Alice Cooper Offers To Kill Motley Crue

And now, Barker has shed a little more light on what happened. Minutes after the announcement that blink-182 would headline the show with Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba filling in for Tom DeLonge, a follow-up press release was issued by the band's publicist declaring that DeLonge was leaving the band "indefinitely."

"We [blink-182] had agreed to do this show," Barker explained Friday morning on the Kevin & Bean show on KROQ (a CBS Radio station). "We had planned this in the end of October. We had all agreed to do it. It was concrete, blink was headlining. Then the day before New Year's Eve we got an email saying Tom is indefinitely taking a leave of absence. He doesn't know how long. It could be forever. More than likely it's forever and will not be doing anything blink-related, meaning live shows, recordings. And we were set to go in studio on Jan. 5. Managers had studios rented, equipment was moved over. Everyone was raring to go. And this is the fourth time it's happened."

Barker echoed the same thoughts in his Rolling Stone interview earlier this week, saying that this series of events has a precedent. "This is exactly how it went down 10 years ago. No phone call from Tom. It was always just his management saying, 'Don't bug Tom. Tom's out. Leave him alone.'

"You know, the way we see it is, you know when it happened 10 years ago we had this big tsunami benefit that we were supposed to play and we pulled out. It sucked for everyone. It sucked for the fans. It sucked for us. And it was kind of the same this for this Musink show. Let's get through this show. We committed. We said we play it, let's play it."

Barker explained that the band's last reunion, which happened in 2009, may have been for the wrong reasons. "From the time my plane crash happened and I survived, it was like, 'Dude you almost died. I have to play music with you again,'" he said. "Then it turned into interviews where he was like, 'I was on a plane when Travis got in a plane crash and everyone was talking to me and it felt weird and poor me.' He took it to a weird place."

Last year he took a picture for the group, named the F***ing Slayer Gang (FSG), after his wife asked him to. But since then she's decided "it was best to leave their group."

And Mustaine - who's only said that fans would be happy with the duo's replacements - has vowed to stick to his own vision over the follow-up to 2013's Super Collider.

He tells Full Metal Jackie: "I'm going in the studio March 2 no matter what. It's set right now. I told the label I'm not making another radio song ever, cause you know that's what record companies want. It was the bane of Megadeth's existence.

They will be released in North America on March 24th, along with a double-vinyl edition of their recent The Who Hits 50! compilation. Tommy, The Who Sell Out, Quadrophenia and Face Dances will all come bundled with extras, including posters and booklets. All are currently available to pre-order here.

And the drummer reveals the new tracks encapsulate everything they've done before while still paying tribute to their musical influences.

On the subject of album he tells Talking Metal Digital: "We continue to pay homage to our roots - a lot of the bands we grew up listening to during the 70s. I think it's a wonderful mixture of everything that inspired us and everything we've done. I think people will hear many different influences."

Allen says the majority of the 16 tracks they've been working on are almost finished and reveals some are "just about ready to present."

The guitarist formed Slasher Films in 2010; he produced the company's debut flick, Nothing Left To Fear, in 2013 and recorded a companion soundtrack album for the project.

Last year, Slash teamed up with Universal Studios Hollywood to compose music for a theme park attraction entitled Clowns 3D as part of their annual Halloween Horror Nights event.

Slash recently attended the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where he shared some of his movie plans and his long-standing love of the horror genre.

Metal Hammer writer and resident Maiden superfan Dom Lawson says of Steve's win: "He's been the driving force behind the greatest metal band of all time for more than 35 years. He's an icon, a hero and a living testament to the power of ambition, determination and humility. But more important than that, Steve Harris is an absolute beast of a bass player.

"There are undoubtedly more technically gifted bassists in the rock world, but the sounds Steve conjures from four strings provides Maiden with a precise and propulsive backbone; that unmistakable, clattering pulse, as essential to the band's music as Bruce Dickinson's voice or those seminal twin guitar harmonies.

"Throw in the fact that H is also a truly great songwriter and it's not hard to see how he topped our poll. The image of Steve Harris, foot on monitor and Fender Precision aimed, machine-gun style, at the first few rows of baying acolytes is simply the visual essence of Iron F***ing Maiden. And furthermore, how the f*** do his fingers move that fast? Steve's playing style is so unique that, surprisingly, it has never been credibly emulated by anyone. Perhaps metal musicians just instinctively know that you don't mess with the master."

BFMV report: "We have the most songs we've ever had before recording sessions - now begins the difficult process of choosing the best of the best to make the cut.

In between legs of Queen's tours in 1980, drummer Roger Taylor spent time at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, making his first solo recordings since the release of the 1977 single "I Wanna Testify." Those recordings would make up his first solo album, 1981's Fun in Space.

The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame member produced, wrote and performed the entire project himself, with only "approximately 50 per cent of keyboards" being handled by engineer David Richards.

The Fun in Space LP will be reissued on vinyl for the time since its 1981 release. The first run will be on clear vinyl (with black vinyl to follow) and contains a reproduction of the original album's full color inner sleeve with lyrics. The CD version, housed in a digipak, contains three bonus tracks: both sides of Taylor's 1977 solo offering ("I Wanna Testify" b/w "Turn on the TV") and the U.K. single version of the album's "My Country I & II" (issued as "My Country").

A few months after Queen released The Works (featuring the Roger Taylor-penned smash "Radio Ga Ga"), Taylor unleashed his second solo album, Strange Frontier. While pieces were recorded in Munich while Queen was recording The Works, Taylor also worked on the material in Switzerland. He once again handled the vast majority of instruments and vocals, but took advantage of the time in Munich with Queen, with his three bandmates making guest appearances on tracks. Strange Frontier also contains a co-write and guitar work from Status Quo's Rick Parfitt, plus covers of Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" and Bob Dylan's "Masters of War." Production duties were handled by Taylor, engineer David Richards and Mack - with whom Queen had worked since 1980's The Game.

Strange Frontier will be reissued on translucent red vinyl for the first pressing (black vinyl for future runs) with all original packaging elements replicated. The CD, contained in a digipak, features five bonus tracks: remixes of the album's singles "Man on Fire," "I Cry for You (Love, Hope and Confusion)" and "Strange Frontier." It also contains the B-side to the title cut, "Two Sharp Pencils (Get Bad)."

Backyard Babies will return with a single in May - prior to their early June appearances at the Sweden Rock Festival and Download - with an album due in late August.

Singer Nicke Borg says: "We are extremely pleased to continue our career together with Gain/Sony Music Sweden. It's partly our history together, through the RCA, but above all it is the common love of real rock that makes this cooperation will become a success story."

Legend has it that James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich were so impressed with seeing Burton perform with Trauma in Los Angeles in 1982 that they scooped him for their own group.

Trauma released their debut album, Scratch And Scream, in 1984 - it was reissued in 2013 - and they return in 2015 with only singer Donny Hillier remaining from the original lineup.

Launched last week via Century Media, the project follows 2012's Periphery II: This Time It's Personal and 2014's Clear EP. Mansoor - who received the Dimebag Darrell Shredder Award at the 2014 Metal Hammer Golden Gods - tells Ultimate Guitar: "Some of my favorite albums are concept records. Like Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory, for example. That's just such an awesome record. It's one of my favorite albums ever and I love the use of themes. And a lot of the stuff Devin Townsend does also has a lot of really cool use of themes.

"It's a way to look at an album differently in my opinion. It's a way to look at it rather than a collection of really cool songs, now it's one entity and the songs representing that entity and working within that."

The award recognizes individuals who have made an impact on the Canadian music industry. Danniels is the CEO/President of SRO (Standing Room Only) Management Inc. and of independent record label Anthem Entertainment Group.

"I am grateful to be recognized by my peers for doing something I've loved and been passionate about since I was a teenager," says Danniels. "I share this honour with those that have been with me since the beginning - the members of Rush - Geddy, Alex and Neil."

"We are excited about playing Ramblin' Man," says Saxon's Biff Byford. "It will be the last show of the 35th anniversary tour, so make sure you bring your denim and leather."

Every bottle of the beer, which is named after their track from 2002 album The Remote Part, comes with a download code for an acoustic version of A Film For The Future.

65daysofstatic, Vennart, Talons, Her Name is Calia, British Theatre, The Algorithm and Rolo Tomassi are among the other acts confirmed for Fernhill Farm near Bristol on the weekend of August 20-22.

Vocalist Jonne J�rvel� says: "We have finally managed to create the balance between folk and metal in the way I've always dreamt it to be. Thanks to Sami's arrangements and Tuomas's crazy shredding of the violin."

White-Gluz left The Agonist last year to replace Angela Gossow in Arch Enemy. And The Agonist's upcoming album Eye Of Providence is the first to feature Psarakis, who Morino says was a breath of fresh air in the studio.

He tells Metal Wani: "The way we approached the songwriting process on this record was really different. The other three were all written in the same method. I would write a song and bring it to Alissa and she would write the lyrics and vocals. There was zero communication. No collaboration. There was no room for discussion with Alissa.

"After Vicky joined we took a much more collaborative approach. Everyone's viewpoint on this album was what's best for the song. Whereas on previous albums people got a little selfish thinking, 'What about my vocal part,' or, 'What about my guitar part.' Vicky lived with me, basically for the period that we wrote and recorded the album.

He tells Rock Sins: "We try to constantly look on SoundCloud or whatever it is and try to see what people are doing. Or just try to get inspired by music that's yet to be discovered. We have always done that.

"I think we've always tried to stay on the cutting edge of recording techniques and technology and like, 'Oh listen to this sound. Listen to these sounds.' I think that's where the dubstep came into play was we've always tried to capture that low-end, that big, heavy bass.

The track comes from their latest album .5 The Gray Chapter which launched last year - their first release since the death of bassist Paul Gray in 2010 and the departure of drummer Joey Jordison in 2013.

As for whether or not more music will follow? The band hasn't said yet. They simply dropped "Coming for You" with a note that said "We are excited to announce the release of our brand new song."

But given that their last album Days Go By was released in 2012, it seems likely that more music will follow. Aside from the time in between their 2003 album Splinter, 2008's Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, and 2012's Days Go By, the band has stuck to a relatively regular release schedule, dropping an album every few years or less.

English metalcore outfit Asking Alexandria split with singer Danny Worsnop last week and it has been speculated that Down & Dirty frontman Denis Shaforostov is to be named his replacement.

But Walker took the opportunity to put himself forward for the job, saying he could cook and clean for the band and describing himself as "a stay-at-home boyfriend." He also insists AA is his favourite band, before admitting he'd never heard any of their songs.

Walker's track includes lyrics such as "I can sing high, I can sing kinda low..I can't sing that low," and "If I was in Asking Alexandria I might actually be okay, I won't default on my mortgage when I'm finally getting paid."

The band's 6-song, 30-minute set included three tunes from their current release, "Turn Blue" - "Weight of Love", "Fever" and "Gotta Get Away." Recorded on November 17, The Black Keys were paired on the January 31 episode with a set by J. Roddy Walston & The Business.

The Black Keys recently cancelled their upcoming UK and European tour dates following an injury sustained by Patrick Carney over the holidays that saw the drummer dislocate his shoulder when a wave slammed him to the ocean floor on the island of Saint-Barth�lemy.

In the latest short film, guitarist Anders Bjorler reflects on seeing bands live when he was younger, treating fans the right way and why they decided to keep their day jobs outside of the group.

He says: "We don't tour that much any more. This was a compromise since vocalist Tomas Lindberg and bassist Jonas Bjorler still have their day jobs and we work around that.

"I do some film - advertising stuff, Jonas is an accountant, guitarist Martin Larsson does bookings for our small rock club and drummer Adrian Erlandsson has a big photo studio in London, so we all have things apart from At The Gates.

"We decided to keep our day jobs to have some kind of security and let music be a professional hobby for us. It's very hard to make a living through music and we realised that pretty early. It's good to have your feet in the normal world to connect with real people."

Question: One event that seems to have gone down in TSO lore is your appearance on stage in a cow costume. For years, TSO fans talked about this as one of the funniest things ever witnessed on the TSO stage. Tommy talked a bit about it in my interview with him. Can you explain how you wound up on stage wearing a cow costume? [Laughs]

Guy: Well, I found a cow costume in my size and it was all over from there, Dan. [Laughs] When you find an XXXL cow costume, you hang on to it!

Part of the reason that the audiences loved us so much is because we were always taking it to the next level and hamming it up. Audiences like to feel that they are being let in on something or they are part of a joke. During the introductions, we would really ham it up and show the charisma of this group. Those kinds of actions were very much frowned upon by the organization.

Anyway, I had found this cow costume and I brought it with me to rehearsals as a joke for Halloween, but never used it. So now, I had this costume in my luggage. We let Tommy know what was up, but we didn't tell him when. We get to Omaha for a show and I decided that I was going to get into this costume for the intros. I walked out on to stage in this head-to-toe cow costume, with a straight face as if nothing was wrong. Tommy basically spit water across the stage. [Laughs] He put a towel over the udders, which made it look like a bunch of erections. Everyone on stage and in the audience was cracking up - it went on forever. I just walked to the mic with a complete straight face and said "What?". The crowd roared. It was a lot of fun. Of course there was a phone call from the office waiting for us after the show.

I got gifts for years from fans: cowbells, cow statues, anything cow related. It was good times, a lot of fun.

Question: Can you talk about the circumstances that led to your separation from TSO in 2007?

Guy: My ending was horrendous and life-changing, like many peoples were. All I want to say about it - and I do want to say this - is that I was fired over hearsay. And the hearsay came from an unreliable source, especially in light of the behavior that occurred afterwards. There was enough drama to fill a reality show.

I had just bought a house down the street from where Al Pitrelli owned a compound of six houses with Jane. I did this because I, along with the rest of the TSO cast, were all invited to stay up there and live there and contribute to and write the next TSO album.

Question: They asked the cast for creative input?

Guy: That sweetens the pot a little bit, right? I was a single guy and didn't want to live in their house with the others, so I bought my own place down the street. I was working for this multi-million dollar organization and it was great to be brought even more so into the fold - and with the promise of helping to create the next album. Of course, that promise never came through, and I was let go.

Snider rocked classic tracks by Twisted Sister, AC/DC as well as Steppenwolf at the event, where he was joined by openers The Dawn Truth and Eagle Tears.

The 36th Harley Show saw over 50 Harley-Davidson and custom motorcycles riding around in the Bell Centre, a presentation of the most spectacular custom bikes in America and the 2015 Harley-Davidson apparel collection.

Last month, the singer wrapped up performances of "Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale", a play running at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place in Chicago.

"The Wolf, The Pack" is the final video to be taken from the band's latest EP Seasons available now from their Bandcamp. Speaking about the song, the band say:

"The song is about Confessions Of A Traitor's formation and the sacrifices we make for the band to work. But the main theme is the support we have from our fans, friends and family."

Glass Built Castles follows the release of Say You Will from their as-yet-untitled album which is due to see the light of day later this year. Frontman Will Gardner says of Glass Built Castles: "It's the third part of a four-part, four-track story on the Black Peaks debut album. The song deals with a fictitious individual's thirst for revenge and the consequences of his actions viewed by an outsider."

Gardner, who is joined in the band by guitarist Joe Gosney, drummer Liam Kearley and bassist Andrew Gosden, previously released the three-track Closer To The Sun EP last year.

Shaun: It's funny, this song wasn't really intended to be a real song. We were out partying and pouring through bottles of 151. That song Nightrain came on by Guns n' Roses and we kind of were joking around like, "those guys were some of our biggest heroes and here we are drinking even harder stuff than them."

We thought we were being really cool and so we started spoofing on that song, singing about 151. The song was originally kind of a joke on that and then so many people kept telling us how much they liked it, we decided to make it into an actual song.

Bo: The stuff is jet-fuel!

Shaun: Yeah and we'd be going out emptying a bottle of it every night.

Alex: We started signing a bunch of empty bottles and giving them away to people.

Shaun: Even though we gave a lot of them away, we still had stacks of those bottles in our apartment. We found a place that would sell it for like $16 bucks and we pretty much ran them out of stock each week.

Alex: My uncle owns a bunch of bars in Columbus and when he heard about this song he said "You know that 151 is something you're only supposed to have a little of once every couple months or it destroys your body?" We probably went through a lifetime supply about every week, but I love this song, and I love this spirit. I remember being 18, in this band, and drinking nothing but 151 for a year. And that's About all I remember.

Shaun: This was the stuff that was the root cause of a lot of stories for this band. Bo passing out in the Boston Commons comes to mind.

Bo: I drank a lot of that

Soho: At this point, the song has more meaning to us. It brings back a lot of memories of the early days of this band when we were just carving out these songs. Five guys all crammed into a little two bedroom apartment in Boston's Kenmore Square with a real "us against the world" mentality.

Alex: And it's a cool nod to a band that was a big influence of ours, kinda carrying that torch in a way I guess

Bo: It's rock n' roll and the perfect Friday night song