Slash Open To Guns N' Roses Reunion, Denies Feud With Axl

Bloomberg reports the suit - brought by the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy California and members of the band - claims the acoustic introduction to "Stairway" was lifted from their 1968 instrumental, "Taurus."

The two bands crossed paths during Zeppelin's first US tour, which saw the future rock legends open for Vanilla Fudge and Spirit, and that's where the Los Angeles band claims Jimmy Page was exposed to "Taurus."

The Philadelphia judge has ordered the case to be transferred to federal court in Los Angeles. The new venue, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, is the same court where a jury ruled in March that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke should pay $7.4 million for infringing on Marvin Gaye's 1977 track "Got To Give It Up" with their 2013 hit, "Blurred Lines."

Spirit guitarist Randy California drowned while rescuing his 12-year-old son from a rip current in Hawaii in early 1997. Last year, Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page called the lawsuit "ridiculous."

It came soon after he slammed Filter singer Richard Patrick, who said Weiland's fans were his biggest enablers when it came to drug abuse. And after the footage from the Corpus Christi show surfaced online, fans speculated that Weiland was once again in the grip of addiction.

Weiland tells AXS: "As for the show in Corpus Christi that didn't go well; that was due to the fact that my in-ear monitors were out completely. I could not hear myself for the entire set. It's impossible to sound good and be on key if you can't hear yourself� Without those monitors, you can't hear yourself. Not at all."

Halford tells 1290 KOIL Radio: "We were pondering about this the other day in the van driving back from a gig. You know, will there be another great, big rock star giant like Ozzy Osbourne? Will there be another great, big rock star giant like Axl Rose, for example.

"Does that really matter? I don't know. But it's shifted, it's changed. The good news is there's an extraordinary display of talent coming from all different quarters in all different genres of rock and roll."

He adds: "Avenged Sevenfold, Five Finger Death Punch, In This Moment, Royal Blood. There's a ton of bands� Rival Sons� I can keep going and going."

French feels the situation is much more dire, questioning arena and stadium rock's future while suggesting fans better catch ageing acts now before the genre disappears for good.

He tells iradiousa.com: "It's an ageing genre. Name me any rock bands that are 25 and younger who are blowing up the charts. That's the scary part - the replenishment of the genre.

The episode airs this Saturday at 9:00PM ET/PT, repeating at 11:00PM ET/PT, and will also feature musical guest Billy Sheehan. We were sent the following details:

Joe Elliott's interview is a pre-taped interview, and his appearances book-end Season 14, appearing in the debut and finale. In the interview Joe discusses not slowing down, Def Leppard's upcoming tour and cruise, and the huge impact MTV had on their career.

Bobby and Frankie sit down together with hosts Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, and Jim Florentine live in the TMS studio as the final guests of the season.

Frankie talks about the success of the recent Quiet Riot documentary and the range of emotions he felt combing through the old footage of former singer, Kevin Dubrow.

The hosts ask "Blitz" if he ever would want to do a documentary on Overkill and he said they wouldn't. Blitz also says Overkill has gotten better with age due to his vaping of Red Bull and gasoline; and shares a hilarious story about the vitamin supplement Airborne.

Billy Sheehan tells us about the upcoming sophomore album by The Winery Dogs, how they played 101 shows on their last tour, and the bands' upcoming tour plans in October. Billy even shares a story about being asked to join Van Halen and why he declined the opportunity TWICE! Billy's playing is absolutely stellar throughout the show, and his second to last performance causes the entire panel, audience, and crew to give him a standing ovation, a "That Metal Show" first! The hosts then ask Billy to perform one more solo in lieu of "The Throw Down" to end the season, once again bringing the entire studio to a raucous standing ovation.

Billy joins guests Bobby and Frankie for "Put It On The Table". The "TMS Top 5" this week is sponsored by Just For Men � and prompts a discussion of the Top 5 Beards In Rock, in which Kerry King, John Petrucci, Zakk Wylde, and Rob Zombie all find their way into the discussion. Eddie faces some extremely difficult "Stump The Trunk" questions in the last show of the season, and for the "Pick Of The Week" the hosts pick their favorite recent reissues, and Jim Florentine didn't get the memo since his choice isn't even out yet.

In the excerpt from the film, frontman Tommy Rogers says: "It's about a guy in a coma. In every song he is experiencing different past lives of his. He put himself in a coma on purpose because he found out if you're in a coma you can experience past lives and he's trying to find a better world to live in.

"At the end he realizes that was all a dream and he has been in a coma his whole life. Basically it's a coma within a coma within a coma. And then he dies."

He continues: "I liked the idea of everything being fake, like The Truman Show, The Twilight Zone. All these stories that you realise everything you've been living has not happened, I think that's a really scary thought. I felt that really fit the music, it's a very dark record.

He tells One On One With Mitch Lafon: "The first thing I'm going to do with Skid Row as far as original music is the third EP in the United World Rebellion trilogy.

"Then there's the possibility of a full-length album maybe as soon as next year. That makes me really excited because that'll obviously make me feel much more a part of this legacy. Playing live and singing songs that I maybe co-wrote and recorded will make me feel a lot more at home."

Halestorm singer Lzzy Hale says: "After years of us hearing stories from all of our peers about what a great time ShipRocked is, the time has come to experience it for ourselves. It's our first time, so please don't be gentle. See all you freaks on the high seas."

Due for release on Agonia Records in Europe and EVP in their homeland of Australia, King Parrot have joined forces with Phil Anselmo's Housecore Records for the North American release. In fact, Phil's chosen his favorite track for us from the album:

As reported by Variety, the yet-to-be-titled film chronicles the band's journey from their early days at Liverpool's Cavern Club to their last public concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966.

Howard has voiced excitement about the project, describing The Beatles' impact on the world as "a dramatic transformation in terms of global culture and these remarkable four individuals, who were geniuses and also entirely relatable."

The "That Battle Is Over" video was directed by Zia Anger and features an appearance from former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur.

And looking to find a new challenge, Kirkwood says the guitarist turned up at his house in Arizona in a bedraggled state looking to land a gig with his influential band Meat Puppets.

He says on the first of his Cris Kirkwood podcasts: "He showed up with his guitar out of its case and barefoot. We were on a major label then, we just got signed, and those guys had blown up to where they were at and John needed to get out.

He continues: "John gets to our pad and we started getting ready to play and I said, 'You want to use my tuner?' He said, 'No, I'll bend it in.' It was so far out.

The band say: "This book is a record and testament to all that is Gwar - the band who redefined the meaning of performance in rock music with their outlandish costumes and intense theatrical performances.

"For this new album," says frontman and guitarist Seb Bismuth, "we wanted to be a little bit more cohesive than on Through The Dusty Paths Of Our Lives, strengthen the psychedelic side of our music, as well as darkening the overall vibe. Being on the road a lot helped us build this sound and we're really satisfied by the result, so we hope you'll like it too!"

Due for release later this year, the project introduces the work of guitarist Jamie van Dyck, keyboardist Frank Sacramone, bassist Ryan Griffin and drummer Ben Shanbrom, who explains the significance of the lead track.

Shanbrom says: "The Closest I've Come was a coming of age song for us. It was the first piece of music we wrote for the record, and in a very personal way it represents our journey, both as musicians and people, from adolescence to maturity. This track defined us on a core level and set the bar for our future output.

"It also tells our story through an instrumental medium - the feeling of pushing oneself and striving for something greater, but also longing to reach the point of fulfilment - which rarely happens in the creative process."

Prosthetic say in a statement: "The Los Angeles-based metal powerhouse will enter the studio this weekend with Grammy Award-winning producer John Spiker to begin tracking their third album."

Vittorio: My mom is a classical musician and when she was pregnant with us, sang in a classical music choir and played classical music to us. My dad is a rocker.

Vincenzo: After we were born, our mom played classical music for us in the car. When we started talking, she would tell us who the composers were and tells us about them. By the time we went to kindergarten we could name them and their songs. Our mom wanted us to play classical music and started us on acoustic guitar and piano when we were 7, but we really didn't like it much.

Vittorio: One day when we were driving with our dad in his truck, we were complaining about having to learn the piano and acoustic guitar. He told us a story about two brothers named Malcolm and Angus Young, who attended Catholic School just like we did and started playing in a band. We asked what happened to them and he said they became Rock Gods and he put AC/DC's Back in Black CD in the truck's stereo. We listened to the whole CD. The sounds were awesome!

Vincenzo: When the CD was done we told out dad that we wanted to play music like that!

Vittorio: Our dad smiled and said, "I hoped you'd say that." He then drove us down to the music store and bought us a drum kit and electric guitars.

Vincenzo: We started making noise with them and about a week later a guitar and drum instructor stopped by the house and we had our first lessons.

Vittorio: Three months later we slayed our Catholic Talent Show by playing AC/DC's Back in Black, TNT and Highway to Hell.

The first original song we wrote is called "Long Live Rock N Roll" and it tells out story. It tells how we became rockers. The lyrics are:

Before we were born, while still in her womb
Mom played the classics, filling the room
Handel, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Bach
Beethoven, Brahms, we never heard any rock

Long Live Rock N Roll

When we hit the ground, classics kept on playin'
Heavenly music, Mom was so fond of sayin'
Handel, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Bach
Beethoven, Brahms, we never heard any rock

Long Live Rock and Roll

Then one day it struck, like a bolt from the blue
We heard the Rock Gods, we knew just what to do
So we cranked up the amps, laid down the beat
Struck the power chords and started moving our feet

Now we're playing hard, now we're playing fast.
Born to be rockers, gonna' make it last.
Handel, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Bach
Beethoven, Brahms, HEAR US ROCK!

Long! Live! Rock and Roll

Vincenzo: The part about "When we heard the Rock Gods, we knew just what to do" refers to when our dad played AC/DC's Back in Black for us in his truck the day when we were complaining about mom making us learn the acoustic guitar and piano.

Vittorio: Mom was pissed off at Dad for a long time after that.

Vincenzo: Yeah, she was mad until she saw us perform at the LA Music Awards and get a standing ovation. When the LA Music Awards gave us our plaques for winning the 7 categories we thanked our mom for passing on her musical talents to us and Vittorio gave her, in front of everybody, his LA Music Awards Guitarist of the Year plaque. Mom cried a little bit.

Vittorio: This is the video of us performing "Long Live Rock N Roll" at the LA Music Awards (see it here). It has over one million views.