The VHND reports fans will get to hear clips of two songs off VH's new album; the first single, "Tattoo," and the as-yet unheard "Stay Frosty."

The website MediaTakeOut.com posted nude pics of an "unnamed musician" that they received from a female admirer. The anonymity was canceled out by the instantly recognizable tattoos that were also visible in the pic and it didn't take long for word to get out that Barker was the musician in question.

The tour will be co-headlined by Godsmack and Staind with support from Halestorm and will kick off in April.

Bruce Springsteen and pals will begin a 19-date tour on March 18 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. The trek will wind its way up the East Coast, including multiple dates in New Jersey and at Madison Square Garden, before hitting New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and wrapping up May 2 in Newark. The group will tour Europe in the summer and return for another North American trek in the fall.

Every year thousands of aspiring and professional musicians converge on NAMM in Anaheim, California � it's sort of like Comic-Con for musicians. NAMM gives vendors a chance to show off their latest instruments and often times well-known musicians appear to endorse their own signature series products. A rep for Ibanez guitars was showing off Slipknot guitarist Mick Thomson's signature axe when he volunteered a bit too much info on where the guitar will soon be played.

But Disney is free to use the image since the original cover is in the public domain and was never actually owned by Joy Division. It was taken from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. It depicts CP 1919, the first radio pulsar ever detected (in July 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell).

They write, "The guys have moved writing sessions from Los Angeles to Birmingham, England. Sabbath has gone back to where it all started and it's been just amazing. This is where the writing of the album will be completed. Funny how it all goes full circle sometimes."

MelodicRock.com reports that no official reason has been given for Sykes' departure, but it is understood that a new guitarist will be brought in to the project, along with a yet-to-be-named bass player.

The album features Tremonti � an accomplished shredder, especially after hitting the woodshed with Rusty Cooley � on lead vocals as well as guitar, while Eric Friedman provides backing vocals, bass and guitar. Garret Whitlock handles the drums.

"Hard Knocks" is a collection of 9 all-new songs plus a cover version of the Dixie Chicks' "I Hope." Produced by Matt Serletic (Matchbox 20, Carlos Santana), "Hard Knocks" has the timeless "Cocker" sound fusing soul, pop and rhythm and blues into an undeniably infectious mix of a singularly unique contemporary style.

The tour kicks off with a special tribute show for fallen band mate and friend Cory Smoot, AKA Flattus Maximus, in Richmond, VA, at The National Theater on Friday March 16th. All proceeds from the Richmond show will benefit the "Smoot Family Fund" which has been established to help support Cory's widow and their unborn child.

The new Local H album, tentatively titled Hallelujah! I'm A Bum, will be out this summer.

"Sanford's awesome," Lucas says. "He's been at the forefront of the most interesting things happening out of Chicago for a while, and it's truly an invigorating experience to work with him. And, if he would quit f***ing feeding me all this whiskey, I'd be alright."

Local H has been road-testing the new songs for the past year. Songs slated for recording include audience favorites "Another February" and "Paddy Considine."

Lucas has been documenting the recording sessions, posting a series of iPhone videos that reveal snippets of songs on the band's

The band quietly unveiled Japanese dates over the weekend on their official website. They will play consecutive nights at the Tokyo Dome City Hall on April 16 and 17, and at Namba Hatch in Osaka on April 18. Although no other dates have been announced, it would be rather unusual for the band to go to all the trouble of re-learning all of the material for only three shows.

According to the Shropshire Star, Downing has proposed a 63-room hotel with pool, spa and restaurant be built on his 320-acre Astbury Hall estate. Downing said: "I am speaking to various corporations about investment and I'm optimistic we can start pushing through with the plans for development this year.

Guitarist Robert Bloomfield calls the album is a new beginning for the band, adding, "I really do feel we found our sound. It's definitely MCMB still, but with this new flare that we've all loved and understood but never figured out a way to translate it to our music."

Originally released in 1995, the album has not been available on vinyl in more than 15 years. The reissue includes all of the original artwork, liner notes, rephotographed paintings by Steve Keene, and a four-color poster insert.

Foxy Music/Firebird have announced a February 7th release of Olson's debut solo album, Kenny Olson Cartel.

Slater: Forever has got to be my favorite track on the record. It's just so melodically infectious. The life of the song has an interesting story. I couldn't sleep one night, tossing and turning in my bed, and this riff came to mind. Usually when I write, I'm in the studio with a piano or a guitar bangin' it out, but this time, the progressions, melodies, and even the arrangement was all magically coming together all in my head. It was 4am, but there was no way I was gonna sleep and possibly forget this potential smash hit come the next morning�So, I went downstairs to my recording studio, fired up the rig, and just hit record.

Everything was just flowing out of me, and the song was completely demoed out in a few hours. It's the most technical & melodic composition I have ever composed, yet was also the fastest song to ever come together. Ironic? The guitars and big synth allowed the song to keep that turbo 80s vibe, but the feel, progression, and arrangement made the song pop radio worthy.

I was so stoked on this song being "the one," I had to tag team up with Shred Sean to get his shred touch all over it. So, I immediately flew up to New York City with my mobile recording rig in a suitcase. I got off the plane, we went to his parents Deli to get some fuel, and went back to his lower east side pad to join forces on this one. He laid down some sick leads over the meat and potatoes, and then slapped his special shred sauce all over the chorus by composing the lead vocal melody on the chorus. Then it was time for the solo� I just looped the section, hit record, and he did what he does best. The most fun was the last part of the solo where the synth leads dual up with the shred� very "Dragonforce" like. It's the climax of the song.. and explodes into the soft bridge.

Although the solo shows the virtuoso of his playing, the slow bridge solo was our favorite. Blessed had never had a slow section with smooth & sexy shred. He laid it down and called it "The Sex." When he laid down the sex solo over the synth pads, we felt like we composed a musical movement from an 80s romance flick. Its cheese, but in a serious way.

The song was so busy musically�with leads + synth + pads, we thought it would be impossible to write vocals over it, and the song was gonna stay instrumental. We titled it "feel the power."

A few months later, Sam Ryder joined the band and loved the song. So his first assignment & challenge was to make sick lyrics and vocals for the tune. We told him that if he could do it, then he was officially in the band�