Steven Tyler talks solo album and new Aerosmith stuff

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler recently revealed plans to work on his first solo album in the new year, and now he’s sharing a few more details about the project.

"I'm just doing a solo record 'cause I think it's fuckin' kinky to go write a song with Johnny Depp," Tyler tells Billboard. “I think it's fuckin' ridiculous to go write a bunch of songs I started five years ago and never finished. It feeds my passion. I like traveling all over the place and writing songs and seeing what we catch. It's kind of like driftnetting for songs, right. But, no, the band's not breaking up. Me doing a solo record doesn't mean the band isn't working on a record -- but I get that in the press one has to hear that from one lead singer of one Aerosmith."

The group has summer and early fall dates booked in the U.S., Japan, South America and Mexico, while Tyler says "everyone is collecting their marbles" to start working on new material and predicts "we're gonna be working on the new Aerosmith record" in the near future.

In the past month, Tyler and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl Hall Of Fame.

HenneMusic

Guns N’ Roses guitarist: electronic cigarettes almost killed me

Guns N’ Roses guitarist DJ Ashba says electronic cigarettes almost killed him. Ashba revealed the news after posting an instagram photo (above) of himself smoking, which prompted a fan to inquire about his health status.

"I did quit [cigarettes] for 9 months,” replied the guitarist. “However, I was smoking fake cigarettes that I bought in a mall in Poland which contained high doses of nicotine and antifreeze, which kills people.”

"Nobody knows this,” continued Ashba, “but I was rushed to the hospital put on heart monitors and I had eight of the best doctors trying to save my life. Poison control confirmed that the nicotine intake that was going into my body from the fake cigarettes was equivalent to smoking 33 packs of cigarettes a day. After doing a full body CAT scan, the doctors were amazed that every organ in my body was in perfect condition. They advised me to start smoking real cigarettes because my body would go into shock if I just stop smoking, so now I can wean myself off of real cigarettes and hopefully quit for good this time."

"We purposely kept this out of the press but that is the real story of why I am smoking right now,” he concluded.

Guns N’ Roses recently wrapped up a brief, 9-date series of US concerts with a headlining appearance on day 2 of the Governors Ball at Randall’s Island in New York.

The band is next scheduled to perform at Festival D’Été (Quebec City Summer Festival) in Québec City on July 12th.

The festival, which runs July 4–14, is billed as Canada’s biggest outdoor artistic event. Other acts playing during the 11-day event include Rush, Def Leppard, Foreigner and the Black Keys.

Pandora responds to Pink Floyd over royalty dispute

Pandora is disputing claims made this week by Pink Floyd regarding the company’s efforts to reduce artist royalties from internet radio.

USA Today published an op-ed piece written by the iconic band that suggested Pandora was trying to convince the US Congress to lower artist royalties by 85% while simultaneously asking artists for their support…read more about it here.

“We have enormous respect for the members of Pink Floyd, and their amazing artistic contributions,” began a statement from Pandora published by Business Insider. “We also respect the genuineness of their opinion.”

“Unfortunately, they have been given badly misleading information – the result of a well-orchestrated campaign by the RIAA and their lobbying arm to mislead and agitate artists.

“A glaring example is the assertion that Pandora supports an ‘85% artist pay cut.’ That is simply not true.

Motörhead: Lemmy Is “Alive, Breathing, Talking and F*cking”

Motörhead were forced to cancel some shows this week after Lemmy was taken ill, but the band have released a statement promising us that he’ll be back in full force very, very soon:

“We are happy to announce that despite rumours to the contrary, Lemmy is alive, breathing, talking, f**king, drinking, eating, reading and will be back to playing shows shortly. As reported, he did undergo a Motor-pit-stop for some medical maintenance this past spring, and the timing of his recent illness was unfortunate in that it came so soon after that. Lemmy & Co believe in the ‘keep calm and carry on’ way of thinking. Fans can anticipate more Motörhead live action this summer, as well as the most exciting Motörhead album in years, Aftershock, this autumn!”

This is a really good new for all Lemmy's fans, don't you think?

Metalhammer

Nine Inch Nails almost ready to launch 'Came Back Haunted' Clip

This Friday, Nine Inch Nails will premiere the new video for "Came Back Haunted," the first single from their upcoming LP Hesitation Marks, out September 3rd on Columbia. The video – which premieres Friday on Vevo.com – was directed by David Lynch, and now you can take an exclusive peek at a handful of photographs Rob Sheridan took of the musician and filmmaker working on the video in Los Angeles.

The pairing of Lynch and Reznor is of course fitting in the most wonderfully macabre ways, though the "Came Back Haunted" clip isn't their first collaboration: Lynch tapped Reznor to produce the soundtrack for his 1997 film Lost Highway.

"I’m a huge David Lynch fan – we used to hold up Nine Inch Nails shows just so we could watch the latest Twin Peaks," Reznor told Rolling Stone in a 1997 cover story on the two. "So we set up a weekend for him to come to my place in New Orleans. At first, it was like the most high-pressure situation ever. It was literally one minute, 'Hi, I'm David Lynch,' and he’s cooler than I even imagined he would be. Three minutes later, he's saying: 'Well, let’s go in the studio and get started.'"

Nine Inch Nails are scheduled for a handful of festival dates this summer (including Lollapalooza and Outside Lands), and are set to follow-up the release of Hesitation Marks with a massive fall tour.

Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and U2 Designer, Dead at 66

Stage designer and architect Mark Fisher, the man responsible for stunning stage setups for the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, U2 and others over the past 25 years, died yesterday in a London hospice. He was 66, and had been battling a long illness that wasn't identified in an announcement by Stufish, the firm he co-founded.

With Stufish, Fisher had decked out every Stones stage since 1989, helped craft Pink Floyd's massive production for The Wall, and was behind the groundbreaking stage design for's U2's 2009 360° Tour. Fisher also lent his talents to theater productions like We Will Rock You and Cirque du Soleil's Ka and Viva Elvis.

Fisher was even the senior designer for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and was named one of three executive producers for the ceremonies at last summer's Olympics in London.

"His work influenced not only the colleagues and crews with whom he worked but also surprised and delighted the many millions of people who experienced his designs all over the world," read the note on the Stufish website.

RollingStone

Queen: Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert reissue due this fall

“The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert” is being reissued on DVD and SD Blu-ray this fall.

Due September 2 (September 3 in North America), the April 20, 1992 event saw the surviving members of Queen – Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon – take the stage at London’s Wembley Stadium to pay tribute to Mercury and to increase public awareness of AIDS, the disease that had prematurely ended his life the previous November.

Queen were joined by some of the biggest musical talent in the world to celebrate Freddie’s life and work, including David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard, Robert Plant, Metallica, Extreme and many others.

The event was broadcast live on television and radio to 76 countries around the world with an estimated audience of up to one billion.

The concert raised a huge and still growing sum of money for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity formed at the time by Taylor, May and Queen’s longtime manager Jim Beach whose charter is the relief of suffering from AIDS throughout the world. Profits from this release will be donated by the Mercury Phoenix Trust to AIDS charities around the globe.

Jimi Hendrix new release!!!

“The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live In Cologne” - a concert recording from 1969 - will be released next month exclusively via Authentic Hendrix – The Official Jimi Hendrix Online Store.

Due July 9, the twelfth release in the Dagger Records official bootleg series (previously released as an LP and now coming to CD for the first time) documents Jimi’s January 13, 1969 performance at the Sporthalle in Cologne, Germany.

The set includes a mixture of Hendrix classics and covers of songs by Earl King and Cream.

“The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live In Cologne” is available exclusively at Authentic Hendrix here.


The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Live In Cologne, Germany – January 13, 1969

01 - Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) 
02 - Foxey Lady
03 - Red House
04 - Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 
05 - Fire
06 - Spanish Castle Magic
07 - Hey Joe
08 - Sunshine Of Your Love
09 - Star Spangled Banner
10 - Purple Haze

Hennemusic

Pink Floyd: Pandora Is Trying to Trick Artists

Pink Floyd's three surviving members have reunited to pen an op-ed for USA Today accusing Pandora of trying to rip off artists over royalties from online radio. "It's a matter of principle for us," Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason wrote.

The Internet radio service is currently asking Congress to cut musicians' pay for digital radio plays by 85 percent. While a similar campaign failed last year – thanks in part to a letter signed by more than 125 musicians including Pink Floyd, Billy Joel and Rihanna – this time around Pandora is reaching out to artists and asking them to sign a letter of support for Internet radio. But according to the members of Pink Floyd, the letter does not mention the massive royalty cut, and instead reads: "We are all fervent advocates for the fair treatment of artists."

"Fine print is one thing," Waters, Gilmour and Mason write. "But a musician could read this 'letter of support' a dozen times and hold it up to a funhouse mirror for good measure without realizing she was signing a call to cut her own royalties to pad Pandora's bottom line."

The trio went on to chide Pandora for complaining about how much it pays for royalties, pointing out the service's impressive growth in the past two years – their IPO raised $235 million and they've doubled their number of listeners – and added, "a business that exists to deliver music can't really complain that its biggest cost is music."

The members of Pink Floyd closed their piece by saying there is room for compromise and that they hoped Pandora and artists could work together to find common ground on the royalty issue (including finding an end to AM/FM radio's exemption for such fees). "But," they conclude, "tricking artists into signing a confusing petition without explaining what they are really being asked to support only poisons the well."

RollingStone

Rolling Stones release back catalogue on iTunes

The new iTunes release chronicles the British group's entire oeuvre, from their introductory 1963 cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On" to last year's Greatest Hits collection "GRRR!", their record label Universal Music said on Wednesday.

Motorhead, The Hives and Iron Maiden play Download

The band brought their Maiden England tour to the event on the 25th anniversary of their first headline appearance at Donington Park.

They played tracks including Run To The Hills, Fear of the Dark and The Number of the Beast finishing with an encore of Aces High, The Evil That Men Do and Running Free.

Their set began with a flyby from a Spitfire based at RAF Coningsby.

The band - made up of singer Bruce Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris, guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers and drummer Nicko McBrain - also announced a one-off show at London's O2 Arena in August.

Battling against Iron Maiden were Swedish band The Hives in the main tent who opened their set with Main Offender.

"We are The Hives and you are not, we're all going to have to live with that," frontman Pelle Almqvist told the audience.

Veteran metal rockers Motorhead drew one of the biggest crowds of the day to the main stage. Queens of The Stone Age played the slot just before headliners Iron Maiden.

Despite only releasing their new album …Like Clockwork two weeks ago, they ripped through their biggest hits including No One Knows and First it Giveth. It was another day of mixed weather at Donington Park with heavy rain and sunshine earlier in the day.

Drummer Bron Daylor from Mastodon said despite being on stage, he couldn't ignore the downpour at the start of their main stage set.

"My muscles could tell," he said. "It took me three songs for my arms to settle down, they were really cold and they got cramped up."

Newcomers Blitz Kids will open the main stage on Sunday with performances from Thirty Seconds To Mars and headliners Rammstein.

Black Sabbath top British album chart again: after 43 years!!!

The British rock band Black Sabbath's album "13!" has given them a first British Number One album in nearly 43 years, a record interval between chart-toppers, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday.

Black Sabbath were last at the top of the UK chart with their second album, "Paranoid".

"I'm in shock!" Black Sabbath front man Ozzy Osbourne told the Official Charts Company. "The success of this album has blown me off my feet. We've never had a record climb the charts so fast."

Reuters.

The fantastic Bob Dylan will embark on a 33-date tour of Europe

The "Blowin in the Wind" singer - who is scheduled to finish his "AmericanaramA" tour in Mountain View, California on August 4 - said tickets for "Bob Dylan in Europe" would go on sale on Friday.

"Bob Dylan and his band will tour Europe this fall," the statement on his website said of the 10-country tour.

The announcement follows the September release of Dylan's latest studio album, "The Tempest", described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of his weirdest albums ever".

Dylan was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in May this year and awarded the top U.S. civilian honour last year, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Earlier this month, the grand chancellor of the French council which clears nominations for the Legion d'Honneur said Dylan had also been put forward for France's highest award.

In a letter to the daily Le Monde, Jean-Louis Georgelin called the singer-songwriter an "exceptional artist" known in the United States and internationally as a "tremendous singer and great poet".

Reuters.