Today's Day in Rock Stories

Megadeth Working Feverishly On 'Crazy' Project

Their scheduled appearances at Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena tonight and tomorrow (September 23) have been pulled, along with the show in Auckland, New Zealand, that was due to take place on September (Saturday).

Tuesday night's gig at Adelaide AEC Theatre was pulled on the day, and the September 27 show that was scheduled for Singapore Fort Canning Park has also been removed from the band's listed tour dates.

The group's previously confirmed March 7 concert will be followed by second and third hometown gigs on March 8 and March 10, with tickets for all three shows going on sale Friday, September 23 at NOON local time.

They wrapped up the arena tour with an emotional sold out show in the their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, last month. And the live run has seen a spike in donations to cancer charities, with the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, which receives money from the Gord Downie Fund For Brain Cancer Research, taking in close to $800,000 in recent months.

The Antwerp gig marks Maiden's first appearance in the city since the Killers tour in 1981. The German leg sees Maiden perform in Oberhausen, Frankfurt and Hamburg before dates in Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Cardiff and Dublin.

Shinedown will be the support act on all 16 dates. Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris says: "As it's been so long since our last full UK arena tour, we really wanted to get to our fans in as many cities as possible.

"We're really looking forward to it, especially visiting places we haven't been to for a very long time like Leeds where we haven't played since 2005 and Liverpool where we haven't played since 1990.

"The whole band is really enjoying this tour and although we love playing festivals and stadiums, it is terrific to return to the intimacy and atmosphere of arenas.

"The songs from The Book Of Souls album and the new Maya-themed Eddies and stage sets have gone down really well and fan reaction has been amazing.

But after what they call "personal issues" within the camp, they've decided to call it a day. The band say in a statement: "Dark clouds above the graveyard today. Due to the all so classic reason 'differences within the band' the Graveyard is, as of today, officially closed.

Kelliher tells Morgan Richards Interviews: "What I can tell you is it definitely sounds like Mastodon and there are peaks and valleys of one extreme to the other.

"A lot of the things that I wrote sound like Once More 'Round The Sun, but even delving deeper into all those nooks and crannies or progression and a lot of catchy choruses and melodic verses, but not so much like The Motherload - that's pretty poppy for us, probably as poppy as we'd ever be sounding.

The band, who released their debut album The Fruit Fallen in 2005, actually began working on the follow-up in 2011. The conceptual new album features an extended song cycle which dwells on themes of time, and comes housed in artwork from the surrealist painter Dan May.

Singer and guitarist James Byron Schoen says of Cold City: "It's the first track off the new album. We always intended it to open the album. In fact, I think we knew how we were going to start off this record even before we had written most of it! Edensong is no stranger to the classic proggy slow-building acoustic intro, but here we wanted to change things up a bit and intentionally went with something that will grab you from the down beat and jostle you awake like a triple shot of espresso.

Wednesday 13 says: "The last time I spoke to Joey Jordison was in April 2011 at our very last show - and all I've heard from Joey is what I've seen in Metal Hammer in past few months. That's all I know.

"I'm glad to see he's doing awesome. Thanks to Murderdolls, people know who I am, so I am forever indebted to that band to Joey for giving me that opportunity."

Murderdolls released two albums, 2002's Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls and 2010's Women And Children Last - and despite the distance between himself and Jordison, Wednesday 13 won't rule out a reunion.

Be Prog! My Friend organizers had the following to say: "Jethro Tull remain unstoppable thanks to the relentless spirit of charismatic frontman Ian Anderson.

Status Quo will refund disgruntled fans who bought tickets for their upcoming shows before it was announced founder Rick Parfitt wouldn't take part.

The 67-year-old singer and guitarist had a heart attack earlier this year, after which he "died for several minutes." Earlier this month it was revealed he may never perform live with the band again.

His place in the band has been filled by Richie Malone after bassist John 'Rhino' Edwards' son Freddie covered some of their summer shows. And after a small number of fans asked for refunds on future dates, the band have agreed to give them back their money.

Status Quo manager Simon Porter says: "Rick is extremely disappointed to be unable to be part of the tour but, as you will have read, he is acting under medical orders and quite rightly is putting his health first and foremost.

It features two new studio songs ,with title track Paranoia originally planned for Kerzner's debut solo album New World. As well as appearing on the new EP, it will also feature on Kerzner's second solo album, due in 2017.

The new album will be guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka's first studio material since 2014 record The Joy Of Motion.

Speaking about the album, Javier says: "The Madness Of Many is an explorative and ambitious journey of harmony, rhythm, musical expression and emotion.

Weezer's second studio album, Pinkerton took Rivers Cuomo and company in a darker direction than the band's commercially successful 1994 self-titled debut.

Pinkerton was less radio-friendly and explored heavier themes, including identity and sexual frustration, which failed to wow critics and was a commercial disappointment.

Though it seemed like a low point for the band commercially, the album resonated with fans and influenced two generations of self-deprecating alternative and indie-rock bands.

It's named after the Motorhead track (We Are) The Road Crew, which featured on the band's classic 1980 album Ace Of Spades. It'll be available in keg, cask and bottle and have an ABV of 4.5% and 5% in bottle.

Dee says: "I'm proud to have been able to develop this beer with Camerons. The trials we have tasted have been great. We wanted this to be an exciting and refreshing brew which is for you, our Road Crew."

Belladonna and Anthrax are currently on the road with Slayer and Death Angel as part of a fall North American tour. The seven-week run opened in Cleveland, OH on September 9, with shows schedule to wrap up in El Paso, TX on October 27.

"The day before the show my friend who does a little work for Orange Amps asked me if I wanted interview Rick Nielsen, so I jumped at the chance," says Tuk. "I was really nervous 'cause I know Rick has a bit of a reputation, but as soon as he saw me he was really happy. He asked about the Biters and whatnot. During the interview I jokingly made a remark, something like, "Well, if you ever need a rhythm guitar player you know where to find me". He yelled over to his guitar tech, "Set him up with a guitar and amp! He's playing a song with us tonight," and pointed at me.

Everybodys Friend gave us sleepless nights for months. The song had hundreds of different variations. We had a guitar riff and had decided on a topic and then 7 people had their say. You can imagine how frustrating it become with that many heads in the room. Michael and Tom would often have a lovers tiff but then quickly kiss and make up, Neil and Simon nailed their parts early on and Joe then added a bit of class with the brass and then we got on with it.

We all knew the song needed a big statement chorus and in the end I think we got it. We always go for a big cinematic sound with any song we write and this was no different. We had the themes of mental instability to work off and tried to make that clear in the music. We clashed a bright guitar riff with dark lyrics to set a bi-polar undertone. We switch from major to minor keys frequently in the song trying to create the feeling of change between happiness and sadness.

The single was recorded in Parr Street Studios in our home City, Liverpool. The studio is second to none as are the people we had access to. Chris Taylor produced and recorded it. Carl Hunter, Rich Turvey and George Wilson were all present to offer advice. It was reassuring to have them in the fold in one way or another.