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Day in Rock Report for 12/12/2016


Today's Day in Rock Stories


Sebastian Bach In Talks With Skid Row About Reunion?

(Classic Rock) Sebastian Bach says there are currently talks over a Skid Row classic lineup reunion. The former frontman reported earlier this year that he wanted to "bury the 20-year hatchet" with his former colleagues, though the band have repeatedly shouted down the idea - even declining $500,000 for two reunion shows. Now Bach says his current manager Rick Sales is discussing the idea with Skid Row's earlier manager Doc McGhee.

He tells Eddie Trunk (via Blabbermouth): "All I can say is that Rick is talking to Doc. That's all I can say. That is what is happening, and I don't have anything else to tell you.

"All I can tell you is we're not getting any younger, folks. Let's put the hair band back together while we've got hair." The news comes as Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan announced they're recording new music with their touring vocalist, former Dragonforce singer ZP Theart. He adds: "Things are going amazing!" Read more here.

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At The Drive-In Release First Song Over A Decade, Reveal Tour Dates

At The Drive-In are officially back. The band have released their new song in over a decade and half and announced a string of live dates that will take place next spring.

The acclaimed El Paso band reunited at the beginning of the year (with Sparta guitarist Keeley Davis taking the place of Jim Ward) and last week they released their new song since their 2000 album "Relationship of Command."

The new track, entitled "Governed By Contagions" can be streamed here. The band also revealed a short number of North American tour dates including stops in Washington, DC, New York City, Boston, Detroit and Toronto. See the dates here.

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Disturbed Frontman Questions Grammys Definition Of Rock

(Classic Rock) Disturbed's David Draiman has questioned why his band and pop star Beyonce have been nominated in the same Grammy category. It was announced earlier this week that Disturbed's cover of The Sound Of Silence on the Conan show would go up against Beyonce and Jack White's Don't Hurt Yourself in the Best Rock Performance category at next year's Grammys.

And Draiman has questioned the ceremony's definition of rock music and says the fact that both feature in the same shortlist means that "something has gone wrong."

He tells Billboard: "I have mad respect for all the artists in this category, including and especially Jack White. Is it strange to be up against Beyonce? It definitely stands out - like, one of these things is not like the other. But what are you going to do?

"What bothers me is that everybody in this category are giants of the field. These are the biggest of the big - the people who made a serious impact this year. Those boys in Twenty One Pilots did some damage this year. And Bowie, a posthumous award happens all the time, and who more deserving? It's crazy the amount of talent in this category."

The vocalist adds: "When did it all become 'rock'? If you look at every other genre, there are so many categories and sub-categories. For rock, this is all we've got, so everything ends up being jammed into these four categories." Read more here.

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Dave Mustaine Launching Megadeth Boot Camp For Fans

(Classic Rock) Dave Mustaine has announced a Megadeth Boot Camp in spring 2017. Describing it as "the ultimate fan experience," the frontman offers die-hard fans the "once-in-a-lifetime" chance to hang out on his private estate in Fallbrook, Southern California for a weekend next March.

Guests can camp in a private furnished bell tent with beds and a lounge as part of the premium boot camp package. This costs either $5499 for a single occupancy or $2999 a person for a double occupancy ($5,998 total). Photos can be viewed below.

Premium ticketholders will also be provided breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, gaining priority access to various workshops and exclusive access to an intimate acoustic performance from Megadeth. Read more here.

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Guns N' Roses Sell Over A Million Reunion Tour Tickets In A Day

(hennemusic) Guns N' Roses fans bought more than 1 million tickets for the band's 2017 European and Canadian legs of the Not In This Lifetime tour on December 9.

According to promoters Live Nation, the achievement means the reunited trio of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan have now sold more than three million tickets in 2016, making it the year's most successful rock tour.

The new figures don't include the band's 2017 US dates, which went on sale December 10. The stadium dates in Europe and North America will begin with a 7-week, 19 concert European trek that opens in Dublin, Ireland on May 27, with shows wrapping up in Tel Aviv, Israel on July 15.

Following a two-week break, the group will launch a North America summer run in St. Louis, MO on July 27. See the dates here.

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Metallica To Rock Jimmy Kimmel Live

(hennemusic) Metallica have confirmed plans to perform on ABC-TV's Jimmy Kimmel Live this Wednesday, December 14. The Kimmel appearance will be followed by an intimate concert at The Ford Theatre on December 15.

"As you may have heard," says the band, "we're off to Los Angeles next week for some more shenanigans and while we're there we've been invited to shut down a few streets and throw a massive block party with Jimmy Kimmel Live! Jimmy has been kind enough to ask us to stop by, chat and play a few songs outside of the studio on Wednesday, December 14th. We want you to join us!

"If you'll be in the Los Angeles area next week, there are three ways to win. Fifth Members should click here to enter to win your shot at two tickets. Tune into your favorite local radio station and listen for chances to snag some tickets through them. Finally, head over to 1iota.com for info about free tickets." Read more here.

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Tom Petty Announces 40th Anniversary Tour

(hennemusic) Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers have announced the first series of dates for a 40th anniversary tour. The tour news was delivered in sync with the release of two companion vinyl box sets featuring the group's entire studio album catalogue alongside three solo records by Petty.

The first run of 35 shows marking the 1976 release of the band's self-titled debut begins April 20 in Oklahoma City, OK with concerts scheduled into late July, and more dates to be announced soon.

Joe Walsh will open several of the early shows, with country star Chris Stapleton on board for a Wrigley Field event in Chicago, IL on June 29 and a pair of gigs at Milwaukee, WI's annual Summerfest in July.

Petty revealed the news during a guest appearance on The Tonight Show via satellite on Thursday, telling host Jimmy Fallon, "I'm really excited, should be a lot of fun." Read more and see the dates here.

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Greg Lake Talked Christmas Hit During Final Interview

(Prog) Late Emerson, Lake & Palmer frontman Greg Lake discussed the motivation for his 1975 Christmas single in what's thought to have been his final interview.

Lake died at the age of 69 last week, after what his manager and friend described as a "long and stubborn" battle with cancer. In an interview that the Guardian planned to publish later this month, he was asked about 1975 hit I Believe In Father Christmas, co-written with Pete Sinfield.

Lake said: "It was about how Christmas had deteriorated and was in danger of becoming yet another victim of crass corporate financial exploitation. As much as I love everyone having a good time, it's about more than 12 pints of lager and a crate of Bailey's. It's more important to make some spiritual human contact, or visit someone lonely."

He added: "We never had any commercial or financial intentions. But of course, now everyone wants to know how it feels to receive all the lovely royalties, which are apparently delivered by wheelbarrow by Santa himself, after a long day climbing down everybody's chimneys." Read more and check out the song here.

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Bob Dylan Never Imagined Winning Nobel Prize

(Radio.com) This past weekend, the Nobel Prize ceremony took place in Sweden, and as expected, Bob Dylan was not there to accept his award for Literature. However, Patti Smith performed his "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" in his absence (she messed up the lyrics and had to start over, noting that she was very nervous).

Dylan provided a speech, which was read by the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Azita Raji. Read it below (courtesy of The Nobel Foundation 2016). "Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests in attendance tonight.

"I'm sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or seen coming. From an early age, I've been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. These giants of literature whose works are taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken of in reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words.

"I don't know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for themselves, but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It's probably buried so deep that they don't even know it's there." Read the rest and see Patti Smith's performance here.

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Vivian Campbell Reveals Unexpected Def Leppard Influence

(Classic Rock) Vivian Campbell has recalled how Soundgarden influenced Def Leppard in the mid-90s. The guitarist, who has also performed with Dio and Whitesnake, says the band were listening to iconic Soundgarden album Superunknown when they wrote 1996's Slang - which was widely regarded as a musical departure from their signature sound.

Campbell tells Eon Music: "We went into the recording and writing process for that record knowing only one thing - we could not make a classic sounding Def Leppard record. Other than that, we were clueless, so we were kind of making it up as we went along.

"We were taking on board a lot of what was going on in the current music genre. Soundgarden's Superunknown was the one album that we listened to more than any other when we were making that record. I think it was the best record of the grunge era.

"I love the songs, I love the sound of that record, so that was a very influential record for us when we were making Slang." here.

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Cro-Mags, Danzig, QOTSA Supergroup Bloodclot Stream New Song

(Metal Hammer) Reformed hardcore unit Bloodclot have released a lyric video for their track Up In Arms. The band is fronted by Cro-Mags mainman John Joseph, with former Danzig and Agnostic Front guitarist Todd Youth, former Queens Of The Stone Age and Danzig drummer Joey Castillo and Queens Of The Stone Age ex-bassist Nick Oliveri rounding out the lineup.

Bloodclot existed in different formations which date back to the 1981 Bad Brains tour. Joseph and Youth rekindled their friendship after Youth filled in for AJ Novello at a Cro-Mags show and they decided to resurrect the project.

Up In Arms is the title track from their forthcoming album, which is due out next spring via Metal Blade Records. Listen to the song and read some comments about its theme here.

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Magnum Part Way With Mark Stanway After 36 Years

(Classic Rock) Magnum keyboardist Mark Stanway has left the band after 36 years. The group are currently on the road on their Sacred Blood Divine Lies winter tour and have three dates remaining. But Stanway reports he's decided to leave immediately due to "irrevocable circumstances."

He says in a statement: "Due to irrevocable circumstances, I am deeply saddened to announce that I have made one of the most difficult decisions in my life - I have officially left Magnum.

"I apologize to anyone who was maybe hoping to see me personally over the next few days, but sadly I will not be there. However, I should like it known, that, I am and will remain extremely proud to have been a small part of it all for the past 36 years or so and wish the band and organisation all the best for the future.

"I will of course firmly remain in music and hope to see many of you a little further down the road." Read more here.

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Asia Announce Symfonia Live Release

(Prog) Asia will release their live album Symfonia - Live In Bulgaria 2013 on February 24. The show was recorded during the Sounds Of The Ages Festival at Plovdiv's Second Century Roman Theater in September 2013, featuring the lineup of John Wetton, Carl Palmer, Geoff Downes along with Sam Coulson.

Asia were also joined by Plovdiv's Philharmonic Orchestra on some songs. The package will be available on 2CD/DVD, Blu-Ray and MP3. Wetton, who is on the road to recovery after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy for a tumour last year, says:

"The show in the glorious Roman Theater of Plovdiv, with orchestra, along with the massive Sweden Rock Festival and the shows in the UK and the show European tour thereafter, were the first dates of the new chapter of Asia - and in my opinion, the band has never sounded better." Read more here.

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Devin Townsend Covers Vengaboys Hit We Like To Party

(Metal Hammer) Devin Townsend has revealed he's recorded a cover of Vengaboys hit We Like To Party!. Townsend says he's a fan of cheesy Euro dance tunes - particularly the work of Aqua and Vengaboys.

And he has recorded a version of We Like to Party! (The Vengabus) with his Casualties Of Cool bandmate Che Aimee Dorval and long-time collaborator Anneke Van Giersbergen.

But the "destructive" cover version won't be released until Groovilicious Records grant him the rights to do so. Townsend tells TeamRock Radio: "I love Barbie Girl by Aqua. Vengaboys, We Like To Party, I remember when I heard that song it made me cry, I liked it so much.

"I recently did a version of it with both Che and Anneke but I can't release it yet because we can't get the rights for it. At the end it's really destructive, as you would imagine." Check out the song here.

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Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates Says Labels Wrong About Bands

(Metal Hammer) Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates says record companies shouldn't rush bands "in and out of the studio." The group have consistently praised their new label Capitol Records for allowing them room for creativity and caring for their artistic "vision" after they'd split with longtime label Warner Bros and triggered a legal battle earlier this year.

Now guitarist Gates insists it's important to give artists the chance to experiment and take time to create their own sound - as otherwise music as a whole will never progress.

He tells OverDrive: "I think that most of the other labels tend to ignore the genre and just don't seem to have an interest in investing in new bands. The whole A&R process has really changed in the last 20 or so years.

"It's such a shame really because there are thousands of really exciting and super talented bands out there just waiting to be discovered." Gates continues: "The bands that are signed should be giving a chance to experiment with their sound and not rushed in and out of the studio. In order to make a record sound amazing, or to achieve a groundbreaking new sound, there has to be a level of time to achieve that.

"If that means that there should be a bunch of different guitar amps used to get a particular sound or a little more time in searching for a different tone or effect that can influence a whole new sound, then that really needs to happen. At the end of the day, nothing will ever change if there is no effort being invested in trying to make a change and push things forward." Watch the full interview here.

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2016 hennemusic Rock News Awards To Be Revealed This Week

(hennemusic) The countdown begins this week to the launch of the 2016 hennemusic Rock News Awards, which recognize the biggest rock news artists and stories of the past year.

In the tradition of the weekly hennemusic Hot 10, the daily rock news outlet will count down the Top 10 Rock News Artists and the Top 10 Rock News Stories of 2016 starting Tuesday, December 13.

Finalists for the 7th annual hennemusic Rock News Awards are chosen by readers: winners are determined by the combined total page views of the top 50 hennemusic rock news stories of the past twelve months.

"The hennemusic Rock News Awards represent the voice of music fans who seek out news on their favorite artists," says publisher Bruce Henne, "and that's what hennemusic delivers daily."

The 2016 hennemusic Rock News Awards winners will be revealed on Thursday, December 22 at hennemusic.com. Previous honorees include Guns N' Roses, Jimmy Page, Van Halen, Pearl Jam and KISS. here.

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Steve Vai Talks Supergroup Offers

(Classic Rock) Guitar icon Steve Vai says he always gets offers to join supergroups. The former Whitesnake and David Lee Roth axeman toured with fellow guitarists Yngwie Malmsteen and Zakk Wylde for their Generation Axe project earlier this year.

While he wouldn't rule out joining another star-studded lineup altogether, Vai says that too many acts end up sticking to the same musical formula to try and "re-live the glory days."

He tells Salt Lake Tribune: "I've done it. I get offers all the time to form supergroups. I'm not opposed to doing something if I think all the moving parts are in place. But I'm not interested in trying to re-live the glory days of yore. Because that's what a lot of people wanna do."

Vai continues: "They do one style and they get a taste of rock stardom and it becomes addictive. I wouldn't be opposed to doing something with a supergroup if I thought that everybody was on the same page, with a desire to do something completely different, uncommercial yet very accessible, and just really intense and musical and different somehow. But it's really hard to find guys like that. So I don't look for it." Read more here.

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Paul Weller Announce Spring UK Tour

(TeamRock) Paul Weller has announced a 10-date UK tour for April of next year. The former Jam frontman begins the tour on April 1 in Bristol and wraps up in Reading on April 13.

The shows are in addition to Weller's appearance to raise funds and awareness for the Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall on March 31.

Weller is due to release his 13th solo album in 2017. The follow-up to 2015's Saturns Pattern is expected in the Spring. See the newly announced tour dates here.

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Classic Rock Roll Of Honour To Be Broadcast In The UK

(Classic Rock) Last month's Classic Rock Roll Of Honour in Tokyo will be broadcast on the Sky Arts channel in the UK in the coming weeks. Def Leppard, Jeff Beck, The Struts and Cheap Trick were among the big winners at the ceremony, which was held in Japan for the first time ever, with the spiritual home of Sumo wrestling Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium in Tokyo packed with 8000 rock fans for the star-studded event on November 11.

It will air Sky Arts (Sky channel 121, Virgin channel 122) this month, with the date to be confirmed in due course. The TV show will be hosted by veteran radio presenter Nicky Horne and will include live performances from Cheap Trick, Richie Sambora and Orianthi and the All-Star Jam.

The All-Star Jam brought the curtain down on the sold-out event. Speaking after the ceremony, TeamRock Chief Executive Billy Anderson said: "It was a bold move to take the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour to Japan for the first time and we are delighted that it has been such a huge success.

"The lineup put together for the sell-out crowd who flocked to the Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium was spectacular and every one of them will remember this night for years to come. We truly made history with this lineup." Read more here.

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