Johnson tells Classic Rock magazine, "We were talking about the end of the (current Black Ice) tour and I said, 'We're finishing in May (10) - and that's me done!'

In a brand new interview with RollingStone.com, Mustaine � who was a member of Metallica for less than two years in 1981-1983 � was asked if, as far as he knows, it is true that on the last Metallica tour Cliff Burton was on before he died, the band was planning on firing Lars Ulrich at the tour's end.

In a blog posting, the singer reveals he has been suffering excruciating pain and will check into hospital this week for an operation to fix damaged vertebrae in time for the band's upcoming tour, which kicks off in September (09).

A statement from the band explained that "Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson fell jumping between the barrier and the stage, breaking a rib in the process whilst the band had been playing".

"We don't want to get too over-zealous," frontman Chris Daughtry tells Billboard.com. "We're not gonna be doing the Staples Center (in Los Angeles) right out the gate, obviously. We'll be doing some small- and medium-sized arenas. We haven't got the confirmed schedule up yet; we're still working on that. But it'll be a big rock show for sure."

"The tinted windows of one of the cars opened and a guy in dark glasses shouted, 'What the hell are you doing?'" says Yusuf Sengul, who was attending the first day of a heavy metal festival with his friends.

Now Manson has lashed back with a threat of violence on his MySpace blog. "If we need a nude photo of me to prove taht I am far different than the soon-to-bemurdered-in-their-home press has decided to fabricate, that is easy.

Danko Jones have announced nine main support tour dates with The Damned for the US.dates

Slash was interviewed yesterday (Tuesday, July 28) for "Wreckage Of My Past", the forthcoming film documenting the life of Ozzy Osbourne as he approaches his 60th birthday. more

Arctic Monkeys are pleased to announce that they will be performing tracks from their upcoming 3rd album, 'Humbug' and a special surprise cover version in a Web Transmission on Thursday 30th July 2009 at 4.00pm EST. There is currently a trailer for the Web Transmission here

Rolling Stone reports that Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is finally coming to the Guitar Hero franchise, bringing along with it Queen & David Bowie's "Under Pressure," Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing," the Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes" which will reportedly be included in GH 5. more

Pearl Jam is debuting the artwork for their new album, Backspacer, on various websites. The cover art, designed by political cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, has been split into nine puzzle pieces and posted online. more

This Friday night Sweet are playing a free concert at the Universal City Walk. Lead guitarist Stuart Smith tells us "They set up an outdoor stage by the Hard Rock Cafe and we'll be going on at 9.00pm sharp."

Plans to turn Sweden's infamous file-sharing site the Pirate Bay into a legal service could be dead in the water. A new studio-backed suit against the site and questions about the feasibility of takeover plans by would-be white knight Global Gaming Factory X (GGF) threaten to sink the deal. more

SIRIUS XM Radio is assembling a small audience of friends and listeners of Testament for a special performance on the evening of August 10, 2009 in New York City (Manhattan).

The Badmouth management has just been informed that Pretty Boy Floyd has been forced to cancel their upcoming Swedish shows in the beginning of August. more

Thursday will headline an autumn tour featuring direct support from The Fall Of Troy, with Young Widows, The Dear Hunter, and Touche Amore appearing on select dates.more

Visions Of Atlantis have issued the following: "According to all the rumors out there and the speculation, here's the official statement right from the band about the news within the VoA-Family! It's right, Joanna Nieniewska was forced to leave the band a few weeks ago! The reason is a health-problem which should not be specified more detailed, but makes it impossible for her to complete a whole show on stage without risk."more

Breaking Benjamin have entered House of Loud recording studio in New Jersey with long-time producer David Bendeth to record their fourth album for Hollywood Records (Disney) more

Echo & the Bunnymen have outlined the release details for their tenth studio album. Come October 12, Ian McCulloch & co. will unveil their follow-up to 2005's Siberia in the UK, with single "Think I Need It Too" dropping on September 28.more

Wilco have announced a string of North American dates set to kick off this fall in Iowa City, IA.more

Lee exclaimed, "I'm so f@&*ing pumped!! I've signed with my friends at Loud & Proud / Roadrunner... what a perfect home for my second Methods Of Mayhem record. We're about to do what no team has ever done before. Buckle up and hang on kids!"

Fall Out Boy will now join their reunited pals in Blink-182 for their first tour in five years.

When I write songs, it usually takes me about 9 months to a year to actually finish a song. Rather than just rushing to the end, I like to let the song sit in my brain and kind of grow over time. This song stared during a vacation to Europe in 2007. We rented a car in Munich and drove to Amsterdam through the Germany. During the ride, the CCR song "Looking Out My Back Door" came on, and I was overwhelmed by the feeling that I needed to write a song that was as carefree and rambling as that song. So I set out to write a song about my days in Amsterdam after I got there with that sort of vibe in mind.

After we got there, I immediately had the first line of the song stuck in my and it was bothering my wife to no end because she would start talking to me, but I was just ignoring her and making sure I remembered the melody. Eventually, I finished all the lyrics when I got back from the vacation a couple months later. I always feel like I have a better grasp of events in my past then when they are actually going on.

The structure of the song is really important to the lyrics and the whole vibe. What I call the verse, or the reprise, when I say "We were lost in Amsterdam�" is just this really fun sort of relaxed sort of vibe. The part of the vacation when you are hanging at a caf� or standing around planning your next move. Then you are led into the other part of the song by a frantic drum roll and all of the instruments pick up. This represents those memories you have of a vacation rolling around in your head, and the idea that you are just running from one place to another during the day, trying to cram in all this fun.

Then I wrote this kind of "old timey" piano part as an interlude just to add some more levity to the vibe. I go to Disney World a lot, and they always have these guys playing piano music like that on these old tack pianos. So I felt like this worked in my mind perfectly.

Right before the end there is a part of the song where the tempo slows down a bunch (which is again inspired by "Looking Out My Back Door") and this sort of represents that point of the vacation when you start to realize you are almost done, and you get kind of sad. But then the tempo returns to normal, which is sort of like someone saying "let's squeeze all the fun into these last few hours of vacation" I know all of that is sort of corny, but I think it really works.

When we recorded the song, Ace Enders (who produced the 5 new songs on "Goodbye Old Life") really helped to round the guitars out. We came up with this telecaster riff that runs through most of the verses, and it wound up being my favorite guitar part on the CD. Just these little two-string plucks that compliment the chord changes perfectly. I really couldn't be happier with how the song came to life.