Today's Day in Rock Stories

David Bowie's Final Recordings Released On His 70th Birthday

"Well, I had the treatment when I got back from (our tour of) South America," Iommi tells Planet Rock. "I went in for the throat operation - they found a lump at the back of my sinus in the throat and we had to have it checked in case it may have been cancerous.

"But it turns out it wasn't, which I found out on Christmas Day, which is brilliant! So far (I'm all good). I daren't say that - I'll probably fall down the stairs now!"

The Times reports principal band members Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice and the estate of Jon Lord have filed a lawsuit in London's High Court accusing Rao of siphoning off up to �4 million in royalties from their financial companies, HEC Enterprises and Deep Purple (Overseas) Ltd.

The High Court have frozen Rao's assets after he admitted "borrowing" or "lending" at least �2.27 million of the company's money. Only �477,000 has been recovered to date, while both companies went into administration (bankruptcy) a year ago.

Whitford recently spoke with Metal Express Radio about the band's not-so-impending retirement and told the outlet that they may tour for several years and may also record some new music.

"We really are calling it the Farewell Tour but it's going to probably take us between the next three to five years as we plan on touring the States, South America, Europe and Japan and wherever else, so it's going to take a while.

Joel has announced additional stadium and arena dates including the very first concert that will be taking place at the Atlanta Braves new stadium SunTrust park on April 28th.

"Power, glory, rock n roll with a whole lotta soul," says frontman Ricky Warwick. "You gotta testify or say goodbye. Tell me no secrets, tell me no lies. Get up on the stand look me straight in the eye. You gotta testify or say goodbye... Kinda says it all, really!"

The tune follows the project's lead single, "When The Night Comes In", as the second preview of "Heavy Fire", due out February 3. Black Star Riders recorded album number three just outside of Nashville, TN with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, The Foo Fighters, Mastodon).

"Not many new bands get to record three albums these days," explains guitarist Scott Gorham. "Without doubt this is BSR'S best album so far. We had a great time recording it and can't wait to play the new songs live on tour in March."

Joining Densmore and Krieger were family members of the late Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison as the city honored the group by proclaiming January 4 as the "Day Of The Doors" with a proclamation from Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin during a public event at the intersection of Pacific and Windward Avenues, the location of the iconic "Venice" sign.

"Well, it's 50 years of The Doors," said Krieger. "We started right here in Venice and we're ending up right here in Venice too so it's all a cycle, you know?"

"The ocean is just right out there and that's where Jim got the idea to write the song Moonlight Drive," recalled Densmore. "So then we went to Hollywood and made it, but our roots are here."

Frontman Morrison died under suspicious circumstances in Paris, France in 1971 at the age of 27, and keyboardist Manzarek died from bile duct cancer in Rosenheim, Germany in 2013 at 74.

Remembering their fallen bandmates, Krieger explained, "You know you cannot say what Jim would have done or said because he always would do something different, but I bet you he would've been here and he would've dug it and I think he would've been proud."

"I'm sure Ray would've loved it," added Densmore. "He was always working the band, and this is great."

Megadeth Boot Camp will feature an acoustic performance by the band along with fireside stories from the road; guitar, bass and drum lessons, and a jam session; an off-site wine tasting with Mustaine, and more.

"It's gonna be at my estate in California," Mustaine tells Q104.3 New York's Jonathan Clarke. "I still have my home in California. I live in Tennessee full time now, but I still [have a home] in California. It has a vineyard on it, it's got a river running through it, a two-hundred-year-old oak-tree-farm kind of area - real neat. And we're gonna invite all the fans. They come the first night. We kind of get to know everybody, and then we'll have dinner and have a wine tasting.

"And then the next day is all clinics all day long - how to play guitar, how to play bass, how to play drums, how to write lyrics� And then we're gonna have the brewmaster from Unibroue [who collaborated with Mustaine on the official Megadeth beer � Tout Le Monde], he's gonna be there. We're gonna have a couple of other people there. The producer that worked on the record with me. We're gonna be recording in my studio there. We're gonna have the original track to 'Symphony Of Destruction'. Anybody that wants to can go in there and sing the original lyrics over 'Symphony Of Destruction', make their own version to take home with them. That's like a side thing; that's not included in the pack. And then that night, we'll have dinner and beer."

"Saturday morning," continues Mustaine, "(bassist) David Ellefson - as a guy that's got twenty-five years in a twelve-step program - is gonna do a meditational program that morning. And then Sunday, since he's pastor - some people would question that - he's gonna be doing a little non-denominational church service for us on Sunday morning. And then we're gonna do some more clinics and stuff like that.

In addition to the group's upcoming tour-which runs from mid-February through mid-July-Schon is working on three other projects: a collaborative album with drummer-producer Narada Michael Walden, an avant garde "techno" album, and, most notably, a stripped-down blues record with Joe Bonamassa producer Kevin Shirley. "Blues is where my roots are," he said, "so at the end of the [Journey] tour, I'm going to set aside some time to head into the studio and knock it out."

It will be a significant milestone for RSD. It was created in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees, and since 2008 has grown massively. RSD now includes 1,400 participating independent stores in the U.S. and thousands more globally. While the major labels have since joined the celebration, independent labels remain the crux of RSD, providing 60 percent of the official releases in 2015.

Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes was named the first RSD ambassador - after coining the idea - in 2009. Since then, RSD ambassadors have included Josh Homme, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Jack White, Chuck D and Dave Grohl. Metallica served as RSD ambassadors in 2016, performing a set at Rasputin and releasing a live CD, Libert�, Egalit�, Fraternit�, Metallica!, to raise money for charity.

The new effort will follow their 2013 self-titled album and will feature the return of original drummer Zac Farro. Haley had the following to say: "about a year ago, we began writing & demoing songs for #5. following up our self-titled album didn't seem like it was going to be an easy task and, unsurprisingly, it was not.

The tour is scheduled to kick off on March 10th in Portland, Or at the Bossanova and will be concluding on March 29th in Grand Rapids, MI at The Stache.

The tour will feature support from Crowbar and Havok and is set to kick off on February 22nd in Santa Ana, Ca at the Observatory and will conclude on March 11th in Salt Lake City, UT at the Complex.

He had the following to say about hitting the road, "I'm thrilled to be coming over to tour the UK and Europe this month and February. My band will now be a four piece. On guitar is S�ren Andersen, on drums Pontus Engborg, and on keyboards Jay Boe.

2016 was a major year for Rossington: as well as the new album, Take it on Faith, he also recovered from two heart attacks - one in October 2015 and one this past summer. But he's also still on a crusade to keep classic Lynyrd Skynyrd songs alive on the road.

"All these years later, 'Freebird' and some of these songs have taken on an anthem-like feel," Rossington understandably says. "Everybody yells out 'Freebird' or 'Sweet Home Alabama.' I'm the only one left that gets to tell about it... I'm gonna keep on going until I can't."

Fans in Europe will get the album a couple weeks earlier on March 3rd. It will be available in various formats including Abreaction will be released as a limited deluxe Digipak that folds out to a cross (EU version), limited Digipak (US version), limited gatefold LP+CD with a 12-page LP-booklet and as digital download/stream.

"Beverly Kills" is a song that shows how everyone in the world is a consumer. The band is laughing at them and also crying because of how people are so blind and living an illusion filled with greed and jealously. The song in fact, is a hymn to Kali, the Hindu goddess of material illusion. She provides all those wicked lessons that can teach you or in a worst case scenarios, can kill you.

As we were finishing the music for the song in our rehearsal room in downtown LA , the first time we officially played it, right when I was going to scream the lyrics "she is a demon" we had a power outage and were left in complete darkness. It was right then and there, that we realized we had something special with the song; the spirits where listening...

It was one of the easiest song to record, the flow in the studio was on point, I think we all like the song so the energy is definitely there. From that point, the song became a Deity that gets everything she wants and that's how this single stole the music video from another song� we had originally intended the Beverly Kills music video to be the music video for Sharks of Disharmony so we will see what happens because this song can steal the world.