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American AOR/melodic rock band Toto, announced a week ago they would reunite this summer for a short European tour. With this tour the band wants to honor bass player Mike Porcaro, who is living with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). The first tour dates have now been announced also.
Website: http://www.toto99.com/

09 - Jul - 2010 Friday  Clam  Burg Clam Austria
10 - Jul - 2010 Saturday  Wiesen  Lovely Days Festival Austria
15 - Jul - 2010 Thursday  Locarno  Moon & Stars, Piazza Grande Switzerland
16 - Jul - 2010 Friday  Singen  Hohenentwiel Festival Germany
17 - Jul - 2010 Saturday  83671 Benediktbeuern  Kloster Benediktbeuern Germany
20 - Jul - 2010 Tuesday  Copenhagen  KB Hall Denmark

 
Danny Vaughn, described by Classic Rock Magazine as being, “One of the top voices of the melodic hard rock genre”, returns to the stage in December 2010 with the Inspirations and Aspirations Tour.
Following on from the success of his last album, Traveller, and the 2009 live album, The Road Less Travelled, Danny Vaughn and his band will tour the UK with a concert of two halves. Part one is Inspirations; songs by the artists that influenced Danny Vaughn as a songwriter and singer. Part two is Aspirations; songs covering Danny's entire career, from Waysted to Tyketto, Flesh & Blood to Vaughn. This is the first time that Danny Vaughn has performed such a wide range of songs in one live show, and with such a variety of artists and songs that inspired him to become a singer/songwriter, you can expect a few surprises to boot!
As you can imagine, for such a performance, you need versatile and exceptional musicians. Danny Vaughn's band for this tour will include some of the UK's top musicians; Chris Childs (Thunder), Ryan Aston (Bonnie Tyler) and Christian Phillips (Ultimate Eagles).
Happiness, Sadness, Joy, Heartbreak: For the first time Danny Vaughn will give you his life in music! This is a night not to be missed!

 
Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott is almost finished recording with his new band Down N' Outz according to guitarist Guy Griffin. Griffin, best known for his work with the Quireboys, told, "We've almost finished a record and who knows from there. We've played with Mott The Hoople, doing songs that Mott The Hoople hadn't done outside of Mott The Hoople like Ian Hunter and British Lions, that kind of stuff. Amazing songs that never would have been heard in this day and age, unbelievable songs. Joe Elliott really made an effort to get all these songs heard and we've pretty much finished an album. I just got one song over from Joe with his vocals on it and it sounds unbelievable. We recorded all the songs, we just send them over to Joe in Dublin."
When asked what musical direction Down N' Outz would be taking Griffin responded, "It's open to whatever we want to do with it really. It's a fun thing for all of us. Spike (Quireboys vocalist) has a part in the whole thing as well. It's a side thing, and why not? What we have put on the record sounds amazing. It doesn't sound like The Quireboys and it doesn't sound like Def Leppard. It's a cross between the two and Joe sounds amazing on it."
Down N' Outz are rounded out by drummer Phil Martini, keyboardist Keith Weir, bassist Ronnie Garrity and fellow Quireboys guitarist Paul Guerin.

 
Prog rock/metal icons Dream Theater will spend their summer supporting Iron Maiden on the band's month-long tour of major US and Canadian markets. The tour launches on June 9 and runs through July 20, and includes a stop at the storied Madison Square Garden in NYC, marking the first time in a lengthy and respected career that Dream Theater will have played the world's most famous arena. This tour will mark another milestone in Dream Theater's history, which continues to expand and evolve, twenty-five years deep. 
Of touring with Iron Maiden in North America, drummer Mike Portnoy said, “It is a bit of a dream come true for us. After 25 years together, at this stage in our career, there's honestly only three bands Dream Theater would consider opening for and Maiden is one of them. It is an absolute honor. Through the years, we've done many one-off shows with Maiden and they've almost all been overseas. It is very exciting to finally be doing a full tour with them and on our side of the pond, no less. These are gonna be amazing shows that the fans won't want to miss. Up the f***ing irons!” For more info scroll down or click "Read More".
Website: http://www.dreamtheater.net/

 
Tom DeLonge might be best known for his music with Blink 182, but that hasn’t stopped him from using his other band, Angels & Airwaves, as a spring board for reinventing the way music is distributed in the recording industry today. For the band’s latest album, LOVE, DeLonge opted to offer the album for free to download on the band’s website.  While this certainly isn’t the first time a band has given away an entire album for free, it is the first time that a band marketed their free album the way DeLonge’s is.
“I kind of look at like TV, if people watch a show on NBC they basically are watching for free, but there is a whole business model around it with merchandising and advertising,” DeLonge explained during a recent interview.  “I see music the same way, give the people the music for free and let the platform surrounding it generate the revenue.”
The platform that DeLonge is referring to is Modlife, a new website template that allows fans to watch pay-per-view concerts, download movies, and connect with the band in unique ways.  The theory is to use the band’s free music to attract fans to the site where they will spend money on other services offered.

 
Bob Bryar, drummer for My Chemical Romance, has parted ways with the New Jersey band. According to a guitarist Frank Iero, Bryar left the band a month ago after grappling with the decision for some time. "As of four weeks ago, My Chemical Romance and Bob Bryar parted ways," Iero wrote on his blog. "This was a painful decision for all of us to make and was not taken lightly. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, and expect you all to do the same." Bryar replaced original My Chemical Romance drummer Matt Pelissier in 2004, following the band's tour of Japan that year.

Frank Iero also gave fans some info on the band's upcoming album. "We have been writing some very powerful new songs so this week the four of us entered the studio once again, and what has been ending up on tape each night is some of the most exciting and honest work we have ever created," he wrote.
The album is expected to come out later this year.

 
Dutch hard-rock band MENNEN recently decided to split up. The band of vocalist Joss Mennen  was founded 17 years ago, after Joss had left  the melodic rock band Zinatra. Through the years Mennen has released 5 studio-albums and 2 live-albums. Their latest release “Planet Black”, produced by Erwin Musper (Van Halen, Scorpions), was supported by an appearance at the legendary Wacken Festival in Germany. Other high-lights are their headliner tours in the south of Europe and when Mennen crossed the Atlantic Ocean two times, for shows in the USA. On April 17th, Mennen will play their final show at , Weert-NL. This will be a special evening with several guest-musicians contributing the show. Also , there will be a roll for a big choir , giving some of the songs a special dimension. Mennen will appear in the most successful line-up: Joss Mennen /vocals, Eric van de Kerkhof /guitar, Alex Jansen / bass and Fon Janssen / drums.

Websites:
http://www.mennen.net/
http://mennen-world.com/

 
Masterplan is a German power metal band founded by Uli Kusch and Roland Grapow upon leaving Helloween. The band is now about to release their fourth album "Time To Be King" in May. It will be the third with Jorn Lande as vocalist. In order to promote the album ex-Helloween guitarist Roland Grapow is visiting some countries for press exclusive listening sessions. Yesterday Rock Inc. Promotion arranged the only Dutch session in The Rock Temple in Kerkrade. The press could listen to a rough mix of the new album. According to Grapow the finishing touch such as adding some solo's still needed to be done. Scroll down or click below on "read more" to find out what he said about the tracks.

Related websites:
http://www.master-plan.net/
http://www.myspace.com/masterplanmetal
http://www.rockinc.nl/
http://www.therocktemple.nl/

 
Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi will release his second solo album on May 10th. It's been 14 years since he released his first solo album "King Of The Doghouse" so Francis takes the title of his new album "One Step At A Time" very seriously. Rossi wrote and recorded three songs with Guy Johnson, who penned the UK Top 20 hit "Going Down Town Tonight" for Status Quo in 1984. Status Quo fans, and there a lot of them as the band sold worldwide over 118 million albums, can buy "One Step At A Time" without any hesitation because the album is filled with bluesy guitar rock in the Status Quo style.
Rossi is also planning a UK/Europe tour to promote the album. On that news Francis commented, "I never stop writing songs and melodies but there have been many tracks over the years that just weren't right for Quo. These songs have been gathering dust in my mind for too long and now seems the right time to showcase them. It's a big step for me but I hope to see lots of the same faces out there on the road!"

Website: http://www.statusquo.co.uk/

 
Asia is a rock group formed in 1981. The band was labelled a supergroup and included former members of veteran progressive rock bands Yes, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Uriah Heep, U.K., Roxy Music, Wishbone Ash and The Buggles. After a lot of line up changes the original members Geoff Downes, John Wetton, Steve Howe and Carl Palmer reunited in 2006. Other ex-members are still performing as Asia featuring John Payne.
After the release of "Phoenix" in 2008 the original Asia line up is now about to release a new album called "Omega" on May 4th. 
Check out the link below for a free download of the digital promo single “Finger on the Trigger”: http://www.frontiers.it/intro/asiapromopage.html
Scroll down or click on "Read More" for tour dates.
Website: http://www.originalasia.com/

 
Italian label Frontiers will release new Tesla album "Alive In Europe" on  April 23. After 25 years, 12 albums, over 2,500 shows, over 16 million albums sold worldwide, Tesla is stronger than ever! Continuing the momentum, Tesla: Jeff Keith (vocals), Frank Hannon (guitars), Brian Wheat (bass), Troy Luccketta (drums) and Dave Rude (guitar) have toured Europe after the successful release of their latest studio opus "Forever More". As a testament to a very creative and productive chapter in the history of the band, Tesla release what can be considered a true “electric” live album recorded at various locations during the European shows in the summer of 2009.
Website: www.teslatheband.com or www.myspace.com/teslatheband

 
Tonic will make their anticipated return on May 8 with the release of their brand new self titled album, their first in 8 years.  The first single from that album, a track called 'Release Me' is out now.
Tonic guitarist Jeff Russo calls the upcoming album one of the band's strongest to date, which saying a lot coming from a band with such an impressive catalog as Tonic's.
"We really wanted to make a solid record. We had a lot to live up to as far as were concerned from our last record which we thought was really great. I think we really pulled through for each other," Russo told during an interview last month. "This was a true collaborative effort from all of us and it really, really is apparent in the record. In my opinion it may be the best record we’ve ever made, just in every way you can think about."
The album, which hits stores and online retailers May 8, is available now for pre-order on Amazon.com. 
Clips from several of the tracks on the album are available from the band's MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/tonicband
 

 
30 Seconds To Mars have announced plans for a spring tour in support of their latest release This Is War. The band will kick off what is being dubbed the 'Into The Wild' Tour on April 9 in Vegas (for dates click on "Read More" or scroll down). Tickets for the tour which includes opening acts Mute Math and Neon Trees went on sale last Friday (2/26).
This Is War which was released in December was one of the best selling albums of the month, selling over 70 thousand copies in the first week, thanks in large part to the success of their hit single 'Kings and Queens' which the band recently released a video for.

 
We Are The Fallen, a new rock band featuring former Evanescence songwriter and founder Ben Moody and vocalist Carly Smithson will release their self titled debut album on May 11.  The first single from the album, Bury Me Alive, hit digital retailers earlier last month. Along with Moody, the band features former Evanesence members John LeCompt along with drummer Rocky Gray.  Former Disturbed/Static X bassist Marty O’Brien rounds out the band's line up.  The band will join H.I.M. on tour along with LA based bands Dommin and Drive A. The 28 city tour launches in Philadelphia, PA, on March 26th, crashing multiple major cities such as Boston, MA, on March 28th, Cleveland, OH, on April 1st, Chicago, IL on April 9th, Los Angeles, CA on April 23rd, and winding down in New York City on May 7th. 

Website: http://www.wearethefallen.com/