Slipknot Announce North American Tour With Hatebreed

Frontman Chester Bennington suffered a leg injury that requires "immediate medical attention" forcing the band to scrap the tour dates that included support from Rise Against and Of Mice & Men.

Bennington had the following message for fans, "I'm really disappointed this injury has made it impossible to continue with this tour. The first couple shows were just magical. We will truly miss not being with our fans for the next few weeks. Hope to see you again soon."

The band will be launching the last leg of their "Final Tour" on July 22nd in Eugene, OR at Matthew Knight Arena and concluding with the final tour date of their career on December 31st in Los Angeles, CA at the Staples Center.

Nikki Sixx had the following to say about the North American tour, "In some of the cities, we could only reach a fraction of the fans who wanted to come see us play last year because of ticket demand so we're coming back to those places to bring them our full production including the Cr�ecifly drum coaster, as well as all pyro and every other bell and whistle.

"Even despite the overwhelming fan demand we can only add so many new cities in North America because of our commitment to take the Final Tour global on our final year."

Like their previous North American leg of the Final Tour, rock legend Alice Cooper will be opening for Motley Crue on most of the stops on their newly announced trek.

Motley Crue are celebrating the tour announcement by teaming up with Google Play to give away free download of their Greatest Hits album from now until January 27th here.

Sixx had this to say about the album giveaway, "We set up the Final Tour so we could see our loyal fans in person one more time and thank them for all their support over the years.

"One of the many things we are doing before its all over is collaborating with the people at Google Play to give away our Greatest Hits collection for free through the week of January 20. Grab it!"

In addition to the North American tour, Motley Crue have also announced that they will be performing dates in Japan in February, Australia/New Zealand sometime this spring and they will be appearing a three leading European music festivals this summer, Download (UK), Sweden Rock (Sweden) and Novarock (Austria).

The 73-year-old appeared in Worcester Crown Court yesterday after being charged in April 2013. He'd previously been voluntarily interviewed by police. At the time an official statement said: "Roy vigorously denies the allegations that have been made against him and looks forward to clearing his name."

The coheadlining tour will find Mastodon and Clutch alternating the closing spot at different stops on the tour which is set to kick off on April 16th in St. Paul, MN.

Big Business will act as the opening act for the first two weeks of the trek with Graveyard taking over the support spot beginning on April 29th when the tour hits Los Angeles.

Idol is under "doctor's orders to recover," according to the announcement, and will now be kicking off the tour on Saturday (January 24th) in Philadelphia, PA at the Tower Theater.

Fans have been advised to hold on to their tickets for tonight's New Orleans and tomorrow night's (January 22nd) show in Atlanta until the rescheduled dates are announced.

The band is launching the tour in support of their forthcoming album, "From Birth To Brutal," which will be released this spring. Fans can expect the band to perform hits, new material and fans favorites on the trek, according to the announcement.

They will be kicking off the tour on February 10th in Sauget, IL at Pop's Nightclub and concluding the trek on March 21st in Ft. Wayne, IN at Piere's Entertainment Center.

The "Charming America" tour is scheduled to kick off on February 20th in Agoura Hills, CA at The Canyon Club and will be concluding on March 18th in 18 Milwaukee, WI at The Rave.

The band named the trek after their hit 1975 album "Searchin' For A Rainbow" and they have revealed dates that will be keeping them on the road for most of the year, with additional dates still expected to be announced.

Frontman Doug Gray had this to say, "It's looking like 2015 is shaping up to be our biggest tour schedule in years. We're adding new concerts to the books nearly every day and our booking agent can't answer the calls fast enough.

He lost his voice ahead of the bands' show at The Hub, Plymouth, on Saturday - the second of 14 gigs this month. Amon Amarth played a mainly instrumental set but Janus fronted them for the track Guardians Of Asgaard.

Hegg later tweeted: "Huge thanks to Jill for stepping in, and to the amazing Plymouth fans. Feel so bad I couldn't sing." Janus responded: "Big shoes to fill - literally! You guys are the coolest."

The three day festival, taking place on May 22, 23 and 24, will once again be staged at the "Catch the Fever" Festival Grounds in Pryor, OK and this year's event will feature three stages.

His first full-length concert since he underwent the procedure takes place at the Junction, Cambridge, on March 6. Johnson announced in early 2013 that he'd been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer and was expected to be dead by October of that year. Doctors became curious at his relatively good health after the date had passed and, he underwent a groundbreaking operation in May 2014.

They'll issue Into The Wild Life on April 6 via Atlantic Records. Hale tells 98 Rock: "There's some craziness on this new record. People kept guessing, 'Okay, you'll stray from who you are, because it's your record.' And I'm like, 'No, no, no.'

The band's original lineup are all on board. Multi-instrumentalists Richard Harvey and Brian Gulland, guitarist Graeme Taylor and drummer-singer Dave Oberle are joined by multi-instrumentalist Graham Preskett and bassist Jon Davie on the road.

Gryphon say: "It has been a long time coming, and so it is with enormous pleasure that we announce the Gryphon None The Wiser tour. Thank you all for your support and encouragement over the years. Please share and spread the word and if you want tickets. Don't hang around - we think they might disappear quite quickly."

Fafara also confirmed that recording sessions for the band's seventh album will begin this year. They were originally due to enter the studio last year but those plans were put on hold by the departures.

He tells Full Metal Jackie: "We've also got a new guitar player, but we're gonna wait on the announcement for that. But it's nice." Fafara adds that he accepts the pair's reasons for leaving and says he's excited about playing live with D'Amond.

The band have yet to reveal the dates or "special guests" but bass player Bryan Nelson sent over these details, "Tour will kick off in Arizona, wind down through Texas and Florida, up through the Carolinas and end in Indiana.

"Basically all of the markets that we were not able to hit on the
'So Long, Astoria' tour or our recent You Call The Shots' all request tour where you the fans picked the setlist."

Twisted Sister drummer Pero is joined in supergroup Adrenaline Mob by Symphony X's Allen, guitarist Mike Orlando and bass player Erik Leonhardt.

Allen tells JoeDaly.net: "AJ is the kind of guy who you just love to be on tour with. Let's put it this way, he's been around forever, he's played bigger shows than anybody that's ever been in our band.

"Twisted Sister was a huge, huge act and they still play headlining festivals in Europe. At the end of our shows, do you know what he's doing? He's helping the local crews load the trailer. That's AJ Pero. There's no rock star sh*t with him, he's a man's man, he's a hard-working guy and I've got nothing but respect for him.

"He brings that sort of attitude on the road. So nothing really gets to him. Nothing gets him down that he's such a rock in so many ways. He's my enforcer - he makes it happen."

The band features former Visions Of Atlantis singer Maxi Nil, ex-Iced Earth drummer Raphael Saini, Horizon guitarist Kosta Vreto and bassist/synth player Babis Nikou of Astral DNA.

Nil says: "We can't put down in words how excited and happy we are for signing with Sensory Records, since it's very hard to find these days labels who truly help, support and believe in their bands.

"I can't wait to get down to New Zealand and Australia with this new lineup," says Frehley. "I'll be performing Ace classics as well as songs off my new CD 'Space Invader' for the enjoyment of the fans. Let There Be Rock!"

They're joined by bassist Stefan Whiting and drummer Dave Fee - and they'll play their first live show together at London's Camden Barfly on February 11. Support will come from Monument, Stellify and Brutai.

"Physical Graffiti" will be latest album released as part of the band's reissue campaign with the deluxe remastered versions of their classic albums released with bonus material including alternate versions of some of their most famous songs.

Guitarist Jimmy Page, who oversaw the reissues, tells Rolling Stone, "'Houses of the Holy' is unlike anything that anyone was doing, It's just something that's totally of its own. I think the lyrics are brilliant on it."

Radio.com points out that the new "House of the Holy" version "is a departure from the original with its upfront vocals from Robert Plant and more commanding bass lines from John Paul Jones. Even John Bonham's drumming style is noticeably different."

The deluxe version of reissue will also include alternative versions of "In My Time of Dying," "Sick Again," "Kashmir," "Trampled Under Foot" and "Everybody Makes It Through", "Boogie With Stu", "Driving Through Kashmir (Kashmir Rough Orchestra Mix)".

The reissues of "Physical Graffiti" are set to be released on February 24th in several different configurations. You can preorder the digital version here, the 2CD version here, the deluxe 3CD version here, the vinyl version here and the super deluxe box set here.

The new track, "All Bad Things," has been released digitally and the band also created a music video for the song that looks back over their 34 year career.

According to reports, after Scantlin jumped on the carousel he ended up in a restricted area of the airport and was arrested. He was bailed later that night, resulting in the show running late.

The band decided to split the album as they wanted listeners to fully appreciate the complex story and musical themes. Drummer Matt Halpern said: "Because Juggernaut is very detailed and dense in terms of character development, peaks and valleys, climaxes and resolutions, we've divided the story and music in two.

"Although the albums are split in two physically, the story is only complete when the albums are digested consecutively. This allows the listener to recognise and hear the lyrical and musical overlapping themes, foreshadowing, and connected ideas."

Contrary to the title, there's nothing very beige about the slow-burning song. It's an increasingly surreal visual that offers just as much to decode as any one of frontman Billy Corgan's blog posts.

The three-and-a-half minute clip juxtaposes Corgan's bare face with black and white carbon-like graphics of fossils, flowers, and the moon. There's also two seemingly unexplained naked nymph-like women who catch on fire while hovering over the ocean.

The group, which features Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) and Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project), will release the album on March 24th

The band offered this description of the new track, "Endless Sea is the album opener and it serves as an introduction to our story-based album. Susanne, the main character, sings about her busband Joseph, who has just sailed out on another long voyage to the Far East.

"We are very excited to offer everybody a first taste of our forthcoming album with the release of these lyric videos. This is such a special album to the both us."

"I have been a fan of Betty Davis for years now," says Barnes. "I can remember the first time I heard her stuff, I was hooked! She is wild, free, nasty, raw, funky, intense, powerful and sexy. I love the instrumentation, I love the backing vocals. I've always wanted to make a record that sounds like what she was doing.

"Making this album was a real joy. I love the realness. Recording it the way we did kept it really exciting and raw - no tricks or fix ups, old school and real. A perfect take is one that means something and feels great."

Guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz can be seen working on the project in the series of photos that Robert posted online via Twitter.

Bennington was brought into the band after original frontman Scott Weiland was fired by Stone Temple Pilots in February of 2013, leading to a series of public statements and lawsuits by both parties.

And while she says her influences include Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and the Beatles, it was the Birmingham metal icons who gave her her first taste of heavy music.

Nate McCarthy: 'Distance' was originally inspired by the jazz standard 'I'll Be Seeing You', and the idea of someone continuing to exist in a place even after they've died. It's really a song about place and memory. It was written following a trip we were invited on to the Caribbean in the wake of our bass player Jesse's death a few months earlier.

It all felt very strange, being in a foreign country in a time of such grief and confusion. I remember walking down the island roads at night, with jungle on both sides, and beyond that, the ocean, and just being in complete darkness, the kind that you never experience living outside a major city, with the light pollution and all.

And then finally returning to New York, even the places that once felt familiar seemed to have changed.

Anders Fleming: The first full band approach was sort of folky, we were trying to squeeze everything around this vocal melody that we all felt really good about. It worked, but it didn't leave a lot of room for the drums, bass, and lead guitar. We struggled to find the right feel for the song, and came very close to discarding it completely, until I started playing the exact beat that's on the recording, Ben (lead guitar) began playing the very simple lead guitar riff that really carries the song, and things just sort of fell into place after that. We usually leave very little work for ourselves in the studio as far as writing is concerned. We must of played 'Distance' a dozen times live before going into the studio.