Watkins appeared before Cardiff Crown Court via a video link from Parc Prison in Bridgend, Wales on New Year's Eve according to Classic Rock.

As we previously reported, Watkins has been charged with conspiring with a woman to rape a one-year-old child and other crimes.

He faces one charge of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child under 13 and four child pornography related charges.

The band was forced to postpone their original planned trek after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong entered rehab.

The newly announced dates will begin on March 28th in Chicago and conclude April 12th - Quebec City, QC

Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali was tapped to take his place in the all-star tribute event in Las Vegas.

Tichy broke the news to fans via a series of Twitter postings: "Typin with yor arm in a sling after u get back from er after wipin on your mtn. bike n breakin yor collarbone jus sux."

"So much for playing drums new year's in vegas with The Moby Dicks. Thanks to our bud Frankie Banali for helpin us out!"

"My year will b all uphill from here. I'll be c-in my healer wizard Dr. morovati tomoro and get this bs out the way asap."

"There's an angel on my shoulder�. But damn she's f-in heavy!!!!!"

Vocalist Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers are scheduled to play an all-acoustic set on January 12th during the event at the New Daisy Theater.

In a new interview with 100% Rock magazine, frontman Ian Gillan shared an update on Purple's first album since 2005's "Rapture Of The Deep."

"It's being mixed as we speak," says Gillan. "We've finished recording. It's a new tone, it's a new direction, it's fresh stuff. I think it was all written and recorded in Nashville, and the reason we went there � not to make a country record, but because Bob Ezrin, our producer, lives in Nashville and so it made a lot of sense because he had all the studio facilities and back up and everything else. So it made it really easy."

The band has been keeping fans informed via a series of postings on Facebook. On December 19th they told fans: "While others celebrate the holidays....we are working on this new album. When others ring in the new year....we will be working on this new album. When we release this new album....others will be working to catch up. Thanks everyone for being onboard for however long you've been onboard....the next leg of the journey is about to be underway."

The day after Christmas the band announced: "Only a couple weeks of recording to go and our new album will be finished. We're keeping our blistering pace of once every three years."

And finally on Monday they posted: "Happy New Years everyone. This year the Dillinger Bomb will surely drop on a city near you."

The band will return to New York's Beacon Theatre in March for a ten show run from March 1 through 16.

What can you say about the new band? Firstly, Brian Downey [drums, and the sole original Thin Lizzy member in the current line-up - Editor] only wanted to play under the Thin Lizzy name. And that's fine, I totally respect that. So we have a new drummer, Jimmy DeGrasso [Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Dokken] for the new band.

The new band is me, Damon Johnson (guitar), Ricky Warwick (vocals/guitar), Marco Mendoza (bass) and Jimmy DeGrasso (drums). Brian Downey is a little tired of the road. And Darren (Wharton, keyboards) has a movie soundtrack he wants to complete, and other stuff with his own band, Dare.

Does the new band have a name? We are Black Star Riders. The plan is, we fly to L.A. second of January to start work on the album. But this is not the end of Thin Lizzy. In March 2013 we fly out to Australia to do the KISS tour as Thin Lizzy. But then, we go into rehearsal as Black Star Riders, finish the album, and we will then tour as Black Star Riders.

The producer is Kevin Shirley [Aerosmith, Joe Bonamassa, Iron Maiden] at his studio in Los Angeles. We have 17 songs, the scratchings of another three. And knowing Ricky and Damon, those three will get finished soon. So there's 20 songs to pick from.

The vocalist left the band in 1993 and Weikath believes Kiske remains upset with him, so he'd like to talk things through.

Gane had worked with the original band in the past before following singer Tate after his sacking. The statement says: "We in Queensryche want to send our thoughts and prayers out to our old friend Randy Gane in light of the heart attack he suffered the other night.

3. ZZ Top: La Futura: After a lean period lasting longer than most bands' entire careers, ZZ Top hooked up with producer Rick Rubin to cut their best album since 1983's Eliminator. La Futura delivered soulful blues and high-octane boogie as only these good ol' boys know how.

2. Rival Sons: Head Down: Anyone still doubting the relevance of classic guitar music in 2012 needed to look no further than this storming Californian four- piece. Head Down was unreconstructed rock'n'roll in the raw, borne aloft by euphoric Motown grooves and the kind of timeless riffs patented by John Fogerty circa Green River.

The group issued the following statement: "As most of our friends and fans know the last year has brought The Absence some ups-and-downs, and most of us have emerged a much stronger and dedicated group at the end of it all.

"We owe as much to our fans who have always offered us amazing amounts of support and we are genuinely excited about what is coming next. We have done a lot of work to get ourselves to the point where we are able to begin delivering new music, merchandise, and even a killer new live show, but the work that is left to do must be done quickly and will require unquestionable reliability, dedication, input, and above all else a mutual sense that we are in this together.

The band also confirmed that they will be taking part in the Nummirock Festival 2013 which will take place 20-22 of June 2013, on Nummij�rvi in Kauhajoki, Finland.

The group broke the new album news with their New Year's greeting: "We want to thank everyone that has supported and helped us in 2012," they wrote. "2013 will be another intense year for Amon Amarth, and looks like it will be slightly unpredictable and mischievous�"

"We've just finished writing all the songs for the next full-length album, and we're ready to enter the studio to start recording them in the new year.

Sabbath's US tour shirt from 1978 landed at #1 following a sales surge after it was worn by Robert Downey, Jr. - who plays Iron Man's alter ego Tony Stark - in the hit movie "Avengers Assemble".

They told fans via Facebook on Dec. 21st: "Well apart from a bunch of New Age authors laughing all the way to the bank, the world is still the same as yesterday. A beautiful place occasionally ruined by a**holes. But that doesn't mean 2012 wasn't a great year for us! We started off by joining Origin and Psycroptic for the most brutal tour of the year, followed by a succesful summer festival season. Serge still doesn't remember half of what happened at Obscene Extreme Festival.

"This year also marks the 10th anniversary of our debut album "Death by a Thousand Cuts". Yes we are getting old. And yes, it's still sold out.

"Hi y'all. Well 2012 is nearly at a close... and what a year it's been for JP. The eagerly awaited London O2 concert was released on what could be described as a 'celebration day' - some five years after the event."

Vocalist Missi Avila offered these comments about the effort, "Most of the info on the new album is top secret, but what we can say is it will be released in the first half of 2013. It will be our third full length record, the second with Red Cord Records.

Where Will We Go was written as a completely different song originally. For awhile we called it DBC because it was Parts "D", "B", then "C", neither of us have any recollection of what part "A" was. We thought it was a straight forward beat and we had cranked up the speed to make it a more driving song.

It has been a fun song to have created and we are proud to share it with everyone. Spoiler alert!! It's usually our opening song so do be late to shows!

01 - Rolling Stones: The Stones teased fans with a 5-date fall tour and there is plenty more where that came from. The band will tour in 2013 as they continue to mark their 50th anniversary; an April headlining date at Coachella was recently "leaked" by the group.

02 - Black Sabbath: The metal legends hit a few roadblocks in 2012: guitarist Tony Iommi was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy; a full tour schedule was reduced to three shows following Iommi's news and treatment; and, a contract dispute prevented drummer Bill Ward from rejoining his bandmates for live dates and the creation of new music. Sabbath are moving forward, nonetheless: a new album, produced by Rick Rubin, is scheduled for April, and the band begins touring with shows down under that same month.

The new album is entitled "Pinnacle of Bedlam," and is set to be released on February 19th.

The track is the first song released by the group featuring their new vocalist Mason Ewbank. You can watch the lyric video here.