The Great Rock News Report 10.29.08

Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 10.29.2008

Led Zeppelin rumors, the success of Black Ice, the search for a Velvet Revolver singer and more addressed in the latest Great Rock News Report. Plus, updates on Linkin Park, Oasis, Glassjaw and more and video interludes featuring Slipknot and more!



News Story of the Week – Led Zeppelin Find New Vocalist In Steven Tyler?


It was about a year ago that I got pissed off about all the Led Zeppelin stuff. People were excited about the one-off reunion gig and that's fine, we're over it now. The rumors that would result from that gig were inevitable and now it seems these rumors are more than that. Robert Plant still refuses to go on tour with the other members of the band and thus they're looking to replace him so that they can a) go on tour in 2009 and b) record some new material. Some may argue that replacing plant is simply blasphemous, but if he's unwilling to tour, than he only has himself to blame. No one should be angry at the other guys.

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge was set to take over vocal duties. This news was met pretty positively by fans; there's no doubting the guy is a great singer (and guitarist, for that matter) and has a voice powerful enough to fill, to an extent, some pretty big shoes. Don't believe me? Check out Alter Bridge's live cover of "Kashmir."


"Kashmir" – Alter Bridge
Another big name supposedly in with a chance is White Stripes and Raconteurs frontman Jack White, however, these rumors were put to rest before they garnered much attention. And thank God for that, because Jack White working with the guys from Zeppelin would have never worked.

And that brings us to our latest candidate, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. Despite the fact that he is meant to be busy working on new Aerosmith material, he's supposedly been jamming with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham in a London studio and doing vocal work on some of the band's new material. Certain websites are even reporting that Tyler has agreed to tour with the band in 2009.

I don't know about you, but I just can't imagine Tyler fronting Led Zeppelin. Don't get me wrong, the guy is a legendary and iconic front man and vocalist, but I just do not see it working. At all. I would much prefer Kennedy, if it weren't for the fact that that would probably mean the end of Alter Bridge… and the return of Creed!


Elsewhere
AC/DC release Black Ice last week, and as it turns out, people still like them. The band took various album charts around the world and showed them who's boss;

"Released globally on Monday October 20, 2008, AC/DC's Black Ice topped the sales charts in 29 Countries including the US, UK, Germany, Canada, France, Argentina, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and more. In the US alone Black Ice has sold more than 780,000 units its first week on sale, marking the band's first ever debut at #1 on the album charts. Over 5 million copies of Black Ice have been shipped worldwide, combined with almost 5 million in catalog sold this year, the band are poised to sell over 10 million units this year alone."

Frankly, I don't get it. I don't understand how they're at all relevant in 2008. I didn't even think the album was that good. Still, kudos to them for being able shift so many records once again.

Click here for my review of Black Ice.

Slash has once again been talking about his new solo album, confirming that each track will have a different lead vocalist, saying it'll be quite different to what fans are used to. Slash also spoke about the ongoing search for a new Velvet Revolver singer and hinted that it may be someone relatively unknown, saying "it's really hard to make something sound original if you've got somebody people are so familiar with hearing somewhere else."

Live Nation have confirmed this week that Download Festival will return to Donnington next year over the weekend of June 12-14. As you'd expect, people are already discussing potential headliners, and seeing as Download is becoming an annual thing for me, I figure I'd share my two cents. AC/DC and Metallica are the two names being thrown around the most, likely because of their recent respective comebacks, and I'd be surprised if at least one of them didn't headline. Led Zeppelin are another band that would likely get offered the slot if they are indeed set to tour next year. That said, it's usually only one of the three nights that goes to an older, harder band. Expect Green Day to headline one of the nights, especially with the new album coming out. Slipknot would be a favorite, but considering they pulled out of Reading this year, I'd be surprised to see them headlining. My Chemical Romance or Iron Maiden could be back in the headliners slot (in MCR's case, depending on when they're getting their next album out). And there are also pretty strong rumors for a System of a Down reunion. One band that hasn't been mentioned yet is Guns N' Roses. Regardless, Download is always awesome, and I'll be getting my tickets as soon as they're available.

As if you couldn't get enough of Nickelback this winter, what with the release of Dark Horse next month, Coming Home Studios will release Nickelback: Live At Sturgis, the band's first live set since 2002 featuring hits from all their albums. No word yet on a release date.

Linkin Park are set to record the follow up to last year's Minutes To Midnight at the beginning of next month, and singer Chester Bennington has revealed that it'll be a concept album; "[we] never envisioned ourselves doing a concept record, but we see an opportunity to do something really cool so we jumped on it, and we'll see how it comes out. I think it's a challenge and we'll see if we can rise to the occasion."

Glasjaw have promised to release a new album by year's end. A soruce who works closely with the band said recently, " I for the most part heard a complete Glassjaw CD last winter. It had a latin/spanish music feel to some songs. It had some nice grooves kinda like a massive attack thing going on in some parts. All it needed was vocals."

Popular Swedish garage punk act The Hives have been hit with a plagiarism suit. Don Bolles, guitarist for glam-pop group Celebrity Skin filed the lawsuit, claiming that the main riff from the Hives "Tick Tick Boom" is a little too similar to one from his song "Why You?," recorded in 1997 with his band the Roofies and again in 2002 with Three Way. "Tick Tick Boom" was the lead single from the Hives' 2007 album The Black and White Album.

Following up from a the story that Oasis have readied another album's worth of material, Neal Gallagher revealed this week that the new material echoed the work of The Kinks. "They all seem to be based around the same four or five chords," he expalined. "It's vastly different from what [Dig Out Your Soul] is." Speaking about his solo album plans, Gallagher said: "I'm going to do one sooner or later – hopefully sooner rather than later. I'm kind of hoping Liam might be arrested soon, and then I'll have time to see it through." If only being a talentless twat were a crime.

Pete Wentz's well-known skills as a motormouth will come in handy as he and Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump attempt to break a Guinness World Record of most radio interviews by a pair completed in 24 hours. The two band members will attempt to hit as many radio stations as possible across America on 31 October (which just so happens to be Halloween) beginning at 3 pm PST at Premiere Studios in Los Angeles. For those keeping track of such things, the current record for radio interviews completed by two people in 24 hours is 57. Fall Out Boy attempted to break another world record by playing a show at a scientific colony in Antarctica earlier this year, but their efforts were thwarted by bad weather.

Panic At the Disco have set a release date for a forthcoming CD+DVD. The record is titled Live in Chicago and is due out December 2, 2008. The set was recorded in (you guessed it) Chicago and will feature 18 songs on DVD and CD, a tour documentary, music videos, a photo gallery and bonus audio tracks. Check out the track listing here.

Good Charlotte have announced plans to release a Greatest Hits CD with a twist - all the tracks will be remixed by other artists and will have a dance vibe. The album will be released on November 25. The album entitled Greatest Remixes sees the band's most notable tracks remixed by the likes of Fall Out Boy, The Game, The Academy Is..., Kill Hannah and more. The track listing includes songs from all four Good Charlotte studio albums and three unreleased songs, "Anxiety", "Fight Song", and "War".


"Dead Memories" – Slipknot