"It's cool that he's not in a heavy metal band but is a well-respected musician you might not expect," Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett told Billboard.com. Former bassist Jason Newsted will join the band that night and will "most likely" perform with the group," Hammett told About.com.

The Rehab hitmaker recorded a number of demo tracks for her highly anticipated third album during a three-month hiatus on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia earlier this year.

The soul star nearly missed her performance at the Austin music festival on Saturday after calling police to report a woman who had visited her home multiple times had "several misc. (miscellaneous) items spread out in the grass".

When discussing the possibilities of a Guns N' Roses reunion and what it would mean to him, according to a Sleazeroxx report Adler said, "It would be nice if we could do a reunion. I know, it would help me, in my life. Because I'm afraid when I die I'm gonna have to come back again to finish what I started. And if I could finish what I started with the GN'R guys, as a band, I know I could die happy.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Tool and The Killers are expected to fill out the headlining slots for the fifth annual Lollapalooza festival, set to take place August 7-9 at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois. Also scheduled to appear are the Beastie Boys, Depeche Mode and Jane's Addiction, plus Kings Of Leon. more

The Classic Struggle has announced the addition of former The Black Dahlia Murder drummer Cory Grady to their line-up. Grady replaces Tyler Solnosky, who left the band this past winter.more

Elvis Costello's newest album, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," sees the prolific singer-songwriter-composer returning to acoustic American roots music for the first time since his 1986 album "King of America.more

Video footage of the original lineup of Jane's Addiction performing the song "Stop!" during the its "surprise" set last Thursday night (March 19) at C3 and Playboy's "Rock the Rabbit" show at the old Safeway in Austin, Texas as part of this year's SXSW (South by Southwest) can be viewed here

Songwriter and producer Ted Jarrett, whose 1957 hit "You Can Make It If You Try" turned him into a rhythm and blues icon, has died at 83, a hospice said on Monday.more

Tommy Aldridge (Ozzy Osbourne) and bassist Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake) will join Lipstick Magazine and hit producer and engineer Mike Plotnikoff (producer of Buckcherry and engineer for the smash hit Daughtry) in LA at the end of April to record the title track "Skin Deep". more. [Lipstick Magazine is the silly name of a band. We know it ranks up there with Haircut 100 and Limp Bizkit]

Deftones will be the featured guests on this Wednesday's (March 25) edition of the nationally syndicated "Loveline" radio show with hosts Stryker and Dr. Drew Pinsky.more

EMI Music said on Monday its president of digital music, Douglas Merrill, the ex-Google Inc executive who joined less than a year ago, is leaving the company as his unit is being integrated into its main operations.more

Stupid musical baby names or child abuse?: MIA has named her baby as Ikhyd Edgar Arular Bronfman, as a leaked photo of the birth certificate shows. Poor kid. And MIA thinks this is a better name than the rumored Ickitt more

Scrape Records in Vancouver, BC has scheduled a meet n' greet session with Mastodon. The session is scheduled for April 23rd - time tba. more - They will also have an Atlanta in-store today (March 24th). The band's website and their Ustream channel will carry the performance, which starts at 8:30 EST (5:30 PST). more

Art Brut have announced a residency in New York City, kicking off on June 1. The five-night stand will take place at the intimate Mercury Lounge more

Former Gorgoroth members Gaahl (vocals; real name: Kristian Espedal) and King (bass; real name: Tom Cato Visnes), who recently lost a court battle against guitarist Infernus (real name: Roger Tiegs) over the rights to the Gorgoroth band name, have chosen the new banner of God Seed to represent their art in the future. more

Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills has reportedly signed a $4.3 million deal to promote vegetarian food for fast food chain Burger King. more

Every Time I Die entered the studio today to begin recording their Epitaph Records debut.more

Footage of Metallica's "secret" gig this past Friday night (March 20) at Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, Texas as part of the "Guitar Hero: Metallica" showcase during the Texas capital's annual South By Southwest music and media festival can be viewedhere

Bloody Sign are recording their third album, "Chaos Echoes," at DownTown Studio in Strasbourg with Didier Houbre for a late 2009 release. The CD will contain seven songs, an intro/outro, and a "few more surprises," according to a press release.more

Da Capo Press has set a May 25, 2009 release date for a 288-page paperback book from Zac Crain entitled "Black Tooth Grin: The High Life, Good Times, and Tragic End of 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott".more

Backstabbers Inc. recently completed a new EP, their first recording in roughly five years. Titled "M.I.A.," the EP was recorded in mid-January by Kurt Ballou at Godcity studios. more

Opeth, Meshuggah, Duff Mckagan's Loaded, Five Finger Death Punch, Dir En Grey, Lawnmower Deth, You Me At Six and Steadl�r have been confirmed for this year's Download festival, set to take place June 12-14 at Donington Park, United Kingdom. full lineup

Are the Electric Boys officially reuniting? According to vocalist Conny Bloom it is true, as he answered a couple of fan questions. If you care check it out here

Grace Jones, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and Pet Shop Boys will headline this year's Latitude Festival. Editors, Bat For Lashes and Doves are also set to play the 2009 event. more

"Older American fans don't like it because they are typically my core fans that really supported me in Soundgarden and really loved that band," he said. "To them that's kind of who I am, I'm that guy in that band, and I'm that guy who wrote those songs."

According to the article, Cornell says that while he understands the unenthusiastic response from fans because of the album's stark contrast in sound compared to his work with Soundgarden, he is still a musician that needs to take chances to grow and be imaginative with his music.

Jordan was beating the hell out of his drums during rehearsal when he struck the snare drum in some sort of wrong way and in a freak stroke of bad luck, broke the bone in the tip of his left thumb. X-rays the next day confirmed it was indeed cracked.

Metallica just rocked Austin at SXSW and are super psyched that they'll be back in North America visiting their friends in the Fall as the World Magnetic Tour keeps rolling on. Metallica had an amazing time on the last run in '08 and early '09 and they are so ready to do it again!

A new video by the teen organization DoSomething.org features actors recreating the pop star's grim, highly publicized confrontation with her boyfriend, singer Chris Brown.

The album's official first single, "Arma... geddon", will arrive at radio April 13. Manson's new lineup, including Ramirez (for the first time in close to a decade), plus keyboardist Chris Vrenna, and drummer Ginger Fish, will close the main stage at the Mayhem Festival, this July through August. Manson will also kick off his world tour with a headline festival run this June in Europe.

The following is an excerpt from the interview: This is the ninth album you've had out, five of which have reached #1 on Billboard's Blues Charts, all have been in the Top 10, you've been on the cover of all the major guitar magazines, but a magazine like Rolling Stone hasn't given you a single mention throughout your career....

JB : Nor do I need them to. (Laughs) These people, radio people come to the gigs, and they try to play Colonel Tom Parker with me. They'll say, "Well, I can do this with you." I'll tell them, "I don't need this, my friend. Do you see an empty seat in this place? No. Okay fine". Do I have a chip on my shoulder about what I have to do to get a mention in Rolling Stone? Yeah, maybe. But at the end of the day, do I play bigger venues than some of the people who are consistently mentioned in Rolling Stone? Yes. Do I take a pay cut to be in Rolling Stone?

NHOR : Any opinion on why there hasn't been a single mention of you in Rolling Stone Magazine your entire career? They have these supposedly hip indie bands in there who sell maybe a few thousand albums, yet someone who is at the top of the charts doesn't rate a mention....