WKHY Rock Report |
Mick Jagger says the decision to do five shows last November and December in London and the New York City-area was an experiment to see if they wanted to do a full blown tour this year. "If it went well then we do more and here we are doing more."
Right now they have 17 North American shows in nine cities followed by three in England in June and July. After Friday's opener in L.A., the 50 & Counting tour heads north to Oakland on Sunday.
METALLICA: Take Us Out to the Ballgame
Metallica will perform the "The Star-Spangled Banner" for their hometown San Francisco Giants Friday night. The first ever Metallica Night will be held at AT&T Park in San Francisco and see the band also throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tickets are still available and include a limited-edition Metallica/Giants hat. A portion of the sales will be donated to the Bill Graham Foundation.Check out a video of Metallica hanging out with Giants pitcher Barry Zito at the Giants website.
The member of his band, Adler, posted a note on their Facebook page stating that the band's summer tour had been canceled and that "Steven has checked into an undisclosed rehabilitation center to continue working on his sobriety. We appreciate everyone's support and understanding. We hope to make the dates up soon."
Adler has been in and out of rehab multiple times, including appearances on VH1 programs Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and Sober House.
VOLBEAT, ALL THAT REMAINS: Allegiance to the Road
Volbeat, All That Remains, HIM and Airbourne are teaming up for this summer's Rock Allegiance tour.The producers of the festival have yet to announce the dates and cities for the festival. That info will be revealed next week.
KORN: Reunion With "Head" Continues in Studio
The reunion of Brian "Head" Welch and Korn has continued into the studio.
Korn announced Thursday that they're recording a new album with Welch for the first time in eight years. A video showing them in the studio debuted on RollingStone.com with a comment from Welch saying, "We knew we would have a blast playing together, because we love each other so much, but we really wanted to make sure the music felt right before we committed to making a whole album together. But since we got in the studio, everything just started pouring out. Now I can't wait until our fans hear this stuff!"
The reunited Korn kick off their summer tour on May 15th in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania.
PEARL JAM, FOO FIGHTERS, KINGS OF LEON: Be Active, Win Tix
An all-star roster of artists have joined the Global Citizen Tickets Initiative, which hopes to increase social activism with free concert tickets. Fans can register at globalcitizen.org/tickets and earn points for each action they take to win tickets.The list of artists taking part includes Alabama Shakes, Black Sabbath, Brandi Carlile, Bruce Springsteen, Depeche Mode, Foo Fighters, Gotye, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, John Mayer, Kings of Leon, Linkin Park, Los Lobos, Michael Franti and Spearhead, My Morning Jacket, Neil Young, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
BLACK SABBATH: So Why the Suggestion of Ginger?
When it became clear that Bill Ward would not be drumming on the Black Sabbath reunion album, 13, producer Rick Rubin put together a list of possible replacements and one of them was Cream's Ginger Baker. Rubin says the reason he suggested him was "because I wanted to get someone who had grown up in the same world as them, and who jammed the way they did. There aren’t many of those people left. Most of them are dead... It’s a very different thing from the way hard rock and heavy metal drummers play today. That’s the kind of drummer I was looking for.”The band did not agree and brought in Brad Wilk from Rage Against the Machine, who was also on Rubin's list.
13 comes out on June 11th.
EDDIE VAN HALEN: Go Figure
Go figure -- now Eddie Van Halen is willing to make the media rounds.When Van Halen released A Different Kind of Truth and toured behind it last year, Eddie did very little press. But he plays on two songs on LL Cool J's new album, Authentic, and he'll gladly discuss that when he appears with the rapper on Friday night's edition of CNN's Piers Morgan Live.
Eddie, who plays on the songs "We're the Greatest" and "Not Leaving You Tonight," says, "The thought of me playing guitar to hip-hop was definitely left of center, but I was intrigued and I agreed to meet and listen to what he had. I was not only inspired by the songs I heard, but LL's enthusiasm, his down-to-earth personality, the freedom he gave me to co-create and his willingness to, for the very first time, sing the chorus on 'We're the Greatest.' It was like a breath of fresh air that I needed as an artist and an individual."
Also on the album is Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. Piers Morgan Live airs weeknights on CNN at 9 p.m. ET.
Headlines for Thursday, May 2, 2013
SLAYER: Guitarist Dead at 49 
Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman died Thursday morning at a hospital near his Southern California home. He was 49.
The band issued a statement saying the cause was liver failure. Hanneman had not been active with the thrash metal band since January 2011 when it was revealed he had contracted necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as the flesh-eating disease. His last public performance with Slayer came at The Big 4 show in Indio, California when he joined the band for two songs during their encore.
Slash tweeted Thursday evening, "Tragic and shocking news about Jeff Hanneman. He is going to missed by so many. What a sad day for metal"
MEGADETH: Gigantour Dates and Final Band Coming Today
Megadeth will announce the dates of this summer's Gigantour today. Frontman Dave Mustaine told us where you should go to check out when and where the shows will be happening, and his plans to reveal one final band tonight that hasn't been announced yet.As of early this week, the Gigantour lineup consisted of Megadeth, Device, Hellyeah and newcomers Death Division. Mustaine reveals a newly announced band and tells us more about opening act Death Division.
The Golden Gods Awards take place this evening at Club Nokia in Los Angeles.
GOLDEN GODS: Metallica, Five Finger Death Punch, More Perform
Metallica, Five Finger Death Punch, Stone Sour and Halestorm are among the acts performing at tonight's (Thursday's) Golden Gods Awards.The event at Club Nokia in Los Angeles will be shown live on AXS TV starting at 8 p.m. PT. Metallica will receive the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award, Rob Zombie will receive the Golden God Award and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi will be honored with the Riff Lord Award.
Check out the Golden Gods website for the nominees for the 11 awards being given out.
BLACK SABBATH: Oz and Ends
Ozzy Osbourne has reportedly been staying clean ever since his big admission a few weeks ago -- and his daughter Kelly's wedding is a big motivator.A source tells RadarOnline, "He says he’s motivated by the fact that Sharon left him, and now he’s promised Kelly that he would walk her down the aisle only if he’s clean. Kelly even threatened that if he wasn’t coherent by the time of the wedding that she would have her brother Jack give her away."
However, those nuptials to vegan chef Matthew Mosshart have never been confirmed. Kelly told an Aussie radio station this week, "I'm not telling you guys anything. When I have a ring on my finger, then you'll know I'm engaged."
In Sabbath news, the Best Buy version of their new album, 13, will contain a bonus track, "Naïveté in Black." 13 comes out on June 11th. A deluxe version of the album will come with four bonus tracks -- “Methademic," "Peace of Mind," "Pariah" and "Naïveté in Black."
Sabbath is in Perth, Australia on Saturday.
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH: Two Albums Are Better Than One
Following in the footsteps of Stone Sour, Five Finger Death Punch will release their new album in two parts.The first volume of the as-yet-untitled project will be released on July 23rd, with the second due out in the fall. The band will debut the first single, "Lift Me Up," live at Revolver's Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday. They promise that their performance will feature "a very special surprise guest."
Five Finger Death Punch will co-headline the 2013 Mayhem Festival with Rob Zombie this summer. That tour kicks off on June 29th in San Bernadino, California.