Eddie Van Halen recently spoke to People magazine about his health in the wake of the March 2008 announcement that VAN HALEN's ongoing world tour was put on ice after the guitarist was diagnosed with an unspecified medical condition.

Mixing the raw energy of the Pistols mixed with the immaculate pop rock of Def Leppard, Man Raze is a unique clash of 70's simplicity with 80's excess, punk clubs with stadium rock. Whether it's the punk vibrancy of "Turn It Up", the beautiful rock craftsmanship of "Every Second Of Every Day" or the reggae-soaked dub mix of "Runnin' Me Up", Surreal is an album that continuously pumps out the rock hits that these three members are most notorious for.

Just wanted to write a quick note to clear up this whole "Open letter to Metallica" fiasco......For the record, I never "wrote" anything to Metallica. I was asked by a journalist, at the end of a long interview (abut the Foo Fighters) to give a quick message to Metallica in the studio.

"I never went along with the way the music industry did things, and have always been rebelliously against it, spouting off how the system doesn't work, and how bands should be DIY and make it just about the music and the fans. 10 years ago I was giving away songs on Napster and releasing my own albums, selling them online. 10 years later, I still do it and still stand by it - ---- the business, connect directly with the fans."

Macca has some of his fellow greens seeing red! Here is part of the Jam! report: Paul McCartney has long been an outspoken advocate of environmental causes and animal rights. He is a vegetarian who won't even wear leather shoes. But now he's being criticized for having a hybrid Japanese car flown to him in Britain rather than having it sent by ship. more

Following the theft of their van and gear, Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears have finally hit some good luck. First, the van was found (sans engine, transmission, differential, trailer and gear) on the side of the 10 freeway in LA last week. Despite having to cancel a number of shows, the band is still playing the Boston, NY and DC shows, along with a Fearless TV performance. [Side note to publicists: emails that contain quotes from Perez Hilton, Pitchfork or Stereogum will be deleted. While the contradictions between the quotes are humorous, their use for "cred" is about as worn out as "rollercoaster thrill-ride" Movie reviews and end up being counterintuitive to their intended purpose.]

Speaking of publicist emails, we love the uber-adjective and made-up genre name use in this one: It's here, and it doesn't disappoint! After releasing a teaser trailer last week, the Swedish calculatorcore masterminds in Meshuggah have unveiled the video for "Bleed" -- in all of its gory, uber-frightening glory. As previously reported, the clip was produced by Ian McFarland and Killswitch Productions. Directed, written and edited by McFarland and Mike Pecci, "Bleed" boasts a fittingly-cinematic horror flick tone, and some genuine scares. What the directors had to say about the video: "Working with Meshuggah was truly an honor for us. It's extremely cool to work with a band who is willing to allow the music and imagery to speak for itself and who does not insist on themselves being the prominent focus of the video. I think that takes real balls and I admire them as a group for doing so." watch it here

The Shoe Company Warped Tour 2008 Presented By The Villain in 1967 Cult Film "The President's Annalist" Who Now Overcharge for Slow iPhone Service has announced two new additions for a portion of this summer's trek. Matisyahu will join the tour for the July 9 (Atlanta), July 10 (Orlando), July 11 (Tampa) and the July 13 (Jacksonville) shows. Also look for Chiodos to perform a one-night-only show on July 18 in Detroit at Comerica Park.

The first Bedroom Classics EP (2001) was limited to 750 copies fast becoming a collector's item for his long time fans (currently going for well over $100 on Ebay). Bedroom Classics, Vol. 2 (2005) marked the launch of his own artist imprint and soon caught the ear of John Mayer, who praised it on his own personal blog, ultimately inviting Josh out to tour with him in the winter of 2007. This new installment marks another groundbreaking chapter, as it is truly self released; only available directly from Josh himself, off his newly launched membership based digital download store at www.joshrouse.com

Toby Keith's new double "best of" collection sold 103,000 copies last week to claim the No. 2 spot. Last week's, No. 1 from Madonna dropped to No. 3 with a little more than 94,000 people opting for some "Hard Candy".

"We've been working about the last four months, and there's a good bulk of music and a good body of work so far, and we're having fun, and you know, we're taking our time and trying to figure out where William fits in and where we need to step up, and I have all the confidence in the world in the guys," he said.