Ozzy Wants Original Lineup For Black Sabbath Farewell

The only exception would have been former guitarist Dickey Betts, who was asked to take part, but won't. Their last residency at New York's Beacon Theatre began last night, and ends on Monday, October 28 - with only the current lineup on stage every night.

Allman tells Relix: "We held a meeting and decided there's only six gigs left, and we're going to play them ourselves." Asked about Betts, he says: "Dickey is in the middle of a hunting trip. Of course we reached out."

He began self-harming around the age of 17 as he spent two years living under a bridge in his home town of Des Moines, Iowa, and wasn't able to escape from his mental health issues through writing.

Taylor tells the You Rock Foundation: "The only thing that really helped was writing. It felt like when I was writing I could work it out and really be able to get my head around it.

"I didn't have any money, I didn't have any notebooks. It was a really, really dark time for me. I definitely got to the point where I was ready to end it all - I had the razor in my hand and I started cutting myself. But it was a pressure valve kind of situation, where it wasn't like I was going to end it; I just needed to feel something real to snap me out of it."

The band have announced that they will be performing at Wrigley Field on August 29, 2015 and the show will be opened by Urge Overkill, followed by Naked Raygun (who's performance at the Cubby Bear was very show that Dave Grohl attended) and they will be followed by one of Chicago's biggest rock bands, Cheap Trick.

This past weekend, the HBO series Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways premiered and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl also recently addressed how he sees the state of rock in the wake of KISS cofounder Gene Simmons' controversial remarks that rock is dead.

Grohl addressed the issue during an appearance on the Kevin & Bean morning show on Los Angeles radio stations KROQ. He said, "There's lots of rock being played and lots of rock being cared about and being made all over the world. I think popular culture works in cycles.

"Think about where music was just before Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and all those bands that blew up. We were kind of in a place where it almost seemed untouchable. There were a lot of bands that were really heavily stylized and heavily produced. It was really fun and it was fun to party to, but there are some times that you get hungry for something that's real."

Now Mason tells Gigwise: "It would be fun to play live, but it doesn't actually lend itself to a proper tour. It's something you could play in the UFO Club in 1967. It certainly isn't a stadium event - and without Rick it's probably impossible.

"The nature of it is that a lot is designed there and then. You wouldn't want to repeat what was on the record; it's not something where you learn it and play it."

Now Larsen tells SRO Mag: "Michael is already planning small bits and pieces. There's not really any new music in the works. We still have weeks left of touring in the US then we're going to the UK for ten days. After that we have six months off for the first time in two years."

Frontman Bret Michaels first shared photos from rehearsal, writing "Poison's first rehearsal at a private event in So Cal. So far no fist fights, sounds great and feels great. Maybe a reunion in 2015�"

The day after the special performance, Michaels posted more pictures while adding, "What a great party last night and an awesome time playing with the band!

Last month, Michaels suggested Poison was on track to regroup next year, telling the Cleveland Scene, "It looks like it will happen. It's been a few years - we just want to put together the right package and show to celebrate with everyone."

Alexander suffered a heart attack in July and his heart had to be stopped while doctors operated to correct the problem. His bandmates in Primus and Puscifer called on fans to form a "global drum circle" and to keep Herb in their thoughts as he went under the knife.

It means the follow-up to 2009's World Painted Blood will be Slayer's first album without the two original guitarists collaborating in the studio - and King has already admitted he knows some fans expect him to fail.

But he tells ScionAV: "There's more talk about pressure than anything. I mean, I've been making up this music for 30 years. So I think it's business as usual.

Gary Brooker and co will perform for Radio 2 as part of the corporation's Friday Night Is Music Night series. The band have a long history of symphonic performances, although it's the first time in several years they've delivered one in the UK.

He'd recently completed work on his first album in 30 years, and the release will go ahead as planned in November. A spokesman had the following to say:

"It's an extraordinary record - we've been playing it to people who thought it was Johnny Cash or Glen Campbell. Nobody guessed it was Alvin. It's fantastic, and it's going to come out next month because that's what he would have wanted."

Davis tells Alternative Press: "It's been 20 years. I've come to grips with what's happened to me, and everything else. You know what? F*** it - I'm going to play it. I'm a lot more mature than I was doing that record in the beginning. I need to do it for the fans, too."

The band are looking to secure $15,000 for the project, with Kickstarter rewards including t-shirts, patches, a seven-inch vinyl single and now the full covers CD, Party Killers.

Vocalist and bassist John Gallagher says: "We were writing for the new album at a cool studio in Richmond, Virginia, and in the middle of jamming asked the engineer there if we could record a few cover tunes just for the hell of it."

Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker roared onto the scene in 1966 with Fresh Cream, introducing a sonic hybrid of blues rock, hard rock and burgeoning psychedelic rock with jazz-influenced drumming.

Disreali Gears arrived in late 1967 and was followed nine months later by the double-album Wheels Of Fire, issued at the same time as the group announced plans to break up after a US tour.

Cream played two farewell concerts at Royal Albert Hall in November 1968 to close out their career. The band's aptly-titled fourth album, 1969's Goodbye, signalled the end of an era and was followed by two live releases - 1970's Live Cream and 1972's Live Cream Volume II. Both were recorded on tour in America during 1967 and 1968.

Kelliher recently said a project had been discussed, and that he'd exchanged ideas with Gelotte before stalling over his part, saying: "It's harder than I thought it would be, but it's definitely a plan."

The legal wrangles that exploded after his firing in 2012 ended earlier this year, with his colleagues keeping the band name. He'll continue his career using the name Operation: Mindcrime, and retains the rights to perform both Queensryche concept albums.
Tate tells 10Songs: "It's always been in my head to create music based on a commercial arrangement, just because my band always wrote music for radio, and you had to conform to a format and standard.

Sayce says in a brief statement: "I am deeply disappointed to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances, our hopes of returning to Europe and the UK next month to perform will not be possible.

Salemeh says: "I have no bad blood against the guys at all. It was apparent to the people who are close to me - including the guys in the band - that I wasn't happy. I couldn't keep lying to myself.

The final live version stars Liam Neeson in 3D holography, Jason Donovan, Brian McFadden and others - and sees the story's author HG Wells brought to life by Scottish actor Callum O'Neill.

Wayne says: "I decided it was time to give Wells a chance to have his say on why he wrote the first science fiction story ever. He'll be seen and heard in three riveting scenes - aged 33, 53 and 79 - spanning the end of the 19th century and two subsequent world wars."

Bush says: "It was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. I was really delighted that the shows were received so positively and so warmly - but the really unexpected part of it all was the audiences. Audiences you could only ever dream of.

"They took my breath away. Every single night they were so behind us. You could feel their support from the minute we walked on stage. I just never imagined it would be possible to connect with an audience on such a powerful and intimate level; to feel such - well, quite frankly - love. It was like this at every single show."

"It was the '5150' record, and we did it in like less than a month," Hagar tells Ultimate Classic Rock. "Mick Jones from Foreigner, I got him to come in and produce it with us, and he was saying, 'You guys need one more song.' We had the whole album except that song. We were saying 'Oh, f- you, we just want to get out on tour,' we were so happy and jacked up that we just couldn't wait to get out and play for the people."

"[Jones] was saying, 'Give me one more song' and we didn't have one - we had nothing," continues the singer. "So Eddie starts pulling out all of these cassette tapes that were laying all over the floor and he's just sticking them in the cassette player and hitting play, fast forward, play, fast forward, play - and all of the sudden we hear [Hagar imitates classic riff from 'Dreams']. All of us look at each other and we're like, 'Oh, that's cool - what's that?' It wasn't like a whole thing - he had the intro and then he had [that riff], so we all said, 'Well, let's work on that.'"

"So the band started working on it and got it sounding really pretty cool," explains Hagar, "and then I'm going, 'Oof, I don't have any idea what to sing to that! I don't have any idea what the lyrics for that are going to be,' and Mick kept saying, 'Come on!' because we weren't on a deadline, but we all wanted to get out to play. And then all of the sudden I was hanging it up, because it just didn't hit me musically, as far as the melody and a lyric [to go along with it]."

At this point, Jones continued to work with Hagar to find a way to make the tune work. "So Mick would come out to my house in the morning and for about a week, and we'd go for a walk on the beach and he would start humming things to try and inspire me," he says. "'What about this?' And I'm going, 'Arrrgh,' and then all of the sudden, I just heard in my head, driving in - I had it in my car cassette player, I'm sure - and I'm listening, and I started going 'Higher and higher' in my head. So I kind of had a melody, I came in and I just started singing, and it was in that f-in' register. I had never sang in that register ever in my life, but it just came out and I just kept singing it."

Asked if the movie makes difficult viewing, Hetfield tells US radio host Elliot Segal: "Yeah -hearing yourself, watching yourself, seeing the mirror back at what other people see. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the directors, ended up being pretty much fly on the wall, so you really kind of forget the cameras are there and you're being yourself.

"A lot of times I'm not really comfortable with myself, seeing myself in the situations. But, man, I learned a lot about what I don't like about me, which was good - and I think everyone involved pretty much felt the same way about themselves."

Tom DeLonge's outfit will launch Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker online on December 9 - although the date for the follow-up to 2011's Love Part Two hasn't yet been confirmed.

The band explain: "The Dream World is an alternate universe created by humankind's shared unconscious thoughts. When Poet Anderson journeys deep into this world, he meets his own Dream Walker, a mysterious guardian angel who leads Poet to confront his demons and his destiny."

"When I first met Gene over at a guitar player's house that I was playing with and he was playing with in another band, I didn't like him," says Stanley. "I thought he was full of himself, opinionated, brash, insulting. Gene's first comment to me was, 'Oh, I hear you write...play me something.' So he was a bit smug and arrogant and full of himself�and nothing has changed."

Singer Carla Harvey says: "It was a blast recording songs that we have been fans of our entire lives and putting our spin on them. We all chose a song that had some significance to us. My pick was They're Coming To Take Me Away, because I have a vivid memory of my stepdad, who I considered completely insane, playing it over and over again on his car stereo when I was a pre-teen. The song is about being taken away to a mental institution. I can still see him tapping his fingers on his steering wheel to the beat."

Explaining the video for They're Coming To Take Me Away, Harvey's fellow singer Heidi Shepherd adds: "As kids, we always loved this creepy, quirky song around Halloween time. So, we thought it would be perfect to ring in the Halloween season with this video reminiscent of old slasher films."

Running With The Dogs will be released in the United States on November 4 via Spinefarm Records. It was originally made available in the UK in February.

The package includes a long-anticipated track from Queen and Michael Jackson, "There Must Be More To Life Than This", a previously unfinished Mercury-Queen tune "Let Me In Your Heart Again" originating from the band's "The Works" album recording sessions, and the new stripped-down ballad take on "Love Kills."

Frontman Rou Reynolds recently said of the follow-up to 2012's A Flash Flood Of Colour: "We pushed ourselves with some of the rawest angriest vocals we've ever done, as well as some of the most dulcet and delicate. It's even more diverse than normal - we've built more confidence and fearlessness to widen our influences.

According to the band, the song is about female fighter pilots in World War II. Singer Joakim Broden also said in April that the gloomy Swedish weather was partly responsible for the country's prolific track record in producing metal bands.

The label had the following to say about the video, "Behold Obsidian Kingdom's music video for Ball-Room - one of the bloodiest chapters out of Mantiis, and a shocking visual tale portraying sex, death, and a good load of frenzied pleasures.

Radio.com: What do you think will be the most surprising revelation for people reading your book Through the Eye of the Tiger? Jim Peterik: Well I think first of all, people are going to go 'Who's Jim Peterik?' [laughs] And then the revelation might be that he's involved with a lot of songs that are still on the radio that they may even like. And not even just the obvious stuff like "Eye of the Tiger" but also .38 Special and ["Vehicle" by] the Ides of March, which was my first hit record.

What about for the people who were already familiar? I guess it's the fact that-I don't want to moralize in any way, shape or form-that I never really fell into the rock 'n roll lifestyle. I'd like to at least shatter some of the stereotypes that you have to do to make it. They really fell into the huge pitfalls that a lot of rockers did.

Was that difficult with people around you falling into that? It was almost easier-I saw what it did to them and what idiots they were when they were high. And I just wanted to go into the next room and write the next hit song.

Was "Eye of the Tiger" the first time you ever wrote a song to order? Well, it was the first time we really specifically set out to go "OK, we've got to write the most amazing song ever for this movie called Rocky III." We had a great script to work from and the rough cut of the movie right in front of us, so if we messed up we'd have no one to blame but ourselves.

Were you a big fan of the prior Rocky movies or boxing before Stallone approached you? Huge fan of Rocky I, and II was good, too, my wife and I were really into it. So when I got home that fateful day in early 1982, I had a message on my answering machine that went: "Jim, nice answering machine you got there, give me a call, it's Sylvester Stallone." So I thought, yeah, right, c'mon. Stallone would have a handler or an agent�it's not every day you get a message from Stallone. So I thought somebody was pranking me. I called my buddy Sal who did an imitation of him: "Come on, don't do this to me." He's like "Do what?" So I called him back and Stallone answers, "Yo." And I said, "Is this Sylvester Stallone?" And he goes [affects Stallone voice], "Yeah, call me Sly." So I go, "Hi Sly, how you doing?" And he goes, "Yeah, I like the sound of your band. I want that sound for my new movie, can you help me out?" And I said, "Is the pope Catholic?" I knew this was the chance of a lifetime.

He sent us a rough cut of the movie, the first three and a half minutes of a montage. So me and [Survivor guitarist] Frankie Sullivan just watch this thing, and he's got a Les Paul and starts playing the "chugga, chugga, chugga" thing. I see the punches, you know, Mr. T knocking the daylights out of Stallone, and I go "bom�bom bom bom." Literally syncing the guitar part to the punches we see onscreen. So we had a really good start, and then we begged Stallone to send us the whole movie, which he finally did the next day. Begrudgingly, because he wasn't supposed to. But that's when everything took shape, because that's when we see Burgess Meredith's character going "Roc, you're losing the eye of the tiger!" And we go, "There's our song."

How did Stallone shape the song? Were all of his suggestions good ones? They weren't really specific. He said, "I want something with a pulse, something for the kids, something you can pump your fists to." He just shaped us into what he wanted, and we delivered. We demoed the song the day after we wrote it, and he heard it and goes, "You guys really did it, that's what I'm looking for. But you got lazy on me and didn't write a third verse." And I'm glad we wrote that verse, it made it better.

Phenom is kinda exalting a characteristic of my life few people would want for themselves. I live alone, I travel alone, I do almost everything on my own, and I really enjoy that I can explore life, the world, and grow as a human unimpeded except for those things I let in the way.

Relationships almost never stick with me, I'm always called to being back in my own space, walking with God, and working on the spiritual nature of who I am, where I'm going after death, and what my purpose is here in this life. At the moment, I feel I can leave almost any situation and start over again with an inspired exuberance, so Phenom celebrates this rather odd lifestyle.

It's dangerous to live this way; it's walking a tightrope with the depths of loneliness right beneath you, but I believe by mastering solitude you can turn this into the ride of your life.