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. The Day in Rock - antiMUSIC.com's look at Today's Top Rock News Stories From Across the Web

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Ratt To Go Round and Round The West Coast This Week

PR reports: The original hard rock hit-makers RATT celebrate the Year Of The Ratt with a very special West Coast US run of dates this month. In honor of their Southern California roots the band is embarking on a 4-show mini-tour to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Ratt EP.

Says Ratt lead vocalist Stephen Pearcy, "The EP is what broke us back in 83 on Southern Cal radio, Both LA rock stations at the time played songs from the EP, San Diego soon followed. Then we got our deal with Atlantic Records and the rest is history."

Ratt recently performed the entire EP along with other Ratt faves live on the nationally syndicated radio show Rockline to an overwhelming response. Host Bob Coburn expressed that he was "Totally blown away" by Ratt and that they "Flat out kicked ass" as they delivered one of the best shows in the 27 years of Rockline! "We wanted to pay homage to the music that got us noticed and there is not better way then to do it in Southern California and Las Vegas" says drummer Bobby Blotzer.

The band is working on some plans for the summer and will have some major announcements in the very near future. - more on this story

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Pick Aiken's Cover

PR reports: Clay Aiken's new album, On My Way Here will be released on May 6, 2008 on CD and through digital music stores. In June, the album will be released in a new music format called Musicpass.

You may have already seen these cards at local retailers. They look like gift cards - but instead of giving you credit in a store, they give you access to purchase a digital version of an album, along with some bonus music or video.

The artwork for these cards are usually the album artwork. For On My Way Here, we thought it would be fun to let you, his fans decide what image to use as the cover art. There are three options posted on ClayAiken.com for you to choose from. - more on this story

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Vanilla Ice Charged For Pushing His Wife, Wife Baby

TMZ reports: Vanilla Ice left court in Palm Beach County, on Friday where Judge Nancy Perez laid down the law....ordering him to stay away from his wife, whom he allegedly pushed [Thurs] night.

Vanilla can phone her, but that's all, folks. Ice can only have contact with his kids though one of his friends -- at least for now. And, he can go to the house to pick up his stuff, but only once and with a police escort.

Ice Ice Baby -- real name Robert Van Winkle -- was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. Cops were called late last night to the Ice house after an alleged altercation. - more on this story

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ASHES dIVIDE The Road

PR reports: With their debut album, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, finally in stores this week, ASHES dIVIDE has just announced their spring and summer tour plans.

The band will play the mainstage of this year's Projekt Revolution tour along with Linkin Park, Chris Cornell and The Bravery. ASHES dIVIDE will also make several radio festival appearances in the spring as well as several dates with the recently reunited Stone Temple Pilots.

ASHES dIVIDE features A Perfect Circle co-founder, Billy Howerdel on guitar and lead vocals and their single, "The Stone," is Top Ten at rock and alternative radio right now. - dates

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Dethklok Presale

PR reports: This summer, Dethklok, the animated band from Adult Swim's Metalocalypse, hits the road on a 28-city headlining tour kicking off June 2 in Portland, along with two of metal's top acts, Chimaira and Soilent Green. Tickets to the five-week Adult Swim Presents tour will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, April 18 through Ticketbastard, but a special pre-sale offer will be made available one week earlier to the most brutal Adult Swim fans.

On Sunday, April 13, Adult Swim fans tuning in to Metalocalypse during the 12:00 a.m. (ET/PT) showing will be given a pre-sale password allowing them access to a customized Dethklok page on Ticketmaster's website (http://www.ticketmaster.com/dethklok). Immediately after receiving the password, fans can purchase tickets, which range in price from $20 - $25 (we assume not counting the ticketbastard added fees which can be up to 75%). The password will also be made available to fans on AdultSwim.combeginning Monday, April 14. - more on this story

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Beneath The Massacre Begin Next CD

Prosthetic reports: Montreal's technical death metal band Beneath The Massacre has scheduled studio time for the follow up record to 2007's 'Mechanics of Dysfunction.' The band will enter the studio April 25 with Yannick St-Amant (Despised Icon, Neuraxis, Martyr), who also produced Beneath The Massacre's prior full-length and the 'Evidence of Inequity' EP. Afterwards, Jason Suecof (The Black Dahlia Murder, God Forbid, Chimaira) will mix the record, which is currently slated for a fall 2008 release through Prosthetic Records.

"So we just came back from our headline tour in the US. We had a blast." Beneath The Massacre vocalist Elliot Desgagnes says. "A lot of people showed up and all the bands on the package were super cool dudes. We're now working hard on the new material that will be recorded starting in April at Yannick's studio. We can't wait to enter the studio. We'll probably be posting video and blogs to let all you guys know what's going on in studio. Stay tuned."

In addition, the band has been confirmed as a rotating direct support band on a brief Canadian run of dates alongside headliners Despised Icon and fellow Canadians Ion Dissonance and The Plasmarifle. - dates

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GiganDVD Tracks

PR reports: The second coming of Megadeth's Gigantour is set to release April 22 from Image Entertainment on CD and DVD.

THE ULTIMATE HARD-ROCKING FORCE RETURNS! Join the legendary Megadeth as they return to unleash the second coming of GIGANTOUR on their 2006 world tour! Featuring a lineup of metal's pioneers, prepare yourself for a night of sonic mayhem. You have been warned...

Gigantour 2 features today's top metal bands: Megadeth, Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy, Over Kill, Into Eternity, The Smashup, and Sanctity! OVER TWO HOURS OF CONTENT! Over 58 minutes of bonus material! - yadda yadda yadda, tracklisting is here

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Cult of Luna Go To The Kingdom

PR reports: Swedish art-rock outfit CULT OF LUNA have officially set the title of their upcoming album as 'ETERNAL KINGDOM'. CULT OF LUNA's fifth full-length album is being recorded at Tonteknik Studios in the band's hometown of Umea. The follow-up to 2006's critically acclaimed SOMEWHERE ALONG THE HIGHWAY, ETERNAL KINGDOM is set to be a much heavier and darker affair than previous albums.

Guitarist ERIK OLOFSSON had the following to say: "It is with great ambition and struggle we have created a very heavy album. The sound is strong and progressive. Our compositions do not hold back on anything this time!"

'ETERNAL KINGDOM' will be released on June 16th in the UK/Europe and July 8th in the U.S. - Check out the artwork

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Black Tide Crops

PR reports: Music Choice announced today that Interscope Records' BLACK TIDE is currently featured on 'Fresh Crops', the Music Choice Original that features today's hottest emerging artists.

Fresh Crops featuring BLACK TIDE is now available to millions of Music Choice viewers across the country with access to its free On Demand network and its free online music service for broadband subscribers.

BLACK TIDE is an American hard rock/metal band from Miami, Florida. Formed in 2004, the band is currently signed to Interscope Records and its debut album, Light From Above, was released on March 18, 2008. - more on this story

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Johnny Hallyday Live At Montreux

Kayos reports: Elvis Presley. Jerry Lee Lewis. Carl Perkins. Roy Orbison. Buddy Holly. Billy Lee Riley. Gene Vincent. These are the names one thinks of as the architects of rockabilly: distinguished by those hiccupping vocals and that slapback bass. It sprouted up in the mid-1950s as the bastard child of country music and rhythm'n'blues. DJ Alan Freed called it rock'n'roll and the name stuck.

Not too many Americans noticed that overseas, in France, there was one more major rock'n'roll artist who took that original spark and made it uniquely French. Johnny Hallyday, after 100 million albums sold, 400 tours, hit movies and status as a national icon, is all but unknown in the States. When he retired from live performances last year at the age of 64, an era had ended.

On May 20, Eagle Records will release Johnny Hallyday Live At Montreux 1988 on CD. The 10-song set is aural proof of Hallyday's tremendous appeal and a solid reason why he is to be thought of as the French equivalent to the above-named pioneers. A DVD of Johnny Hallyday Live At Montreux 1988 will be available as an import on June 3rd. - more on this story

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Dr. Acula is Coming

Black and White reports: Hailing from Long Island, New York, Dr. Acula have created an enormous buzz in the hardcore scene with their unique brand of grindcore. With over 3 million plays on Myspace, and an almost cultish live following, the band has built a huge national fan base entirely upon DIY touring and a self produced, basement recorded album "S.L.O.B" (Silver Lipped Operator of Bull----). Recently re-pressed by a small indie label, the band sold over 1000 mail order copies alone within hours.

Merging classic grindcore with gut wrenching breakdowns, synth parts and dance beats - Dr. Acula have created a unique sound, and visual presentation that appeals to fans far beyond the limits of any genre classification. Looking to best capture the phenomenon that is Dr. Acula, Uprising is immediately sending the band to record with Jamie King (Through The Eyes Of The Dead and Between the Buried and Me) followed by a National Tour with Liferuiner in May.

Look for their album "Below Me!" out this summer, and be sure to check out the Dr. Acula experience at a venue near you on the upcoming national tour. - more on this story

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Disco Crayons from Donna Summer

PR reports: Donna Summer will release her album, Crayons, on May 20, 2008. This bold and long-awaited new collection of songs will be Summer's first full-length studio album of newly-penned material since 1991's "Mistaken Identity". Summer's new track, "I'm A Fire," is already a dance floor hit and is #1 on the Billboard Hot Club Dance Chart.

"I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it, I did not want it to be any one baby. I just wanted it to be a sampler of flavors and influences from all over the world. There's a touch of this, a little smidgeon of that, a dash of something else � like when you're cooking." � Donna Summer

With the album's centerpiece ballad, "Be Myself Again," the artist creates the album's most intimate and revelatory musical meditation. "What I wanted to do," she says, "is strip down a song. I wanted it to be a cappella. There's always so much hoopla around the voice, I wanted to do a song where there's no hoopla. There's just you and the audience listening to somebody who's just singing to themselves, singing about the intimate parts of what it has taken to do what they do. The thing to do is stay connected to the true self and that's really difficult in show business. That's what the song is about." - more on this story

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Homo-Centric Fuzz Rock Cumming in May

PR reports: After months of foreplay, false starts and rumoured release dates, Edmonton's marching-band-cum-garage-sqaud The Wet Secrets will officially release their debut record, "Rock Fantasy", May 13.

Already a solid fixture at Alberta college radio, 2008's winner of "Best Song Title" on CBC Radio 3 for "Grow Your Own ----ing Moustache, ---hole", and a local press favourite in Calgary and Edmonton, topping Best Of lists for Vue, FFWD and See, the Wet Secrets are poised to spread their gritty-ditties cross-Canada. - more on this story

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Mark Ronson, The Next Clive Davis?

PR reports: Mark Ronson, Grammy Award winner for Producer of the Year, Record of the Year and Pop Vocal Album (the latter two for his work with Amy Winehouse) will bring his Allido Records label to Interscope Geffen A&M Records. The joint venture between Allido, co-owned by Ronson and Rich Kleiman, and the Interscope Records label will be home to a wide range of artists and projects.

"One of the foundations of Interscope has been partnering with producers who can move the needle of popular culture," said Jimmy Iovine. "Mark has that rare ear for great songs and artists who will have extraordinary careers. We're thrilled to be in business with him." Ronson, as an artist or producer, will not be exclusive to Allido/Interscope. - more on this story

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Styrofoam and Friends

PR reports: Antwerp, Belgium based indie-electro pop artist Styrofoam (aka Arne Van Petegem) has signed with Nettwerk Music Group to release his new album, A THOUSAND WORDS, digitally on May 6, 2008 (and on CD June 10, 2008).

The 11-track album features guest vocals by Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World, singer/songwriter Josh Rouse and indie-pop artist Blake Hazard of The Submarines, but unlike past albums, A Thousand Words keeps the focus on Van Petegem's own voice.

"Although the album has its fair share of guest vocalists, I feel it is much more centered around my own voice," says Van Petegem. "I've slowly grown out of the whole 'shy electronic guy afraid of singing' into being confident enough to place my vocals full center."

Van Petegem will bring Styrofoam to North America for a headlining tour in support of A Thousand Words. - more on this story

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. Sevendust - Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow

Long-time fans will probably want this in their collection and will find stuff on it they'll like--"Scapegoat," "Prodigal Son," and "Contradiction" at the very least I'd guess--but I'll be hoping the next Sevendust disc puts them back to their true form. (3.5 stars) - Read the full Sevendust - Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow review

. Strix Vega - Drunken Sky

Two things primarily define Strix Vega and they both come from singer/guitarist Colin Begell. The guitar work is obviously influenced by Neil Young and the singing style, a sort of half-sung half-spoken mumble that recalls lots of different folks. (4 stars) - Read the full Strix Vega - Drunken Sky review

. 10 Years of antiMusic: When Zane Met Dio

We're looking back at 10 years of antiMusic. We have a flashback of a different kind today as Zane tells us about one of his favorite antiMusic memories. Meeting metal legend Ronnie James Dio-. The only man with the stature and voice to replace Ozzy! - Read the full When Zane Met Dio review

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