Today's Day in Rock Stories

Rolling Stones Announce New Album 'Blue & Lonesome'

Mustaine tells 97X: "Part of the reason I'm difficult to work with is because I demand the best that I can possibly to myself, and you tend to expect that from others.

"In order to win you want to surround yourself with champions - if you let everybody off easy, you get what you deserve. Part of the reason I've been successful for 35 years, had two great bands that I've been in and nearing a hundred million record sales is because I've really pushed myself.

"If you have a coach on a team, you want somebody who's striving for perfection. You don't want somebody who's going to say 'That's good enough.' It's like those trophies they give to kids when they lose. You're just breeding inadequacy - 'It's okay to be a loser. Everybody gets a trophy. We all win.'"

But despite the plaudits, Page says it's not his best but "it's pretty damn good." Jimmy Page tells Classic Rock: "Is Stairway To Heaven my best Zeppelin guitar solo? No, but it's pretty damn good. The solo was done very quickly - in actual fact there were already layers underneath, the bottleneck you can hear was on before the solo.

"Anyway, I just said, 'Roll it,' took a deep breath, that's what I usually do, and then go. I had a couple of cracks at it because you didn't have as many options as you would have now. Back then you had 16 tracks and could only put guitar solos down where the vocal wasn't.

Both festivals sold out within hours of being announced - but ticket prices on the secondary market have plummeted, with some passes selling for less than half their original $400 value.

It was directed by filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, who was at the helm of their previous videos for Daydreaming and Present Tense. He's also worked with Greenwood on a number of film scores.

Greenwood recently described Radiohead as "arrangers" in the studio sessions for their latest album. He said: "Thom will write half a song and we'll develop it, then the big pressure is, 'How do you put this song across and not ruin it?'

"Part of the problem is, Thom will sit at the piano and play a song like Pyramid Song and we're going to record it. How do we not make it worse? How do we make it better than him just playing it by himself, which is already usually quite great.

And he's reflected on the "accident" that led to the song appearing on Hellyeah's latest album Undeniable. The brothers recorded their own version just before the guitarist was shot dead on stage in 2004, and it was never released - until a chance discussion with Hellyeah producer Kevin Churko.

Hellyeah started work on their own version, and "really brought it up to date for 2016" before the suggestion of recovering Dime's guitar track was suggested.

It's one of two appearances by Beck - the other is on the 1985 single "Rough Boy" - featured on the Texas trio's first official live album after 45 years together, which presents material recorded over the course of several tours in cities all around the world.

The Beck collaboration was inspired by a fan-made mashup video of the two acts that surfaced in 2012, according to The Los Angeles Times. The viral video spoof mixed footage of the pair playing together at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert in New York in 2009 with audio of the song by ZZ Top, which directly led to live performances of the US No.1 hit for Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955.

The Truants - best-known for their annual cycle ride to the Download festival - have already raised �232,000 with your help, and aim to top the figure with the latest round of unique memorabilia sales.

He delivers Show Me A Leader, Watch Over You and Before Tomorrow Comes in a stripped-down style to mark the arrival of the follow-up to 2013's Fortress.

Despite the album title, Kennedy said last month: "I don't consider musicians or songwriters heroes. That's a term for someone more special. As far as trying to be a positive role model or hopefully inspiring people in some way, I don't take that lightly and try to do the best I can. You can never phone it in because you've been given a gift and an opportunity - not only create music but perform it all over the world.

The video has been issued to coincide with the news that the band's fourth album Breakin' Outta Hell has become their biggest chart success. It topped the Canadian Official Hard Music Chart, reached no.3 in Austria, no.4 in Switzerland, no.8 on the US Official Hard Music Chart and no.13 in their homeland.

Speaking about Rivalry, frontman Joel O'Keeffe said: "The lyric probably came from us watching Football Factory or The Firm, one of those kind of films and I think at the time there was a big grand prix race on, lots of intense rivalries being reported in the media.

Wearing a baseball cap, he appeared alongside bassist Frank Bello during Indians, and played along on bass before throwing his cap into the crowd. The band say: "Atlanta is where we fight 'em till we can't fight no more with a special guest Norman Reedus - The Walking Dead with the Walking Dudes.

Guitarist Kim Thayl previously reported the project was underway, along with a remastered edition of Ultramega OK, and both were to be available before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Soundgarden continue work on the follow-up to 2012 album King Animal, with the intention of recording in 2017.

Thayil said last month: "Matt and Chris, of course, are working on this Temple Of The Dog thing.

"Over the past year we've had a number of songwriting and jam sessions, getting together to exchange ideas and document and record them. We have some rough demos of a dozen or so songs.

He says: "My favourite ELP album would be Tarkus, and I really like the first one. And for Yes, I would say a tie between Fragile and Close To The Edge.

"They came out at the same time - one year in between them. Really good records. I also like the more whimsical pop, psychedelic Yes."

Akerfeldt then chooses Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd and King Crimson as his starter prog bands - with Akesson also adding in Rush and Jethro Tull to his own list. The video can be watched below.

Frontman Johan Hegg said in April that Wallgren was on course to be their permanent sticksman - and they've now made it official. The band say in a statement: "We are happy to have Jocke with us as a permanent band member. He has done a great job for us on the current world tour, bringing excellent drumming with a positive attitude and great personality, something that will definitely benefit Amon Amarth for years to come."

They join fellow headliners Jethro Tull, who perform on Saturday July 1 and Ulver, Anathema, Animals As Leaders and Caligula's Horse who have previously been announced.

Amorphis guitarist Esa Holopainen says: "It's been a long time since we toured in North America and Canada. To be honest, way too long and at some point we thought we might never be back.

"In show business, things are not that simple, and no matter how much Amorphis would like to tour, or play shows in different territories, usually it just doesn't make sense. Now it makes sense and we really wanted to make this to happen, after receiving so much positive feedback from US fans.

"As it has been quite a while since the US and Canadian fans have seen us, we will cover a lot of material from the latest Amorphis albums as well as play classics from Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Elegy, which were groundbreaking albums to us and many fans.

Borte tells AltPress: "This is the scene where Shay is dressed in his mother's clothes in hopes of looking older, and therefore legal to drive. He's parked outside the squat, hoping to catch a glimpse of his mother when Joe Strummer climbs into the back of Shay's taxi as the police come up."

The director adds: "We shot this scene on the longest day of the year. The UK child labour laws are very strict as to the hours kids can work, so we only had an hour of darkness before Daniel had to be wrapped for the night.

The songwriting process for slaves has been the same for the last two record, "over the influence" and [HORSE]. I usually sit down and start coming up with riffs that I feel have a good groove, harmonic structure and fit within the overall feel of the record we are currently writing. I started with the main riff and built from there. The main riff has a cool rock feel to it and I wanted the verse to be a little darker and give the vocal more room to explore melodies. The chorus then was built with the idea of a tonal shift up to push the hook higher. The groove on the up beat was important to keep it interesting throughout and not too square. The bridge riff has a cool chromatic riff and has a nice dissonance and groove, perfect for a rap style part. Jason initially was going to do the part, then the idea came up to ask DMC......the rest is history.

Lyrically I was coming from a familiar place, insomnia grabs and doesn't let go. I wanted to make the listener feel what you go through and understand how frustrating and uncomfortable it can be. When you lie awake at night and you go over your past and the things that you did because you can't fall asleep can be unnerving.

DMC wrote his lyrics and initially I though it would have some reference to my lyrics but he felt as I do and wanted to stay within the topic which I love.

The song is a great representation of where we are as a band and songwriters. It isn't the heaviest song on the record, nor the lightest, but it fits perfect on a record where, once again we aren't afraid to be a little eclectic and push boundaries.