On Monday 11th June, EMI released a new Saxon box set in the UK covering the entire second phase of the band’s career.

Following a first set, ‘The Carrere Years’ box set (released in April), EMI have now released ‘The EMI Years’, a four disc set containing a complete set of studio recordings issued by the NWOBHM stalwarts between 1985-88.

While ‘The Carrere Years’ represented a great purchase for the curious and more casual listener, it omitted most of the bonus tracks issued on the seven separate releases, making it redundant for most hardcore fans.

‘The EMI Years’ caters for both the casual listener and long-term fan. Not only does it contain the ‘Innocence Is No Excuse’, ‘Rock The Nations’ and MTV-friendly ‘Destiny’ albums in their entirity, but also includes all the bonus tracks issued on the previous remasters.

More importantly, the box set contains the CD debut for a 1985 BBC live concert, recorded at Hammersmith on the ‘Innocence’ tour (previously only ever available as a download).

Both ‘The Carrere Years’ and ‘The EMI Years’ box sets are available now at a budget price.

Earlier in 2012, Saxon released a 2CD + DVD set of live material entitled ‘Eagles Over Wacken’. Reports also suggest the band are working on an acoustic album, set for release early in the new year.

Read a review of ‘Saxon’ here.
Read a review of ‘Rock The Nations’ here.
Read a review of ‘Heavy Metal Thunder: The Movie’ here.
Read a review of ‘Call To Arms’ here.
Watch a video interview with Biff Byford here.

New Zealand based singer songwriter/alternative rocker Kurt Shanks released an EP in 2011 [Review here]. Now, the ex-Stellar* bassist is almost ready to unleash his first full-length solo album.

The new album ‘Blood Line Heart’ is released in July 2012. Check out the video for the lead single ‘Shake Shake Shake’ below.

You can download ‘Shake Shake Shake’ for free by visiting Kurt’s website.

The title track from the ‘Seven Flights Up’ is included on REAL GONE’s 2011 FREE SAMPLER.

It has been announced that garage rock duo The Kills will release something new in August 2012. Although the band’s last album – 2011’s ‘Blood Peassures’ appeared over a year ago, the upcoming release does not concern new music.

The August release will be a lavish “coffee table” styled tome containing hundreds of photographs of The Kills, taken throught their career by photographer Keith Cappello. The best images were selected from Capello’s personal archive of over 20,000 photographs.

The book, entitled ‘Dream & Drive’ will be in stores on August 16th.

It is not known when The Kills will return to the studio to begin work on new material, or when vocalist Alison Mosshart plans to reconvene with Jack White as part of their Dead Weather project.

Current Whitesnake drummer Brian Tichy (ex-Stevie Salas Colorcode/Pride & Glory) has been drafted in as the drummer for the upcoming Lynch Mob tour dates.

Tichy will play with George Lynch, ex-Ratt basist Robbie Crane and vocalist Oni Logan at the following shows:

Jun. 22 – Idaho Falls, ID – Rockin’ The Falls
Jul. 06 – Lombard, IL – Taste Of Lombard
Jul. 28 – Royalton, MN – Halfway Jam
Aug. 18 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Theater (w/ CINDERELLA, SEBASTIAN BACH)

Ahead of the release of their eagerly anticipated new album, The Gaslight Anthem have released a new video, which can be viewed below.

The new track, ’45’, is the opening cut from Gaslight’s 2012 full length album ‘Handwritten’, which drops on July 23rd.

Gaslight Anthem make three UK live appearances over the summer, the first at London’s KOKO on June 11th. The band also will also play the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August.