(The 1st Five) Josh Freese, original member and drummer for A Perfect Circle, has announced that he will not be able to take part in the band's summer tour. According to a statement on his official site, Freese apologizes to APC fans and advises that he had a commitment with Weezer to play drums with them on their upcoming tour. more

(Metalrage) Judas Priest will embark on a North American tour in the fall with support from Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society. The trek - which was just announced during a press conference at the Renaissance Hotel at Highland and Hollywood in Los Angeles, California - will kick off on October 12 in San Antonio, Texas and conclude on November 18 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. more

(Classic Rock) Judas Priest are to release a singles CD box set later in the year. This will feature every single the band released in the UK from 1977-2008. Each single will come in the original artwork. more

(Metalrage) The new supergroup Temple Of The Black Moon features Dani Filth (Cradle Of Filth), Rob Caggiano (Anthrax, The Damned Things), King (formerly of Gorgoroth and Ov Hell) and John Tempesta (formerly of White Zombie and now drumming with The Cult). An album release and subsequent live dates are expected to happen around mid-2012. more

(BM) Stone Temple Pilots/ex-Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weilandwill perform on the Thursday, May 26 edition of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on NBC-TV. more

(VDOB) A spokesperson for Slayer has informed fan site Slayerized.com that it is not very likely that founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman will join the band for the upcoming South American tour which kicks off next week (June 2) in Santiago, Chile. A replacement guitarist hasn't been officially named, but it is believed to once again be Gary Holt of Exodus. more

(Metalrage) Former Iron Maiden frontman Paul Di'Anno will embark on a tour of Brazil, dubbed "Running Free Again", in September/October. Backing the singer on all dates will be the Brazilian metal band Scelerata. more

(Lambgoat) Unkind has completed work on their brand new full-length album Harhakuvat, which is set for an August 2nd North American release date more.

(Classic Rock) The Michael Monroe Band are the latest name to be confirmed for the High Voltage Festival. They'll be appearing on July 23. more

(Lambgoat) Sky Eats Airplane is on an indefinite hiatus. This news probably won't surpise anyone, as the band has always seemed to have problems maintaining a stable line-up. more

(The 1st Five) Heartsounds will release their new album Drifter on July 26th via Epitaph Records more

(Metal Underground) I Am Abomination has revealed the track listing for its forthcoming digital EP release. The new EP, titled 'Passion Of The Heist,' is set to be released on July 19, 2011 more

(Lambgoat) Pathology is currently finishing up the writing process for their next album. Tracking will take place this summer at Lambesis Studios in San Diego with engineer/producer Daniel Castleman (Impending Doom, Winds Of Plague). more

Tombs and The Secret will tour Europe together this summer. more

On this day in 1965, blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, Sonny Boy Williamson died in his sleep. Van Morrison, Aerosmith, The Who, The Animals, Yardbirds and Moody Blues all covered his songs. According to the Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods, touring the UK in the 60's, Sonny Boy set his hotel room on fire while trying to cook a rabbit in a coffee percolator.

On this day in 1985, Dire Straits scored their second U.K. #1 album with Brothers In Arms, it was also #1 in the U.S. and 24 other countries. It went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide.

On this day in 1995, the earliest known recording of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, from 1961, was sold at Christies in London for �50,250 ($85,425).

At one point in time, Judas Priest considered Sebastian Bach for their lead singer role, but never got around to making the offer. This news came to light thanks to a Facebook posting Sunday by Bach. Along with a photo of Sebastian with Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton and Rita Haney, the longtime girlfriend of late Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, taken at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in Hollywood, California, was the following note by Bach:

He was taking part in the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance event in Florida, USA, and had just left the pits to take his first trip round the circuit.

Things kick off on October 12 in San Antonio, Texas and run for about 6 weeks, wrapping up in East Rutherford, New Jersey on November 18.

The first episode will be broadcast on BBC2 on Sunday, May 29 at 10 p.m., with the second episode on Monday, May 30, also at 10 p.m.

The band will kick off the tour in Canada on July 3rd, with their first U.S. show slated for July 17th. Following, a coast-to-coast run of 15+ dates includes stops at The Wiltern in Los Angeles July 22nd and The Beacon in New York on August 4th.

The album will also be released July 27th in Japan on Nippon/Columbia and in the Europe and UK via Edel Music. In addition, a Limited Edition version will be available for order in the U.S. as soon as June 1.

A rep for the Pet Adoption Welfare Services (PAWS) tells TMZ ... Vinnie had kept all 4 animals in above-ground plastic storage bins, clearly marked as graves ... with little memorials written on them -- and even though it's really creepy ... it ain't illegal.

Gates admits there was a two-week spell immediately following The Rev's sudden passing when they pondered walking away from the band only be pulled back from the brink with messages of support.

"The original Frankenstein was a result of me tinkering and experimenting with different elements of electric guitars that I liked," he said. "I created an instrument that wasn't offered as an 'off the rack' guitar by any manufacturer at the time."

The Norwegian black metal band are currently on the bill for the remaining shows of a substantial North American tour with Sepultura, but things seem not to be running too smoothly. Obsidian C let rip on his on-line tour blog, not mincing his words he reported: "Yesterday [May 21] we played in Rochester, NY and man, the bullsh*t just continues on this tour. All support bands only got five channels altogether, which means that all we could get sound on in the PA-system was drums and one vocal.

Bad Reputation is the eighth studio album by the Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1977. As the front cover suggests, most of the tracks feature only three-quarters of the band, with guitarist Brian Robertson only playing on tracks 3 and 6 (despite a credit on track 8). He had missed most of their previous tour, following an injury sustained in a brawl, and this album turned out to be his last studio effort with Thin Lizzy.

Take The World started in a much more traditional SWR type of writing style. Having already written a great deal of the album and realizing we didn't have much of a dance vibe going on as we did in the past, we agreed that we wanted something that would sound great in a club. Adam suggested the beat idea, which was paying homage to the Eric B. & Rakim song, "Paid In Full", which was also coincidentally a breakbeat that COUNTLESS other acts used in the 90's, so much so that no one except the most devoted b-boy knows where it originated from.

Once we played and programmed the beat we picked up our instruments, Adam played the bassline straight away, and I started playing the guitar part. After a few minutes of playing it, we came up with the change for the b-section and another section which was originally the chorus, however when singing it later I found it to be confusing and felt there were too many parts, so we cut it and simplified things, keeping it a pretty linear song with great changes that never really stray too far from the original groove. (I hate that word too).

Vocally this song was one of the hardest, and it really took me two or three versions (lyrics and melody) before Adam and I were both happy and felt it was there. Once we eliminated the original chorus progression things really took shape and became clear, at which point writing the lyrics and melody were easier. After several failed attempts, one day I was sitting in the studio singing along while playing acoustic guitar and I just started singing the chorus. Sometimes it takes weeks or months to eliminate all the things it isn't to find out what it is, and this was one of those cases. I immediately put down the acoustic, pushed rewind, hit record and sang it into the mic, and at that point not only was the chorus written and feeling special, but the narrative of the song and verses became clear as well.

To me this song was the anchor of the record and really had to be special. I always imagined it being the first song on the LP and to me it sets things up nicely, plus I love the innocence of the story of the couple and the sentiment. It's big and epic, soaring and hopeful in a way that is almost naive, but then again, that is pretty much how that sort of thing makes you feel - invincible.

One More Night in New York City is Portnoy's first CD since leaving Dream Theater and features his Beatles tribute band, Yellow Matter Custard � guitarist Paul Gilbert, guitarist/keyboard player Neal Morse and bass player Kasim Sulton � recorded live.

"That's what we're most excited about," drummer Travis Barker told Rolling Stone. "It's the first time there will be new music in nine years."

The frontman is engaged and will soon join his bandmates in matrimonial life. But Moyer insists it won't be the end of his celebrated dark writings.

The Daily Express reports that the 200,000 music fans attending in June will be able to visit the Spirit of '71 stage that will feature Melanie, one time Hawkwind star Nik Turner, Arthur Brown, Linda Lewis and Edgar Broughton.

"There'll probably be a The Darkness album in 2012, but somehow we'll get new music out before then," he told Q magazine. "A U.K. tour at the end of that year and then the world. Again."

The question is, what will Zakk, ?uestlove and the gang play together. Will the former Ozzy Osbourne axeman lead The Roots in an Ozzy cover or will he decide to play one of the songs on BLS's latest release, The Song Remains Not the Same.

He plays a Scottish doctor with a novel approach to dealing with pain issues � and delivers his lines with an accent that Rock News Desk's Scots staff are finding difficult to identify.

A reunion has long been mooted but Green insists the band are perfectly happy as they are and he reckons former frontman Max is equally content in his own band too.

In an interview with Sonic Shocks when asked about Max returning to Sepultura Green explained: "That's all they are, rumours. I mean nobody has contact with him or anyone in his band. And he's doing his own thing. The reunion, I think, is with his brother.

The year 1981 marks the debut of the groundbreaking MTV Networks and, simultaneously, as MTV was hitting the airwaves, REO Speedwagon held the #1 album spot with their multi-platinum Hi Infidelity, making an impression that has also come to last decades. The highest-selling rock LP of 1981 is being commemorated with, with special, never-before-released demos and more. The set will be released at all physical and digital retail outlets

"I talked to Keith Richards recently... well, a couple of years ago, and his take on it was, 'Man, you were lucky, you guys, you had four lead singers,' whereas the Rolling Stones only had one," McCartney told the Radio Times (via Spinner.com). "So [for the Beatles] it wasn't just the frontman and the back-up band. We were an entity. Mick [Jagger] used to call us the four-headed monster. We would show up at places all dressed the same."

In the same interview, the former Beatle said that timing played a key part in the band's success.

Ringo explained why he still hits the road at 70 years of age. "I still love to play. I go down the front and sing 'Photograph' or whatever, then I get to go back to the drums and play with all these other musicians," he said. "It's a win-win situation. I get the chance to be both the entertainer and the musician. Everyone's a star, but I'm the big star. The band gets to play 12 numbers between them and I do 12 numbers."

After the recent departure of guitarist Nathan Barnes (guitar) and Cody McCoy (drums), guitarist Les Paul and drummer Kollin Perpignani have been added to the mix, along with bassist Donovan Bates, to round out the strongest Winterus lineup yet.

Ride Rise Roar combines exclusive behind-the-scenes footage with onstage action from Byrne's recent world tour. Including band audition footage, rehearsals and interviews with Byrne and the key players in his group, the film explores the inner workings of a complex and theatrical live presentation along with the creative process behind the creation of the live show.

After receiving threats from Pittsburgh garage band The Cynics, the band decided to forego legal action and push forward.

The news comes on the heals of yesterday's release of two new full length albums today via Sargent House. Here are the details on the albums followed by the tour dates:

Also performing will be The Plot In You, Miracle at St. Anna, and Everyone Dies In Utah. The full US tour begins on July 15th in Tempe, AZ.