Today's Day in Rock Stories

AC/DC's Brian Johnson Releases Message To Fans

Singer Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root have both had spinal surgeries. Thomson broke the news to fans on Tuesday via a post on his Instagram account where he shared photos of his spinal x-rays under the heading of "Beverly Hills Spine Surgery."

WWAY-TV Wilmington, NC reports Brewer was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease in 2013, and has since contracted chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones.

As a result, the 54-year old's diagnosis is terminal as continues to receive palliative care at the city's Lower Cape Fear Hospice. One of Brewer's "bucket list" items was to meet the Van Halen guitarist, which he did this past Monday via FaceTime.

"Soooo�this just happened!," posted Brewer's wife Julie on Facebook. "Eddie & his wife Janie were simply amazing! Felt like we were sitting and chatting with a close friend! Thanks to Eddie & Janie Van Halen & everyone at LCFH [Lower Cape Fear Hospice] for making Michael's dream come true! Eddie still has the best smile."

The group recently made news when they released a new single with Moore entitled "Make War". They performed that track as well as fans favorites like "Emily" and "Note to Self".

The reunion took place during the monthly Emo night event at The Echo and Echoplex on Tuesday night (February 7th) which also featured guest appearances from Machine Gun Kelly, Hawthorne Heights and Secondhand Serenade.

The April Wine frontman share the sad news on Facebook. He wrote, "My dear friend Steve Lang passed away this weekend. Steve played bass with AW for years and his musicianship was exceptional.

"Steve was a very intelligent guy that used his smarts to do well in the music industry as a player/writer, and later, in the world of finance. He was a nice man, a real gentleman.

"The last conversation I had with Steve was wonderful, I'm so happy that we had the chance to have had it....My condolences go out to his family. He will sadly be missed by his friends and by fans everywhere."

Christopher Guest, who played guitarist Nigel Tufnel in the movie and Michael McKean, who played vocalist and guitarist David St Hubbins are suing Vivendi for $400 million. Originally, Shearer, who played bassist Derek Smalls, had sued for $125 million, but the stakes have been raised due to the alleged misdeeds of the parent company.

Shinoda has a printout in front of him and reviews what they have written already. "We said, 'Oh, let's see if we can make these lines better,'" he says to Bennington before explaining why it's not working. "Wish that I could slow things down/ Wanna come down, but there's comfort�" he sings before trailing off and noting the problem. "There's two 'downs' in a row."

The Rage and Rapture Tour is scheduled to launch on July 5th at the The Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA and dates have been announced through August 12th at the Southside Ballroom in Dallas. More stops are still to be revealed.

The Maryland outfit will play seven east coast shows with Lucero and The Sword starting May 10 in Asheville, NC. "We did a whole bunch of touring in 2016," says frontman Neil Fallon. "Right now, we're cooling our heels and starting to kick around some riffs for the next record. We hope to be recording the LP come the end of the year. Where and with whom is yet TBD. At the moment though, we're really just at the beginning phase of writing and we already have a surplus of ideas.

Garcia will be launching the trek in support of his just release album "The Coyote Who Spoke In Tongues" which hit stores on January 27th and is his very first acoustic record.

"Wayne's World is one of those movies that wherever you come into it, you can go from there. Like Airplane! or Caddyshack or Dumb and Dumber, you can turn it on right in the middle and it's very quotable. I'd say it was in the Top 10 of most quotable."

Cooper also recalled what it was like to perform "Feed My Frankenstein" on set with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. He didn't realize that the shoot would demand some actual acting.

The band had previously advised fans that the new album would feature more clean vocals and once "Doris" was released, some fans reacted poorly to the changes, one went so far as to launch an online petition to prevent the album from being released.

Hermida addressed the backlash in a new interview with clrvynt.com. "I've always exercised my singing prowess. I've just hidden behind the screams because I was afraid of losing fans, but that's just something I'm not afraid of anymore. I don't really give a f***. I've been giving fans what they've wanted for 10 years, and I've realized fans don't want you to give them what they think they want. Fans want you to be yourself. Now that I'm being myself, I've seen the reaction, and it's f***ing killer."

When asked if he is having fun seeing "the ridiculous level of hatred for" the track, he laughed and responded, "Yeah, man. You look at it, and it's like someone making fun of your bright pink hair. Like, I don't have bright pink hair, but you can go ahead and think that I do, and have a good time calling me gay for it. I don't really care. It's not real, so it doesn't really affect me.

"Like people saying I'm out of key, when I can literally play a piano to the notes I'm singing. [Laughs] It's not real. I don't take true offense to it. Fact is, it's real to them, and I get a lot of joy from it. I wrote a song and it creates a different reality for people. It brings their real feelings to the surface, and they start speaking about it on the internet, which, in a way, feels like a weird social experiment that's going way better than I would've ever thought.

Eyehategod bassist Gary Mader took to social media to share the good news with fans. He wrote, "Words could not do justice in describing the outpouring of compassion and generosity for Mike and Michelle in this time of need, but i'll try. In terms of being a benefit, we were able to raise over $20,000 after combining ticket sales, raffle money, and benefit merchandise!

The band, which features King's X's dUg Pinnick, Lynch Mob and Dokken's George Lynch and Korn drummer Ray Luzier, once again teamed with director Jamie Brown for the new visual.

The tour will feature the band playing the entire 2016 album. She had this to say, "we never thought Mariner was going to be played live. After seeing so many far-travelling US brothers and sisters at shows across Europe, we are excited to have a chance to roar in America.

"We don't care about your color, who you snuggle with, or what you have in your back pocket. I guess what I'm trying to say is Dear America, we are coming. Be there, or we'll kill you."

These concerts are Best of Jethro Tull multimedia performances billed as "Jethro Tull by Ian Anderson" and feature the regular rock band. They will take place in Albuquerque, El Paso, Sugar Land (Houston), Austin, and Durant OK.

They explained in a statement "Gwar are about to take on the craziest year of touring in the band's recent history, and will be destroying North America literally all year! We are still lining up dates for the year long killing spree, but don't worry Bohabs, Gwar will be coming to visit all of your little sh*thole towns, and together, we will Make America Bleed Again!

The band hit the studio with producer and well-known RA frontman Sahaj Ticotin, who has produced and written music for Stitched Up Heart, Starset, and Sevendust.

The band has also revealed that they'll be using mixing guru Ben Grosse (Sevendust, Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin) for the final mastering and mixdown.