"Josh Klinghoffer has been playing with the group for a couple of months now," says the source. "Optimistically, the Peppers are trying to lock down a replacement for John, who has apparently quit.

This captivating collection contains a DVD of the Emmett Malloy-directed documentary film, Under Great White Northern Lights, a live DVD of the band's 10th Anniversary show, Under Nova Scotian Lights, as well as a CD/double LP of 16 live tracks, exclusive 7 inch, hard cover book of photographs and a silk-screened print. Although the package will not be available until March 16, 2010, pre-sale orders will be accepted starting today from http://whitestripes.com/ugwnl_boxset/. Further details on these items are below.

"We've worked with the Rock Band team in the past year to enable our fans to play tracks from 21st Century Breakdown, and we're excited to now be working on a game, spanning our entire career," said Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. "We want people to fire this up, choose their favorite Green Day tracks, and play along with us as Rock Band avatars so they can feel what it's like to perform on stage as Green Day."

Lambgoat reports: The official announcement from Suicide Silence is fairly standard: "We're sorry to announce that we won't be playing tonight in Reno, NV. Megadeth, Warbringer, and Arcanium will still be there so head out and show your support for those awesome bands!"

F**ked Up have put together a holiday benefit song. They called on their friends record an updated version of the Band Aid project's "Do They Know It's Christmas?." The track has been released on iTunes and features Andrew W.K., Bob Mould, David Cross, Ezra Koenig, GZA, Kevin Drew, Kyp Malone, Tegan and Sara, and Yo La Tengo. You can check it out here

AC/DC have announced a string of Austrian/German live dates for 2010 on their Black Ice World Tour. dates

The Breakdown Room's Brian Heaton recently interviewed RA frontman Sahaj Ticotin. The singer revealed that RA is winding down as he pursues a solo career. The article also chronicles the history of RA, from the band's hit single "Do You Call My Name" through its most recent album, Black Sun. more

Kasabian have revealed that they're working on a Pink Floyd sounding new album.
The follow-up to this years 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum', frontman Tom Meighan revealed they've already got a selection of "beautiful" new tracks. more
Foreigner will be the featured musical guest on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien next Friday, December 18, 2009 more

Wanna hear the songs from the Dimebag Darrell Abbott tribute album? BW&BK will hook you up right here

Recordings of Jimi Hendrix gigs from 1967 and 1968 in Paris and Ottowa are set to be released as part of a limited edition CD and vinyl package on January 25. more

Back On Black are reissuing the first three classic albums from legendary UK black metal band Venom: 1981's Welcome To Hell, 1982's Black Metal and 1984's At War With Satan. The albums are due in January and all three LPs were remastered and will be repackaged on 180 gram deluxe gatefold colored vinyl. more

AFI will tour the United Kingdom in April with support from Sick Of It All and The Dear and Departed. more

Metallica added a second show in Buenos Aires. The new show will take place on Jan 22 and tickets are now on sale. All the announced dates are here

Those Who Lie Beneath (Rise Records) has dropped off the remainder of their current tour. more

Underoath will tour Europe next spring with Architects. more

Check out the brand new video for "In My Younger Days" from the upcoming Eels' "End Times" album (out January 19) right now, right here

Private equity firm Terra Firma sued Citigroup Inc, accusing the bank of fraud in connection with Terra Firma's purchase of music business EMI Group in 2007, court documents filed on Friday in New York showed. Terra Firma accuses Citigroup of driving up EMI's price by misrepresenting that there was another interested bidder for the company, the lawsuit said. more

Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy will be doing solo dates with his Ratt Bastards. Not one to sit still, Pearcy will be on the road until the release of the new RATT record "Infestation" and tour, due in March. Initial dates are here

Alvin Youngblood Hart has been added to the Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concerts. We'll keep you posted on additions, for now the previously announced details can be found here

Desolate Ways have posted new tracks of their forthcoming album, entitled "Last Moons", which will be released soon in Brazil by Die Hard Records. The tracks "Immaculate", "Frozen Leaves", and also "Regret" single are available on the band's MySpace page here. "Last Moons" features guest vocals from Josie of A Sorrowful Dream.

Trudy Green, a former manager for Def Leppard, has filed a lawsuit against the iconic eighties band for breach of oral contract, fraud, and intentional interference of a contract among others. Green is also suing the accountant for Def Leppard among others.

Kulick was with the band through their "unmasked" era and played on five albums from 1984 until 1996, including the well-received Revenge from 1992. Frehley and drummer Peter Criss then returned for a reunion and the original members put their makeup back on. When Frehley left again in 2002 he was replaced by Kiss' tour manager Tommy Thayer, and Kulick was not asked to rejoin. But he remains close with the band, and says it's far more natural for Thayer to wear the Spaceman outfit than it would have been for him. He tells SleazeRoxx.com: "To be honest I'm relieved I wasn't asked. Playing the Ace role would be very awkward for me. It was very natural for Tommy to walk into that role.

Here is what he had to say: The time has come for freedom! After walking with and without a cane and getting some good hematocrit blood test results on Thursday, Rivers was given the go ahead to be released from the hospital! He elected to take an additional night to rest there, while we prepared a bus for the cross country trip to L.A., to begin today, Friday.

The band is currently putting the finishing touches on their new album and decided to take a quick break to spend the holidays with their fans.