Artists participating in the tour include � get this � Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Joe Elliot (Def Leppard), Gilby Clarke (Guns N' Roses, Rockstar Supernova), Ed Roland (Collective Soul), Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), Gene Simmons (KISS), Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion), Matt Sorum (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Jason Newsted (Metallica, Voivod, Rockstar Supernova), Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) and Vince Neil (Motley Crue).

The news was broken by Steve Stevens on his Facebook page. Stevens didn't mention Gene Simmons initially, but confirmed the KISS demon's involvement in a reply to his original posting.

In Part 2 of the interview, published over the weekend, Niven talked about the band's big breakthrough, which came on the back of a strong live reputation and a few late night MTV plays. "MTV put the band on overnight, when you had to use an alarm clock to see the videos," Niven said. "But even in overnight, 'Welcome to the Jungle' got a reaction, so MTV started moving it up. By March of '88, it had gone gold. Then on April 7, 1988, it went platinum."

"You guessed it, the 'Black Album' will be performed in its entirety (yeah, yeah, that 20th Anniversary thing) and the line-up for the day is out of this world as Slayer, Motorhead, Mastodon, Gojira, and Eluveitie will all be joining us!"

All eyes are on the Billboard charts as Van Halen wait to see if they secure a US #1 debut.

DeVries says of joining the group: "I have been asked by Dino and Burton to join one of my favorite bands. I have been a fan of Fear Factory since 1992 and I could not be more excited to be part of this incredible band. We have shared the stage many times together and now I'm beyond stoked to be on the same stage playing together. Thank you to all my fans worldwide for sticking by me and I will be seeing you all on the road very soon."

"The way everything started with this record," explains Slash, "was when the tour ended and Myles [Kennedy, Alter Bridge singer] took off on the road, I got [drummer] Brent [Fitz] and [bassist] Todd [Kerns] together and took them to Mates rehearsal studio�which is a studio in the valley that I've been using since the late 80s. That's, basically, where we did pre pre-roduction, where you just rehearse the s**t out of the songs until you can perform them live, which is how I wanted to record the record."

The next installment of the Rock Camp is taking place in Hollywood, CA on February 16th-20th. We were sent these details:

Campers will record an original song at world class recording studio with Led Zeppelin's and the Beatle's producer, Eddie Kramer, and take home a professionally produced DVD and mp3 of their final performance. They'll also cruise through the sunset strip jamming with rockstars and performing live at major venues in Hollywood including the Gibson Showroom in Beverly Hills and the legendary Whisky-A-Go-Go.

As a special Valentine's gift, the band is giving fans a free download their new song, "Crucify", today (February 14th). Grab it here.

The forthcoming effort is their first for Victory Records and was produced by Mark Lewis (The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel), Jason Suecof (Bury Your Dead, Chimaira) and mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth).

Sacks &Co sent over these details: His long-lost guitar was recently discovered on the Dutch Caribbean island of Cura�ao after its disappearance in a plane crash 32 years ago. Frampton was reunited with the guitar in an emotional meeting in Nashville this past December.

The album is Trout's first fully fledged blues album in 23 years as a bandleader, drawing on his experiences playing with legends such as John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Finis Tasby, Pee Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulsom, Percy Mayfield and Joe Tex when he first arrived in Los Angeles in 1973. By 1981 Trout had joined Canned Heat, and soon went on to play with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, joining a lineage that includes Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor.

"My main inspiration for this album was the country bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, an early blues innovator who recorded such timeless gospel informed blues numbers as 'Soul of a Man' and 'Nobody's Fault But Mine,'" Trout says. "His music is beautiful, primal, direct and deeply spiritual. The album explores a side of my music that's rooted in my first musical love, and it reveals something about me, too. It sums up the thoughts and attitudes of somebody who is getting a little older and is feeling like he's a part of another era, with different values and a different perspective on life that's prevalent today."

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas premiered their new commercial during The Grammy Awards on Sunday.

In keeping with the band's fondness for 70's era double-LP's Fountains Left To Wake will mainly be issued as an audiophile double-LP.

A customer calls up his SF rep to discuss plans and the two end up talking about the band. "We just had ourselves a little Journey moment there," says the caller. "Saw 'em in '83 in Fresno�place was crawling with chicks."

The festival organizers have stated that unforeseen circumstances have driven the need to take the summer of 2012 off, and insist that plans are underway for a large scale festival event for 2013.

The Who were back in England after an impressive U.S. tour, a climactic appearance at Woodstock and the universally lauded and pioneering Tommy album. As musical contemporary Rick Wakeman recalls, "The Who were at the time the loudest band in the world. They had just conquered America, played at Woodstock and Tommy was being hailed as a work of genius. And what did they do? Arrived at Leeds Uni and recorded what I reckon to be the best live album ever."

The Who had more than 80 hours of tapes from assorted U.S. shows that they'd recorded but Townshend and Co. couldn't face the chore going through all those tapes and, fearful of bootleggers, destroyed all the American recordings.

A live album would come from two new shows. Using the same engineers who worked with Ginger Baker and Cream they would record two gigs. One in Leeds on Valentine's Day, the other at Hull the following night. Both were recorded but, as Roger Daltrey explains, only the first was usable.

Long Way Up is realizing you are at point of no return. And while it may be tough sledding ahead; you have already gotten through things of equal difficulty in the past. With this realization, you gain a "vulnerable strength". There is also an undercurrent of the cynicism that comes with getting older and wiser. I think everyone has that period in their life, where you have to look at yourself and say "Why did I believe that? And you make a resolution to try and avoid it in the future." It 's that Art of War kind of epiphany "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger sort of thing" My initial inspiration was my career and the climb all musicians are on, but I also drew from the angst surrounding the supposed decline of Western Society and the bleak outlook for the American Dream and ideal. I guess on both fronts you have to just say hey it's been a long way up just to come back down, and things may frustrate me, but I must keep climbing and moving forward, why go back?