Knifeman- this is the first song on the new record and currently my favorite song to play live. Knifeman's title is a tribute to a neighbor I had growing up in Pico Rivera CA.

He would wash his driveway down with gasoline and chop down his hedges with a machete every other week. My father called him knifeman. He committed suicide at a church down the street after a police standoff. His spirit lives on in knifeman's lyrics. This song is about being born outta place. Trying to keep sanity in an insane world.

Preview songs from the album, learn more about it and the group and more right

Their latest album "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," released mid-year, topped charts in the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, France and elsewhere.

Lenny Kravitz has cancelled the remaining dates on his Canadian tour after coming down with a throat illness. more

A judge has awarded nearly $58,000 to a man who claims Prince failed to pay him for editing work and unreturned equipment. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory Alarcon issued the judgment on Wednesday after conducting a brief trial last month more

In separate appearances, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake performed Thursday night during Madonna's show at Dodger Stadium. The former pop power couple did not take the stage together, and it wasn't clear if they'd crossed paths.more

Yahoo music had this disturbing story: MTV Europe named Rick Astley the Best Act Ever at the European Music Awards in Liverpool, England last night (November 6). The singer, who has been the theme of online prank "Rickrolling"--where purportedly serious links actually take users to YouTube clips of the singer's videos--beat the likes of Green Day and U2 to claim the most votes from viewers. more

The Strokes plan to regroup in February, ending a hiatus that began after touring to promote 2006's "First Impressions of Earth," according to drummer Fabrizio Moretti.more

Country singer Merle Haggard, recently diagnosed with lung cancer, had part of a lung removed and is recovering at home, his spokeswoman said on Sunday.more

Rammstein has posted the following message online: "Now that the band has finished pre-production in Berlin for its new album, Operation "Album 6" is going forward full steam ahead. more

Alice Cooper to suck? According to Metal UndergroundAlice Cooper will join other big names in music such as Henry Rollins, Moby and Iggy Pop in a brand new vampire movie which also features Malcom McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Halloween, Heroes.) In the film Eddie Van Helsing hunts down a band of vampires. In short, SUCK is a Rock'n'roll vampire satire about a group of rockstar wannabies in search of immortality and a record deal.

Christina Aguilera is lining up electronic-oriented artists such as Sia Furler, Goldfrapp and Ladytron to collaborate with her on her fourth studio album, which she'll continue to work on in 2009. more

Billboard says that there is credence to ongoing speculation that Michael Jackson might be booked for a long engagement at the O2 Arena in London, though no deal has been reached nor performances contracted. details

Kevin Black, office of the chairman of urban music at Warner Bros., has exited his post. more

Apple wrapped up its fiscal year with a 34% jump in music-related products and services sales. more

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Lollapalooza organizers have signed on with the Windy City for at least another decade to hold the annual summer festival at Grant Park. more

Jane's Addiction and Korn manager Jeff Kwatinetz has quit The Firm, the company he founded in 1997. Kwatinetz's departure yesterday (November 6) follows the departure of many employees at The Firm and he reportedly told colleagues that he was leaving because the company "was an embodiment of Rick Yorn, Dave Baram and myself". more

Rivers Cuomo has announced details of a one-off gig to promote his new solo album 'Alone II - The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo'. The gig, which takes place at Fingerprints Records, Long Beach, California on November 25, will see Cuomo joined onstage by fans, who are encouraged to bring along their own instruments. more

The Offspring have announced more dates on their ongoing tour. The band will be headed to Russia in December after shows in South America, Japan, Texas, and Germany. The band is supporting Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace. dates

Directed by Vern Moen, 02.08 to 06.08 is a 34 minute film about Cold War Kids and the making of Loyalty to Loyalty. The film will be featured exclusively on Youtube for one week only and is available for purchase with the deluxe edition of the Loyalty to Loyalty, available now Youtube link

Helloween are reissuing their first three albums as exclusive fold-out cover and colored double-vinyls. more

The surviving members of the Who overcame singer Roger Daltrey's early vocal woes to wow a packed house in the first of two Los Angeles shows on Saturday.more

Inked In Blood has essentially disbanded. Vocalist Joey Trump has issued the following statement: "So yeah, as all of you have observed, we haven't been doing anything for a while. There are about a million reasons for this very large 'snag' that we've hit, but the genesis of them all can be traced back to these two: 1. Members that are available to tour 2. A vehicle that we are allowed to use for tour" more

MySpace could develop a digital music player in the future, pitting it against Apple Inc's hot-selling iPod. But there are no immediate plans to make or sell such a device, MySpace co-founder and Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe said. more

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back in the studio recording album number three. They're "damn close" to finishing it so expect it to drop in early 2009.more

Killwhitneydead, Salt the Wound, and The Demonstration will team up for a December tour. Dates are here.

Park have announced a reunion show for next year. Set for January 31st, 2009 at Fubar in St.Louis, the bill will feature the band along with support from The Forecast.more

Diecast announced that they are no longer on Century Media Records. "This was a mutual decision by both of us, and is going to be 100% better in the long run for both parties. We would like to thank CM for everything they did for us and wish them well in all future endeavours." more

Alice In Chains has posted a second video online documenting the making of their brand new studio album. You can check it out here

A group of New Yorkers is fighting to save Tin Pan Alley, the half-dozen row houses where iconic American songs were born. The four-story, 19th-century buildings on Manhattan's West 28th Street were home to publishers of some of the catchiest American tunes and lyrics � from "God Bless America" and "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" to "Give My Regards to Broadway." more

According to Soundscan, it is the first catalog song to sell over 2 million downloads, achieving double-platinum status. (It is categorized as a 'catalog' track because it was released before MP3s were invented and available for sale online through venues like the iTunes store. It was placed in the iTunes Store catalog on April 28, 2003.)

But the teen pop star failed to try out her new look because her wig caught fire, she has revealed.

The group have been working on their new LP with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age frontman) in Joshua Tree, California. Now Helders tells the Guardian that work is almost complete:

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Balfour, who's only being held on a parole violation in a case unrelated to the murders, could "conceivably" skate if there's not enough evidence to prove he did violate his parole. He's scheduled to face the Illinois State Parole Review Board Monday at 9:00 AM.

Starting this Sunday (9 November), customers who pre-order Chinese Democracy at either Best Buy, iTunes or Best Buy's own Napster will receive an immediate free download of the title track.

Gallagher added: "Correct me if I'm wrong, they've been making the same record since Kid A, have they not?"

POD announced the tour cancellation in a statement, but did not reveal the reason behind their break.

Taking a break from the studio, Psychostick will embark on their annual Yuletide tradition - The Holiday Hate Tour: Season Two. Along for the slay ride is the Florida synth-pop band Retard-O-Bot. The tour will begin in Farmington, NM, on November 14th and run through the lower third of the country until it ends on December 13th in Odessa, TX.

Laura: This song wrote itself. Sometimes I'll wake up at night with a paragraph written, word for word in my head, and I just put it onto paper, and�boom!�it's a song. I feel really lucky when that happens. For this one, I was sleeping in the van on an overnight drive and I woke up from a recurring dream, where this guy I used to know was following me. In the dream, I'm never so much scared of him as I am anxious to avoid him seeing me or finding me. I met him on tour and there were a lot of emotions attached and our story was just like if you had ripped the last part of a story out of a book and thrown it away. I just started thinking about how unfair that was and I thought if I wrote down my dream, it would get out of the bowels of my mind.

The title comes from all the places we traveled together on tour. We would always take walks in whatever city we were in, and sometimes we'd find ourselves walking through sand, and sometimes it would be snow. That's one of the really cool things about tour; you can usually see the extremities of each season within the one month you're out on the road.

Ben: This song is my personal favorite on the record. Ryan wrote the verses while I wrote the intro and choruses, and Brian wrote the ending. What's cool about this song and all the songs on the record is the fact that there is input from every one of us in every son, each riff is written by someone different, and you can't tell. Our styles really blended together nicely in the writing process. I love the intro to this song because it reminds me of Jester Race-era In Flames, totally epic. The verses and chorus are just so catchy, it really plays like a pop song. The trade off solos at the end between Brian and Ryan are amazing. Super blues-y which contrasts nicely with the shredding thrash solos on the other songs. All in all, definitely my favorite track.