Want to win two free tickets to KISS' last show in the States? Kissonline.com is running a sweepstakes in which the prize is two concert tickets, roundtrip airfare, two nights hotel. One entry per person can be submitted through September 15, 2000 at www.kissonline.com/farewellcontest/.
As if this damn band hasn't changed lineups enough, WARRANT has a new guitarist...again. Billy Morris from the Cleveland rock band KIDD WICKED will be filling the space vacated by KERRI KELLI.
DOGSTAR, the band featuring KEANU REEVES on bass, is finally hitting U.S. shores. Happy Ending will be released this week in domestic retail stores. Reeves first started jamming with drummer and fellow actor Rob Mailhouse some ten years ago, and the duo snagged guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose shortly thereafter to begin what would be a long trek to U.S. stores. "It's very exciting," Reeves told MTV News on the eve of the album's release. While copies of Our Little Visionary had found their way to the States as imports, Mailhouse suggests that the band's official U.S. debut is a departure from that effort, noting that Happy Ending offers "more textures, more instruments, more melody." "And a little more range," Reeves added. Considering that Keanu's day job keeps him in high demand, the notion that Dogstar could gel and develop as a band might come as a surprise. However, Mailhouse explained, "We play together a lot... more than people think. There's a good four or five months of the year where we're all playing. We all live very close to each other, and I have a rehearsal studio in my house. That's probably why we've been together so long, because of those healthy breaks."
Yesterday, METALLICA's LARS ULRICH spoke before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee about Napster, accusing the Internet music-swapping site of "hijacking our music without asking. They never sought our permission -- our catalog of music simply became available as free downloads on the Napster system. I don't have a problem with any artist voluntarily distributing his or her songs through any means the artist elects -- at no cost to the consumer, if that's what the artist wants," Ulrich said. "But just like a carpenter who crafts a table gets to decide whether to keep it, sell it, or give it away, shouldn't we have the same options?...The choice has been taken away from us." Ulrich likened Napster downloading to stealing from a record store. "Everyone's a winner except the artist. Every song by every artist is available for download at no cost and, of course, with no payment to the artist, the songwriter, or the copyright holder. Make no mistake, Metallica is not anti-technology," he insisted. "But how can we embrace a new format and sell our music for a fair price when someone, with a few lines of code, and no investment costs, creative input, or marketing expenses, simply gives it away? How does this square with the level playing field of the capitalist system? In Napster's brave new world, what free market economy models support our ability to compete? The touted 'new paradigm' that the Internet gurus tell us we Luddites must adopt sounds to me like old-fashioned trafficking in stolen goods." ...The argument will most likely go on for some time.
A PERFECT CIRCLE, with opening act SUNNA, will launch a month's worth of dates on August 18 in Boston, Massachusetts that run through September 16 in Houston, Texas. U.K.-based Sunna's debut disc One Minute Science comes out August 15, but the band will first be heard in the movie Hollow Man via the album's first single "Power Struggle." Hollow Man will be released August 4.
BLACK SABBATH guitarist TONY IOMMI's solo album will feature a slew of guest stars, including PANTERA's PHIL ANSELMO, HENRY ROLLINS, SERJ TANKIAN of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, TYPE O NEGATIVE's PETER STEELE, THE CULT's IAN ASTBURY, SKIN of SKUNK ANANSIE, BILLY CORGAN of SMASHING PUMPKINS and THE FOO FIGHTERS' DAVE GROHL. The album will be released on October 10.
BRET MICHAELS' chat at yahoo.com has been postponed until July 27 at 7 PM ET.
Denver, Colorado band SICK landed a side stage spot on the Summer Sanitarium tour's stop at the city's Mile High Stadium and will also join the RATT/WARRANT/L.A. GUNS tour for a few dates starting July 27 in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a Denver show the following night. Go to www.riffage.com to listen to three new tunes from the band.
