One more for the reading list: Joe Perry writing his autobiography

Aerosmith's Joe Perry is apparently writing his biography. He tweeted earlier this week "Officially started writing my biography this week. More info. to come soon re: publisher, tentative release date, etc..." and later said it would come out in late 2012 o2 2013. Should be an interesting read, and may even make it onto the Recommended Reads page. If you need something to read until his memoir comes out, try these selections:

Jackyl playing Bike Week in Daytona

Jackyl's Jesse James Dupree posted this flyer photo to his Facebook tonight announcing that Jackyl will be at Daytona's Bike Week and playing a free show on March 17, St. Patrick's Day! In addition to Jackyl, the chainsaw loving singer will also be promoting Jesse James Bourbon. This is a natural fit since Dupree has been known for riding his Harley since Jackyl first got started. In 2011, Dupree had a motorcycle accident in his native north Georgia and even posted photos of his injuries online. Free Jackyl on St. Patrick's Day in Daytona during bike week....I can only imagine the party!

Mötley Crüe recording with James Michael

Last night Tommy Lee tweeted this picture of him and Nikki recording the new Crüe. James Michael also tweeted that he was working with them, saying "amazing day in the studio working on new motley crue! this song is sick!!! today tommy tracked drums, nikki tracked bass...tomorrow the madness of mick mars...can't wait for vince to tear this shit up!!! GOOD DAY...GOOD NIGHT!!!!!" I bet Nikki is loving this. Given that I love Sixx:AM even more than Mötley Crüe I can't wait to hear the new stuff. I also love the way social media makes you feel like you're in on the process.

Next I just want front row seats at a Sixx:AM, Mötley Crüe, Guns N Roses tour and my life will be complete.

Papa Roach releases new video: One Track Mind

Papa Roach has come out with a video for their new single, "One Track Mind" off of their cd "Time for Annihilation." Gotta admit it's a pretty sexy song. I like this one better than "Kick in the Teeth." Sex addicts, drugs and Vampires They permeate my life Don't know which one I'm gonna be tonight I know you think I'm crazy You think I've lost my mind I'm locked and loaded Got you in my sight You are my nemesis The one I can't resist I got a one-track mind Turn the lights out Lay your head down Now you got me Where you want me I'm the pain You're the pleasure Can't you read the signs I got a One Track Mind I'm numb I've got no conscience Can't get you off my mind You're in my line of fire everytime You narcissistic lover You complicate my life But then I find myself with you Tonight You are my nemesis The one I can't resist I got a one-track mind I'm losing it I need another fix I think you could be it I got a One Track Mind Turn the lights out Lay your head down Now you got me Where you want me I'm the pain You're the pleasure Can't you read the signs I got a One Track Mind I wanna love you till the bitter end Get underneath your skin I wanna pleasure every part of you And take you from within Turn the lights out Lay your head down Now you got me Where you want me Turn the lights out Lay your head down Now you got me Where you want me I'm the pain You're the pleasure Can't you read the signs I got a One Track Mind

Disturbed releasing vinyl box set collection

From Disturbed's Facebook page: To commemorate Record Store Day, Disturbed will be releasing their definitive vinyl box set edition, "The Collection” on 4/21 (Record Store Day), but you can pre-order it now. The five album, six disc offering has their entire full-length catalog and is pressed on 140 gram vinyl. Get it at http://disturbed1.com/ now! Ok, I've never heard of Record Store Day and don't have a vinyl record player, but hey, Disturbed on vinyl sounds like a good idea to me.

Limp Bizkit signed to Lil Wayne's Cash Money Label

It's all over Twitter today that Limp Bizkit has signed to Cash Money, Lil Wayne's recording label. They always were a great rock/rap hybrid. I'm not sure if this means they're taking more of a rap feel to their music now or if it's just place for financing. Either way, labels usually mean music will come and that is a good thing. Keep Rollin' guys!

Cool Art of Dying contest --Jonny will apologize for you

Art of Dying has a new contest to promote their new single "Sorry." If you tweet lyrics from "Sorry" a winner will be selected at random and if you're sorry, Jonny will call the person and apologize for you. Almost makes me wish I was still talking to my ex -- he's the one that should be sorry and I'm the one that should get a phone call from Jonny. :) Anyway, if you want to enter this page makes it very easy. And if you want to enter and say you're sorry for something you did to me just so I can get a phone call from Jonny, well, that's cool too. ;)

http://sorry.warnerreprise.com/?eml=20120221%2Fartofdying%2Fnews%2Fsorryvideosandfbstore%2Fsorrylink%2Fsitehome

Sixx:AM's new single: Are You With Me Now

Sixx:AM has released a new single from "This is Gonna Hurt," and it's one of my favorites. Ok, just about everything they do is one of my favorites, but this song just gets me in a good mood, ready for a new adventure. Unfortunately it's just the song, not a full on video, but still great. Are You With Me Now? Laughing like we're crazy Nothing mattered Nothing fazed me We were younger then So much younger then Everything seems rotten through The eyes of the forgotten And we were dumber then So much dumber then Well have I judged a book by how its bound Am I lost or am I found And are you with me Are you with me now Come back from the dead You've been inside your head for too long Are you with me now Find the places that scare you Come on I dare you Are you with me Are you with me The years they took their toll And all the things I can't control Come back to haunt me now Almost taunt me now Whats left to be afraid of We found out what we are made of And we've come this far We both have the scars Have I ever judged a book by how its bound Am I lost or am I found And are you with me Are you with me now Come back from the dead You've been inside your head for too long Are you with me now Find the places that scare you Come on I dare you Are you with me Are you with me Are you with me Are you with me Well have I judged a book by how its bound Am I lost or am I found And are you with me Come back from the dead You've been inside your head for too long Find the places that scare you Are you with me now Come back from the dead You've been inside your head for too long Are you with me now Find the places that scare you Come on I dare you OH Come on I dare you Are you with me Are you with me Are you with me Are you with me Are you with me Are you with me

Avenged Sevenfold fans, get the guitars of your Guitar Heroes.

It's not uncommon for instrument companies to put out instruments as designed and endorsed by your favorite musicians. They guitars are pretty bitchin' so take a look at the site. From Schecter Guitars: SCHECTER GUITAR is proud to celebrate their 7 year relationship with ZACKY and SYN with the introduction of four new ARTIST MODEL GUITARS! Check out Zacky’s sleek satin black ‘6661’, decked out in custom distressed hardware and his infamous switchblade ‘V’ logo at the 12th fret. See full article

Five Finger Death Punch releases new music video

Here's the lastest from Five Finger Death Punch. It's another slow one. I kind of prefer their rocking side like in "Under it and Over it" but this is some pretty good stuff. I do love me some 5FDP!

Dear mother, I love you I'm sorry, I wasn't good enough Dear Father, forgive me Cause in your eyes, I just never added up In my heart I know I failed you, but you left me here alone [Chorus] If I could hold back the rain, would you numb the pain? Cause I remember everything. If I could help you forget, would you take my regrets? Cause I remember everything. But dear sister, please don't blame me I only did what I thought was truly right Dear brother, please don't hate me For never standing by you, or being by your side It's a long and lonely road, when you know you walk alone [Chorus] If I could hold back the rain, would you numb the pain? Cause I remember everything. If I could help you forget, would you take my regrets? Cause I remember everything. I feel like running away I'm still so far from home You say I'll never change but what the fuck do you know? I'll burn it all to the ground, before I let you in Please forgive me, I can't forgive you now. [Chorus] If I could hold back the rain, would you numb the pain? Cause I remember everything. If I could help you forget, would you take my regrets? Cause I remember everything. It all went by so fast; I still can't change the past I always will remember, everything If we could start again, would that have changed the end? We remember everything. Everything.

Bullet for My Valentine Thailand studio tour

Bullet for My Valentine is currently in Thailand recording the highly anticipated follow-up to "Fever." They recently posted a video tour of the studio where they're recording on Facebook. Check it out, nice digs!

Rob Zombie and Megadeth to hit the Road in May

Rob Zombie and Megadeth are going to tour together in May. The only bad thing is 1) there aren't more dates and 2) They're not coming to my city. If you're lucky enough to live where the tour is coming, you should definitely see this. I've seen Rob Zombie a few times and the dude really knows how to put on a show. And Megadeth is, well, MEGADETH!!! From Rob Zombie's site: Metal heavyweights ROB ZOMBIE and MEGADETH have just announced a co-headlining tour guaranteed to raise the temperature on the planet. The trek, which marks the first time the two bands have toured together, kicks off Friday, May 11 in Holmdel, NJ and encompasses high-profile appearances at several rock festivals including M3 Rock Festival, Rock On The Range and wraps Saturday, May 26 at Rocklahoma. ROB ZOMBIE will headline Rocklahoma, co-headline Rock On The Range (with Incubus), and will close all shows on the MEGADETH dates. A complete list of dates is below. DATE CITY VENUE 5/11 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center 5/12 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion 5/16 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE 5/18 Grand Rapids, MI The Deltaplex 5/20 Columbus, OH Rock On The Range 5/22 La Crosse, WI La Crosse Center 5/24 Sioux City, IA Tyson Center 5/25 Wichita, KS Hartman Arena 5/26 Pryor, OK Rocklahoma

Happy Birthday Kurt Cobain

Guess there was something important about today after all. Nirvana's influential bur tortured singer would've been 45 today if he had lived. Hard to think of him as middle aged. Happy Birthday, Kurt, wherever you are. :)

Happy Presidents Day from a Band you Probably Forgot About

ok, not really metal but they had some good rocking songs. Anyone remember the Presidents of the United States of America?(Yeah, this is what they call a slow metal/rock news day). Happy President's Day. Enjoy. And go have some Peaches on me. :)

Guns N Roses streaming concert for $5

Guns N Roses will be streaming a performance from Chicago over the Internet tomorrow night and proceeds will go to fight hunger. Maybe they'll start this show on time. :)

Joking aside, it's cool that they're doing this. Learn more or sign up at their official website

Nikki Sixx on Piers Morgan to talk about Rock Docs

Nikki Sixx is no stranger to addiction and narcotics abuse, but now that he's clean and sober he's actually a very well spoken man. So I guess it's not surprising that in the wake of Whitney Houston's recent death he appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan show tonight to talk about how easy it is for celebrities to use and abuse prescription drugs.

Iron Maiden touring US in 2012!

Iron Maiden announce "Maiden England World Tour" with extensive dates in North America this summer Very Special Guest Alice Cooper to July 21, Coheed and Cambria after July 21. Following the massively successful Final Frontier World Tour 2010-11, IRON MAIDEN are back on the road this summer with a series of Arena, Amphitheatre and Festival shows in the U.S.A. and Canada, opening in Charlotte, NC, U.S.A. on June 21, and finishing in Houston, TX, on Aug 18 (dates listed below), to be followed by further dates around the World in 2013. The MAIDEN ENGLAND WORLD TOUR will closely mirror, in terms of production and content, the original 1988 concert video of the same name, shot on the “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour”. This opening section of the World Tour is the band’s most extensive visit to North America for many years and includes a number of cities the band have not played in a very long time, such as Charlotte, Atlanta, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Salt Lake City. MAIDEN ENGLAND 2012 TOUR DATES Thur 21st June Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Sat 23rd June Atlanta, GA Aarons Amphitheatre Tue 26th June Boston, MA Comcast Center Wed 27th June Wantagh, NY Jones Beach Fri 29th June Philadelphia, PI Susquehanna Bank Center Sat 30th June Washington, DC Jiffy Lube Live Mon 2nd July Newark, NJ Prudential Center Thur 5th July Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Sun 8th July Quebec, QC Colisee Pepsi Arena Wed 11th July Montreal, QC Bell Center Fri 13th July Toronto, ON Molson Amphitheatre Sat 14th July Sarnia, ON Bayfest Mon 16th July Buffalo, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center Wed 18th July Detroit, MI DTE Music Theatre Thur 19th July Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Centre Tues 24th July Winnipeg, MB MTS Center Thur 26th July Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome Fri 27th July Edmonton, AB Rexall Place Sun 29th July Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum Mon 30th July Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre Wed 1st August Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre Fri 3rd August San Francisco, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre Mon 6th August Phoenix, AZ Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion Thur 9th August Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Sun 12th August Albuquerque. NM Hard Rock Pavilion Mon 13th August Denver, CO Comfort Dental Amphitheatre Wed 15th August San Antonio, TX AT&T Center Fri 17th August Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion Sat 18th August Houston, TX The Woodlands

Foo fighters win best hard rock/heavy metal category: why this makes sense

So the Foo Fighters have just won the best hard rock/heavy metal category and all the metal sites are pissed off.

They're right about one thing: the Foo Fighters are NOT metal. They don't even pretend. However, the category isn't simply "best metal," it's "best hard rock/heavy metal" and the Foo Figters certainly qualify as hard rock.

Are the Foo Fighters the most talented in their category? Maybe not, but let's remember the Grammys are not necessarily about pure talent. The Grammys are about commercial success.

When was the last time you heard a Mastadon song on the radio? How about Megadeth? Was it a new song or "symphony of destruction?" When's the last time you heard Dream Theatre? How many stations do those bands get played on?

On the other hand, the Foo Fighters are played on multiple genre radio stations, not just the "heavy" stations in cities lucky enough to even have a heavy station. And I hear the Foo Fighters almost every time I get in the car. At least once a day. So by Grammy standards, does it make sense for the Foo Fighters to win? Yes. Does that mean they're better than the other bands? Well, that's pretty subjective, but by Grammy standards, they are the logical choice.

And remember, the first year they had this category, Jethro Tull, who is neither hard rock nor heavy metal won so just consider the source.

Article about Rick Santorum declaring a war on heavy metal goes viral

So I was bored this morning and checking out Twitter and I saw this tweet from Slipknot's Corey Taylor. https://twitter.com/coreytaylorrock/status/168176635852500993 saying that Rick Santorum has declared war on heavy metal and to bring it on, hatemonger.

I have to admit, I was part of the problem because I retweeted before I googled. Then, a bit later I saw Lamb of God's Randy Blythe saying that it was a joke. At that point I googled and saw a TON of links that looked like alternative style news stories confirming it.

Well, it seems to be from this article which is obviously satire:
http://tyrannyoftradition.com/2012/02/10/rick-santorum-declares-war-on-heavy-metal/

Black Sabbath and WASP new? Romney having musical tolerance to reverse his position on? GWAR playing an inauguration? Get with it, people!

Guess it's a good thing Randy Blythe, the voice of reason has the presidential campaign video instead of Corey Taylor. (but if either of those guys became president I'd definitely be in line to be "first groupie."

Ozzy's launching a new radio channel

Well, he's done everything else. Music, tv, books, even a movie (well, a documentary anyway) So I guess he may as well tackle radio for his next venture. I'm most interested in him counting down the top guitarists, I think that would be cool. Anyway, here's the press release. Bet it will be fun to listen to! NEW YORK-February 8, 2012- Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced today that Ozzy's Boneyard, the new classic hard rock and metal music channel will launch with a full slate of content featuring Ozzy Osbourne, his family members, bandmates and other musicians on Wednesday, February 8 at 6:00 pm ET. Hard rock and heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne will, for the first time, discuss the recent news of Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's lymphoma diagnosis during a one on one conversation with SiriusXM host Jose Mangin on Wednesday, February 8 at 7:00 pm ET on Ozzy's Boneyard, channel 38. Ozzy's Boneyard will also present Ozzy himself counting down his personal top 10 rock guitarists of all time. The channel will also include the regular specials "The Diary of a Madman," Ozzy's thoughts on everything from music to life itself, and "God Bless the Prince of Darkness," the special featuring musicians, Osbourne family members and other notables talking about their appreciation of Ozzy. Listeners will also hear guest DJ specials, concerts and classic hard rock and metal music from artists like Black Sabbath, Metallica, AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Pantera and Van Halen. Ozzy's Boneyard joins SiriusXM's roster of channels created in partnership with legendary musicians, including Bruce Springsteen's E Street Radio, Pearl Jam Radio, Eminem's Shade 45, Willie Nelson's Willie's Roadhouse, B.B. King's Bluesville, Elvis Radio, Jimmy Buffett's Radio Margaritaville and Siriusly Sinatra. For more information on SiriusXM, please visit www.siriusxm.com.