Wasn’t it August 1st just last week? Ugh, summer is fleeting by! Don’t gooooo!!!!!!…Just watched the new Stone Sour video for “Tired.” Love it. Check it out <a href="” target=”_blank”>here…..Well congrats are in order for our British friends Asking Alexandria! The heavy rockers from North Yorkshire scored their highest-charting album and best sales week yet on Wednesday (August 14th), as their new album From Death To Destiny debuted at Number Six on the Billboard album chart with just under 38,000 copies sold. That surpassed the Number Nine debut and previous peak of the band’s last release, 2011’s Reckless & Relentless. Good on ya, boys! Lou Brutus will be in Madison, WI to interview the probably still celebrating fellows on Saturday at JJO’s Band Camp!….Metallica played for the first time ever in China this week, doing two sold-out shows at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai on Tuesday (August 13th) and Wednesday (August 14th). The first night sold out in record time and faster than any other Western act that has played the country before. Frontman James Hetfield said, “We didn’t expect the energy that was being given to us would be so intense. We were very excited to see people singing the words, joining in and becoming part of the show; which is what we really love.” (Check it out here.) A representative for the company promoting the show said, “Tonight Metallica made music history and opened the doors of China to rock music.” The band’s current Asian run will take it to South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia over the next 10 days. The only other live date on Metallica’s schedule for the rest of 2013 is September 19th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Next up for Metallica is the release of the band’s 3D movie, Metallica Through The Never, which arrives in limited release on September 27th before expanding its run on October 4th. A soundtrack album arrives on September 24th. The movie is part concert film and part fictional narrative, with the latter centering on a roadie played by Dane DeHaan who must go on a mysterious mission for the band during the course of a live performance….Pulse of Radio also reports this morning Shinedown kicked off the 2013 edition of the Carnival Of Madness tour this past Sunday (August 11th) at the Stone Pony Summerstage in Asbury Park, New Jersey, with Skillet, Sevendust, In This Moment and We As Human also on the bill. While Shinedown has been on the road steadily since the March 2012 release of its fourth studio album, Amaryllis, drummer Barry Kerch told us that the hard-working group isn’t going to take a break after the Madness tour winds down: “It’s definitely, I would think, towards the waning side of the Amaryllis cycle, but we still have a lot of work that we want to do with the record. We still have singles that are gonna be put out, I know we still want to do an acoustic tour on this record. So we still have a lot more work to do, and with this tour just beginning, I guarantee we’re touring for the rest of the year.” This would be the band’s second “Anything and Everything” acoustic tour…..Korn—will they be launching the first Family Values Tour since 2007?? Wonderers are wondering…..Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd has premiered another new track, called “Keystone,” from his upcoming solo debut, In Deep Owl. The album, which will be released on August 27th, was written over a four-year period and recorded at a studio in an industrial part of Seattle. In addition to Shepherd, the album features contributions from Soundgarden/Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain. For more information on Shepherd, visit http://hbenshepherd.com/ ….Blink-182 will play two charity shows next month as part of a larger string of September shows. The first benefit will take place on September 10th in Sayreville, New Jersey, with the second slated for September 11th in Brooklyn, New York. The New Jersey show will be held at the Starland Ballroom, which is reopening after being closed for nearly two years due to damage from Hurricane Sandy. Blink-182 will donate a portion of each ticket sold from that show to Sandy relief as well as for research and treatment of cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Tickets sold to the Brooklyn gig will benefit burn treatment centers along with the same disease research. (Alternative Press).
