Today's Day in Rock Stories

Slash Announces Solo Performance Amid Guns N' Roses Tour

The guitarist spoke with Atlantic City Weekly about his show this Friday at the Music Box at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and was asked about Aerosmith's plans beyond playing at Jazzfest.

He responded, "I think the way things are going we are going to try and and take it easy. We may do a couple more one offs - maybe some festivals over the next six or eight months.

Leach reacted to the fans excitement over the news by sharing a new video and a lengthy statement on his Instagram account. He wrote, "Because yah all loosin yah damn minds over my last post (we are stoked too the song is bad ass)! So here's me lip syncing to Howard as he sings live (happening in the room behind me with the door open) at the studio today. Can you say uh HUGE voice! Straight up 'black molasses' ha ha... it was such a great day talking mental Health with Hojo. A ton of laughs, stories and comradery!

"The song is about keeping hope in dark times and helping out those in need. The lyrics were written shortly after Howard's band @lightthetorchband had announced the new direction and new name. The song was written even before we all hung out a few months back.

This song was in fact written with Howard in mind and our connection through our similar mental illnesses. I mean now that I've hung with this guy a few times, it's 'crazy' (pun intended) how similar we are. We are brothers in Metal, anxiety, Hardcore music, love of medicinal marijuana and fighting depression. I had such a fun time listening to Adam bust Howard's balls like he does mine. We both have that 'Hardcore kid' push when it comes to vocals and the sharp pitch is our excited 'go to' when singing (although his big vibrato truly makes it sound all good tho! We may be very different sounding voices but in truth we are similar in many ways in our minds.

The group's seventh album debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 upon its release last spring. The project's lead single, "Heavy" featuring Kiiara, will compete at the annual Billboard event in the "Top Rock Song" category alongside tracks by Portugal. The Man. and The Revivalists and two tunes by Imagine Dragons.

Frontman Joe Elliott recently looked back at the band's big break in America in an interview with Radio.com and revealed that it took time for the group to catch on in the U.S. (their next two albums would be blockbuster releases).

He said, "When we first came to America for High 'n' Dry, there was no traction on the record. The traction came after we finished touring. It was really frustrating for us, because it was the first album we'd made with 'Mutt' Lange. To this day, we still really love it. You could argue that my singing on it, albeit better than on the first record, was a little shouty.

"We toured Europe first, with Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. We finally made it to [tour] the States in the summer, playing clubs opening for Blackfoot. Great guys--Rickey Medlocke is a wonderful man. But they're like southern rock, and we were out there trying to be like UFO or whatever (laughs). To the Blackfoot fans, we looked like the New York Dolls. It was a little weird. Luckily, we got to spend a few weeks playing arenas opening for Ozzy Osbourne."

Elliott then reflected on the original results of the album in the U.S. being less than they and the record company expected. "The album did OK. It sold maybe 250,000 copies. We were expecting it to do much better. We get home to prepare to record what would become Pyromania, and we starting getting telegrams from America saying there was this new cable channel called MTV, and they were playing our 'Bringin' on the Heartbreak' video. Since they only had like 17 videos at the time, and three of them were ours, because we'd shot promos for 'Heartbreak,' 'Let it Go' and the title track. They were playing all three of them in medium rotation, and then 'Heartbreak' ended up going into heavy rotation."

He then remembered how they learned MTV had helped them find an American audience, "We get wind of this happening back in America, and by the time we were wrapping up the recording of Pyromania, we get a telex saying that High 'n' Dry had gone gold," Elliott laughed.

"So while we busted our n*** touring it and getting nowhere, MTV took a three-minute clip of us miming to the song in front of a fake audience and turned it into a gold album," the singer adds.

"The album went gold around December of '82, and the next album, Pyromania, came out in January of '83. The first single was 'Photograph,' and the rest is history. Everything just went ballistic from that moment on.

The new live release was captured during the band's special February 15, 2017 show at Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow where they performed their "Among The Living" album in its entirety.

The limited-edition opaque blue 180-gram vinyl features the 2015 remaster by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Mastering Studio and a "red star of the federation" hologram in Side 2 run-out groove.

"2112" delivered Rush's commercial breakthrough, becoming the band's first album to reach the Billboard 200 and their first to achieve Gold sales status in the U.S. (it was later certified Platinum) while earning their first platinum album in Canada.

Classic Rock reports that the new album looks likely to crash into the UK album chart this week. "It hasn't really sunk in yet," says frontman Dave Vanian. "But it feels great to finally get there as it's been a long time coming. We've had lots of top ten singles but never an album. Even when Eloise was a big hit we were pipped to the number one spot by a novelty song by (British comedy actor and singer) Su Pollard! This time we've had Kylie and the Manics to compete with. A huge thanks to the fans, of course, without whom this record would never have been made. It feels amazing to finally get it out there."

Anselmo explained the reasoning behind the change in plans, "I've decided to delay the Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals/King Parrot tour until August-September. As many of you know, I had a second back surgery in late January. I'm having an incredible recovery, but just want to be one-thousand percent when I get to jam the new Illegals with all my brothers and sisters.

The new 12- track album is set to be released by Nuclear Blast on June 29th and will be offered in standard editions with one unique artwork, as well as a limited first edition digipack CD, and as the vinyl that will also feature an exclusive bonus track with unique artwork. The Japanese version will also feature an additional bonus track. Watch the video preview here

"Songs Of Experience" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 to earn the group their eighth US chart-topper and first since 2009's "No Line On The Horizon."

U2 - who topped live music industry magazine Pollstar's list of worldwide concert tours in 2017 - also received Billboard nominations for "Top Rock Tour" and "Top Touring Artist."

"Slip Away' was written directly following the loss of someone in my deep inner circle that was ruled to be an accident but to me seemed a suicide. I tend to like to leave things to the imagination and incorporate--especially in dark times--elements of hope. I did not feel the need to mention suicide--nobody needs to be thinking about or even reminded that this is an option.

I do think that in times of despair, people tend to find warmth in darkness, which is a trick of the mind as referred to in my favorite line in the song: 'And then you gimme' that look / yeah you gimme that look, like you're never comin' back again / like you've crawled down into a deep dark hole / and it's warm like the house of a friend.'

The mind is a strange place which can turn dark to darker or vice versa with ease. 'Slip Away' is definitely one of the deepest songs I've ever written and a personal favorite for that reason. It's a somber song about loss and was a very tough one to deliver while tracking the vocal. Miranda Lee Richards, who sang this duet with me, was amazing to work with on this track. She was perfect for it and I knew it before she ever sang a note."