As Zakk pointed out in his Twitter update on Tuesday night (see see story, the very act of singing places him in danger of an embolism. He appears to be doing ok, as he took to his Twitter page on Wednesday to joke around with Chris Cornell about who is on more drugs at the moment. Referencing Cornell's posts like "downloading some songs for secret research involving an M R I numerous blood panels and a microwavable pizza" and "She spied on our lives with the little doll eyes." Plus some even stranger ramblings. But apparently Zakk is feeling well enough to keep up on his friends there and we'll take that as a good sign.

Those mysterious health reasons were never disclosed and that reported hospitalization happened on Sat where the band's website said at the time "No further shows will be canceled. We anticipate Joey making a full recovery and continuing the tour in Kennewick, WA on Sunday." That show was postponed and then when Monday rolled around the band contradicted that further by announcing that the remaining August and September have been "canceled due to illness."

We have to assume that the premium membership will cost you something but we couldn't find a rate at the site, which apparently requires you to sign-up for a free account before being able to gain access to the premium sign-up.

The first offering will be released early next month and will include a preview of the band's forthcoming album. According to their news post, that track will be "a rough instrumental demo from the band's upcoming studio album, amongst other previously unreleased tracks."

Them Crooked Vultures made their UK live debut in London tonight (August 26), playing as special guests of Arctic Monkeys. The supergroup, featuring Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, kicked off proceedings at the O2 Academy Brixton, surprising many crowd members who had arrived at the venue early. more

Nine Inch Nails were joined by Peter Murphy of Bauhaus onstage Tuesday night in New York to perform three songs during the third stop on NIN's "farewell tour." Watch video more

We were informed on Wednesday that a high quality version of Pearl Jam's new video "The Fixer" has been posted here. Apparently there was a low quality version posted before? We have no idea, but the track comes from Pearl Jam's upcoming album 'Backspacer' which hits stores on September 20th. Also for our regular readers look for a month long look at the band's career in September.

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Chickenfoot drummer Chad Smith's appropriately named solo band, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats, will release their debut full length Meet The Meatbats on September 15th . To celebrate the release Chad has setup a cool drum solo contest, with prizing including a drum kit, personal call from Chad Smith, signed merch, etc. Grab the details here and good luck!

TV On The Radio's Kyp Malone has announced that he will embark on a North American tour supporting his solo project Rain Machine this autumn. Malone will play songs from his new self-titled album on dates across the US. more

Suicide City announced a tour a few days back but have now cancelled it for undisclosed reasons.

Transatlantic - the Progressive Rock Supergroup featuring Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy, Marillion's Pete Trewavas, The Flower Kings' Roine Stolt and Neal Morse (Ex-Spock's Beard) will release their long-awaited third album in October. more

Blabbermouth reported on Wednesday that Bassist Rex Brown will likely sit out the remainder of Down's North American tour, according to the group's webmaster. more

Avail's Joe Banks and two of the band's former members - Chuck McCauley and Erik Larson - have started a new band called Freeman. Why Freeman?

Sicko, the 90s-era pop-punk outfit, will have their back catalog reissued. more

Bane will tour a good portion of the U.S. this fall with Foundation. Blacklisted and Trash Talk will also appear on select dates. more

Danzig will perform at the Fun Fun Fun Fest on November 8 at Waterloo Park in Austin, Texas. This will be one of only two shows Danzig will play for the rest of 2009. more

Starting on Tuesday, September 1 viewers can watch the hottest outdoor festivals from the comfort of the cool indoors, as Palladia premieres festivals featuring artists including Bruce Springsteen, Kings of Leon, Lily Allen, Gnarls Barkley, Metallica, Linkin Park, and many more.

The song is dedicated to Dimebag Darrel and Alex Skolnick of metal gods Testament guests on the track with a guitar solo. Rod says "Dimebag is the best guitarist ever�and having Alex Skolnick playing on this track (Atman) was a dream come true�it's an incredible solo." Get the free mp3 here

All of the artist's U.S. royalties from sales of these recordings will be donated to Feeding America, guaranteeing that more than four million meals will be provided to more than 1.4 million people in need in this country during this year's holiday season. Bob Dylan is also donating all of his future U.S. royalties from this album to Feeding America in perpetuity.

Mustaine told Metal Hammer why he decided not to attend Metallica's induction: "Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer] said, 'If you were on the record, you got inducted; if you weren't on the record, you didn't,' and would I come along and hang out and watch them get inducted? I was like, 'Dude, that's so typical!' It makes for the same kind of mentality as a guy watching some other guy ---- his girlfriend. I just said, 'I'm flattered and I'm proud of you guys and I wish you well. I'll be there if I'm being inducted, but if I'm gonna watch, then I've got better things to do.'"

"At first Ritchie was fine about it all. Then certain people � two of them � who are very close to him started to put ideas into his head. Then Ritchie suddenly became very antagonistic. Things got so bad that he insisted Jurgen � his own son � couldn't use the name 'Blackmore'. Jurgen's full name is Jurgen Richard Blackmore � it says so on his birth certificate.

Here is what it said: "We regret to inform you that, for personal reasons, we've had to cancel our tour of the USA and Canada, which was planned for September.

We conclude today with Sean Lacefield (guitar / songwriter) who tells us about the song "Arise ": This track started as just the bridge riff. There was a little more to it but not much. I had played it for one of my guitar heroes (Bruce Boilet - Racer X, Paul Gilbert, etc.) that I had recently met. He thought it was really cool so I set out to try and finish the thought.

I got about half way thru the songs completion and got an offer to have it be the intro to a Mexican ultimate fighting t.v. show called Max Fight. The show ended up not doing very well so I set out to rap it up.

I did finally finish the track, passed it on to Shannon [Quamme] (lead singer of Ellsbeth) and she wrapped it up. It turned out to be in my opinion, the most epic track on the record. Who could have known?