So glad my office is not near Rockefeller Plaza. A BILLION screaming girls for the teen sensation One Direction! UGH! Earplugs please!….Big news yesterday about the winter tour with 3 of our favorite bands! Three Days Grace and Shinedown will team up for a co-headlining arena tour of the U.S. with P.O.D., starting on Feb 1st in Moline, IL. 14 dates have been confirmed so far, with more to be announced. Three Days Grace said in a statement, “We can’t wait to get back out on the road to play live for our fans; that’s the best part of doing what we do.” Shinedown’s Brent Smith added, “Shinedown prides itself on always taking our live shows to the next level and giving our fans everything they want — honest, emotional, and incendiary performances. This tour is no exception. In fact, we’re raising the bar.” See Road Rage for all the dates!…. Deftones issue their seventh studio album, titled Koi No Yokan, today (Nov 13th). The disc follows up 2010’s Diamond Eyes, the band’s biggest hit since 2002’s White Pony, and is already riding a wave of advance critical acclaim. The LA Music Blog called it “the best album from Deftones in years and quite possibly the best in their entire career,” while Loudwire reported that “if the Smashing Pumpkins were heavier, ballsier and angrier, they’d make albums that sound like this.” (Thanks Pulse of Radio.) Frontman Chino Moreno told us he thinks the new album is a perfect example of what Deftones does best: “Some of my favorite things about Deftones are the dynamics. I mean, yes, we’re a heavy band, but we’re not just like, you know, in your face, aggro, the whole time, punching you in the face. There’s also this very soothing element where there’s, you know, a lot of soundscapes and a lot of outside influences other than just, you know, attack, attack the whole time. I don’t know, I really think we meld those things great.” I have to say, I’ve heard it, everything they say is true! I am just bummed the storm last month messed up plans to interview the guys while they were in NYC. Dunno when we will see them in person again, but we have a raincheck!….Of course we know Soundgarden is out and about aggressively promoting their new album, King Animal, but the band with the lowest profile who has a new album out today is Green Day. The second of their three new albums, Dos!, drops, although not under the circumstances the band probably first envisioned. Just days before the release of the first record, Uno!, on Sep 25th, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong had a profanity-laced meltdown at a Las Vegas radio festival and entered rehab a few days later, where he remains. The group has since canceled all promotional events and tour dates for the rest of 2012 and the first two months of 2013, with the trio’s plans beyond that yet to be decided. In reviews published this week, the Los Angeles Times called Dos! “a far better record than Uno! In fact, it’s an excellent Green Day album — one of its best.” The Toronto Star, on the other hand, called the new disc “thoroughly ordinary” and “astonishingly tuneless coming from a band that can usually be depended on for a few hooks.” Yikes. (Info obtained from Pulse of Radio.)….And finally today, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger has told Men’s Health magazine he is looking forward to the “most unique wedding that the planet has probably ever seen” when he and pop singer Avril Lavigne marry. Kroeger explained, “She’s got great ideas. I would have gone a little too traditional, I think, and she’s giving it a real rock ‘n’ roll edge. The groomsmen won’t be wearing piano neckties (but) let’s just say she’s taking the bull by the horns and steering the ship towards what is going to be the most unique wedding that the planet has probably ever seen.” Kroeger added he’s happy to let Lavigne take the reins on the wedding plans, saying, “We (grooms) get such an incredibly small chunk in terms of what we can actually participate in. I get control over nothing. I just show up. But I’m glad, because she has traversed these territories before. These are unchartered waters for me. So it’s nice to have her to guide me through this.” Lavigne was previously married to Sum 41 frontman Derick Whibley. The marriage lasted from 2006 to 2009. Kroeger and Lavigne, who are 10 years apart in age, surprised the music world this past summer by announcing their engagement, which followed six months of dating. The couple met when Kroeger began helping Lavigne produce songs for her new album. The courtship was kept so quiet that very few people knew the two Canadians were actually seeing each other romantically. As for his one-time reputation as a player — with Kroeger once describing himself as a “walking penis” to Playboy — the singer/guitarist said, “I don’t think my libido has changed. I just think that my rolodex has been confiscated. And I’m okay with that.“…Bullet For My Valentine has released the official music video for “Temper Temper,” the title track from the band’s upcoming fourth album. The disc, due out on Feb 12th, 2013, follows up 2010’s Fever. The song itself will be released at all major digital outlets on Nov 25th. Check out the video here……Slash will release a special three-disc “enhanced” edition of his sophomore solo album, Apocalyptic Love, on Nov 19th exclusively through Best Buy. The set includes the original 15-song album, two additional bonus songs, eight previously unreleased acoustic tracks and the “Live From NY” concert DVD filmed at Slash’s record-release show in New York City. The package will also include a collectible guitar pick tin….See, Dave Navarro isn’t such a bad guy some people make him out to be! The Jane’s Addiction guitarist sent a London, Ontario musician one of his signature Epiphone acoustic guitars after learning the musician’s own guitar had been stolen after a gig last month. Kevin Kennedy and his wife/musical partner Jane, known as The Marrieds, offered a reward via Twitter and Facebook, only to have the new guitar show up on their doorstep. The couple wrote on Twitter, “Dave Navarro saw our tweet on Twitter about Kevin’s stolen guitar and he sent us his signature Epiphone!” Navarro replied, “So happy it arrived! You are VERY welcome.” The duo also posted a video online of themselves performing “The Thank You Dave Navarro Song.” (Loudwire)…Happy 45th today to Jimmy Kimmel.
