After making good health their top priority, the Decemberists are back and healthier than ever.

He left us mid tour out here in Europe about a week ago to be home with his child growing up and to figure out if pursuing the band thing was something he was still feeling. So, most of you may know, while he has been gone this past week and a half, we have been finishing the tour overseas with Silverstien just us 4 dudes. Since we HATE cancelling shows and we love our fans, we have decided to press on through the situation and still ROCK OUT for all ya. Jared has put down the bass just for now and has stepped it up filling in as the front man. Its been a fun week, the shows have been super intense. You guys out here are some of few that will ever get to see this hahahha.

It's been great but the machine needs time off. Theres nothing more we like than to stay on the road nonstop but we have to come to reality here and see that we need to take a breather, recharge our batteries and come back stronger than ever with a brand new album, because we will have to redo all this all over again in no time. We didn't want to cancel the tour with Behemoth but after much thought it was the right decision.

The seven dates will get underway in Edinburgh on March 3rd before Young travels to London to play the Hammersmith Apollo (5/6/8/9th).

The collection will feature the two Black Flag covers the band recorded for the Lords of Dogtown soundtrack, an unused cut from the The Sufferer & the Witness sessions, and another rare track recorded while on tour years ago.

The White Barons, fronted by burlesque dancer and ex-Insaints, current all-girl psychobilly band Thee Merry Widows singer, Miss Eva Von Slut, bring driving punk n' roll from all angles with a dash a psychobilly for good measure. After forming in 2006 the Bay Area quartet released their debut album Up All Night With The White Barons on Gearhead Records.

It was a surprise result for sure, since operatic weirdo Rhydian Roberts had been tipped to become the X Factor winner right from day one, but Leon Jackson proved that he had the winning mix of weird-haired good looks, strong regional support and the ability to burst into tears every time he said a word that even sounded like 'mum'.

Obviously, CWK have come a long way from recording Mulberry Street in 2005, playing venues all over the world and releasing their acclaimed Robbers & Cowards LP. Think of this as a special treat for uber-fans, a trip into what it was like to be part of what would become CWK as we know it, at the conception of the group. Or, to put it another way, think of this as their
proto-Basement Tapes.

As usual, there will be two stages where over 20 bands will perform for thousands of metal freaks!!!! Today, Metal Mind Productions reveals the complete list of the bands that will perform on the main stage at the Metalmania Festival 2008.

As icing to their 2007 cake, Dessner gets to sit back and watch as Boxer lands on various Top 10 lists across the board. In fact, Boxer slugged its way to the number 8 spot on Filter's list as well. Enjoy Mr. Dessner's selections...

Aaron Dessner of The National:

Crossfire Publications, is in the process of releasing a series of recordings from the pre- and post-Mothers of Invention eras, with many unreleased tracks featured. The Pal Recording Studios recordings are of enormous historical value, as they were Frank Zappa's very first studio tracks. The symbiotic relationship Zappa had with Paul Buff and Pal formed the core of his later output.
Paul Buff and Frank Zappa pioneered many of the recording techniques and musical styles that continue on today by using the studio itself as a dynamic music instrument, rather than a static capture environment. At Pal, the classic divide between engineer and musician was non-existent.