continued with Addicted!, a heavy and rhythm-driven album.

Hooker tells Ragnarok Radio: "I can't look back on the Bezerk period and feel I enjoyed it more than today. Back then our lives depended on it and we were driven by record companies who used to demand singles. But now it's something we do purely because we love it.

Painkiller and the Priest trio performed several classics by the metal legends. The surprise appearance followed Priest's show at the Spektrum in Oslo earlier the same evening.

The trek is set to begin November 3, 2011 in Los Angeles, California and will be ending on December 10th in Washington, DC at the 9:30 Club.

The two will take viewer questions via a live video chat hosted by Yowie.com on July 5 at 6 pm pacific/9 pm eastern. The chat will take place here

Isis, who disbanded in May 2010, is in the midst of releasing a series of five live albums that span the band's thirteen year career.

Guitar Center Sessions features exclusive performances and intimate, enlightening conversations conducted by revered musical tastemaker Nic Harcourt. The Bad Religion episode premieres Saturday, June 25 at 10pm ET/PT in 2D hi-definition on DIRECTV'S Audience Network (channel 239) and in 3D on DIRECTV'S n3D powered by Panasonic.

This was one of the first tracks we wrote for the new album. I had come up with the music for the verse and chorus sitting at home on my acoustic guitar.

I took the song as it was to band practice to play as a band and it instantly started to sound HUGE. There was a great vibe coming from the song when we were all jamming it. We wanted to keep the structure really simple and just make it as kick ass and rocking as possible, basically a two minute punch to the face!

The melody came to me whilst we were jamming and later that day I went home and wrote the lyrics. The lyrics are basically about a person I know who loves to spread sh*t about people behind their backs and then face to face becomes all friendly and has nothing bad to say. I used to been good friends with this person but had to stop hanging out with them because I couldn't stand them being so two faced.