Duff McKagan Recruits Izzy Stradlin and Jerry Cantrell For New EP

"Working on setlist ideas right now," tweeted bassist Wolfgang Van Halen recently. "Which 'deep cuts' or 'b-sides' would you like to hear on this upcoming #VanHalen tour??"

This week, the bassist posted some short video clips from rehearsals on Instagram. "Trying something new today at rehearsal..." he wrote as the band could be heard playing "Dirty Movies" from 1981's "Fair Warning" album.

Wolfgang followed the first clip up with a second, writing, "Another day, another rehearsal, another tune to try out..." as his father, Eddie, played the introduction to "In A Simple Rhyme" from 1980's "Women And Children First."

Taylor will not only be doing book signings but he also announced a series of solo shows that will feature unplugged performances, fan Q&A and readings from the new book. Fans can preorder the book here.

The book signing events will launch on July 6th in Ridgewood, NJ and includes events in New York City (July 8th), Huntington, NY (July 9th), Edina, MN (July 12th) and Los Angeles on July 18th.

The solo shows will kick off on July 7th in New York City at the Gramercy Theatre and will include stops in Ashbury Park, Detroit, Chicago, St. Paul, Rock Island, Lawrence, Denver and conclude on July 19th in Los Angeles.

The Canadian giants recently announced their upcoming North American tour was likely to be the last of its kind. Lifeson tells Global News: "I have mixed feelings about it. In one way I feel relief - I think 40 years is a long time to be touring the way we tour.

"I still love playing. But in Neil's case, for example, his job is really tough. Playing the way he does is very, very difficult on his body. He has chronic tendonitis in his arms and he's had problems with his shoulders.

Mainman Kerry King tells Metal Hammer: "It's one of the best fits in music history. It's like Brian Johnson joining AC/DC - it's a slam-dunk replacement, and you don't get those very often.

"He was my first choice, and luckily I've been able to use my first choice since day one. Also, he's from my own era. He's been doing this for the exact same time that we have."

He tells Music Radar: "I got my '57 Hardtail Custom Shop Reissue Strat out and tried to channel Gilmour without ripping him. I played a few licks and producer Jay Joyce said, 'Seriously, you're going to play the Gilmour licks of all Gilmour licks?'

"Jan is all over this album," says Schon of the follow-up to 2014's "So U." "I wrote the material to give Jan room to stretch. There are not many three-minute ditties. It's all huge, epic, bombastic�futuristic."

"This is an evolutionary album for me," continues the guitarist. "I've always aspired to be a better player and push musical boundaries. And sure, I've sold 80-million records with Journey, and I'm proud of that, but this album is really me - all based on my guitar, which is my 'voice.' It's bold. There's love, and there's definitely fire and an element of danger. And the energy level is off the hook."

Schon and Journey kick off their first Las Vegas residency on Wednesday, a run that will see the band perform 9 shows at The Joint inside The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino between April 29 and May 16.

Smith's performance during RDC's debut show in 2014 was marred when he appeared drunk and under-rehearsed, although Lee later laughed off the incident.

"This is where the story of the album begins", says frontman Matt Bellamy. "The protagonist loses hope and becomes vulnerable to the dark forces introduced in Psycho and the next few songs - before eventually defecting, revolting and overcoming these dark forces later in the story."

The 2-disc set features 20 tracks by the metal legend redone by a dozen different acts from the Massacre Records stable, including Crystal Ball, Messenger, Gun Barrel, Gloryful, The Order, Metal Inquisitor, Circle Of Silence, Burden Of Grief, Love.Might.Kill, Rebellion, Iron Fate and Wizard.

"Ronnie James Dio was a hero and inspiration to many musicians, such as Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Doro Pesch and Axel Rudi Pell, and rumour has it that he's the main reason why every metal head worldwide is familiar with the sign of the horns," says the German-based label. "Now it's time for us to pay tribute to him as well: 12 of our bands covered Ronnie James Dio songs to honor this exceptional musician!"

The cover art for "A Light In The Black" was created by Jan Yrlund of Darkgrove.net, who made an effort to pay tribute to the singer.

"I decided to go for an old school type of hand-painted look, like the classic Dio covers, but I still wanted to keep it original," he explains. "You'll find many hints and details that refer to well-known Dio themes: The mountain has two peaks as if they were devil's horns, and of course the Dio mascot Murray is featured too, merging from the fire."

Fripp recorded two improvised takes in 2006 and Cross has reworked them and added violin parts. Cross says: "It's a piece in which we all managed to express ourselves and get our personalities across. This little theme that Starless Starlight is based on has a kind of journey, and it emerges different but still surviving. I've always been very impressed with that."

In February, Taylor said: "I don't think you'll ever see a Slipknot 'unmasked' tour." And Root agrees, saying if they were to ditch their iconic headgear, it would probably mark the end of the road for the band.

Director Ben Palmer says: "The band saw an early cut in Manchester and, thankfully, loved it. A couple of days later, Guy Garvey had already penned the lyrics - and we were blown away. It was the perfect fit and a dream climax to the journey."

Karlsson's last solo effort was 2013's Free Fall which featured guest appearances from Russell Allen, Tony Harnell and Mark Boals among others.

Their last single, Glass Built Castles, is also expected to feature on the full-length effort. Vocalist Will Gardner recently told TeamRock: "There's a hell of a lot of really progressive stuff on there.

They say on their Kickstarter page: "This recording project started out as an idea for a Happy The Man reunion CD, but evolved to include many other musicians - so another Pedal Giants Animals project was born.

The concept lies behind Codpieces And Capes, which appears on eighth Tangent album A Spark In The Aether, launched earlier this month. Tillison tells ProgReport: "The old heroes don't really support us. They don't come and stand alongside us, or give us gigs.

"I've been operating The Tangent to a reasonable level of success over the past 12 years - and not once has any musician from the 70s said, 'I like what you're doing,' or, 'This is really good.' Not a word from any of them. I think that's a little bit sad."

It follows their 2013 blues album If The River Was Whisky, which emphasized the background they'd grown from before finding mainstream fame with Pocket Full Of Kryptonite in 1991.

Frontman Tim Eisenberg admits he came close to splitting the band following the launch of 2012's Crown And Treaty. He says: "For all the years of hard work and commitment, our progress seemed painfully slow. We had very little to show for our efforts

"Then it dawned on me that I'd be recording songs even if no one bought them. It wasn't something I did - it was something I was. Progress was more than Facebook likes and album sales."

He adds: "Cynicism kills creativity. I could moan about the state of the music industry. I could complain about Spotify not paying me anything. Or I could make an amazing record with people I love, and play it to people who care - or even play it to people until they care."

The band will be launching the tour on Saturday (May 2nd) at the Hell Fire Club in Redhill, Surrey and have announced dates that stretch to September 5th where they will be playing at the Unicorn in London.

They will also be playing a special acoustic show on July 4th. To get a taste of what to expect at the upcoming dates, the group have released a video for the track 'I Want You Maniac' from the EP. Watch the video here.

The Norwegian band say: "Rewind is of the more dynamic songs on the album. It kind of shows everything that Leprous is about within seven minutes, while still having a powerful and focused foundation. Not to mention that it's rather catchy."

This was the last song written for the new record. To a certain extent it was an afterthought. We had the final track listing, but felt the record was missing a certain element. I now appreciate that instinct. While not necessarily reflective of the record as a whole, it offers another layer of intrigue.

This song started off with simply the tone and timbre of the guitar. I found it to have an alluring bell like quality. When I listen now, it comes across more so as a piano or synths, either way I felt it was charming and a great starting point. From that point, I took more of a don't screw it up approach. I added synths, drums, all kinds of layers, and then ultimately, stripped it down significantly. I brought it back closer to the original idea. I think that bare bones version is pretty interesting; maybe we'll release that at some point.
Occasionally, I labor over words; that was not the case here. The lyrics came easy, as I felt more as if a journalist reporting on an event, then a lyricist "crafting" words. It was about a particular fleeting situation that I feel is somewhat universal in everyone's life. More so, it's about knowing you're in that moment when you are in it. That kinda of awareness is difficult, but when you find it, it can be pretty special.

The tag, "tonight only the dead are safe and sound" I felt embodied all that was the song. This is the carelessness of the moment. I feel it is a light track and is spelt out through symbolism. Most importantly, it eerily slips into the track perfectly. While recording, we asked out friend Aubyn to add the feminine element the song so desperately needed. The coupled falsetto vocals float above the lead, and it really comes across as intended. When listening to the track I wanted it to read as slow motion. Again, getting back to knowing when you're in the moment: deep breaths.

So what we did from there is we took that original idea, and worked it for the video. We shot over a couple days in Malibu and some of the Californian desert. The landscape definitely gave it the cinematic element we were looking for. Best part had to be driving around the desert in a late 60s Oldsmobile convertible light headed from the gas fumes... I felt we were near turning it into Fear And Loathing; the tone like the video is light. After filming the second night, we celebrated with the cast and crew. I think everyone was proud of what they'd done in a very short amount of time. Needless to say it made for a miserable flight back to Chicago.
Stay tuned for the music video!