Today's Top Stories

Keith Emerson Dead At 71, Police Investigating Possible Suicide

Sharon said of the Black Sabbath frontman's reaction, "My husband goes � 'Why are you sending me naked pictures of yourself? I know what you look like when you have no clothes on.

Titled "So Long, Farewell," the Minneapolis quintet's letter states "for now we are done," although they don't spell out what they are doing next or if this is just a planned hiatus after one more tour.

They write, "It has been a quiet winter for us. We've had some time at home after a very busy 2015. With this time, we've been able to think about the past, present, and future of Motion City Soundtrack.

"All of this thinking has lead to several conversations, and these conversations have lead us to a very bittersweet realization: We have no idea what the future holds, but for now we are done.

The U.K's Guardian newspaper has a good round-up of why George Martin mattered so much to what will probably be regarded as the greatest ever band.

ELO's Jeff Lynne said "George Martin is my favorite record producer. There were millions of questions I would have liked to ask him. It's so sad that I won't get to ask them now. I only met him a few times and I was always in awe of him. His productions were brilliant. He created his own sound."

Butch Vig credits Martin's methods as helping Vig himself to persuade Kurt Cobain to branch out in the studio. "He was very fastidious about how he wanted to hear things. Because everything had a great clarity to it. I can't tell you how many bands I have worked with who would bring up Martin's production techniques."

Guitarist Lord Ahriman says: "This is by far our most professional, technical, dynamic and epic album thus far. And compared to previous albums, each new song offers a unique spirit and identity that is more profound than ever.

"And whether you like extreme black metal or not, I'm sure every fan of metal will find songs on this album that they can enjoy to its fullest."

He tells RockMap: "All the awards to me are very flattering but also intimidating because they then put this expectation on me, and I don't consider myself a great drummer - I consider myself just a music fan that's a very passionate artist and the drums just happen to be my instrument.

"But every time I win one of these awards, it's nice but I don't want people to think that I think I'm this great drummer because to me, I'm just a kid playing drums and I love music. I don't even like doing drum solos live - it doesn't really interest me."

Rankin pays tribute to the late producer known as the fifth Beatle on his TeamRock Radio show, due to be aired at 11am on Saturday (March 12). He met Martin, who died this week at the age of 90, at the producer's Air Studios in London. But it was Nazareth's antics at Martin's Montserrat studio that were playing on his mind.

Rankin says: "The main memory I've got of George Martin was the first time that I met him. I was in Nazareth at the time and I dropped in to Air Studios to meet with Chris Glen, who was with the Michael Schenker Group at the time.

"Of course Chris wasn't in as he wasn't up yet, and who wonders in to the room but Paul McCartney. He comes over to me and and he said, 'Chris will not be in for hours, do you want to pop into the studio with us.'

"McCartney was doing his solo album at the time, produced of course by George Martin. Linda made me a cup of tea, which I famously didn't drink because I hate tea, and George passed around the biscuits and I had a good blether with him.

"I couldn't tell him who I was because months before that, I was recording at Air Studios Montserrat and apparently Nazareth spilled more drink than Sheena Easton's entire entourage had drank while they were there.

He tells Phoenix New Times: "I think she is still too young for her to comprehend what is going on. She knows what I do, but you can't talk to your kid in every stage of their life about everything that is going on with your life.

"When I'm home, it's completely the opposite of what I do. I'm not home blaring music - it's all separate. I believe there will come a time when she's older where she might want to understand.

He says in an interview with Evans Drumheads: "Really, the school I went to was going to shows constantly and always watching the drummer, watching how the drummer interacted with the band and how it just looked so fun - and I wanted that for myself."

Weinberg reports he grew up loving punk and hardcore bands and enjoyed the thrill of playing in tiny venues. He adds: "There were kids stagediving and most often, you are right next to the drummer because the place is that small. I live for that. So that energy, if you can somehow translate it to the Slipknot audience, that's a beautiful thing.

He says: "We didn't have a producer that was trying to help us formulate a sound for radio or for a specific direction that an A&R guy wanted. "I don't know how many singles we're gonna get, we're not playing the radio game anymore.

He says: "I don't always think of us as a progressive band, but I think that kind of goes hand-in-hand with being a progressive band. I like to think we've kind of carved such an eclectic mix that we can go anywhere, which in and of itself is progressive. On the flip side, I kind of think it's a badge of honor. I feel pretty proud when people call us a progressive band."

Mikkonen tells Wikimetal: "I don't really want to go into details regarding Fredrik, but basically, we just separated. It's kind of like a marriage that doesn't work, and you get divorced. And that's kind of what happened to our band.

"We wrote the song Pale Blue Eyes after visiting the Salton Sea on our first trip through the United States, playing the stage of the infamous 'Range' at the Slab City Prom 2013," says frontman Christoph "Lupus" Lindemann. "Slab City or 'The Slabs' is a snowbird campsite in the Californian Sonora Desert 156 miles northeast of San Diego, where RV-people, outlaws and squatters from across North America formed a wild and lawless 'city' from debris around the famous and colorful Salvation Mountain built by Leonard Knight in the 1980s.

Frontman Joe Payne says: "With Robert Godfrey taking a step back, this song and video represent a huge step forward for the rest of us as a band. Someone Shall Rise is a perfect example of the direction we'll be taking beyond the Godfrey years - it's very us.

Parr is best known for his 1985 smash hit St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion), which was the main theme for Joel Schumacher's film St Elmo's Fire. He's sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. His career has also included a string of movie soundtracks. Among the artists Parr has worked with are the Beach Boys, Heart and Meatloaf

Frontman John Dexter Jones said of the record: "Our last album The Black Pilgrim was predominantly an acoustic affair. While those instruments occasionally still came to hand during these sessions, it's fair to say that the electric guitars and keyboards came in for rather more attention this time. We're very happy with the outcome."

The song title references the Asylum comic book series Carpenter created with his wife and film producer Sandy King. He says: "Angel's Asylum has a driving rock sound and is more reminiscent of my later work. We initially started writing it for the comic book and we liked it so much we decided to put it on the album."

The album is the follow-up to the band's 2012 self-titled debut. Vocalist Connor Garrity says: "This portion of the story is told from one child's point of view - the little girl writing the letter to her parents begging them to come save her. The idea for the story was something I came up with and immediately wanted convey visually as well as musically.

"The director Brian and I worked closely together on the concept and treatment. From the initial idea I knew I wanted it to be something that would make people feel uncomfortable, but not be too gory.

In a statement, Download bosses say: "Down have cancelled all of their remaining European tour dates and therefore will no longer be playing Download festival 2016."

The label said of the follow-up to 2013's This River: "Ol' Glory contains 12 songs that feature the deep, soulful blend of blues, rock, folk, funk, gospel, gritty R&B and personal, Southern-inspired narratives that have become synonymous with JJ Grey & Mofro."