The Cult's Tour Bus Crashes On A Bridge In Croatia, Ian Astbury Injured

The members of The Cult currently on tour in Europe, experienced a terrifying crash just before 6:00AM local time earlier this week while in their tour bus traveling from Split, Croatia to Ljubijana, Slovenia.

"I was the only one awake," said the band's vocalist Ian Astbury, who was seated in the bus's front lounge. "All of a sudden, the bus veered violently, hit the guard rail and tipped on a 45-degree angle, then righted itself and came to a halt. The guard rail was the only thing that prevented us from going over an 80-foot drop."

Astbury was thrown into the aisle and suffered injuries to his neck, back and shoulder. The rest of the band and crew were asleep in their bunks, so no one else was badly hurt.

Limping down the highway, the driver was able to get the bus to a service station a few miles up the road. Astbury's injuries were iced and he received pain medication. After some temporary patching up of the bus, the band was able to make it to the venue for that night's show, and played a full concert. But it wasn't until 5:00AM the next morning that their fully repaired bus arrived to take them on the 20 plus hour trip to the next show.

"No one has had any sleep, so the guys are pretty beat, and we are still in shock, to be honest," admitted Astbury. "You never think something like this is going to happen to you, and it just did."

The Cult, Astbury, guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Chris Wyse and drummer John Tempesta, are currently on tour to support their new release, Choice of Weapon, hailed as the band's best work in 20 years. The remainder of The Cult's European tour dates are below. Following the European stint, The Cult will begin the second half of their North American tour.

Tour Dates:

July:

7 Zottegem, Belgium, Rock Zottegem Festival
8 Weert, Netherlands - Bospop Festival (w/ Patti Smith)
10 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli (headline)
13 Pizzola Sul Brenta, Italy - Contarini Festival (headline)
14 Rimini, Italy - Velvet Rock (headline)
15 Milano, Italy - Carroponte (headline)
17 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz (headline)
18 Madrid, Spain - La Riviera (headline)
19 Porto, Portugal - Mares Vivas Festival (with Garbage)

August:

19 Concord, CA - Sleep Train Pavilion
20 Portland, OR - Roseland
21 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre
22 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
24 Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Events Centre
25 Medicine Hat, AB - Esplande Theatre
26 Calgary, AB - Cowboys Calgary
28 Regina, SK - Event Plex at Evraz Place
31 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre

September:

1 Montreal, QC - Metropolis
2 Quebec City, QC - Grand Theatre

For more information about The Cult, please visit click here.

Paul Stanley would never be friends with Peter Criss or Ace Frehley again

The KISS singer would never allow the band's former guitarist and drummer - who left in the 80s, but rejoined the band between 1996 and 2002 and 2001 respectively - to play with the group again and claims they were never very close even in their 70s heyday. 

Paul exclusively told BANG Showbiz: 'Friends? No I was never really friends with them. The band was never about friendship, the band was about commitment to a cause, but friendship? We were all very different people. 

'I loved them for what we created together, I certainly don't love them today. But the band as it is today is far more the embodiment of what we started than what we became.' 

When asked when he had last spoke with his former bandmates, Paul said: 'I spoke to Ace probably three years ago. Peter I haven't spoken to in probably a decade.' 

Paul also expanded on the reasons why he could never see the band - now made up of himself and original bassist Gene Simmons with drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer - play with their original line up. 

He said: 'They were instrumental in what we created as a team, but they became impossible and intolerable, on more than one occasion necessitating their removal. And unfortunately when people don't really learn from their mistakes they repeat them. At some point you just lose tolerance. It's ultimately disrespectful to the fans to not give them what they deserve. I don't miss them.' 

Paul was speaking at a preview of the new KISS Monster Book, a huge three foot by two foot tome which features full color photos from the band's 40 year history, and is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. For more information, visit KissMonsterBook.com 

Kiss also release new single 'Hell or Hallelujah' this week and play a sold out show at London's the Forum tonight (04.07.12) to raise funds for Help For Heroes.

Slayer's Kerry King Discusses New Music And The Satus Of Guitarist Jeff Hanneman

Before leaving for the Mayhem Festival last weekend, Slayer finished two songs that now await mixing, began two others that still need leads and vocals, and demoed two more with producer Greg Fidelman, who worked with them on 2009's World Painted Blood and is currently working with Rick Rubin and Metallica. Guitarist Kerry King hopes to get back to work as soon as Mayhem ends August 5th in Hartford, Connecticut.

"If I get off my ass and start writing again on the road – since we've been in Europe, I keep trying to work on lyric ideas, maybe some leads, and fixing songs that didn't work correctly – it should be a real quick process," King told Rolling Stone, backstage at Mayhem's opening day in San Bernardino.

So far, the band has been working without guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who is still recovering from a devastating attack of flesh-eating necrotizing fasciitis on his right arm, believed to be caused by a spider bite. At last year's Big 4 Festival in Indio, California, Hanneman joined the band onstage for a two song encore, but he hasn't been able to tour.

"He's rehearsed with us a number of times. He tried to do the Fun Fun Fun Fest [in Austin]," King said. "That's the last time he tried to get out and do a show, and he's just not there. It's no secret we're very intricate, especially rhythmically. But he can't do that yet."

Other than two domestic Big 4 dates and the current Mayhem tour, Slayer have performed only a handful of U.S. shows since Hanneman was sidelined. Exodus guitarist Gary Holt has been the main substitute since Hanneman's illness. "Gary's a fucking badass," said King.

Hanneman wasn't at the recent recording sessi

ons. But King explained that he typically records all the basic guitar parts himself anyway, even on songs written by Hanneman, before bringing the other guitarist in to perform his leads. "I do a lot of the bass, too," said King. It's still unknown if Hanneman will be able to return in time to perform solos on the new Slayer album.

After Mayhem we'll reevaluate and see if he's any closer," King says. "We're planning for him to come back and the door is open, because it's his fucking gig. If he can play, Jeff Hanneman is going to fucking be here, and I'm stoked about that. I love playing with Gary, and he's doing a killer job, but if Jeff came back and said 'I'm ready,' I'll check him out to see that he's ready, and off we go."

From Rolling Stone

Former Def Leppard Producer Mutt Lange raves about Forgeries

Def Leppard have recently admitted that due to difficulties with their former record label Universal Music Group, the band plans to release forgeries of their original songs. Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliot explains to Gary Graff of Billboard, "Our contract is such that they can't do anything with our music without our permission, not a thing. So we just sent them a letter saying, 'No matter what you want, you are going to get "no" as an answer, so don't ask.' That's the way we've left it. We'll just replace our back catalog with brand new, exact same versions of what we did." Elliott says the creative part of recreating songs that date back 25 years or more is not. "You just don't go in and say, 'Hey guys, let's record it,' and it's done in three minutes," Elliott notes. "We had to study those songs, I mean down to the umpteenth degree of detail, and make complete forgeries of them. Time-wise it probably took as long to do as the originals, but because of the technology it actually got done quicker as we got going. But trying to find all those sounds...like where am I gonna find a 22-year-old voice? I had to sing myself into a certain throat shape to be able to sing that way again. It was really hard work, but it was challenging, and we did have a good laugh over it here and there." The two new versions of Rock Of Ages and Pour Some Sugar On Me, got a "total thumbs-up" from one important quarter -- original producer Mutt Lange, via guitarist Phil Collen. "Phil sees Mutt a lot," Elliott says, "and he played him the re-records and (Lange) couldn't believe how brilliant they were. He was like, 'Wow guys, incredible job!' Phil was just raving about how much Mutt was raving about them."

Kick Ass! Iron Maiden Cake

Y&T's New CD, Live At The Mystic

Y&T's new CD, Live At The Mystic, is available for purchase atstore.meniketti.com.

This very special two disc set was recorded at one of the most popular venues that Y&T play every year, The Mystic Theatre in Petaluma California, and it marks the very first release with bassist Brad Lang.

This double CD set includes 22 songs recorded over two nights in November of 2011, including many songs never before released on any other live Y&T CD.

From Eddie Trunk's Website

Check out the new KISS single "Hell or Halleluja" Listen Now!

Check out the new single from KISS "Hell or Halleluja" from the their new album Monster.

Lamb of God Frontman Reportedly Released From Jail

According to Czech news site Blesk.cz, which reported on Lamb Of God singer Rand Blythe’s arrest late on Thursday night, the frontman has been released from jail after appearing in court earlier today. It is believed that the singer has been released on bail, though we need to stress there is no official confirmation of that as of yet.

Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton tweeted earlier: “Today just turned into a FANTASTIC day!!!”

We’re awaiting a new official statement on the situation coming this Monday and will update you on proceedings as soon as we hear anything

To learn more Metal Hammer

Van Halen cancels tour dates.

When dozens of summer dates were removed from Van Halen website in May without an explanation, it wasn’t clear whether the dates would eventually be rescheduled. Now the dates are officially listed as canceled.


All dates after the band’s June 26th concert in New Orleans were called off, a total of more than 30 shows. Although Van Halen hasn’t posted an announcement on its website, Ticketmaster.com lists appearances including Uncasville, Conn.; Baltimore; Rochester, N.Y.; Detroit; Toledo, Ohio; Memphis, Tenn.; Sacramento, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; and Milwaukee are now marked in red as canceled.

Check out Poll Star for more.