"It turns out that, somewhere between a video shoot in Vermont, a heavy metal concert in London, and my own musical showcase in Toronto, I had indeed fallen victim to a world pandemic," Auf der Maur wrote in a first-person account at online magazine, the Mark.

In Paul McCartney: A Life, author Peter Ames Carlin suggests that he missed working with Lennon and tried to orchestrate a comeback. Carlin claims that thirty five years ago Sir Paul, paid a surprise late night visit to a studio in California where Lennon was recording.

According to the book the pair played music into the early hours of the morning with Stevie Wonder, who was also working there. The session went so well Lennon invited Sir Paul, now 67, and his first wife Linda over for dinner at his rented house in Malibu with girlfriend and assistant May Pang.

Coldplay has a long history of setting digital sales records. Viva La Vida (Capitol), its most recent album, is the top-selling digital album in SoundScan history while 2005's X&Y was the first-ever digital album available for pre-order. After the release of X&Y, Coldplay became the first artist to sell one million digital tracks in the U.S.

"Just drug my tired ass back from production rehearsal day three. The set is insane. All new stage. All new lighting, pyro and video. Tons of new music. Some of these songs have never been played live before so we're still blowing off the cobwebs. To be honest it sounds pretty damn good. This is my fav set so far and feels so good be doing something new production wise. I can't wait to see your faces when the show starts� it's pretty sick, beginning to end�

We have made Marin County in Northern California our home for many years, so we were more than honored when the Marin History Museum asked us to participate in their benefit concert as they prepare to launch the exhibit Marin Rocks. That's right, finally, a show in our own back yards . . . something that has NEVER happened!

The offering is intended to thank these heroes in a meaningful way for their service. In a time where families are unsure of their personal and professional stability, many of our heroes are coming home to families that are suffering in the wake of a turbulent economy and these families are often forced into a position of having to do more with less, eliminating the opportunity for a night out for an important, bonding entertainment experience.

"I'm really excited about this record," said vocalist/guitarist Dustin Kensrue. "Beggars is more visceral and more raw - both in the songwriting and in the overall sound. It moves with a different energy than any of our past records. It was born out of us playing together in a room, almost as a backlash to the giant headgame that was The Alchemy Index."

"When you compare (Metallica's) Death Magnetic to the new Megadeth album, it vanishes in a puff of Danish hot air. There is simply no comparison. Endgame f**king rips, from start to finish. It is remorselessly metal from start to finish, and not in an old-guys-giving-it-a-jolly-good-go kind of way, but in a state-of-the-art, teach-those-youngsters-a-thing-or-two, come-and-have-a-go-if-you-think-you're-metal-enough-even-though-you-don't-stand-a-chance kind of way.

"I always support whatever group I'm playing with � I'll never say anything bad about them while I'm in it. But f**kin Velvet Revolver � that was the toughest five years, dealing with that band, just because of the obvious [Weiland] and really, really bad management. Joke management for the entire time.

JB Brubaker "Paradox" was the first song we brought together as a band, but it was the sixth song I had written for the album. It was one of the most straight up, to the point songs I had written so we decided to learn this song first since it was easier.

Even though "Paradox" is a pretty straight up metal jam, it's also the fastest song on the record tempo wise. Most of the song is in the 220 BPM range, and most of the breakdowns are basically half time of the actual tempo. This made for some of our slowest rhythms to date, as well as some of our fastest leads. The melody over the last breakdown of the song was the fastest riff I play on the entire record. It's in 7/8 and it took me FOREVER to get up to speed. I sat down and played the riff to a metronome for 20 minutes a day for about two weeks before I was remotely close to playing it up to speed. No one likes taking that approach because it's boring and time consuming, but I had no other choice.

Matt Greiner Paradox was the first song I wrote to on drums. The first :30 seconds of this song on drums were inspired by The Agony Scene's ex-drummer, Brent Masters. Brent always had a way of grooving at fast tempos and it helped me understand how to make that happen in Paradox. I spent more time writing drum parts to Paradox than any other song on Constellations. Such is usually the case with the first song I write to on any of our records.

The rhythm at the end of the song is in 7/8. The interesting thing about this rhythm is how it is played and essentially felt on the drums. I match the 7/8 rhythm with my feet but my hands are playing in straight 4/4. In this way, the rhythm is groovier and more to feel 'circular.' JB changes things up not long after the rhythm starts by bringing back the 8/4 and 6/4 lead and cycling it over the rhythm.