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Day in Rock Report for 12/13/2016


Today's Day in Rock Stories


Scott Weiland Bandmate Explains Arrest Following Singer's Death

(Classic Rock) Scott Weiland's former Wildabouts bandmate Tommy Black has revealed the reason he was arrested in the wake of the singer's death - saying it was because he was too drunk to be interviewed by police.

Bassist Black, 47, was arrested after Weiland's body was found on his tour bus on December 3 of last year. It was reported at the time that a small amount of cocaine was found on the bus and it was later revealed that the former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman had died of an accidental drugs overdose.

Now Black reveals he was arrested simply because he was too drunk to take part in an interview with officers investigating Weiland's death. It was later confirmed he would not be charged with any crime.

Black says he was at a mall in Minnesota when he got the call to say that Weiland was dead. He tells Yahoo: "I went straight to the bus. The police were there and they wouldn't let anyone on the bus at that point. We went to hang out in the hotel lobby - and then I went to the bar next door by myself.

"And you know, I just got drunk when I heard the news. I went next door and had a few shots, unfortunately. And the detectives came to question us - they question everybody when somebody dies on a tour bus.

"They're questioning me and they told me the next day, 'We had to detain you, because you were too inebriated to really be able to answer questions, and we didn't want you to leave the next morning.'" Read more here.

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Joe Bonamassa Hits 'Overzealous Bouncer' With Guitar

(Classic Rock) Joe Bonamassa took action against an overzealous bouncer at his recent gig in Tulsa - prodding him on the head with his guitar, the music star revealed in a social media post.

The blues star took exception to the way one member of the security staff at the Brady Theatre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was dealing with the audience. And he promptly used his guitar to let the security worker know how he felt about it.

Bonamassa posted a picture to Instagram showing him taking action. In a caption alongside the picture, Bonamassa says: "To the bouncer who harassed one of our fans up front...that is why you can now tell your family and friends what a 51 Fender No-caster to the head feels like.

"Don't ever put hands on my fans again. Consider that a love tap reminder." Read more here.

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A Perfect Circle Announce First Date Of 2017 Tour

Tool's new album may be delayed but A Perfect Circle will be moving ahead full throttle in 2017 and the group has revealed the first stop of their forthcoming Spring tour.

The group has announced that they will be playing at the iconic Hollywood Bowl on May 7th and tickets for the show are set to go on sale this Thursday, December 15th at 10 a.m. pacific.

The date will be the first stop of the band's spring tour which will also be their first North American tour in six years. Read more here.

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Guns N' Roses Add New Stadium Date To Reunion Tour

(hennemusic) Guns N' Roses have announced that they have added a second show at London Stadium in the UK capital to the 2017 European leg of the Not In This Lifetime tour.

The June 17 stop - due to "phenomenal demand" according the band - follows an appearance at the same venue a day earlier as the trio of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan extend their reunion tour into a second year.

Tickets for the UK dates are on sale now. Guns N' Roses will launch a series of 20 European shows in Dublin, Ireland on May 27. The group recently completed their 2016 live schedule with appearances across South America, and will resume the worldwide tour in early 2017 with shows in Japan, New Zealand and Australia. See the Euro dates here.

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Last In Line Star Doesn't Think Dio Would Have Approved Of Band

(Classic Rock) Last In Line drummer Vinny Appice reveals that he doesn't think that late Ronnie James Dio would like the idea of his former bandmates playing together.

Last In Line was formed by former Dio members Appice, Vivian Campbell and Jimmy Bain - with Andy Freeman on vocals. And while Appice is sure the late Dio would like Last In Line's debut album Heavy Crown, he isn't sure the vocalist would be comfortable with the idea of his band performing without him.

Appice tells MyRockWorld (via Blabbermouth): "I think he would like Heavy Crown. He might go, 'F*** those guys!' I don't know. He would probably like it inside, musically, but he wouldn't like the idea of us playing together. That's what I think."

Bass player Bain died earlier this year and the band have since recruited Phil Soussan as their new bassist. But Appice admits they considered calling it quits after Bain's passing. Read more here.

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Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain Honored By Navy Seals

(Classic Rock) Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain has been presented with a special award by the US Navy Seals. McBrain has previously helped raised finds for the Navy Seals alongside his friend, golf long-drive star Mike Zeigler - who also plays bass in McBrain's band The McBrainiacs.

And during a McBrainiacs performance at Rock N Roll Ribs in Florida at the weekend, Zeigler presented McBrain with a Navy Seal 'fin' to mark his work with the Navy Seal Foundation.

Zeigler says: "Nicko has become one of the family with US Navy Seals. So the guys from Naval Special Warfare wanted to give you a little something.

"This is a Navy Seal fin. On this fin is the Navy Seal Trident, the Jump Wings and Freddy The Frog.

"To Nicko McBrain, thank you for your dedication to family, friends and most of all your great fans. From all your brothers from Naval Special Warfare...welcome to the brotherhood, brother." Check out video and read more here.

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Pantera's Rex Brown To Release His First Solo Album

(Metal Hammer) Former Pantera bassist Rex Brown will release his debut solo album next year. Brown - who also previously worked with Down and is a member of Kill Devil Hill - worked with guitarist Lance Harvill and drummer Christopher Williams on the record, which is being produced by Caleb Sherman.

Brown tells Eddie Trunk (via Blabbermouth): "I'm a musician number one, and doing this thing on my own and being an artist is what I've wanted to do for a long time.

"So I'm just letting the wind blow. That's all you can do. And the material on this is as good as anything I've ever done." The album was recorded at Sherman's Cygnus Sound studio in Nashville. Brown adds: "Nashville has become this hotbed of super-cool people." Read more here.

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Ed Kowalczyk Confirms Live Reunion Plans For Tour and New Music

(Radio.com) The original line-up of Live--Ed Kowalczyk, Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey--have reunited to write new music and plan a worldwide tour including dates in North America in 2017.

According to a press release issued on the band's behalf, LIVE will announce tour dates in 2017 including a mix of headlining shows and festival appearances. The York, Pennsylvania band struck it big with their 1991 debut platinum-selling album, Mental Jewelry. With two more number one albums under their belt, the band would go on to sell more than 22 million albums worldwide before Kowalczyk parted ways in 2009.

Rediscovering the friendship has healed old differences, says the band. The foursome explained what led to the reunion: Ed Kowalczyk: "After a pretty long break, it was exciting to find that we all felt, in a sense, like we were starting over again�albeit with this amazing foundation and fanbase all over the world that we have established. You could say we took the long road home, but it feels good to be back."

Chad Taylor: "Ed, Chad, Patrick and I are no different than your average family. We might divide ourselves or argue fiercely but thankfully time, and the grand gesture of forgiveness, helps to heal old wounds. We've worked hard to restore the tenants of faith and trust that bonded us in the beginning. It's doesn't hurt that our fans offered so much encouragement!" Read more here.

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Nikki Sixx Celebrates Birthday By Quitting Social Media Sites

(hennemusic) Sixx:AM and former Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx marked his 58th birthday on December 11 by quitting social media outlets Facebook and Twitter.

"Goodbye Facebook� I wanna get back to what's real," posted the bassist. "Writing music, lyrics, books, photography, etc., etc. If ya wanna follow me, I post photos on Instagram� Otherwise see you live next time I go on tour� Much love�"

At the time of his departure, the outspoken Sixx had nearly one and a half million followers on Facebook and more than 700,000 on Twitter. An avid photographer, the rocker has 419,000 followers on Instagram, where he routinely shares images from all aspects of his life. Read more here.

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Mike Patton Joins Dave Lombardo's Dead Cross Supergroup

Dave Lombardo's supergroup Dead Cross have announced that they have recruited Faith No More, Mr. Bungle frontman Mike Patton to be their lead singer.

Apart from Patton and the former Slayer and current Suicidal Tendencies drummer, the group also features Justin Pearson (The Locust, Retox, Head Wound City) and Michael Crain (Retox, Festival of Dead Deer).

Dead Cross also revealed that they are currently working on their debut album which they plan to release in 2017 via Ipecac Recordings. Read more here.

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Arcade Fire The Reflektor Tapes Documentary Announced

(Kayos) Eagle Rock have announced that they will be releasing Arcade Fire's The Reflektor Tapes documentary on 2 disc DVD and 2 disc Blu-ray on January 27th. We were sent the following details:

The Reflektor Tapes is a visually stunning and hypnotic documentary about the making of Arcade Fire's hugely successful 2013 studio album Reflektor by director Kahlil Joseph (who also directed Beyonc�'s "Lemonade" film). The Reflektor album debuted at the No.1 position in the Billboard Top 200 and established itself as a global hit. As well as the film, this release also includes the stunning full live show which includes: "Reflektor", "No Cars Go", "Rebellion (Lies)", "Neighborhood # 3 (Power Out)", "The Suburbs", "Wake Up", "Afterlife", "Ready To Start", and many more, offering over four hours of entertainment overall.

The Reflektor Tapes received its premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. This compelling and illuminating documentary captures recording sessions, live performances and the band's time in Haiti, a country with which they have a long-standing relationship. The second disc in the set features Arcade Fire's full-length live concert from Earl's Court in London on June 6th, 2014, filmed during the Reflektor tour, which perfectly complements the documentary. Read more including the tracklisting here.

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Saxon's Nibbs Carter Drops Off Tour Over Family Emergency

(Classic Rock) Saxon bassist Nibbs Carter has left the band's European tour due to a "family emergency." The NWOBHM icons say in a statement that Carter will miss six shows, with Greek musician Gus Macricostas filling in as his temporary replacement. Macricostas has previously played with Battleroar.

Saxon say: "We know you will all welcome Gus to the Saxon family for the albeit brief run of shows until Nibbs returns." Carter missed Sunday's show in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and will also sit out gigs in Bologna, Milan, Bilbao, Madrid and Barcelona.

In October, Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler was reunited with one of the nurses who helped him recover from life-saving brain surgery. Read more here.

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Tool Feel Guilty About Delay Of New Album

(Metal Hammer) Justin Chancellor says Tool feel guilty over the amount of time it's taken them to complete a follow-up to 2006 album 10,000 Days. But he argues that they've fought hard to get to a place where they can explore every possibility of a musical idea - and that's why they're not going to rush into finishing their fifth record.

Chancellor tells Bass Player: "It's a compliment that people are excited to hear it, but it's difficult to hear that and not feel some kind of guilt. All I can say is that we'll go back Monday and do our best to finish it for you. That's not really how it works, but we know the listeners will be happy with it when it's finished."

He's offered a hint at their way of thinking by revealing that they're been working on a single song for several months. Chancellor tells Bass Player: "We get the gist of it and find the main themes that make up the skeleton between verses and choruses.

"Then we explore different ways we can depart from that, come back to it, flip it upside down, and take the time to see what else is there." Read more here.

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Kirk Hammett Disappointed Metallica Were Alone In Napster Fight

(Classic Rock) Kirk Hammett says that one of the biggest regrets of his career is that Metallica were all-but abandoned to fight Napster at the beginning of the digital music explosion.

The band launched the first-ever legal action against a peer-to-peer service in 2000, citing breach of copyright and racketeering, leading to Napster being shut down.

In the intervening years the matter has been reconsidered and the band are generally held to have been correct in their attitude - although their approach of delivering a list of 30,000 people who'd downloaded their material remains controversial.

They've argued on several occasions that their lawsuit wasn't about money, but about an artist's right to choose how and where their art can be accessed. That's a principle that's become central to arguments about digital distribution.

Hammett tells The Word Of Wheeler: "If there's anything thing I regret, I regret that no one else supported us during that Napster time. I don't even know if you can call it a regret. Maybe it's more of a disappointment. I was very disappointed that other musicians who saw our point, they supported us in ways that were less inconvenient to them.

"We stuck our necks out there. At the end of the day, I'd like to say what we were doing had some merit - some truth to it." Read more here.

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Eric Johnson Announce U.S. Tour In Support Of Acoustic Album

Eric Johnson has announced that he will be kicking off the new year by launching a U.S. tour in support of his very first solo acoustic album, entitled "EJ."

The trek is scheduled to begin on January 15th with a home town show in Austin at the Paramount Theatre and will be concluding on February 19th in 19 Houston, TX at the House of Blues. Additional dates are expected to be announced.

Johnson had the following to say about the inspiration for the new unplugged album, "Ever since I was young, I've played piano and acoustic guitar in my private life. This type of music has always been a part of me, but I never showcased it on any kind of bigger level, like a full acoustic record. With EJ, I just decided to be more honest with myself and everybody, and show more of my personal side." Read more and see the dates here.

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Warbringer Announce New Album 'Woe to the Vanquished'

Warbringer have announced that they will be releasing their new studio album "Woe to the Vanquished" on March 31st and they have also revealed a making of video online.

Frontman John Kevill had the following to say about the new effort, "For the music on this record we re-focused ourselves after a lot of the experiments on Empires Collapse, and decided we wanted to make a record that is start-to-finish more merciless, ruthless, and cruel, but also maintains some of the more melodic and progressive sense.

"What we ended up with is a record that has a lot of traits of classic thrash but also a lot of extreme metal, and a rather unique version of that blend. It's overall faster and meaner than anything else we've put out, but also has our biggest and most ambitious song, the 11-minute 'When the Guns Fell Silent' to close the record."

The album was produced and mixed by Mike Plottnikoff (Fear Factory, In Flames), mastered by Howie Weinberg (Slayer, Pantera) with cover art by the esteemed Andreas Marschall (Sodom, Blind Guardian, Obituary). Kevill explains the artwork, "It is directly based on a photograph from the end of the First World War--a grim monument, a pyramid of 12,000 German spiked helmets, right in the middle of New York City. What struck me about the image is firstly how morbid it seems to be celebrating 12,000 dead men and calling it victory." Watch the making of vide here.

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Grave Digger Stream New Song 'Call For War'

Grave Digger have released a lyric video for their new track 'Call For War'. The song comes from the German band's forthcoming album "Healed By Metal."

The album is set to be released by Napalm Records on January 13th and the band had the following to say about the new song, "Call For War � a banger in best Grave Digger tradition, simple and energetic - if it catches you once, it won't let go of you anymore.

"Don't try to run and hide.. the refrain will haunt you everywhere� there's no escaping. CALL FOR WAR � a statement against war and oppression!!!" Check out the video here.

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Robert Cray Announces New Album Under Jay-Vee Records Deal

(Kid Logic) Robert Cray has announced that he will be releasing his new album "Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm" in Spring of next year under a new deal that he just inked with Jay-Vee Records.

"The signing of Robert Cray to Jay-Vee Records is a milestone for Meegan and me," says Jordan. "Robert is one of the greatest artists of this generation. To have an opportunity to work with him again, and to have him on our label, is a dream come true."

Recorded at Willie Mitchell's Royal Studios in Memphis, the album features a backing band of Jordan and the legendary Hi Rhythm: Charles Hodges (organ, piano), Leroy Hodges (bass) and Archie "Hubby" Turner (keyboards) and was produced by Jordan.
here.

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Korn Stars Do Surprise Jam With Tribute Band

(Metal Hammer) Reginald 'Fieldy' Arvizu and Ray Luzier of Korn delighted a British tribute band by joining them on stage over the weekend. Liverpool-based outfit Korn Again describe themselves as "Europe's premier live tribute to Korn, capturing the look, the raw, aggressive sound and energetic stage performance of the original band."

That claim was put to the test at Manchester's Ruby Lounge on Saturday when Fieldy and Luzier joined them for performances of Here To Stay and Freak On A Leash. Watch a video clip below.

Korn Again said via Facebook: "We'll never get over this sh*t. Ray and Fieldy, you made our dreams come true. Thank you so much. It was truly an honour. Next time let's smash Blind." Check out video here.

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Marillion, Richard Thompson Lead Cropredy 2017 Lineup

(Prog) The first acts for next year's Cropredy festival have been confirmed, with Marillion and Richard Thompson leading the list. The annual event, hosted by Fairport Convention, will take place on the weekend of August 10-12 in 2017 - and it'll also mark five decades since the band's inception.

Fairport Convention say: "Returning by popular demand, we welcome back prog rock giants Marillion. The band, with perhaps the most loyal following on the planet, just don't stop touring and are currently on the road promoting their 18th studio album F.E.A.R.

"We know we don't need to tell you that Richard has received lifetime achievement awards on both sides of the Atlantic, a prestigious Ivor Novello Award, and in 2011 was presented with an OBE - but it's nice to be reminded.

"Richard will also be joining us on Saturday night for our 50th anniversary celebrations." here.

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