Gigiantour 2008 Line Up "Half Way Done"

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has posted the following message in the "Forums" section of the band's web site:

"I have been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to record a podcast and it is not sounding too good. I think the studio has made me too picky. Anyway, I will be sending this MegaFanClub-only [MEGADETH's official fan club] podcast of answers to '10 Questions' and some small updates regularly.

"I was thinking of asking Justis [Dave's son] to ask me the questions, but his new quest to play in the Superbowl has drawn him away from music; and he is pretty good too so it is sad.

"Maybe I will ask Electra [Dave's daughter], but she is currently starting filming a television show with wrestling legend Bill Goldberg's lovely and talented wife Wanda Goldberg about taking care of animals and I am sure there will be more to post once the show officially launches its press campaign. I am sure I will get it done, and in the mean time today when I was going over the questions, I noticed how excited some of you were in the questions. Well, I am excited to answer your questions and give you updates on all-things-MEGA.

"I am sorry but the '10 Questions' are only going to be for MegaFanClub members, and members should send in only one question; multiple questions or two-part questions may not be delivered through to make it into my hands on the road. But there will be samples of it here to give you a peek at what they will sound like.

"I just approved some really great new items for your MEGADETH merchandise collection, and we are halfway done with the talent lineup for Gigantour in the States next year.

"We have a contest coming up surrounding the guitar I will be using in the [upcoming MEGADETH] video [for 'Never Walk Alone...A Call To Arms']. And we are considering letting the fan club members know where the location of the shoot is."

MEGADETH's U.S. tour this fall kicks off in Anchorage, Alaska on September 4, taking the band through 24 U.S. cites ending up in Norfolk Virginia on October 6. Support on the dates will come from IN THIS MOMENT and THE CONFESSION.

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Scorpions Singer Discusses New Album

Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited recently conducted an interview with SCORPIONS frontman Klaus Meine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Classic Rock Revisited: "Humanity - Hour 1" shows the SCORPIONS moving in a modern direction. Your last album, "Unbreakable", had a classic SCORPIONS sound. There was even talk that you would do the new album with Dieter Dirks. But you changed direction and used Desmond Child.

Klaus: You have to make a decision as to who will be the producer for the next album. Could it be someone like Dieter Dirks who would take us back all the way to the '80s or do you want to produce an album that presents the SCORPIONS in 2007? Desmond Child was on the top of our wish list. We met him last summer when we played a couple of shows in California. He was busy working with MEAT LOAF but he was very excited about working with the SCORPIONS. He said to Rudolf [Schenker] and myself, "These days I seem to be working with icons." I looked at Rudolf and said, "I didn't think we were icons yet."

When you work with a producer like Desmond then you open your arms and welcome him as a songwriter as well. We also collaborated with some of the other top writers in rock music. Desmond said to us, "Let's make an album that is more mature and will hopefully take your career to the next level." It is not so much about writing songs about boys chasing girls or the other way around. We have done that and we still play those songs every night and it is still a lot of fun but he wanted the fans to take us seriously as artists. He suggested we make an album with a theme. He presented us with the idea of "Humanity - Hour 1" and we all liked it. In a way he was taking us to where we finished off with "Wind of Change".

We wanted to come out with this album with a global message. We wanted to also make a rock album. Our first priority is to entertain the audience and hopefully come out with something very powerful. We shaped the songs in that way. We just wanted to move on and not look back. We did "Blackout", "Lovedrive" and "Love at First Sting". We wanted to do something that would hopefully impress and surprise everyone that the SCORPIONS, at this stage in our history, could come up with something this powerful.

Classic Rock Revisited: There are a lot of jaded, grouchy rock critics who say that bands go get Desmond when they can no longer do it themselves.

Klaus: I know that people think that maybe we are running out of ideas. It is not so much that. The whole world of music has changed. We made this album in an old-fashioned way, in that sense. We worked in Los Angeles, in the studio, for four months, working every day. We could have gone into our basement and made a cheap record and put it out on the internet and hopefully we would have a hit. We made it the old-fashioned way to convince the fans, and the new generation of fans who may be listening to our music for the first time, that this is very powerful music. We put everything into this.

We wrote a few hits and we know what we are doing. Of course we can do it all ourselves. We know what to do and we are definitely not running out of ideas. We are touring all over the world and that is still the biggest source of inspiration. But to make something that is outstanding and amazing you have to have a good team around you and you have to open up. Desmond has worked with artists that we really respect like AEROSMITH and he really knows what he is doing. He lives for his passion and his music. Desmond is a guy that you can trust if you want to go somewhere else and you are ready to learn another lesson in the new chapter of this band.

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Former Venom Guitarist Launches New Project

Cargo Records UK have released the new GOATREIGN album, the new project featuring guitarist Mike Hickey (ex-VENOM).

According to a press release, Goatreign is a "pummeling collection of gut wrenching metal. Crushing rhythms, searing lead guitar, wrapped up with a deadly production make Goatreign a solid slab of classic metal! This has been an underground classic circulated amongst metal bands and fans alike. Goatreign features Mike handling guitar, bass and vocal duties with longtime collaborator Shawn Progen on the drum kit. Recorded at the legendary Slaughterhouse with production by Mike and Mark Alan Miller. This proper CD release follows the limited Skull & Crossbones CDR release from earlier this year. This release contains the original six tracks plus an additional five bonus/demo tracks."

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Interview

Evoken's Nick Orlando On Caressing The Void

Obsidian droplets of rain trace a slow procession down the face of a midnight sky. The scent of moss and forgotten bouquets fill the air, spiraling in a Venetian waltz with the mist as it settles around the shroud of earth draping you.

You sink ever further into the oblivion of this landscape…only this is not your death, it is Evoken’s 11 minute masterpiece “The Last of Vitality”, from their late album Antithesis of Light, and one of the most provocative Doom compositions to reach our ears. With a new label and new album Caress of the Void soon to be unleashed, guitarist Nick Orlando let me into the scattered realm of his tortured mind to discuss his journey through the Metal Underground. More...

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Five Finger Death Punch Chart At #199

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH - had an outstanding couple of weeks debuting at #199 on the Billboard Top 200 and #3 on the New Artist chart selling over 5,400 copies, in addition to over 1,400 digital downloads of THE WAY OF THE FIST.

Regional sales leaders / copies sold include:

New York, NY -520
Los Angeles, CA -314
Boston, MA 241
Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN -236
Phoenix, AZ -256
Buffalo, NY -173
Chicago, IL -179
Albuquerque, NM -125
Philadelphia, PA -181
Washington, DC -128

As the band continues its successful trek headlining the RedOctane "Guitar Hero" second stage of this summer's FAMILY VALUES TOUR, the album's first single, "THE BLEEDING," continues to grab and demand everyone's attention while making a steady climb at radio hitting #35 on the Active Rock and #10 on the CMJ Loud Rock charts this week.

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Rwake, Total Fucking Destruction Tour Dates

Rwake and Total Fucking Destruction will tour together in October. The following tour dates have been confirmed:

10/5 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny's Bar
10/6 Savannah, GA @ The Jinx
10/7 Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11
10/8 Richmond, VA @ Nara Sushi
10/9 Washington, DC @ Red & Black
10/10 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory
10/11 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland
10/12 Columbus, OH @ Ravari Room
10/13 Indianapolis, IN @ Casa Del Kotex
10/14 Chicago, IL @ The Note

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Sender Receiver Cancels Tour

A series of vehicular misfortunes has forced Sender Receiver to abandon their current tour and head home. A lengthy explanation from the band is available here.

Here's an excerpt:

"We have been plagued since day one with problems and setbacks, after our first show due to water damage we lost all of our drum sticks (may seem stupid but in reality when you buy 10 new packs of sticks and there water logged and un useable thats a HUGE loss of cash) THEN that same day due to mass confusion 2 key drum parts including our tom mount and floor tom mount were taken another small but costly loss."

"We ventured on and played a few kickass shows in Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas we headed on over to Colorado this is where the REAL shit kicks in..."

"We arrive in town after a 10 hour drive from Lincoln, NE to get our oil changed and radiator flushed (standard and needed) We wait in the lobby of a Jiffy Lube for them to finnish they get it all done everything seems fine we play our Colorado Springs and Utah dates then head up to Boise, ID little did we know what was ahead of us..."

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Black Cobra Post New Song Online

San Francisco's BLACK COBRA has posted a new song, entitled "Red Tide", on its MySpace page. The track will appear on the band's split with ETERNAL ELYSIUM in Japan only, but will see light as a BLACK COBRA-only release entitled "Feather And Stone" for the rest of the world via At A Loss Recordings shortly. The label also released BLACK COBRA's debut album, "Bestial", last year.

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Pungent Stench To Call It Quits?

Guitarist/vocalist Martin Schirenc (a.k.a. Don Cochino) of the long-running Austrian extreme metallers PUNGENT STENCH has released the following statement:

"You probably have noticed that I didn't [release] any updates on our forthcoming album for the last four weeks and now I have a sad announcement to make:

"Due to band internal disputes, both personal and business-related, we came to the point where it's impossible to continue making music together. All upcoming shows have been cancelled and there won't be any further live activities in the future, at least not with the current lineup.

"This wasn't an easy decision and, speaking strictly for me, I wish we could have worked things out. Unfortunately, we couldn't come to a compromise settlement. However, I'll do everything in my power to release [the recently completed PUNGENT STENCH] album, since I believe it's too good to be trashed and mostly because we owe it to you, our loyal fans! I will also continue making music together with El Gore, who had a big bearing on the new album and is a great musician and friend. More...

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Mercenary To Enter Studio In October

Vocalist Mikkel Sandager of the Danish metallers MERCENARY has issued the following update:

"Well, first of all, the new album is really progressing rapidly. We are in writing mode and it feels really good to be creative again. I guess I didn't realize how much I had piled up inside because I find myself writing and writing.

"Can't comment on any titles or songs yet but I am really exited about everything I have heard so far. It is going to be very nice to have René [Pedersen; bass/vocals] in the process as well as he is able to give us the harsh vocals that I couldn't do on 'The Hours That Remain'.

"On another note, I am starting to look very much forward to playing the next show. I guess I have become quite addicted to doing shows and I feel pretty strange to not play any for two or three months.

"We will start recording the new album in late October and hope for a spring 2008 release but no date has been set yet." More...

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Shaman Post New Single Online

SHAMAN (formerly SHAAMAN) — the revamped Brazilian band featuring drummer Ricardo Confessori alongside guitarist Leo Mancini, vocalist Thiago Bianchi and bassist Fernando Quesada — has posted its new single, "In the Dark", at this location. The group shot a video for the song on August 11. Check out pictures from the shoot here.

"In the Dark" comes off the group's upcoming album, "Immortal", due later in the year via AFM Records. The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Renovatti
02. Inside Chains
03. Tribal by Blood
04. Immortal
05. One Life
06. In the Dark
07. Strenght
08. Freedom
09. Never Yield
10. The Yellow Brick Road

The song "One Life" can be streamed at this location. More...

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Skindred Announce One Off London Date

Reggae rock act Skindred have announced that they will be performing a one off show at the Scala Ballroom in London on the 20th of September.

The show is in support of the bands forthcoming album "Roots Rock Riot" which will be released on the 22nd of October (23rd in U.S.)

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Blessed By Death Post New Song Online

UK Death metallers Blessed By Death have posted a new song called The Saviour on their official myspace

The song comes from the cd The Dead Shall Rise.

The band are also working on songs for a new EP.

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Type O Negative Announce U.S. Tour Dates

TYPE O NEGATIVE has announced the following tour dates:

Oct. 12 - Toad's Place - New Haven, CT
Oct. 13 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
Oct. 14 - Northern Lights - Clifton Park, NY
Oct. 16 - Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA
Oct. 20 - Eagles Club - Milwaukee, WI
Oct. 21 - The Vic - Chicago, IL
Oct. 23 - Blue Cats - Knoxville, TN
Oct. 24 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
Oct. 26 - Headliners - Louisville, KY
Oct. 27 - Harpo's - Detroit, MI
Oct. 30 - Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 31 - Starland Ballroom - Sayreville, NJ

The band has recently completed filming a new video clip for "September Sun", which is currently being edited.

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Motley Crue Bassist Punches Fan

According to ContactMusic.com, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx was so infuriated when a bottle of urine was thrown at singer Vince Neil during a gig, he punched the fan responsible backstage after the show. Sixx stopped the concert and asked the audience to point out the person who threw the bottle, then arranged for security to allow the fan backstage, where he dished out his own justice. When asked by Blender magazine when the last time he punched someone was, Sixx replied, "On the 2005 tour, somebody threw a bottle of pis and it hit Vince in the head. And I asked the audience to find him and bring him backstage. "He was brought back, and I told the security guys to leave us alone. I had a word or two with him. And, yeah... he apologized."

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