WEEKLY MUSIC NEWS

[FH]

VELVET REVOLVER Set First Single, Schedule Promotional Appearances - Jan. 20, 2004

VELVET REVOLVER, the much buzzed-about rock group featuring ex-STONE TEMPLE PILOTS vocalist Scott Weiland, former GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan, drummer Matt Sorum and guitarist Dave Kushner from Dave Navarro's (JANE'S ADDICTION) band, have selected "Slither" as the first single from their forthcoming debut album, "Contraband", due on May 11 through RCA Records. You Got No Right , the mellow, BEATLES-esque ballad the group performed at the Smashbox Fashion show last October, is believed to be a strong candidate for the album's second single. Other tracks set to appear on the CD include "Trainsucker Blues", "Headspace", "Falling to Pieces", "Superhuman", and "Illegal Eye".

The band, who are in the middle of doing international press in Los Angeles, are said to be preparing to embark on a six-week promotional jaunt beginning in early March. In addition to doing more press at each stop, the band are expected to perform a short set at a local venue in each city.

The following is a tentative/preliminary list of dates and cities where VELVET REVOLVER are expected to play as part of their promotional tour:

Mar. 12 Toronto, ONT @ TBA
Mar. 16 Madrid, SPA @ TBA
Mar. 18 Paris, FRA @ TBA
Mar. 20 Amsterdam, NETH @ TBA
Mar. 22 Stockholm, SWE @ TBA
Mar. 24 Hamburg, GER @ TBA
Mar. 26 Koln, GER @ TBA
Mar. 28 London, UK @ TBA
Apr. 03 Atlanta, GA @ TBA
Apr. 05 Washington, D.C. @ TBA
Apr. 06 Philadelphia, PA @ TBA
Apr. 09 Boston, MA @ TBA
Apr. 10 Providence, RI @ TBA
Apr. 12 Cleveland, OH @ TBA
Apr. 13 Detroit, MI @ TBA
Apr. 15 Chicago, IL @ TBA
Apr. 16 Milwaukee, WI @ TBA
Apr. 17 Minneapolis, MN @ TBA
Apr. 19 Denver, CO @ TBA
Apr. 20 Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA
Apr. 22 Seattle, WA @ TBA
Apr. 24 San Francisco, CA @ TBA
Apr. 26 Los Angeles, CA @ TBA
Apr. 27 Los Angeles, CA @ TBA

(Thanks: www.velvet-revolver.com for the MP3 link)

[FH]

U2 Doing a Song for a 2004 Superhero Movie? Source: Chris Monday, January 19, 2004

'Chris' alerted us that U2 may be making a song for an upcoming superhero movie this year...

Some of the U2 web sites say that they have a new song called "Sky Hawk" that is intended as a lead song for a 2004 superhero movie. Is that for Spidey 2 perhaps? U2log.com is one of the pages.

[FH]

Reunited rock trio Primus has extended its touring plans with a new slate of U.S. dates. Shows get underway Feb. 24 in Kansas City, Mo., and run through March 13 in Washington, D.C. As with shows on the band's fall trek, fans can purchase authorized soundboard recordings of each upcoming gig via PrimusLive.com.

The spring shows are expected to mirror their predecessors, which found bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LeLonde and drummer Tim Alexander performing a set drawn from throughout Primus' catalog, followed by a second set comprised entirely of the band's 1991 Interscope album "Sailing the Seas of Cheese."



"We're all feeling each other out," Claypool told Billboard last fall. "I can't imagine it won't continue on, [but] it's sort of undefined at this point. If you do something for a long time, it becomes a bit tiresome. But we're rediscovering this stuff. This is some insane music. That type of thing inspires me."

Here are Primus' tour dates:

Feb. 24: Kansas City, Mo. (Memorial Hall)
Feb. 25: St. Louis (Pageant)
Feb. 27: Houston (Verizon Wireless Theater)
Feb. 28: Grand Prairie, Texas (Next Stage)
Feb. 29: Austin, Texas (Austin Music Hall)
March 2: New Orleans (State Palace Theatre)
March 4: Tampa, Fla. (USF Sun Dome)
March 5: Boca Raton, Fla. (Mizner Park Amphitheatre)
March 8: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
March 9: Greensboro, N.C. (War Memorial Auditorium)
March 10: Asheville, N.C. (Asheville Civic Center)
Mach 12: Norfolk, Va. (Chrysler Hall)
March 13: Washington, D.C. (D.A.R. Constitution Hall)


-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

[FH]

Former Member Of JETHRO TULL Changes Sex - Jan. 23, 2004

A former member of JETHRO TULL has had a sex-change operation and become a woman, it was revealed today.

Once bearded keyboard player David Palmer now has long blonde hair and wears make-up and black leggings and calls herself Dee, reports the Evening Standard.

She broke the news to flute-playing frontman Ian Anderson by saying: "There's something I need to get off my increasingly ample chest."

Anderson stood by his former bandmate, saying: "I found it difficult at first but I fully support his decision."

Palmer, 66, a former soldier in the Royal Horse Guards and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, is set to embark on a solo career.

She said: "I want to be judged on my musical ability alone, and nothing else."

Her desire to change sex had been an "open secret" in the music business for many years, she said, but she did not go ahead with the operation until the death of wife Margaret nine years ago.

Palmer lives in Hove, East Sussex, but is currently in the Spanish resort of Lanzarote, recording her first solo album before launching a British tour next month.

She said: "I've felt like this since the age of three. It's not just wimps who want to do this. To be a girl, it goes a lot deeper than that. Yes, you are speaking to the person you thought I was — the keyboard player in JETHRO TULL."

[FH]

Former JUDAS PRIEST Drummer Guilty Of Attempted Rape - Jan. 23, 2004

Former JUDAS PRIEST drummer Dave Holland has been convicted of trying to rape a special needs youngster, according to the BBC News.

Holland was also found guilty of five charges of indecently assaulting the teenager.

The musician, who played with JUDAS PRIEST in the 1970s and 1980s, was convicted of the charges at Northampton Crown Court on Friday.

Holland, 55, of The Green, Stoke Bruerne, denied all the charges.

All the offenses took place at the drummer's Northamptonshire home between June and December 2002 when he was giving the 17-year-old drumming lessons.

Holland wept in the dock as the verdicts were read out, according to the Associated Press.

Judge Charles Wide asked for a pre-sentence report on the risk the former rocker posed to adolescent boys.

Prosecutors said the teenager, who had sometimes stayed overnight at Holland's house while taking lessons, wrote a letter to his parents in December 2002 describing the abuse.

"It revealed that things were happening at his drum teacher's house that shouldn't have been happening," said prosecution lawyer Maria Savvides.

Holland's co-accused, Spiros Laouitaris, 22, of Bourne Crescent, Kings Heath, Northampton, was earlier acquitted of three separate indecently assaulting the same teenager, who is now 18, but who cannot be named for legal reasons.

He was cleared of a fourth indecent assault charge on Thursday on the directions of Wide, who said there had been insufficient evidence.

Holland was convicted by the jury on majority verdicts.

[FH]

PROBOT To Perform Live At MTV Studios! - Jan. 23, 2004

PROBOT, the metal side-project of former NIRVANA drummer/current FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl, will be taping a live performance at the MTV studios in New York City on Wednesday, January 28.

Grohl will be joined for the occasion by a one-off band featuring Eric Wagner (TROUBLE), Wino (ex-THE OBSESSED, ST. VITUS, SPIRIT CARAVAN), Greg Anderson (Southern Lord Records head honcho) and Nick Raskulinecz (PROBOT, FOO FIGHTERS mixer).

PROBOT's rendition of the album cut "My Tortured Soul", as well as interviews and a PROBOT-themed "Headbanger's Ball" featuring the world premier of the "Shake Your Blood" video (with MOTÖRHEAD's Lemmy) will be airing close to street date of PROBOT's self-titled debut CD, due on February 10 through Southern Lord Records.

In a recent interview with Metal Update, Grohl spoke abut the possibility of PROBOT one day performing live.

"We talked about it a little bit, but you can imagine it took three years to make this record," he said. "The logistics of pulling everybody together in the same room, in the same place, in the same night would be fucking phenomenal. I think the odds are better that a fucking meteor strikes the Earth.

"I always imagine the most insane record release party I've ever been to in my life. Like, 'Yeah, let's get everybody together in one bar for one night.' It would be fucking out of control. But I think it's practically impossible. At one point I thought it'd be cool to headline a festival. To play some big metal festival and have the headliners be PROBOT. At the end of the night each person would come out and do their thing. It'd be great, but I don't think it'd ever work."