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Day in Rock Report for 12/23/2017


Today's Day in Rock Stories


Christmas Classics Given Ozzy, Metallica, Maiden Makeover

Anthony Vincent has made a name for himself with his Ten Second Songs and the latest installment finds him delivering classic Christmas songs in the style of metal and rock heavyweights.

Some of the metal highlights include "O Christmas Tree" (Ozzy Osbourne), "O Come O Come Emmanuel" (Metallica), "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" (System Of A Down) and "Auld Lang Syne" (Iron Maiden and Marilyn Manson).

"O Holy Night" (AHA), "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (DMX, UB40 and Cradle Of Filth), "The Ten Seconds Of Christmas" (Green Day, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Boys II Men and Slipknot), "Silent Night" (Simon & Garfunkel), "Jingle Bells" (Beastie Boys and Alice In Chains), and "Deck The Halls" (New Edition). Check it out here.

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Metallica Frontman Delivers Christmas Gifts to Police and Firefighters

(Radio.com) Metallica's James Hetfield helped spread Christmas cheer to police and firefighters in his Colorado town. First responders in Vail received Starbucks gift cards courtesy of Metallica's All Within My Hands charitable foundation and they were hand-delivered by the band's frontman.

The organization tweeted photos of Hetfield posing with the men and women as a gesture of gratitude for all their hard work. All Within My Hands is committed to "creating sustainable communities by supporting workforce education, the fight against hunger and other critical local services," and the holidays are the perfect time to make good on that mission.

Starbucks recently joined forces to spread $1 million across three music-oriented foundations: Chance the Rapper's Social Works organization, Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation and All Within My Hands. See photos from Hetfield's visits here.

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Mastodon's Brent Hinds To Miss Legend Of The Seagullmen NYE Show

Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds broke the sad news to fans that he will be missing the New Year's Eve show in Oakland with the supergroup Legand Of The Seagullmen due to a family emergency.

The band, which also features Tool's Danny Carey, vocalist's David 'the Doctor' Dreyer on lead vocals, Dethklok and Giraffe Tongue Orchestra's Pete Griffin, Chris DiGiovanni and Tim Dawson, will be supporting Primus at the sold out show.

The group will be joined by a special guest guitarist that were "personally approved" by Hinds. Fans got their first taste of the new band's music with the release of their first single "Shipswreck."

The track is the lead song from their forthcoming self-titled debut album, which can be hitting stores on February 9, 2018. Check out a stream of the song here.

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Black Veil Brides Stream New Song 'The Last One'

(Radio.com) Black Veil Brides have unveiled an early Christmas present for fans in the form a new track, "The Last One," which is the latest song ahead of the band's forthcoming full-length, VALE, that is set to be released on Jan. 12.

"The central narrative once again finds 'The Wild Ones' characters facing the challenge of moving on from the pain and anguish of their past and looking to a new chapter in their lives," singer Andy Biersack explained in a press statement about the album.
"This concept is one that is near to my heart and I believe will resonate with those that find themselves cast on the fringe of society. From our inception Black Veil Brides have stood up for the outcasts and disenfranchised, with this album as hope to give you hope, fun and most importantly a kick ass rock and roll record." Stream the new song
here.

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Billy Corgan Does Cover Of 'Christmas Dreaming'

(Radio.com) Billy Corgan brought the Christmas spirit to his hometown Chicago's morning news. The Smashing Pumpkins frontman was a guest on the WGN Morning News show on Friday (Dec. 22), where he invoked the holidays with a version of "Christmas Dreaming."

The track is best known as performed by Frank Sinatra, but it's not an obvious choice. "If I cover a song, I try to pick something that's not sort of in normal circulation," Corgan explained about the song choice, performed as a duet with local television personality Jenniffer Weigel.

"I actually played this song at my tea house last year on the banjo," he added, referencing Madame Zuzu's Tea Shop and Art Studio. Watch the full performance here.

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Guns N' Roses Made History With MCG Concert 2017 In Review

Guns N' Roses Made History With MCG Concert was a top 17 story of March 2017: Guns N' Roses enjoyed big success with the Australian and New Zealand leg of their Not In This Lifetime reunion tour, according to the tour's promoter TEG Dainty (via Pollstar).

They report that 353,000 tickets were sold for the eight shows that were part of the tour leg last month, including a sell out at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds in Melbourne which holds 74,000 people and made the band the first international act to sell out the venue.

The band, which features original singer Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash and bass player Duff McKagan, also drew 85,000 fans for their two concerts at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney. Read more here.

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Sammy Hagar Reveals His Conditions For Van Halen Reunion 2017 In Review

Sammy Hagar Reveals His Conditions For Van Halen Reunion was a top 17 story of March 2017: While Sammy Hagar is enjoying major success with his various ventures inside and out of music, he has once again been asked about his relationship with his former bandmates in Van Halen and the Red Rocker revealed the "only way" he would ever reunite with the group.

Hagar extended the olive branch to Eddie Van Halen in January of last year when he tweeted a birthday greeting to the guitarist and Eddie tweeted back "Thanks Sammy. Hope you're well too."

But apparently their communication ended there with Hagar telling Billboard, "Let's put it like this -- when it came to my birthday, I didn't get a message. So obviously that camp, him and Al, still have some kind of trip against me."

Sammy then revealed that he might be interested in regrouping if they launched a tour with him, as well as original vocalist David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony back on bass. "That's really the only way I would be interested in a Van Halen reunion". Read more here.

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Fleetwood Mac's 2018 Tour May Be Their Farewell 2017 In Review

(Gibson) Fleetwood Mac's 2018 Tour May Be Their Farewell was a top 17 story of March 2017: Fleetwood Mac's 2018 tour may be the farewell trek for the legendary band, according to Christine McVie who made the revelation while she and Lindsey Buckingham were interviewed about their collaboration for a duo album they will release in the summer. Gibson had more details:

The album also features Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, so - as it's to be credited as a Buckingham McVie release - it simply points to its songwriters and singers. Speaking with Uncut magazine in the UK, Buckingham says, "I've grown up a lot since the last time I really worked with [Christine]. I realised: 'Oh, here I am, a completely different person. I'm a father of three children. I've been married almost 20 years. I've had my journey, and Christine has had her own journey.'"

McVie describes the collaboration as "an umbilical cord that can't be broken. It just pulls you back." However, she also reveals that the future of Fleetwood Mac is far from certain. "The 2018 tour is supposed to be a farewell tour," she adds "But you take farewell tours one at a time. Somehow we always come together, this unit. We can feel it ourselves."

Even so, Stevie Nicks recently told Radio.com she thinks it's unlikely Fleetwood Mac will actually record together again. Read more here.

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Blink-182 and Tom DeLonge Discussing Reunion Options? 2017 In Review

Blink-182 and Tom DeLonge Discussing Reunion Options? was a top 17 story of March 2017: Tom DeLonge implies in a new interview that the door is wide open for him to reunite with Blink-182 and says that he has even been discussing the options for his return with a former bandmate.

DeLonge was replaced in the long-running band by The Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba after DeLonge reportedly told his bandmates that he was committed to too many other projects to work with the band.

Since then DeLonge has expressed his willingness to reunite with the group and he continues that theme in a discussion with San Diego Union Tribune. He told the paper, "Blink is in my DNA. I talk to Travis [Barker] quite a bit and we try and figure out how and when it's going to make sense [for my return]."

He adds, "It's not like I walked away. They have someone doing my job for me. It's just that I'm so busy. If I wanted to, I could be back in a period of days." Read more here.

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Black Sabbath Confirm 'The End' Of The Band 2017 In Review

Black Sabbath Confirm 'The End' Of The Band was a top 17 story of March 2017: It appears that Black Sabbath's recently completed farewell tour really may have been The End for the legendary heavy metal band if an image posted to their social media sites is to be believed.

Members of the group billed The End Tour as the group's retirement from touring and guitarist Tony Iommi left the door open to playing together again, telling Planet Rock following their final hometown shows, "I don't think we've ruled anything out apart from me not wanting to tour any more on that scale, but who knows, we may do something.

He was responding to a question about the band recording again. He continued, "We haven't spoken about it. That's another thing - we haven't talked about anything, really, that's to do with what's going to happen afterwards. But I'm sure something can happen somewhere."

Fast forward to Wednesday (March 8th) and the band shared an image on their social media that shows their classic logo with 1968 - 2017 written below it and the posts were captioned with the hashtag "#The End". See the post here.

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AC/DC With Axl Rose Concert Leads To Fine 2017 In Review

AC/DC With Axl Rose Concert Leads To Fine was a top 17 story of March 2017: An AC/DC concert last May in Spain which featured Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose taking over for Brian Johnson has reportedly resulted in a 15,000 euro fine for the promoter over a tickets refund issue for fans that were said to be unhappy about the change in singers.

The legendary band recruited Rose to take over lead vocals for their world tour after doctors warned longtime frontman Brian Johnson that he risked permanent hearing loss if he continued the tour.

The unusual pairing was met with acclaim from both fans and critics, but at issue was a complained filed by FACUA-Consumers in Action on behalf of ticket buyers that wished to receive a refund because of the lineup change and a deadline that was reportedly imposed.

Live Nation, the promoter of the band's May 10th, 2016 concert at the Estadio Olimpico de Sevilla in Seville, Spain, has been fined by The General Directorate of Economy and Commerce of the City of Seville, according to the organization's website Facua.org.

They report that the fine was imposed for an alleged violation of a provision of the Regulations for Admission to Shows and Recreational Activities in Andalusia that says, "spectators and assistants are entitled to the refund of the amounts paid by the entrance or locality and, where appropriate, the proportional part of the payment, when the public spectacle or recreational activity is suspended, Postponed or substantially amended." Read the translated report for more details on the claims made that caused the fine to be imposed here.

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Allman Brothers' Wife Arrested For Threatening To Shoot Teens 2017 In Review

Allman Brothers' Wife Arrested For Threatening To Shoot Teens was a top 17 story of March 2017: Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts' wife Donna has reported been arrested and charged with over a dozen counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

The rock icon's wife was reportedly captured on cell phone video allegedly pointing a rifle at a group of high school students that were part of a local rowing crew and was arrested on Monday in Osprey, Florida, according to ABC Radio, who obtained a copy of the arrest report from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

The student had gathered on a site next to Betts' property for rowing practice and the video reportedly shows her with the rifle and yelling at the students to stay off of her property. The arrest report says the students have never ventured onto the property.

Betts is then said to be seen on the video tossing the rifle into the river. The weapon was later recovered by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department. She then allegedly made a call to 911 and said "The crew from Sarasota High School have destroyed her life and she has had it." Read the ABC report for more details here.

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Nickelback Star Victim Of Alleged Identity Theft 2017 In Review

Nickelback Star Victim Of Alleged Identity Theft was a top 17 story of March 2017: As Nickelback prepare to release their new studio album "Feed the Machine" on June 9th, a man has been arrested for alleged identity theft of drummer Daniel Adair.

A Florida man was reportedly arrested this week by Port St. Lucie police on two felony fraud-related charges after allegedly using Adair's identity to purchase $25,000 of drum microphones, according to People (via ABC).

The drummer became aware of the problem when the band's business rep contacted him to confirm a purchase of "tens of thousands of dollars", according to the report.

Police were told that Adair "had his identity used to fraudulently order drum parts from a company in Vienna, Austria"

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Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Reveals New Album Plans 2017 In Review

Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Reveals New Album Plans was a top 17 story of March 2017: Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine laid out the band's plans for the future in a new interview, including their beginning work on their next studio album, the follow up to their acclaimed 2016 effort "Dystopia".

Mustaine was the featured guest on Full Metal Jackie's weekly radio program and revealed the following, "We have some American dates that we're looking at in summertime and some at the end of the year too. We can't really say what they are yet but we're pretty excited about what this year has for us."

"It's going to end this year," Mustaine said of the promotion for their "Dystopia" album and then added this about their plans for their next album, "I think the end of � What we're looking at, we're trying to start the songwriting process this year while we're out on the road, which will be good for us to start putting pen to paper and writing stuff.

"Kiko and I have actually been talking a lot about it the last couple weeks, sending files back and forth and so on and so forth, which is exciting for me because that's what makes me tick is writing music. When I see new files coming back and forth through my email it's like, 'Yes.' It's like Christmas." Read more here.

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George Michael's Cause of Death Revealed 2017 In Review

George Michael's Cause of Death Revealed was a top 17 story of March 2017: Music icon George Michael died of natural causes related to conditions of the heart and liver, it was revealed with the final post-mortem report from the coroner for Oxfordshire, England.

Michael passed away at his Oxfordshire area home on Christmas day last year at the age of 53. Senior coroner Darren Salter says that the music star had suffered from "dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver."

Metro.co.uk published a detailed report that explains each condition. Here is a brief summery: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) means that left ventricle, which is the heart's main pumping chamber, becomes enlarged and weakened thus reducing the heart's ability to pump blood.

Myocarditis is a condition where the heart muscle becomes inflamed and fatty liver is an above normal amount of fat in the organ (more than 5-10% of their liver weight, according to the report.) Read more here.

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Pink Floyd Stream Rare 1967 TV Performance 2017 In Review

(hennemusic) Pink Floyd Stream Rare 1967 TV Performance was a top 17 story of March 2017: Pink Floyd are streaming video of a rare 1967 performance of "Interstellar Overdrive" originally broadcast on the Granada TV program "Scene - Underground", as a preview to the March 24 release of a series of individual volumes from "The Early Years 1965-1972" box set.

The band were filmed in concert at The UFO Club in London, UK on January 27, 1967 for the pop culture show; the track would appear on their groundbreaking debut album, "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", a little over six months later.

Issued last November, "The Early Years 1965-1972" box set presented 27-discs featuring 130 tracks from the band's formative years, including TV recordings, BBC Sessions, outtakes and demos and more than 20 unreleased songs. Also featured were 7 hours of previously unreleased live audio and more than 5 hours of rare concert footage.

Pink Floyd are now set to release 6 individual volumes from the package, breaking down the massive project into bite-sized volumes by years - from the mid-1960s start with original member Syd Barrett to the growth shown by 1972 as the band prepared to record "The Dark Side Of The Moon" album. Watch the video here.

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Slash Was Angry When Poison Didn't Hire Him 2017 In Review

Slash Was Angry When Poison Didn't Hire Him was a top 17 story of March 2017: Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash was reportedly really angry when Poison decided to hire CC DeVille instead of him, according to the glam band's drummer Rikki Rockett.

The drummer made the revelation while taking at look back at Poison's debut album "Look What the Cat Dragged In" on the latest episode of the Decibel Geek podcast.

Slash and DeVille were both considered to replace original guitarist Matt Smith with the band deciding that C.C. would be a better fit for their glam rock style, which Rockett says left Slash angry.

"Slash, we had known. He was in Hollywood Rose�.We all liked him. He came and worked on some songs with us but we continued to audition people even though he was a frontrunner�We didn't want, like, a hotshot Yngwie guy. We wanted an East Coast guy. And then CC auditioned and he just made more sense than Slash did.

"So, it was a tough decision because we all liked Slash. Slash was really pissed off about it. He was pissed. He was like 'What the f*** you guys?'�So there was that rivalry between Poison and Guns n' Roses because of that, I think for a long time you know?" Listen to the full interview here.

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Former Boston Star Dies On Legends Of Rock Cruise 2017 In Review

(hennemusic) Former Boston Star Dies On Legends Of Rock Cruise was a top 17 story of March 2017: Former Boston drummer John Thomas "Sib" Hashian died March 22 at the age 67 after collapsing on stage during a performance on the Legends Of Rock Cruise in the Caribbean.

TMZ reports Hashian's son, Adam, confirmed the drummer suddenly collapsed midset while playing with former Boston lead guitarist Barry Goudreau, while a witness tells the media outlet that attempts to revive him with CPR and a defibrillator failed.

The Legends Of Rock Cruise - featuring original Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm, John Cafferty, The Grass Roots and former members of the Beach Boys and Kansas, among others - departed from Miami, FL on March 18 with planned stops including Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Read more here.

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Iron Maiden Winning War Against Scalpers 2017 In Review

Iron Maiden Winning War Against Scalpers was a top 17 story of March 2017: Iron Maiden are claiming victory in their effort against ticket resellers and counterfeiters ahead of the launch of the UK leg of their The Book Of Souls tour in May.

The band had previously announced a paper-less ticket policy to combat "touting" and it appears to have been a major success with the group revealing that "the number of tickets available at inflated prices on the secondary platforms plummeted by over 95% compared with the band's last UK arena tour in 2011."

Manager Rod Smallwood had this to say, "We are delighted that the paperless ticketing system and other measures we instigated here in the UK have proved a massive deterrent to touts and counterfeiters. We want to thank our fans for their enduring support and patience. We appreciate that our stringent policy has meant fans having to jump over one more hurdle in the ticket-buying process but the results speak for themselves and I think everyone can agree this was well worth it." Read more here.

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Paul McCartney Recording New Album With Adele Producer 2017 In Review

Paul McCartney Recording New Album With Adele Producer was a top 17 story of March 2017: Beatles legend Paul McCartney has revealed in a new interview that he is recording a new studio album with Adele producer and songwriter Greg Kurstin.

Kurtin produced and co-wrote three of the tracks on Adele's latest hit album "25", including the smash single "Hello". McCartney spoke with BBC Radio 6 Music channel about working with the producer on his new record.
"I'm making a new album, which is great fun. I'm in the middle of that. I'm working with a producer I first worked with two years ago on a piece of music I'm doing for an animated film."

McCartney then addressed his concern over the perception some may have with him working with Kurtin, "My only worry is, people are going to go, 'Oh there's Paul going with the flavor of the month. I suppose you always think the worst of it." Check out the full interview here.

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HIM Breaking Up After 26 Years Following Farewell Tour 2017 In Review

HIM Breaking Up After 26 Years Following Farewell Tour was a top 17 story of March 2017: HIM have announced that they will be calling it a career after two and half decades. The band will be retiring at the end of the year after they embark on a farewell tour.

Frontman Ville Valo explained the reasons the band decided to retire, "After quarter of a century of Love and Metal intertwined we sincerely feel HIM has run its unnatural course and adieus must be said in order to make way for sights, scents and sounds yet unexplored. We completed the pattern, solved the puzzle and turned the key. Thank you."

Bassist Mige adds, "At the end of 2017 we will be released into the wild. Before this event of great transformation we would love to offer you one last chance to experience our live performances in His Majesty's service. It shall not be a weepfest but a celebration of love metal in all its lovecraftian glory! See you there!"

The band has announced the initial dates for their farewell tour which is currently scheduled to begin on June 14th in Barcelona and conclude in London on December 17th. See the dates here.

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Aerosmith Postponed American Tour Plans To Work On New Music 2017 In Review

Aerosmith Postponed American Tour Plans To Work On New Music was a top 17 story of March 2017: Aerosmith have decided to postpone their American Aero-Vederci Baby! Tour leg this fall in order to work on new music, it was revealed by lead guitarist Joe Perry in a new interview.

The legendary musician made the revelation while talking to AZ Central ahead of the band's headline performance at this year's NCAA March Madness Music Festival in Phoenix.

When he was asked if the band's Aero-Vederci Baby! tour is really their farewell trek, he responded, "Not officially, no. But we postponed the American tour we were supposed to do this fall. And we're gonna go out and tour until, you know, we're done. And we're gonna try and hit every place we've ever played and never played. There's always new places to go. New countries. I'd like to play China and the Far East. There's a lot of places that are off the beaten path. Is this the last tour? Well, I don't know. I don't think so."

He was then asked about new music in a follow up question and said, "Yeah, actually, which is one of the reasons we postponed this tour. We want to get in and give ourselves some time to get something done. We definitely have another record in us, if not two. But we'll see how that goes." Read the full interview here.

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