Toronto’s Heavy TO Festival took place recently and there were a few Roadrunner bands there, as usual. TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy, old/new KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Jesse Leach and GOJIRA’s Joe Duplantier were interviewed by Lithium Magazine and you can check out those video interviews below:

Click here to pick up a copy of TRIVIUM’s latest album ‘In Waves’.

Click here to pick up a copy of GOJIRA’s latest album ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’.

DEVILDRIVER guitarists Jeff Kendrick & Mike Spreitzer have just announced an exciting new project for a kick ass new guitar iPhone/iPad app, via global funding scheme, indiegogo. The boys are working with Bring Me The Horizon‘s Jona Weinhofen to bring you the ‘first of it’s kind’ app for guitarists, in tandem with their All Axess online guitar community.

All Axess has been running for over two years now, bridging the gap between artists and their fanbases on line, and bringing fans who play music, the opportunity to check out guest lessons, or even have personal one-on-one lessons with their favourite musicians. The lack of real quality apps for iPhone and iPad out there, spurred the guys to get something moving and this is where indiegogo offered a perfect solution.

Check out the variety of special gift packs that are available for the launch of the project by clicking here. These include an ESP Willie Adler signature series guitar (personally signed by Willie from Lamb of God), ‘The Hollywood Experience’ whereby DEVILDRIVER‘s Jeff and Mike pick you up from the airport in a limo and you get the opportunity to talk about all manner of guitar-related stuff while they take you round the Strip’s rock hotspots, or an extra special package whereby Mike Spreitzer will help you co-write music and even play guitar on your record! There are plenty of cheaper packages available for those who want to get involved but only have a little to spend.

Follow this link for all the exciting details: http://www.indiegogo.com/allaxessplatinumseries

DOWN are set to release their first EP in the series of EPs that the band will be releasing and you can now pre-order ‘Down Iv Part I – The Purple EP’ from Play.com by clicking here!

Phil Anselmo was a guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show recently and they talked about the upcoming EP release, ‘Down Iv Part I – The Purple EP’ – check out some extracts from that interview below:

Instead of an entire album, Down is releasing four EP’s in the next year and a half so Phil, not having to come up with 16 to 20 songs all at once, how did that change how the songs were written?

Well really it took a lot of pressure off of any and all of us. When this question comes up I refer to the first demo we did in 1992 when we all flew into Texas with this idea in our heads and we had really no idea what was going come out of it. I had no lyrics, everything was just right on the spot and I think we came out with ‘Bury Me in Smoke,’ ‘Temptation’s Wings’ and ‘Losing All,’ which would be on the first record.

We took this approach with this record and honestly I have never in my life taken so much pressure off of myself to do a record. We didn’t know what we were thinking and the fact that it is six songs, I think that commanded all of our attention at the time and really to do a 10 or 12 song record – there’s no room at this point in my career at all for what would be called filler. I don’t want any filler, I want the songs to be direct, I want them to be unique and I think we did pretty well with this EP.

You’ve had a pretty prolific career with eight plus bands. What’s different about the satisfaction you get from DOWN compared to your other bands?

Well truth be told, Down to me is a genre band. No matter what has been created from Down, whatever slot all the experts want to slide us into, that’s all fine but really know at the end of the day that Down has a very hardcore following, a cult following so to speak. We made promises in the past that we would do records in this certain time span and then five years goes by in between every release so for people to get new Down music it’s important to that fanbase so we never, never, never want to let those folks Down as far as releasing new stuff. So am I answering the question right there, Jackie?

[Laughs] Yeah I think you have.

Really? I think I lost it somewhere.

Basically the question was, what’s different about the satisfaction you get from Down compared to all your other bands?

It’s pleasing this fanbase. I may play in a lot of different bands but do they have this fanbase? No they do not, those are more self-indulgent projects that I feel like doing. Not that I don’t feel like doing Down, that’s not what I’m saying, the thing is Down does have a hardcore following. Outside of two other bands I’ve been in, everything else has been a small fanbase and or just me enjoying myself. Down is an obligation.

Click here to pre-order your copy of DOWN’s first EP ‘Down Iv Part I – The Purple EP’ from Play.com!

As eager fans will have heard, STONE SOUR have announced a brand new set of UK tour dates at the end of this year! The band, who are fronted by SLIPKNOT singer COREY TAYLOR and also include SLIPKNOT guitarist

Grammy nominated Iowa rock giants, STONE SOUR, are thrilled to announce their first UK tour dates in two years.

The shows will be their first since the hugely successful ‘Audio Secrecy’ album cycle, which saw the band rack up gold album sales in the UK, sell-out countless UK shows and headline the mammoth Download Festival‘s Stage 2.

The tour comes hot on the heels of the release of the first part of their ambitious and expansive new album project, ‘House of Gold & Bones’. The album concept is a two-disc beast with the initial CD – and first half of the ‘story’ – hitting stores on 22nd October and the concluding disc materialising next Spring. Further details are available at www.houseofgoldandbones.com, where you can also hear the album’s lead tracks, ‘Gone Sovereign’ and ‘Absolute Zero’.

Frontman and lyricist COREY TAYLOR, himself a Sunday Times best-selling novelist with last year’s ‘Seven Deadly Sins‘, wrote the lyrics for the 24 tracks comprising the ‘House of Gold & Bones’ as a linear storyline, that tells the tale of a character at a crossroads in his life. The release of ‘Gone Sovereign’ and ‘Absolute Zero’ is the initial part of an unveiling, which continues as the album cycles unfold. Music is just one medium that Stone Sour are using to tell the story that pins both albums together. Further elements will act as a companion to the music, for fans looking to fully immerse themselves in the ‘House of Gold & Bones’ experience.

Taylor is suitably excited to be returning across the pond with STONE SOUR, stating; “It’s gonna be awesome to bring the House of Gold and Bones to fans live. We’ve given people a taste of Part One, and now we’re gonna bring them the best Stone Sour show they’ve ever seen! It begins soon. Get ready!”

Special guests at the London show only are the multi-platinum PAPA ROACH, who release their new album, ‘The Connection’ on 1st October.

UK dates rack up as follows:

Mon 10th Dec – LONDON – O2 Brixton Academy
Thu 13th Dec – MANCHESTER – Apollo
Fri 14th Dec – WOLVERHAMPTON – Civic Hall
Sat 15th Dec – BOURNEMOUTH – O2 Academy

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Thursday 23rd August, priced

LYNYRD SKYNYRD is led by singer Johnny Van Zant, the younger brother of the the band’s original singer, the late Ronnie Van Zant – with guitarist Gary Rossington being the only original member of the band. Spinner had a chance to talk with both Van Zant and Rossington on the eve of their new album’s release and you can find extracts from that interview below:

Last of a Dyin’ Breed is your follow-up to God & Guns, which was your highest charting album in over 30 years. How was making this album similar to God & Guns and how was it different?

Johnny: The difference with this album is [that] with God & Guns we did it in pieces. And we lost [bassist] Ean [Evans] and Billy Powell; both of them passed during that record. For this particular album, we said, “Look. Let’s don’t do it in pieces. Let’s go in [and] cut in old school.” We started in February and pretty much stayed there and did this record, boom! And tried to laugh and have as much fun as possible because the last record was so difficult to get through.

Some of the songs have the same attitude as the last record. And we used [producer] Bob Marlette on this record. Bob worked with us on God & Guns and he was a great inspiration to get us through that record.

Gary: I think it’s a little different even though we have the same producer. We wanted to make this a little more rock ‘n’ roll. God and Guns had more of a country feel. We like country but this one we rocked up a little more, like the old days. We went into the studio and cut it all sorta live. That’s the way we used to do it in the ’70s.

Johnny: We think the record’s great but we gotta see. The proof’s in the pudding, you know? It’s up to the fans. Artists don’t make hit records; fans do.

You’ve got a new bass player, Johnny Colt, who’s played with a bunch of bands including the Black Crowes. What did Johnny bring to the proceedings?

Johnny: Johnny actually didn’t play on the record. We used Mike Brignardello, a good friend of ours who played with a group called Giant. We were workin’ on and Mike had left to go do something. We have a little place upstairs where we go work out arrangements and stuff. So myself, Gary, Sparky [Metejka], Rickey [Medlock] and Bob Marlette were upstairs. And Johnny comes up there, grabs a bass and just starts playin’ along. We all went, “This is our kinda guy.”

He’s a good guy. He’s a good bass player, man, he plays a lot like Leon. He’s a little crazy, like we are. Anybody who carries a knife onstage you gotta love! [Laughs]

I’m curious about the title track. It seems like it could be about a couple of things.

Johnny: The title alone says it for us. There are very few bands that started back in the ’70s with the Southern Rock movement that are still out doin’ dates, and one of ’em’s Lynyrd Skynyrd. And then the Allmans. My brother’s [Donnie Van Zant] band, 38 Special’s out and still rocking.

Gary: All the Southern bands that were popular in the ’70s are all either gone and died, God bless them, or else they’re not playing anymore and the music or their names kind of faded away, so we’re one of the last of a dying breed.

Gary, you’re really the last guy standing from the original band. How does that feel and how have you found the perseverance to keep going?

Gary: It’s kind of strange, and just a whirlwind of feelings. Our dream — Ronnie Van Zant and me and Allen Collins — we had a dream after we saw the Stones and the Beatleson Ed Sullivan, we wanted to start a rock band. Our dream was to write songs and make a band out of it — and it happened. It got taken away so quickly and [in such] a tragic way.

I count my blessings every day that I’m still here to do it. And we love to talk about the guys that aren’t here anymore, the ones that are up in heaven … I think Ronnie and Allen and the guys that aren’t here would be happy that we’re still talkin’ about it and playin’ it and that folks are still enjoying it. Sometimes we look out [during] certain songs like “Tuesday’s Gone” or “Free Bird,” you can see people cryin’ or laughin’ or singin’ along with the words. And it’s just real emotional. Some people say it’s like the soundtrack of their lives.

Click here to read the full interview on Spinner.com!

Order Lynyrd Skynyrd’s new album ‘Last Of A Dyin’ Breed’ below:

iTunes – http://smarturl.it/LynyrdSkynyrdLOADB
Fanpack – http://smarturl.it/LynyrdSkynyrdFanpack

News of Avril Lavigne and NICKELBACK frontman Chad Kroeger has been flooding Twitter timelines since their engagement was confirmed last night via People Magazine and then by a tweet from NICKELBACK:

The pair first got together in February to co-write a song for Lavigne‘s upcoming fifth studio album and a romantic relationship blossomed as they spent time writing together. On August the 8th, Chad popped the question.

Congratulations, Chad and Avril! Now there’s a line we never thought we’d by writing here on RR UK…!

NICKELBACK are heading to the UK in October and you can find date and tickets on our Tour Page by clicking here.

Classic Rock‘s hotly anticipated LYNYRD SKYNYRD Fanpack – which includes the band’s brand new album ‘Last Of A Dyin’ Breed’ – is in stores now, with the Roadrunner physical release coming a month later. The Fanpack features Skynyrd’s new album in full plus a 132-page magazine that forms the ultimate sleevenotes to the new album, with extensive and exclusive interviews with all seven members of LYNYRD SKYNYRD, including guitarist and founder member Gary Rossington, singer Johnny Van Zant and guitarist Rickey Medlocke.

Inside is everything you need to know about ‘Last Of A Dyin’ Breed’: the story of the making of the album and a full track-by-track guide – all in the words of Rossington, Van Zant and Medlocke.

PLUS!

The history of LYNYRD SKYNYRD from the 1960s to the present day – including rare photographs and new interviews about the band, the music and the plane crash that devastated Skynyrd in 1977.

Tributes to the late, great LYNYRD SKYNYRD singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, bassist Leon Wilkeson and keyboard player Billy Powell.

And a complete discography of Lynyrd Skynyrd – with every album reviewed.

Fanpack includes:

* Full studio album ‘Last Of A Dyin’ Breed’ which includes two bonus tracks exclusive to this special edition:

– Skynyrd Nation (live)
– Gimme Three Steps (live)

* Plus two further bonus tracks:

– Poor Man’s Dream
– Do It Up Right

* 132 –page magazine
* Lynyrd Skynyrd pin badge
* Giant double-sided poster

Get your Skynyrd Fanpack here!

Click here to pick up ‘Last Of A Dyin’ Breed’ on iTunes.

AT THE SKYLINES are set to release their new album ‘The Secrets To Life’ on the 8th of October and in anticipation of the release, the band have released the single ‘Shady Dreamin’ (Tension)’ via iTunes and you can pick up a copy by clicking here. You can also check out the brutal official video for the track below:

Click here to pre-order your exclusive signed copy of AT THE SKYLINES upcoming album ‘The Secrets To Life’.

NICKELBACK are premiering the video for their song “Trying Not To Love You” today on the band’s YouTube channel and you can watch the video below:

“Trying Not To Love You” is the third single from NICKELBACK’s chart topping album, Here and Now, released on November 20, 2011.

Swedish rockers ROYAL REPUBLIC are set to release their new album ‘Save The Nation’ on September 24th and you can hear the whole album on Big Cheese Magazine‘s website by clicking here. This is a UK only stream though, sorry folks!

The band are heading over to the UK for a headline tour in November and you can find the dates below and ticket details on our TOUR PAGE by clicking here.

November 2012:

13 Bristol Thekla
14 Wolverhampton Slade Rooms
15 Manchester Academy III
17 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
18 Glasgow King Tuts
19 Newcastle Academy II
20 Leeds Cockpit
22 Norwich Waterfront
23 London Garage
24 Brighton Haunt

Click here to pre-order your copy of ROYAL REPUBLIC’s upcoming album ‘Save The Nation’.