WITHIN TEMPTATION have announced their inclusion on the bill for Iron Maiden’s massive Twickenham Stadium show on Saturday 5th July.

Also appearing on the bill are Avenged Sevenfold and Lauren Harris with one other band tbc. Tickets are on sale now from www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

Last week, the band recorded their sold-out show at the 10,000 capacity Ahoy arena, near Amsterdam, for a forthcoming DVD. Dubbed ‘Black Symphony’, the show featured the band on a spectacular stage-set, backed by the 60-piece Metropole Orchestra and a 35-voice classical choir. The show was enhanced with a massive pyro and light display, as well as Europe’s largest video screen (440 sq metres). Crowd-recorded clips of the show can be found on YouTube. The show also featured a guest appearance from Life Of Agony’s Keith Caputo, on ‘What Have You Done?’, the track he lends guest vocals to on Within Temptation’s current ‘The Heart Of Everything’ album, which is in stores NOW.

Last Sunday (10th Feb) the50th annual Grammy Awards ceremony took place in the USA and Roadrunner’s own MACHINE HEAD and SHADOWS FALL were nominiated for the BEST METAL PERFORMANCE AWARD.

Alas, they were to miss out on the award to SLAYER, but both bands were as gracious as ever, and set about enjoying the fun at the awards. MACHINE HEAD frontman ROBB FLYNN posted on MACHINE HEAD’S OFFICIAL SITE on their official blog:

5 minutes after the Best Metal Performance nomination was given to Slayer, I got a text from Kerry King (who didn’t attend) that said, “I’ll take the Grammy… but I have no problem telling you that you guys should have won!” Very cool and VERY classy of him. He didn’t have to say that, but he did, and it was a very big thing to do. I give him all the respect in the world for doing it.

Read the full lowdown from Robb

“Ah man, it was just brilliant. The place was packed. A real classic Soulfly show,” reports Mindee, our gal out on the road for a couple of days with the Soulfly tribe. Last night, Soulfly, Mindee, and a whole bunch of fans packed into the Wolverhampton Wulfun for a night of moshing, and metal. Mindee continues, “ya know, everyone went mad, as they always do here. Wolves is great, the show was cool. Loadsa crowd surfers, a bunch of people coming out the pit looking a bit worse for the wear! Stampin’ Ground were brill as well. The whole thing was just pretty mad! I stood at the side out of the way!”

We mentioned yesterday, we’d be sharing some conversations with various members of Soulfly over the coming week. Let it begin. RR: If you could live in any city in the world, where would you live and why? Roy: Melbourne, Australia. Because it’s the home of my beautiful wife “Cazzie”. And the people down there are just absolutely amazing. Great city. Ace! RR: Who do you think is one of the best bands to emerge since the turn of the century? Roy: Queens Of The Stone Age. RR: How have you found it, coming back into Soulfly after time away? Roy: A breath of fresh air. I miss these guys and the fans. We have mega chemistry. And that’s a very hard thing to find. These guys are my brothers! I love them very very much. It’s great to be back. RR: As a drummer, who inspired you, and who do you still look up to? Why? Roy: Keith Moon. Because he’s brilliant, an absolute nut, and he’s a fuckin’ comedian. He was one of the best drummers in the world to me. God rest his soul. Roy gets all excited, on discovering that one of the bars at the London Astoria, is called the Keith Moon bar. And after the London show when the Keith Moon bar has closed, Mikey, Marcelo, and Roy stand around trying to convince the Keith Moon bar staff to serve them anyway, talking about Keith Moon himself. [note: the bar staff weren’t persuaded despite Roy’s best Keith Moon impressions, so drinking was forced to commence elsewhere…]

March 19, London Astoria. A triumphant first night of the UK tour for Soulfly. Feel free to send us in any reviews from the tour – you might just read them up here! Pre-show, we took to some to chat to the guys on the past, the present, and the future… and we’ll be reporting them on this site over the next few days. And it seems fitting to give you a sneak preview now, after the Astoria show, of one of the questions we asked Marcelo, Soulfly’s bassist. RR: Out of all your years with Soulfly, are there any particular memories or shows that stand out, for one reason or another? What, and why? Marcelo: “Astoria. London. Great vibes, great crowds… just GREAT.” With that in mind, here’s what you’d have heard at the Astoria last night: DOWNSTROY SEEK ‘N’ STRIKE JUMP / BRING IT BRASIL WASTING AWAY HEADUP L.O.T.M. ARISE / DEAD EMBRYONIC CELLS QUILOMBO / UMBA / DRUMS REFUSE TERRITORY CALL TO ARMS ROOTS BERIMBAU / BACK TO THE PRIMATIVE TERRITORIAL PISSINGS (NIRVANA COVER) EYE FOR AN EYE Three more dates to come – Wolverhampton Wulfrun tonight (March 20), Glasgow Garage on Saturday (22), and finishing up in Manchester on Sunday (23).

Following on from last night’s London show, Soulfly move onto Wolverhampton tonight! Check out the Tour News for last night’s set list. While you wait for tonight’s show to kick off, learn a little more about Mikey Doling – formerly of Snot, and now Soulfly’s guitarist. Date of birth? Mikey: “1000 BC, July 3” Favourite tour story? Mikey: “Lots, lots, lots! But I will tell ya I like Holland!” [Mikey starts doodling plants…] Five words that describe you? Mikey: “Sleepy, fat, smelly, stoned. Dead sexy!!” One album you think everyone should own? Mikey: “Rated (R) – Queens Of The Stone Age.” Which famous person (dead or alive) would you invite over for dinner and why? Mikey: “Angus Young! Cause he’s the KING!” Best piece of advice you’ve been given? Mikey: “Shut up & listen.” If I wasn’t in this band, I would be… Mikey:“In another band!”

Soulfly kick off 4 UK dates tonight at the London Astoria. Time to learn a little more about the men behind the music. First up, Roy Mayorga – the dude on the drums! Date of birth? Roy: “April 6, 1970.” Favourite tour story? Roy: “My stories would get people in trouble!” [Roy grins, evilly] Five words that describe you? Roy: “Don’t know you tell me!” One album you think everyone should own? Roy: “Massive Attack. Mezzanine.” Which famous person (dead or alive) would you invite over for dinner and why? Roy: “Robert De Niro.” [Roy instructs, you must say the next part with a strong Brooklyn accent] “Cause he knows some things.” Best piece of advice you’ve been given? Roy: “Do it with love and have no worries – Cazzie Porter.” If I wasn’t in this band, I would be… Roy:“A producer or a mix engineer.

Type O Negative have officially changed the name of their forthcoming album to ‘Life Is Killing Me’. Previously, word was it would be called ‘The Dream Is Dead’. ‘Life Is Killing Me’ is due out mid-2003.

Theory Of A Deadman is currently playing some headline dates with labelmates goneblind before their week long stint in Europe come the end of the month. So, any questions for the band? MsHoneyBunny had some… Check out the actual postings of her questions and each member’s answers (handwritten, no less) HERE (FYI, ‘Fab’ aka ‘Fabio’ is the band’s tour manager). Theory Of A Deadman play with 3 Doors Down on March 31st at the Shepherds Bush Empire, London.

We told previously of a Coal Chamber b-sides album in the works, an album which should be coming this summer…and now we have a few more words to tell. Actually, Dez has a few more words to tell, and they go exactly like this: “Hello, this is Dez…I hope this letter finds all the Coal Chamber people well. Out of great turmoil comes great things. Together Coal Chamber and Roadrunner have decided to release a b-sides album. The album will be entitled Coal Chamber Giving The Devil His Due, b-sides. It will consist of all the extra songs on the digipaks Coal Chamber has done in the past as well as 4-5 demo songs from before the band got signed, plus a song that was pre-recorded in the studio during Chamber Music with no vocals and no bass. We will be laying down bass tracks as well I will step in to do vocals on this song. Do not expect this song to be in the vein of older Coal Chamber. The song is called “Headstones.” It will be nice to release some older material that is hard to find as well as never before heard demos that use a lot of double bass, from back when the band was very raw. It will definitely show that what we dreamed in ’93 was way ahead of its time. I will personally be watching over all the artwork as well as writing bios for each song – when they were recorded, where they were recorded, what the songs are about… We do not have a release date. I just thought it would be cool to let everyone know that it is in the works. So as Miguel does his thing, and as my band in Deathride is about to explode, you can expect much more music for your collection from the Coal Chamber family in the near and distant future…”