L.A. Guns: The band that calls themselves, L.A. Guns, have announced their new guitarist. (Yes, L.A. Guns is touring without their namesake Tracii Guns.  But they do have Phil Lewis singing and Steve Riley playing drums).  The gunsters hired on former Roxx Gang and Fraidy Cat axeman Stacey Blades to fill the vacant guitarist slot. 

Cinderella: Rumor has it that after taking some time off to pursue other adventures, Fred Coury is putting the band back together and planning to hit the road in May.  No word as yet on new album plans. 

Skid Row drummer Phil Varone has left the band for �personal reasons� and the group have found a replacement but are keeping a tight lip on who it might be. They promise an announcement will be made soon. � Despite the personnel change the group will go forward with plans for a new video and tour. 

RATT R.I.P.: It looks like RATT has been exterminated. Ratt�s Juan Croucier recently filled fans in on the future of the group, "Hi Friends...I guess it's time for me to finally put this to rest once and for all. The original Ratt, minus Robbin Crosby, of course, is not going to get back together. Not now and not in the foreseeable future. There are way too many issues that would need to be worked out and I have serious doubts that they can ever be worked out. For a while, I did have hopes of them coming to their senses but that hope is now gone. I frankly don't even want to discuss the subject anymore.

�My personal future plans are going to make it even harder, if not impossible, for me to ever be a part of Ratt again. So, enjoy the records we made, videos and bootleg -- live videos that are out there, because that is as close to the original Ratt as you are going get. I'm sorry and I won't be responding to this matter anymore."

Don�t worry RATT-N-Rollers, you can still get your Ratt fix as Stephen Pearcy has almost completed work on a new cover CD, with a little help from Dokken�s George Lynch. Who does he cover on the CD? Why himself. Yes, Stephen is re-recording old Ratt songs for the new CD, but will try to update the sound. 

Bret Michaels:  Pearcy isn�t the only one covering himself. Poison frontman Bret Michaels recently recording a tribute to himself and called upon a who�s who of hard rock to help him in the adventure.  The disc is entitled �A Salute To Poison / Show Me Your Hits� and was produced by Bret and includes guest appearances from Bruce Kulick (KISS), Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns), Jesse Johnson (Morris Day and The Time), Slaves on Dope, Total Chaos, Mark Kendall (Great White), 
Dave Amato (REO Speedwagon), Al McKay (Earth Wind and Fire) and Paul Shore (is that Pauly Shore?).  You can pick up the disc right now at Dreamland Discs. 

Scorpions: Get ready for �Unbreakable�, the new studio album from the Scorpions which has a tentative release date of some time in April. 

Slaughter: Capitol Records reportedly plan to release a new Slaughter compilation that will feature their greatest hits and rarities. No word yet on the title. But it is possible that this won�t be a new release at all but the next in line of the Capitol remastered reissues of the Slaughter catalog. This one possibly being the 1995 release �Mass Slaughter: The Best of Slaughter�. Capital released remastered versions of the group�s first two CDs last June. 

Word has it that the band will be touring this summer and plan a new DVD release. But mums the word on a new studio album. 

Pretty Maids are reportedly working on new material for a new studio album due out in the Fall. They will most likely tour behind the new release. 

Quiet Riotless: Former Quiet Riot frontman Kevin DuBrow is set to make his solo debut in Las Vegas next month. DuBrow is schedule to be part of the �Rock The Lounge Mondays� series at The Palapa Lounge (at the Palms) when he appears on February 2nd. 

House of Lords will see a European release of their new studio album �The Power & The Myth� on March 15th courtesy of Frontiers Records. 

TNT: 10,000 lovers but only one semi hit. TNT plan to release their new CD �My Religion� on February 23rd in Japan and March 8th in Europe. No word on U.S. release plans. 

Skid Warrant? - Metal Sludge polled their readers on who should replace Jani Lane in Warrant and it looks like the king mother trucker himself, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach won out.    Check out the poll by clicking here. 
 

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