KISS Star Gene Simmons Sued Over Stage Accident

He tells Metal Blast: "Pantera had 14 amazing years and without my brother being here to be a part of it, it would be a travesty. I'm just not interested in it at all.

"To me, there's no bad blood at all. It's like when you get a divorce from somebody, there's a reason why you got a divorce. You don't have to stay in touch with that person, you don't have to f***ing see that person or do anything with them."

AFL Commissioner Jerry Kurz made the official announcement during the 3rd quarter of the 2014 Arena Bowl (XXVII), which was broadcast live on ESPN, August 23rd.

Neil, together with his business partners in Rockstar Sports Group - Bob Hewko, a former Florida Gator and Tampa Bay Buccaneer's quarterback, aviation businessman Mark Daniels, and technology businessman Sohrob Farudi - will set out to begin building the Las Vegas based team named the Las Vegas Outlaws.

And although he's moving on, there's no hard feelings and he wishes the band well. He says in a statement: "My time in Chimaira has unfortunately come to an end. It's time for me to move on as I continue to focus on harvesting my abilities as a musician.

All of the albums were remastered at Lurssen Mastering in Los Angeles by a team of engineers that include Paul Hicks, Gavin Lurssen, and Reuben Cohen.

It's expected early next year via Nuclear Blast Records - and guitarist Kerry King recently said he was aware that fans would be paying close attention to their first material without late co-founder Jeff Hanneman.

King reported: "I know people are going to expect us to fail. I get it. But I'm very proud of what we've done so far. It's everything that people liked Slayer for in the past. Don't worry about it."

The band will be kicking off the 25 Years of Deviance tour on December 9th in Ume�, Sweden at Guitars and will be concluding the tour in Dortmund, Germany on December 21st at FZW.

The tour also includes stops in Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Lausanne, Milan, Paris and Amsterdam and the band announced they plan to play songs from their entire career including rare song that they haven't performed live in many years.

One of the songs they performed in London, "Motherf***er," will be the lead single from their not-yet-titled return album. It will also be released as a 7-inch limited edition single on Record Store Day Black Friday, Nov. 28 - and followed up with a digital release.

"Bloodstone & Diamonds" was produced by frontman Robb Flynn and Juan Urteaga (Testament, Vile). Flynn had this to say about the effort, "I cannot even begin to tell you how proud we are of this album.

"It's been a heck of a ride. It looked like it might not ever happen again at one point, but man, this album is a milestone for us. You're going to love it Head Cases."

The band also had these details on their official website, "10 songs, an interlude, and an instrumental with an audio collage of spoken word snippets (think 'Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies') by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman, taken from their (incredibly inspiring) audiobook 'Spontaneous Evolution'.

"It was once again produced by your truly The General and Juan Urteaga, and like the last 7 out of 8 albums masterfully mixed by Colin Richardson. Additional tracking, editing, and mixing was done with heavy metal legend Andy Sneap and Steve Lagudi.

"Guest musicians include 2 different string quartets featuring the original Quartet Rouge that appeared on our last album 'Unto The Locust'. And a new all-male quartet which we featured on the song 'In Comes The Flood'.

"String arrangements for 2 of the songs 'Now We Die' and 'Sail Into The Black' came courtesy of myself and Rhys Fulber who has worked with everyone from Sarah McLachlan, to Fear Factory, and the string arrangement for 'In Comes The Flood' came courtesy of myself and ex-Worship and current-Bring Me The Horizon keyboardist Jordan Fish, who is a producer in his own right.

"We worked with several artists to complete the 28 page (!) 'standard' CD booklet, as well as the 48 page (!) hardcover leather-bound Media-book that will serve as the special edition, including Rafal Wechterowicz, Marcelo Vasco, and long-time Machine Head art-collaborator Strephon Taylor. The theme was to have both CD and hardcover Mediabook look like an old Alchemy book from the 1800's, with weathered edges, sepia toned pages, and magic / masonic / alchemy themed woodcarvings throughout.
It turned out f***ing amazing!!

"All album photos were done with our friend Travis Shinn who took some mind-bogglingly awesome photos, that again, were set to match the theme of the book with an old 1800's / alchemy feel to them. " See some of the artwork here.

The band also announced that they will be launching a North American headline tour this fall with support from Children Of Bodom, Epica, and Battlecross.

The German rockers released the following statement: "On September 1st, our dear friend Peter Amend passed away. Peter Amend was more than just a manager and economic and legal consultant for us.

"He was an important part of the Scorpions and was also a driving force in the artistic and strategic decisions of the band with his infinite knowledge and his sensitivity to the music.

Due to his advice and influence we achieved great international success in recent years. Peter, you will always be in our hearts forever and a day. R.I.P."

He appeared on their debut album and toured with them in support of Judas Priest and Kiss, before being replaced by Adrian Smith. He's previously cited difficult relations with mainman Steve Harris and manager Rod Smallwood for his departure.

The guitarist says one of the crunch moments came when Maiden were touring with Kiss in 1980. He recalls: "I always take a little stereo away with me. The stuff I was playing at the time was Whitesnake, the Eagles, George Benson, Steely Dan - easy-listening music, just to relax to.

"I was playing it in my hotel room and Rod heard it. He came in and started bawling and shouting. He said, 'If anyone walks past this door and heard the Eagles coming out of this room, it's going to cause trouble with the band.'

"I went, 'Don't be stupid' - but these silly little things started to niggle him. He would never give me credit for being responsible for my own actions. It went on and on and on."

Today, on Consequence of Sound, the Pumpkins premiered a lovely take on "Blissed and Gone," a song originally recorded in the Adore sessions but only released on the 2000 EP, Still Becoming Apart. This take on the track removes a lot of the trademark era production in favor of something more peaceful and, frankly, easier on the ears.

The entire collection is available on September 23 via Virgin/Ume, and contains some 90 bonus tracks along with the remastering of the original album.

The title follows 2010's Ziltoid The Omniscient concept album, which introduced the world to the alien title character. Townsend says: "Z2 is a double album, one side Devin Townsend Project and one side Ziltoid. The concept expands on his sci-fi adventures in a way that kind of throws back to 1950s radio plays - but obviously with heavy, complicated music as its soundtrack.

"It's taken a great deal of energy to pull this all together. It's a dream come true in a lot of ways and I'm excited to finalise the project with a live version of the record at the Albert Hall. Basically, what we did with The Retinal Circus a few years back will be taken to the next level with Z2 Live."

He tells TeamRock: "I don't really know what chart success means. I understand it's a good thing commercially speaking to be high in the charts rather than way down or not even on it.

"Opeth is a band that doesn't rely on charts or do cartwheels once a good result comes through, but I know our record label loves good chart placings, so I'm happy for them.

Future Queen axeman Brian May and his father Harold started to hand-build an electric guitar in 1963. Brian dreamed of a guitar that would outperform any of the existing commercially made electric guitars; his father had the technical knowledge and skills to help make the dream come true.

Brian went on to play his guitar on every Queen album and in all of the band's live shows around the world. Written by May with author Simon Bradley, the book will help readers discover everything they ever wished to know about his unique instrument. Brian talks about every aspect of the Red Special, from its birth to playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace, from Live Aid to the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics - and beyond. All of this is accompanied with original diagrams, sketches and notes dating from the building of the guitar, as well as a great selection of photographs including Brian on stage with his guitar, close-ups and x-rays.

"My dad and I decided to make an electric guitar," explains May. "I designed an instrument from scratch, with the intention that it would have a capability beyond anything that was out there, more tunable, with a greater range of pitches and sounds, with a better tremolo, and with a capability of feeding back through the air in a 'good' way.'"

Powell, real name Colin Flooks, died in a car crash in 1998, ending a career that included stints with Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy and more.

His first band, The Corals, were a regular fixture at youth clubs in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Now supporters want town councillors to commemorate his achievements.

He says: "This is perhaps the most diverse of the Prog Rocks! compilations. The difficulty is that you want to include a few well-known tracks that make the CD a desirable purchase for some, while balancing that with more obscure choices that you rarely see on compilations.

"Since Universal became involved in Prog Rocks! it's opened up a whole new catalogue of progressive bands, which we can hopefully introduce to a new and much wider audience."

Fistful Of Metal - which was the only Anthrax album on which Turbin appeared - is this year celebrating the 30th anniversary of its release. Zazula was apparently especially blown away by Turbin's singing on the track Metal Thrashing Mad.

Turbin tells The Metal Voice: "I knocked it out of the park. I think on that particular song, I remember being in the studio, and I know that Jonny Z was listening to these songs while we were up in the studio.

"And I think at that point there were some interesting comments made. He managed Metallica at the time and he talked about' 'Oh, maybe we should get to sing for Metallica,' or something like that. I'm like, 'No, that's alright, thanks though."

The first batch of clips, along with his personal introduction, includes drummers Pat Mastelotto, Bill Rieflin and Gavin Harrison performing a solo piece during rehearsals for the band's upcoming US tour.

Fripp confirmed last year he was ending his self-imposed retirement from playing live, after he reached a settlement in a five-year legal battle with his former label. He later revealed details of Crimson's seven-man lineup, also including Tony Levin, Mel Collins and Jakko Jakszyk.

And music contractor Gina Zimmitti has posted photos of Young and Walden together in a studio, saying the pair were creating "awesomely loud big band arrangements."

The band have been nominated for induction twice in 2013 and 2014, but have yet to make it in, but Glover says he isn't bothered. He tells radio show Noize In The Attic: "We're kind of ambivalent about The Hall Of Fame - we don't care about it that much. If they do induct us, then they're at least 20 years too late as far as I'm concerned.

"They should have done it when Jon Lord was still alive when it probably would have had a bit more meaning. But if we do get in, and decide to accept it, which is up in the air, we might just say, 'Forget it.'"

"It's not as much as people would think, but we've been offered money to do it. I think us not doing it kind of says that it's not about the money," He tells Classic Rock Revisited. "I'm not patting myself on the back, but with our past success, I have plenty of money. I am more about being happy at what I do."

The band's fifth studio outing launched last month - but while the frontman says the split shaped much of the material, he doesn't see it as a breakup album.

Fallon tells Canoe: "It's what happened during that period, and a lot of the stuff in there is about that. A lot of it is my frustration and my struggle. But I'll tell you one thing: it's not Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, that's for sure - but I'm developing my opinions as I go."

He tells MyGlobalMind.com: "It's been so long, it's a part of me now - I think it's part of all of us. It's not so much what's great about being in the band, but more of being terrified of it stopping. It's like a drug.

"Everybody is just as excited as we were 30 years ago. I look back on my career with a great sense of gratitude. It's a privilege to be able to do something you love for all these years and make a living at it. I'm a very lucky person."

The project, dubbed Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes - which will culminate with a studio album and a Showtime documentary about the making of the album - doesn't arrive until later this year, but today brings the second taste of it.

After sharing "Nothing to It," the collective, also including Dawes' Taylor Goldsmith, Carolina Chocolate Drops' Rhiannon Giddens and producer T-Bone Burnett, have released "Married to My Hack." The Costello-led track comes with a grainy, vintage-looking cartoon lyric video.

It's set for release on September 29 via Frontiers Records. Frontman Paul Gilbert says of the work: "It rocks. After 25 years I'm proud we can make an album that's melodic, powerful, interesting, groovy and emotional."

The band play Koko in London on October 17 as the first date of their European tour. Drummer Matt Starr has been named as replacement for original man Pat Torpey, who's had to step back as a result of Parkinson's disease.

Bassist-vocalist Daev tells Prog: "This scene is the climax of the the movie - also known to ardent cinemagoers as 'The End.' So if you haven't seen this film before perhaps you would like to close your eyes and simply listen to our balls-out score. It's a rather emotional, fast-paced and violent finale, and we attempted to reflect that with electric guitars, drums, sax, violins and synthesisers. We hope you find yourself feeling as fearful as Christine, as relieved as Raoul and as demented as The Phantom."

He adds: "The film was re-scored by none other than Rick Wakeman in 1990. That was by no means our inspiration - merely a coincidence. Great minds think alike!"

The band have played alongside Orange Goblin, Kadaver, Orchid and others, delivering a sound described as merging "doom, punk and horror into one ghostly soundtrack." It's been compared to Black Sabbath, Sleep, Electric Wizard, Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats and others.