Green Day Star Battling Cancer

Speculation has been rife in recent months that Axl Rose is close to confirming the long-awaited follow-up release to 2008's Chinese Democracy.

Speaking at a workshop event last month, Fortus said: "There's so much stuff that's recorded. There's three albums worth of material, easy. Axl is very secretive - he doesn't want stuff getting out. He wants to create stuff then release it when it's ready. He's also a bit of a perfectionist, as you can imagine."

Anthrax's version of Black Sabbath's Neon Knights and Tenacious D's take on Dio's The Last in Line will compete for the honour against Slipknot's The Negative One, Motorhead's Heartbreaker and Mastodon's High Road.

The 57th annual ceremony takes place on February 8 in LA. The period of eligibility for this year's awards cover tracks released between October 1, 2013, and September 30, 2014.

The cat was being offered for sale by a homeless man. Manager Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald tells Nuvo.net: "Assistant tour manager Jess Cortese saw a man on the street, who offered up the little kitten for a dollar.

Work had been slowed by the band's live commitments and guitarist Vivian Campbell's stem-cell treatment for cancer. Now Elliott tells the Belfast Telegraph:

"We're back on it now and hoping to get it finished by early spring. I was in the studio last night, actually, and I'll be in again tonight - if I don't wear my voice out."

Root tells Mcall.com: "I realised when I was demoing in my garage that I was approaching the way I put arrangements together a little bit differently.

"I was exploring the fretboard, trying different places to play. I was putting spots in the songs where I could hear, like, 'This might be something that Sid Wilson would want to go over. This might be something Craig Jones might want to go over.' I also had to think about the way Corey might sing.

The guitarist and drummer both announced they'd quit on the same day, leaving Ellefson and frontman Dave Mustaine the only current members of the thrash giants. The bassist last week confirmed it wasn't the end of the band.

Now Ellefson tells the Classic Metal Show: "We're scheduled start a new record after the first of the year, to release later in 2015, and touring to take on from there. In an ironic way, if there's going to be changes, it's definitely better that it happens when you're off the road than in the middle of a tour.

The band last week released 17th album Rock Or Bust, their first without mainman Malcolm Young, who was forced to retire as a result of dementia. Johnson tells ABC Australia:

"To me it was always up to Angus. He's one of these two men who made riffs that nobody else made, since they were in school. I really thought it might not happen. If Angus turned round and said, 'I can't do it without Malcolm,' I would have understood."

The formation came about following a secret show in their German hometown of Herne recently, following years of little contact. The gig was mainly promoted through word of mouth and social media - but it attracted 1200 fans.

The split forced the cancellation of a UK tour planned for November. Now Ficco says: "After nearly four years with the band I have decided to leave to pursue new opportunities.

But Anselmo - who plays with Down in San Francisco tonight - tells Yahoo: "There is no f***ing way on this planet Earth that I am going to celebrate the death of one of my best friends.

"I won't do any Pantera songs or anything like that. Like every night I'll send out a song to Dimebag. I always send out Lifer because if there was ever a lifer in heavy metal, someone who lived it, breathed it and forged it every day, it was him.

Frontman Ricky Warwick says of the sleeve art: "It's a bit of a continuation from All Hell Breaks Loose. people will see the link - it's very rock'n'roll. It's going to look cool."

In a statement to TeamRock, Collins says: "Being arrested was in itself a very confusing experience. To find myself implicated in something so serious has made the last few months extremely difficult, both personally and professionally.

She tells Lucas H Gordon: "Next year is five year's since Ronnie's passing, May 16. So we're gonna do a very big thing for the fans. Everybody can come from all over the world. We're gonna do a big memorial in Forest Lawn in LA where he is buried.

It features 11 tracks re-recorded for the anniversary EP releases The Spellbound Sessions and The Wildcat Sessions, which were originally available through the band's fan-club and website only, and quickly sold out.

In addition to re-recorded versions of '4′ songs such as "Juke Box Hero," "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and "Urgent," The Best of Foreigner 4 & More includes other hits from the band, such as "Feels Like the First Time" and "I Want to Know What Love Is."

Many of the songs were recorded at Borgata Hotel's Music Box in Atlantic City in October 2014. "Our music has touched a lot of people worldwide," says Mick Jones. "And we've unwittingly weaved our music into the fabric of people's lives."

The band will be releasing the album, entitled Ungod, in spring of next year. Here is what the band had to say, "Today we must bring you the unfortunate news that we have parted ways with our longtime vocalist Marc Grewe.

"The chance for a further cooperation between us simply wasn't possible anymore. This has been an extremely tough decision for us to make, and one that was not made easily, but we believe it to be the best for the band at this stage.

"That said, we are already working with a new vocalist on our upcoming album. The record will be entitled Ungod and will be released in spring 2015 via Century Media Records.

May - who has a doctorate in astronomy - is one of a group of scientists who are calling for efforts to be increased to detect asteroids capable of causing widespread destruction of the planet.

He was being prepared for lifesaving surgery on his pancreatic cancer when he was told of the award-winning record's sales success. Johnson tells the BBC: "When it was being released I was already in hospital. The surgeons at Addenbrookes Hospital had determined they could operate so I'd said, 'Okay, have a go.' I was lying in a bed full of tubes and morphine as it was being released.

"I remember people coming in and telling me, 'It's really selling - it's been really successful,' and me going, 'Really good man,' while not really quite aware of what was going on."

The symphonic prog outfit will be joined by A Formal Horse, Red Letter and The Far Meadow. Their next UK show takes place on April 25 at the Matchroom in Plymouth, as a double-header show with Synaesthesia.

The Canadian outfit aim to keep ticket prices low for the run of intimate shows, following their recent arena tour with labelmates Black Stone Cherry.

Berry says: "It's difficult to find the time to play the music between the comedy, so every break from filming leaves me itching to record or perform new material. Whenever I get the opportunity, I jump at it."

"For those who have already purchased the album," says Hagar, "you can grab just the new track on it's own." Download "Personal Jesus" from iTunes here.

Released in October, "Lite Roast" sees the singer teamed with Waboritas guitarist Vic Johnson to deliver stripped-down versions of tunes from his career.

"Lite Roast" was inspired by the rehearsals for Sammy's appearance at the Acoustic-4-A-Cure benefit show in May, which raised funds for the Pediatric Cancer Program at the University Of California, San Francisco UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.

Di'Anno contributes four classic Maiden tunes to the collection, including "Wrathchild", "Phantom Of The Opera" and "Iron Maiden" - all songs he originally recorded during his tenure with the band from 1978-1981.

Di'Anno was the voice and frontman for Maiden in their formative years; he appeared on the band's first two albums, 1980's "Iron Maiden" and 1981's "Killers", as well as 1981's "Maiden Japan" live EP.

And he thinks many young musicians don't try hard enough to establish their own sonic identity - which is one reason why record sales continue to plummet.

Maxwell tells KJAG: "I listen to radio and I'm hearing bands, and I can't differentiate who they are. There's a thousand Nickelback bands. There's a new Slipknot band showing up every once in a while. And it's just sh*t - unfocused with no passion."

He believes the problem is: "Most of these new bands are writing for that single. They want to chart." But he warns: "There's a lot of competition out there. Unless you have something that really speaks volumes and can separate you from the rest of the pack, you're just going to follow the sheep."

Formed over the past year by Masterplan guitarist Roland Grapow and ex-Visions Of Atlantis bassist Mario Lochert, the band also comprises ex-Blind Guardian drummer Thomen Stauch, Edenbridge guitarist Dominik Sebastian, former Dreamscape keyboardist Jan Vacik and ex-Tad Morose vocalist Urban Breed.

A statement from the band says: "Initially, it turned out to be quite a task to bring these full-time musical workaholics together in one studio at the same time. Needless to say, when they arrived at the Dreamsound Studios, Munich, none of the blokes had any idea, yet, where exactly their musical venture would take them.

But when he was first asked by lead guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz to come back, Leach refused because he wasn't sure he could sing Howard's songs. He tells The Jasta Show: "I turned it down initially thinking that I couldn't sing Howard's songs. I didn't know if I could mentally wrap my head around a song like My Curse.

"I couldn't really relate to it at the time. I thought to myself if I went on stage and tried to sing those songs I feel like a fraud. I think Howard has an incredible voice, very powerful."

Butler tells Relapse Records: "What's killer is that there's 10-year-old kids walking up with their Leprosy shirts on, which is amazing to me. Whether their father turned them on to it or whatever, the young crowd is there."

He says: "Listening to new Soilwork demos with a beautiful brew in my hand. All I can say is, we're better than ever, folks. It might be the alcohol but I'm feeling it for real. Pretty damn sure you will too."

The Parisian noisemongers are gearing up to release their second full-length in Feburary on Throatruiner Records - and TeamRock has the exclusive first play of the single!

Haynes says: "I'm saddened by the news of Ian's passing. I had the pleasure of recording with him for my last solo album and performing with him numerous times.

It will also be the first album since the death of guitarist Tom 'Pig Champion' Roberts the same year. It also marks the return of bassist Chris 'Spider' Carey and new members Brandon Bentley and Nathan 'Skinny' Richardson.

The band say feel that the positive attitude in the recording process has been like a rebirth. Vocalist Jerry A says: "We've been screwing around for too long. We had to hang back and see whose heart was really in this thing we've been doing for 30 years and who was bullsh*tting.

Wire tells the NME: "I haven't played The Holy Bible through for a long time. And then sitting down... I guess the power of it did actually really resonate with me and actually did make me think, with a slight tinge of sadness, just as a band, it'd be impossible to really be that brave with that much conviction ever again."

The Scunthorpe rockers will also support Ozzy and Firewind guitarist Gus G on his UK tour in February. They tell Metal Temple: "We find it difficult ourselves to put a category on our sound.

"We like to just say 'rock' because we kind of mix rock, metal, pop all together to make something else. We like to feel we're original because obviously everything's been done before."