Pearl Jam have been confirmed as one of the headline acts at this years ‘Made In America’ festival.

This years event – sponsored by Budweiser – is curated by rapper Jay-Z, who will also make a headline appearance.

Joining the two headliners will be Calvin Harris, Janelle Monae, Skrillex, Dirty Projectors, Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Odd Future, Santigold and D’Angelo.

The festival will take place on September 1st and 2nd at Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

Prior to Judas Priest going around the world once again on their ‘Epitaph Tour’, long-serving guitarist KK Downing announced he would not be joining them. Having been a member of Priest since the early 1970s, KK decided it was time to bow out of the limelight. The Priest machine rolled on, with new guitarist Richie Faulkner on board.

In May 2012, Downing posted a video message on YouTube, which can now be seen below. For those wanting more, the second embedded video features a full length interview with KK, with The Valley FM.

Read a lengthy review of ‘Rocka Rolla’ here.
Read a lengthy review of ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’ here.
Read a review of ‘Painkiller’ here.

It has been announced that the classic 1970s line-up of Status Quo – featuring mainstays Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, alongside Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan – have reunited and will be working on new material followed by a few live appearances.

Drummer John Coghlan quit the band in 1981, while bassist Alan Lancaster left the band following an appearance at Live Aid in the summer of 1985.

It is a reunion that most fans have hoped for for many years, though always looked hugely unlikely.  Rossi says the “classic Quo” line up will co-exist alongside the regular Quo (with Rhino Edwards and Andy Bown), though suspects it won’t be a long-running project.

With two versions of Quo now existing and with the classic Quo primarily a vehicle to play material they’ve not played to an audience in decades, is this the last hurrah for one of Britain’s fondest loved rock outfits?

Read the full story at Classic Rock Magazine, by clicking here.

Read a review of Quo’s debut album here.

Peter Black (aka Blackie), guitarist with cult Australian punk band The Hard-Ons has been hospitalised after a brutal assault.

The attack took place while Black was driving his taxi cab.  Two teenagers (whom, according to reports are aged 14 and 16) were arrested at the scene.

The band have posted the following message on their facebook page:
“Blackie has been in hospital since Thursday night with a skull fracture and 16 stitches, swelling on the brain. We will be there for a few days still, while the docs make sure all tests are done. Thankfully he has been moved from the critical room to where they keep stable patients. He does not remember all details but he is getting better every day. Not sure when he can play music again. We will know more in the coming days. He has already been told he cannot drive for 6 weeks due to his head trauma. Please send him a get-well message through facebook , he’ll read it all when he gets out in a few days. I’m sure he’ll get better soon. He is a pretty tough cookie. I’ve known him for many years and I know he wants to get back playing music again as soon as possible, but he will go with medical advice, it’s gonna be best to give playing live for a while, so that he can fully recover and come back fitter than ever. Will keep everyone posted. By the way thanks for all those messages. I’ll pass ’em on to Blackie and I’m sure he’ll really appreciate them.”

The band, active since the mid 80s, released their 15th album in 2010.  Despite such a huge back catalogue, outside of their native Australia, they remain best known for their cover of AC/DC’s ‘Let There Be Rock’ with Henry Rollins and their 1990 LP ‘Yummy’.

Alt-metallers Enter Shikari are offering a free five song live EP as a free download via their official website.

Those interested can download the EP as well as a bunch of remixed tracks from this location: entershikari.com/downloads

Enter Shikari’s 2012 release ‘A Flash Flood of Colour’ peaked at #4 on the UK album chart.