Compiled by Keavin Wiggins
. The Day in Rock - antiMUSIC.com's look at Today's Top Rock News Stories From Across the Web

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Sick Puppies Return With New CD and Hurt Tour

PR reports: Four years have passed since Australia's Sick Puppies relocated to Los Angeles, and took the world by storm with their song, "All The Same," used for a video shot in a Sydney shopping mall with their friend Juan Mann, who held up a hand-written placard offering "Free Hugs," which was seen by over 43 million viewers on YouTube alone, spurring six-figure sales of their RMR/Virgin Records/EMI Music major label debut, Dressed Up As Life.

Now, primed by almost three straight years of touring, playing before thousands at festivals and generally living in rock and roll's fast lane, vocalist/guitarist Shimon Moore, his high school classmate, bassist Emma Anzai, and drummer Mark Goodwin, an Orange County native who answered an ad in Craig's List to join the band, Sick Puppies are back with their eagerly awaited follow-up, Tri-Polar, scheduled for release July 14, the band's third album overall.

Produced again by the hit team of Rock Mafia's Antonina Armato and Tim James, Tri-Polar reflects the band's grueling travels on the road, along with the frustrations that build up along the way, on songs like the first single, "You're Going Down," which is being used by the WWE as the theme song in its promotional spots from May 17 through June 15 for the Extreme Rules Pay Per View broadcast, being held at the New Orleans Arena on June 7. - more on this story

More on Sick Puppies - Sick+Puppies" >Sick Puppies CDs

Green Day Announce That They Released Their New Album (In Case You Didn't Get The Memo)

PR reports: 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day's highly-anticipated eighth studio album, wass released worldwide Friday May 15th, by Reprise Records. The album is the follow-up to 2004's two-time Grammy Award-winning punk-rock opera American Idiot, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, and went on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide.

[silly review quotes removed] Green Day will set televisions ablaze with scheduled performances on The Colbert Report on May 21st, the first concert of Good Morning America's 2009 Summer Concert Series from Rumsey Playfield in Central Park on May 22nd and The Late Show with David Letterman on May 22nd. On Sunday, May 24th, CBS Sunday Morning will air its first in depth interview with Green Day shot in Oakland last month.

Green Day, which is singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool, are preparing to launch their first proper tour of the United States and Canada in more than three years. - more on this story

More on Green Day - Green+Day" >Green Day CDs

Imogen Heap Sets Album Release

RCA reports: British singer-songwriter-producer and two time Grammy nominee Imogen Heap is set to release her much anticipated new solo album Ellipse on August 4th 2009 through RCA Records.

The same day Imogen wrapped up her tour in support of her last breakthrough album Speak For Yourself, she delved into the writing process for Ellipse. Without so much as unpacking, Heap spun Google Earth around a few times to plot some destinations to begin writing. She began in Hawaii "because it was the furthest landmass from any other landmass in a large amount of blue" and worked her way through Fiji, Tasmania, Japan, China and Thailand. Accompanied by only a small writing set up, Ellipse began to take shape. Imogen then returned home to continue work on the record and remained true to her do-it-yourself ethos, building her new studio in the "playroom" of her old family home in Essex, UK, (an 18th century 'oval villa' restored by her parents) which she took on the responsibilities for just before the start of the record.

Imogen continues to explore the Artist/Audience relationship she has developed with her fans. She enlisted those who follow her on Twitter (330,000 and counting!) to submit Tweets which were then shaped into her album biography. Imogen kept her fans up-to-date on the recording process by posting 38 vBlogs, which are all available on her website. Upfront of the new album, Imogen even invited fans to complete an unfinished track "The Song That Never Was". She provided the lyrics, and over 500 fans added backing music to create their own versions. The result would have been record breaking, had she opted to register it beforehand! - more on this story

More on Imogen Heap - Imogen+Heap" >Imogen Heap CDs

IWrestledABearOnce Announce Tour With Other Multiple Word Named Bands

PR reports: IWrestledABearOnce (IWABO), in preparation for the release of their upcoming album It's All Happening (due out on June 2nd), have earning new fans while on tour with The Human Abstract, Oh Sleeper and Vanna.

IWABO are very excited to announce� a US tour from July 10 - August 8 which will have them hitting 24 cities along with August Burns Red, Bless The Fall, Enter Shikari (July 10-27) and All Shall Perish (July 28-August 8). - dates

More on IWrestledABearOnce - IWrestledABearOnce" >IWrestledABearOnce CDs

Sevendust and Twisted Sister Added to Rock Gone Wild

PR reports: Rock Gone Wild has announced two more additions to its line-up. Twisted Sister, the kings of glam rock and roll, will close the main stage on Saturday, August 22. Sevendust, one of modern rocks biggest acts, helps shut down the huge party on Sunday, August 23.

Twisted Sister will celebrate its 25th anniversary and add to its impressive run of headline festival appearances by closing Saturday's show at the inaugural Rock Gone Wild. The band sold over 10 million records and issued the classic rock anthems "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" back in the '80's. More than a decade after the band's last show in 1987, the quintet reformed at a tribute show and has continued playing together; the reformation includes an astonishing run of over 50 headline festival dates, performing in front of two million people in 23 countries. The group has also had success re-issuing records, recording a Christmas collection and releasing numerous DVDs of its legendary live show, a show that will come alive in all of its glory at RGW. Make sure to catch it-this may be the last time that TS dons the "old school" make-up onstage in the U.S.

Sevendust has become one of modern rock's biggest bands the hard way-releasing a stream of impressive records and following each with a seemingly never-ending tour. The band is not known for one record or one song, but rather a solid body of work that continues to improve with every new release. The band's last record, Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow, which featured the huge hits "Inside" and "The Past" is still selling, but the band is already recording the follow-up. The quintet will take a studio break to rock RGW with its blend of heavy metal guitar, rap dynamics and infectious melodies. - more on this story

More on Rock Gone Wild - Rock+Gone+Wild" >Rock Gone Wild CDs

Echo & The Bunnymen Comment On Their Music Going Into Space

PR reports: Move over Star Trek. Echo & The Bunnymen's mighty 1984 album Ocean Rain will boldly go to the International Space Station on June 13th courtesy of astronaut Colonel Timothy L. Korpa.

Korpa, who has been a Bunnymen fanatic since his teens recently contacted the band via their website about his upcoming three-month mission on the ISS. Though Ocean Rain is Korpa's favorite, he gave the choice to the band to pick which of their albums they would like him to take on his mission, saying that he would snap photos in space with the album and crew of the ISS and give the album back to the band as a souvenir when he returns to Earth. The Bunnymen ecstatically shipped out to Korpa an autographed copy of Ocean Rain right away.

"What an honour," said Echo & The Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch. "Now it's official. We are the coolest band in the universe. As a kid I dreamt of being an astronaut, and now in a way it feels like I'm fulfilling that dream. I cannot wait to hear from Tim what it is like to listen to 'The Killing Moon' in the actual glow of the moon." - more on this story

More on Echo & The Bunnymen - Echo+&+The+Bunnymen" >Echo & The Bunnymen CDs

White Wizzard Announce Mini Album

PR reports: Los Angeles, CA's traditional heavy metal heroes, White Wizzard have announced details for the upcoming mini album named after their trademark song, High Speed GTO.

Set for a July 13th release in the UK/Europe and a late summer release in the US, White Wizzard's 2009 debut is driven by catchy riffs that aim straight for the hips and the heart. The band is lighter than what many are used to these days - there's a nimbleness to the White Wizzard attack and genuine commercial hooks race through all seven songs on the High Speed Gto mini album.

High Speed Gto features 7 high energy tracks recorded by the original White Wizzard lineup in 2007. Only released to a select number of fans back then, the mini album, long out of print, can now be enjoyed by the entire world. Unlike the original version, this release includes a bonus in the form of the award-winning fan favorite video for the album's title track, "High Speed GTO." If you pine for the days when Iron Maiden was king and Van Halen was your soundtrack for a night on the town, hop inside White Wizzard's High Speed GTO and you'll find just what you're looking for. - more on this story

More on White Wizzard - White+Wizzard" >White Wizzard CDs

Hardline Releasing New Album

PR reports: Frontiers Records is excited to announce the release of the long awaited new Hardline album entitled "Leaving the End Open." [you'll have to guess the release date since the PR forgot to mention it]

Hardline was formed when brothers Johnny (vocals) and Joey (guitar) Gioeli, originally from the band Brunette, teamed with guitarist Neal Schon (Journey). Signed by MCA as soon as Schon left Bad English, with the addition of Todd Jensen (David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper) on bass and Deen Castronovo (also coming from Bad English and later on with Journey) on drums, the band went on to record their debut "Double Eclipse" for MCA in 1992 and then went on the tour circuit with such heavy hitters as Van Halen and Mr. Big.

While never popular in the mainstream, Hardline's album became immediately very popular among the hard rock fraternity and is still today regarded as one of the finest efforts of the decade. However, by that time grunge and alternative styles had already taken over and melodic rock was being pushed aside. Tension among band members, the record company, and perhaps certain egos, got in the way of an immediate follow-up album, despite the band having written more than enough material. - more on this story

More on Hardline - Hardline" >Hardline CDs

Place Vendome New Album Coming Out On Some Mysterious Date In The Future

PR reports: Frontiers Records is pleased to announce the release of the highly anticipated second album from Place Vendome entitled "Streets of Fire." [they announce the release but just not the release date.]

During the winter of 2004 former Helloween singer Michael Kiske, whose voice is still regarded as one of the most fascinating of the whole of rock, accepted an invitation to be part of a melodic rock concept by Frontiers Records' President Serafino Perugino. The resulting Place Vendome debut album brought Kiske back to a more straight-ahead and rock sound, still very accessible and melodic and far from the heavy metal stereotypes of blood, violence, and hate from which Kiske decided to move away. He collaborated for the first time with Pink Cream 69's Dennis Ward, Kosta Zafiriou, and Uwe Reitenauer, with Gunther Werno (Vandenplas) on keyboards.

In Kiske's view, "Without Serafino Perugino offering me this Place Vendome project, I would probably never have sung a few of the musical styles on there up to this day (also in terms of lyrics), because my own songwriting is different. But I have found it interesting to do exactly because of that reason. It's like playing roles or testing possibilities. To sing songs you did not write has its own quality: you can learn something you otherwise probably wouldn't and get a chance to look beyond your own borders. AOR won't 'revolutionize' our music-world these days, but it is certainly fun to sing and people seemed to have enjoyed the first Place Vendome a lot. It did pretty well and also received surprisingly good reviews all over the world." - more on this story

More on Place Vendome - Place+Vendome" >Place Vendome CDs

See Pretty Lights Across America

PR reports: After blowing out box offices across the country for the first few months of 2009, Pretty Lights is primed for a large national summer tour. With sellout after sellout across the country, the innovative electronic duo has scheduled 16 shows between now and their triumphant performance at Red Rocks in Morrison Colorado. With dates spanning New York City, San Francisco and Norfolk, VA --- Pretty Lights will be pumping out of speakers from coast to coast, re-shaping the standard of electronic music.

Pretty Lights is the musical vision of the ultra-versatile Colorado based producer Derek Vincent Smith, accompanied in the live setting by drummer, Cory Eberhard. Together these two achieve a raw energy rarely reached in the realm of electronic music. At a time when music lovers from almost all subcultures and genres are finding common ground in the basic form of bangin' beats, Pretty Lights is giving the people what they want; electro organic, cutting-edge party rocking beats, that fill venues with energy and emotion and send dance floors into frenzies. What makes Pretty Lights truly different though, is that the beats carry serious soul.

Fans across all genres are coming together to fuel the Pretty Lights movement. One only need to download Filling up the City Skies, the free double disc that was released for download only a few short months ago at www.prettylightsmusic.com, to see what the hype is about. The two-disc release is a 26 track journey through past, present, and future. Smith juxtaposes collages of beautiful vintage samples against backdrops of futuristic synthesis and dirty broken beats, creating a sound that can snap your neck while simultaneously shedding your tears. The album has been downloaded well over 50,000 times from the Pretty Lights website in the few months since its release, proving that the PL sound is not only getting around, it's spreading like a virus. - more on this story

More on Pretty Lights - Pretty+Lights" >Pretty Lights CDs

. Keith Urban: Reaching For The Sky

Keith Urban is one of the premier live performers on the road at this moment in time. In my humble opinion, he may be the best arena performer today. The crowd sung along to every word encompassing the arena with a tender glow often only found in clubs. - Read the full Keith Urban: Reaching For The Sky review

. Guillotine - Blood Money

For a band that experienced submersion and was dead for nearly a decade, I must say Guillotine's presence cannot be touched. Blood Money is slickly innovative for its period, and the record dramatically decodes thrash's prime qualities - Read the full Guillotine - Blood Money review

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