Rock Report February 20, 2012
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Black Sabbath have been forced to scale back plans to tour this year because guitarist Tony Iommi is having treatment for lymphoma. In November, the original four man line-up announced it would record its first new album in 33 years and go on a world tour. But Iommi was diagnosed with cancer in January. That forced the group to move from Los Angeles to Britain in order to continue recording while he underwent treatment. Since then, drummer Bill Ward has said he wouldn't take part in the reunion unless he was offered a "signable" contract. The setbacks mean Black Sabbath will now only perform one of their European dates at Britain's Download Festival on June 10th. Ozzy Osbourne will perform the remaining scheduled dates as "Ozzy & Friends," featuring himself, original Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler and Zakk Wylde. Slash will play at some shows. A statement on the band's website says: "Tony Iommi continues to make excellent progress and is looking forward to getting back out on the road. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath continue to write and record music in theUKfor their upcoming album." More and more
IRON MAIDEN, ALICE COOPER, DEF LEPPARD, POISON and GODSMACK are among the confirmed bands for this year's Rock Fest, which will be held July 19-22 near Cadott, Wisconsin. The festival billing is shaping up as follows:
Thursday, July 19 BUCKCHERRY, ART OF DYING, DILANA
Friday, July 20 GODSMACK, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD, HALESTORM, 10 YEARS, BIG DEEKS, LIFE TRAGIC
Saturday, July 21 IRON MAIDEN, ALICE COOPER, PAPA ROACH, ADELITAS WAY, DORYDRIVE
Sunday, July 22 DEF LEPPARD, POISON, FIREHOUSE, CYDONIA
Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl was forced to defend his Grammy acceptance speech after fans and critics interpreted his words as a critique of modern pop music telling Reuters: "I love music. I love ALL kinds of music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn't matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician's personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and human." More
According to an online posting by the moderator of the official DOKKEN forum, the band has set "Broken Bones" as the title of its new album. DOKKEN began tracking the effort this past Monday for a late spring/early summer release. More
HELLYEAH/ex-PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott talking to the Artisan News Service about the inspiration behind the title of HELLYEAH's forthcoming third album, "Band Of Brothers", has been posted online. Said Vinnie: "['Band Of Brothers' is] basically about the road that we've been down to this point, to get to this record — changing record companies, being involved with our last record company, which has basically given up on rock music, the things that all of us have been through personally and how the music just really brought us together while we were making it." More
Jack White will launch his live solo career next month when he performs on Saturday Night Live. He'll take the stage on March 3rd. The show is being hosted by Lindsay Lohan. The appearance on Saturday Night Live will promote White's solo live shows, which take place at the end of March. White's debut solo album "Blunderbuss", drops April 24th. More
Blink-182 turns 20 this year, so they are planning to celebrate the best way they know how-with a tour. The band announced their 37-date "At the Rock Show" tour. It will cover North America and Europe and included a headlining spot at the Bamboozle festival. More
Creed frontman Scott Stapp has revealed that he is currently at work on an autobiography. While speaking with Noisecreep.com, the rocker spoke about the band's big plans for 2012 and what fans can expect from the book. "Besides this tour, we're currently writing our fifth album. We hope to have some new music out there during some point on the tour," he said. According to Stapp the new book will open the door on his past with the band and will clear the air about some false rumors that have circulated: "It's going to honestly share all of the experiences that I've gone through so far," he said. "It's also going to clear up some things that were out there about me, but that's definitely not the focus of the book." Thus far there is no word on a release date for the book. More
"Remember Everything", the new video from Las Vegas-based metallers FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
Green Day posted day one of their studio diary footage
SHADOWS FALL performed a brand new song, "Fire From The Sky", this past Thursday, February 16 at the Montage Music Hall in Rochester, New York, footage of which has been posted online (Beware some NSFW language in the following)
"Fallen World", "the fastest song" ever recorded by British epic power metallers DRAGONFORCE, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.
Metal Sickness conducted an interview with former GUNS N' ROSES and ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA guitarist Gilby Clarke Here
MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was interviewed by Josh Kerns for Sunday's episode of "Seattle Sounds", which airs on on Seattle's KIRO 97.3 FM radio station. More
AEROSMITH singer and "American Idol" judge will guest on the Monday, February 27 episode of ABC-TV's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" More
