Story by Charles Ken

Queens  of the Stone Age release their new album, ‘…Like Clockwork,’ in June

Queens of the Stone Age have been busy as of late leaking tracks off their upcoming new album, “…Like Clockwork.” The latest round of offerings from the guys include videos featuring two new tracks: “Keep Your Eyes Peeled” and “If I Had A Tail” The latter track was already previewed during a live radio session at Belgium’s Studio Brussel earlier this week, but the newly-released video offers a studio recording of the song.

Both videos feature creepy animated figures to help bring the new tunes to life. “Keep Your Eyes Peeled” depicts a scary figure in a spiked mask as he finds himself in some danger inside a seedy bar, while “If I Had A Tail” features a murderous driver who drives around town killing random people with her car and tossing Molotov cocktails their way.

“…Like Clockwork” will reach store shelves and online hotspots on June 4. When recording, Queens of the Stone Age went out of their way to secure some big names for the release, including Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, Scissor Sisters vocalist Jake Shears, pop singer and pianist Elton John, Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner and former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore. “…Like Clockwork” will also feature former Queens of the Stone Age members Nick Oliveri (bass) and Joey Castillo (drums).

Story by Anne Erickson

This year’s Riot Fest in Chicago will feature Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, Dinosaur Jr. and more

The folks behind this year’s Riot Fest have unveiled the list of performers set to rock this year’s event, and the roundup is impressive. Fall Out Boy and Blink-182 are both scheduled to headline the annual festival, which is set to take place Sept. 13-15 at Humboldt Park in Chicago. Headlining the gig is a natural fit for Fall Out Boy, of course, who hail from the Chicago area. One more headlining act is expected to be announced soon.

Additional performers slated to take the stage at this year’s Riot Fest include Rancid, Motörhead, Dinosaur Jr., Blondie, Yellowcard, Gwar, Say Anything, Maps and Atlases, the Devil Wears Prada, Atmosphere, Pierce the Veil, Guided by Voices, All Time Low, Bob Mould, Sublime with Rome, Against Me!, Violent Femmes, Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, among others.

Tickets for Riot Fest are available now, and three-day passes will set you back $99. To view the full artist lineup and snag tickets, visit the festival’s official website.

Story by Anne Erickson

Linkin Park headlining Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip Music Festival

Linkin Park were originally planning to take this summer off from U.S. gigs, but even they couldn’t resist the Sunset Strip Music Festival. The festival takes place on Aug. 3 on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, and the gents of Linkin Park have confirmed that they will headline this year’s festivities.

“We started our career playing clubs on The Strip,” frontman Chester Bennington said in an official statement. “It’s a thrill to be back where it all began, headlining this festival in our hometown.”

Tickets for the festival begin at $79 and are on sale now via the Sunset Strip Music Festival’s Event Brite page. Those who want to get really close to the band will have a chance to purchase front-row tickets, so long as they’re members of Linkin Park’s official fan club, LP Underground.  Of course, Linkin Park are always active with their non-profit charity organization Music for Relieve, and a portion of the proceeds raised by the festival will go towards the charity, which offers assistance to those impacted by natural disasters.

Additional acts for the Sunset Strip Music Festival will be announced soon. For more details on the festival, head to the show’s official website.

Story by Charles Ken

Laneway Festival Detroit to bring the Nation, Frightened Rabbit and more to Michigan

Australia’s Laneway Festival is bringing their show to the U.S. Organizers behind the annual Australian festival have announced that they’re branching out and will be putting on a special American version of the Laneway Festival in Rochester Hills, Mich., just outside of Detroit on Sept. 14.

The Rochester Hills show — dubbed simply Laneway Festival Detroit — will feature the National as the headlining band, along with performances from Frightened Rabbit, Sigur Ros, Deerhunter, Flume, My Brightest Diamond, Washed Out, Savages, Phosphorescent and more.

Laneway Festival Detroit pre-sale tickets will run $79.50 and will go on sale beginning this Saturday (May 18). For more information and the view the full lineup, head to the festival’s official website.

In other National news, the indie rockers have a packed tour schedule over the next few months, including dates with Frightened Rabbit, Local Natives, Dirty Projectors, Daughter and more. The band is also slated to play Lollapalooza at Grant Park in Chicago on Aug. 3.

Story by Anne Erickson

Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan wants California Pizza Chain to stop cheese providers from hurting baby cows

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is teaming up with PETA in the fight against animal cruelty. Corgan has written an open letter to the CEO of restaurant chain California Pizza Kitchen asking the business to lend a hand in protecting baby cows on dairy farms.

In the letter, Corgan asks the restaurant to have its cheese providers stop the hurtful processes of “dehorning” and “disbudding” calves. As PETA reports, both are frightening, painful treatments “in which calves have their horns gouged out” or “sensitive horn tissue burned out of their heads.”

Here’s an excerpt from Corgan’s letter:

I have viewed the photos and watched PETA’s investigative video of these procedures, and I was appalled to see young calves who struggled and writhed in pain as searing hot irons burned their heads. The industry has noted that the burns are so severe that they may damage the underlying bone…  I strongly urge you to take immediate action to stop this unspeakable barbarism by requiring your suppliers to phase out dehorning.

Check out the singer’s complete letter here.

Corgan, of course, isn’t the first musician to use his fame to help PETA. Previously, Morrissey and Paul McCartney, among others, have partnered with the animal rights organization. As for Corgan’s stance on vegan foods, his suburban Chicago tea shop, Madame ZuZu’s, serves vegan pastries, according to PETA.

Story by Cat Badra

Upcoming ‘Stones Fest’ shows to feature members of the Black Keys, the Lemonheads and more

The Rolling Stones are all the rage again, thanks to the legendary rock band celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Now, a new part of the series of Rolling Stones tribute shows known as “Stones Fest” have been booked for New York and Los Angeles later this month, and a collection of musicians are set to take part in the festivities.

Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney and Delta Spirit are a few of the many artists confirmed to perform songs from the Stones’ lengthy collection at the New York City version of the show. That event is set to happen May 22-23 at the Bowery Ballroom.

The Los Angeles version of the event will happen a week later, on May 30, at The Fonda Theatre. That show will bring performances from Lemonheads vocalist Evan Dando, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, Dead Sara singer Emily Armstrong and members of Eagles of Death Metal.

Of course, this is all for a good cause. Funds raised from tickets sales will be donated to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, a charity organization that offers financial assistance to musicians suffering from illness or disability.

Story by Anne Erickson

Imagine Dragons extending the second leg of their 2013 North American tour

Imagine Dragons are hot. The alternative band is so hot, actually, that the guys have sold out the majority of the second leg of their 2013 North American tour dates. Now, Imagine Dragons have announced that they will play nine additional cities this August and September in support of their debut full-length, “Night Visions.” Newly-added stops include Detroit, Atlantic City, Indianapolis, Orlando, Tampa, Houston, Dallas and Minneapolis.

After adding in the new dates, Imagine Dragons will play 28 shows in North America between now and the end of September. Tickets for most of the newly-announced concerts will go on sale to the general public starting this Friday (May 17) via Live Nation. Check out the full tour roster below.

Imagine Dragons – which includes Dan Reynolds (lead vocals), Wayne Sermon (guitar), Ben McKee (bass) and Daniel Platzman (drums) – are also set to perform on “Good Morning America Summer Concert Series” on July 5 and on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” on July 26.

Newly-announced Imagine Dragons 2013 North American Tour Dates:

8/30 — Atlantic City, N.J. — Borgata Events Center
9/16 — Indianapolis, Ind. — Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park
9/17 — Detroit, Mich. — Meadowbrook Music Festival
9/20 — Columbia, Md. — Merriweather Post Pavilion
9/23 — Orlando, Fla. — UCF Arena
9/24 — Tampa, Fla. — USF Sun Dome
9/26 — Houston, Texas — Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
9/27 — Dallas, Texas — Southside Ballroom
9/28 — Dallas, Texas — Southside Ballroom
9/30 — Minneapolis, Minn. — Roy Wilkens Auditorium

For Imagine Dragons’ full tour roster, head to the band’s official website.

Story by Charles Ken

Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard gearing up to release new solo album this summer

Pearl Jam’s much-anticipated tenth studio album is taking quite a while to wrap up, but guitarist Stone Gossard is keeping plenty busy with his side project Brad and his solo project. Gossard is gearing up to release a new solo album, “Moonlander,” on June 25, and the recently debuted a new song, “Your Flames,” from the album via Billboard. Take a listen to the tune below.

On “Your Flames,” Gossards says the song came to him in a dream. He told Billboard it’s “a story about this moment in a dream where you shock yourself by doing something that you wouldn’t expect that you would do which in this case was smacking my nephew in the face. And going, ‘oh my God, how did I just do that?’ But then the irony is that he… he’s sort unfazed by it.”

The track will also arrive on Gossard’s “Apollo,” out now on iTunes. Another four-song EP, “Lunda,” will drop on June 4, in advance of the full album.

In Pearl Jam news, Gossard says the band’s new album is finally almost finished. “We’re almost done,” he said. “It’s sounding great. I think people are going to be excited about it. It’s still crossing our T’s and dotting our I’s right now and trying to get it finished, so that’s the plan.”

Story by Cat Badra

Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter says different periods of music are present in ‘Get Lucky’

Electronic duo Daft Punk recently released their new single “Get Lucky,” which has a definite dance vibe. According to band member Thomas Bangalter, the guys decided to have rapper and producer Pharrell Williams and Chic’s Nile Rodgers appear on the song in an attempt to bridge the so-called gap between the disco period and today’s dance.

“What Nile Rodgers represents for dance music and R&B in America in the seventies and the eighties and what Pharrell represents from somehow the same genre of music in the nineties and 2000s, it felt really interesting to connect all these eras together to create the music of the present and possibly the music of the future as well,” Bangalter explained to Australian radio station Triple J.

“Get Lucky” appears on Daft Punk’s upcoming studio  album, “Random Access Memories,” out May 21. The collection is set to feature a variety of other famed rockers, DJs and producers, including the Strokes vocalist Julian Casablancas, Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear), Italian dance-music producer Giorgio Moroder, DJ Falcon, producer Todd Edwards, Canadian musician and producer Chilly Gonzales and Academy Award-winning musician and songwriter Paul Williams.

Story by Anne Erickson

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith teams with Music Radar for a new podcast

Chad Smith is already the drummer of bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Chickenfoot and a sought-after session drummer, and now, he taking on a new challenge: interviewing rock stars. Smith has teamed up with music news website MusicRadar.com to kick off his own podcast Internet show. The series, named “In Conversation with Chad Smith,” will feature Smith interviewing a variety of big-named rock artists. Expect to hear chats about the stars’ music, personal lives and more.

As Smith sees it, the interviews will really be non-interviews. “The invisible interview –- that’s what I call it,” Smith explained about the podcast in a press statement. “Friends, thoughts, information — why do you do what you do? Admiration, respect, insight and maybe a surprise.”

Up first is Smith chatting with longtime Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson. Look for the debut podcast to be unveiled Monday (May 13) via Music Radar. More podcasts are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

(Courtesy photo: Ellen Von Unwerth.)