Slipknot’s teaser Tweet includes a picture of a circus tent, which could very well be the stage setup for Knotfest. The event will occur after Slipknot’s run on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour ends in early August. It also will follow Slipknot’s performances at the Heavy T.O. and Heavy MTL festivals in Canada the weekend of Aug. 11-12.

In recent days, Slipknot have been releasing a series of teaser videos for an upcoming greatest-hits package due July 17, plus singer Corey Taylor reported that the band is in the early stages of working on demos for a new album. All in all, it looks like its going to be a busy summer for the band.

-Loudwire.com

Leading rock and metal label Roadrunner Records has slashed its staff around the world, closing its UK, Europe and Canada offices and making at least 36 staff redundant.

Founder Cees Wessels has also stepped down, 17 months after the label was sold to Warner Music Group.

It’s thought to be a cost-cutting exercise on the imprint which is home to dozens of big-name acts including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rush, Slash, The Cult, Ratt, Dream Theater, Airbourne and Queensryche.

Warners have not commented.

Roadrunner UK publicist Kirsten Sprinks said: “It’s true – we’re all out of a job. It’s safe to say it’s a truly horrible day. We’re a little family really.”

Wessels formed the award-winning label in the Netherlands in 1980 as Roadracer, and saw early success through Metallica’s European releases and worldwide sales of King Diamond and Annihilator. Warners bought three-quarters of the company in 2007, then took it over fully in 2010.

Matt Heafy of Trivium said: “I am pissed off at my greedy record label for canning my friends who helped build our band.”

Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy warned: “First Warner Bros will cut Roadrunner down, then they will drop the metal bands. Corporate sellout.”

Slipknot’s Clown stated via the band’s official Facebook. “A lot of our very close friends and comrades will no longer be around to help the art and business known as the Slipknot family. You are in my thoughts and prayers now forever.”

Other labels paid tribute to the groundbreaking firm. Metal Blade boss Brian Slagel said: “Sorry to see so many out of work. We always had a great relationship with everyone.”

Earache owner Dig Pearson added: “Many of the best bands and hardest-working staffers were there. Some corporate twonk at Warners thinks promoting Machine Head and Opeth can be done just like Linkin Park and Green Day?”

The latest entry on Roadrunner UK’s Twitter feed last night was a photo of a sign outside a pub quoting Benjamin Franklin: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” with the message: “What a day…”

The band completed mixing the opus this last weekend with producer Greg Reely (Paradise Lost, Skinny Puppy) at a studio in Canada, and have also recently revealed the addition of new bassist Matt DeVries!

“We are very excited to have Matt playing bass for Fear Factory,” says singer Burton C Bell. “We feel he is a great addition to our touring lineup. He has been a friend for a very long time and he is a great musician who will be a perfect instrument in the FF machine.”

-MetalHammer.co.uk

Nyack, New York-based progressive rock band COHEED AND CAMBRIA, who are in the studio working on their sixth studio album, will tour this summer with IRON MAIDEN in the U.S. and Canada as part of the “Maiden England World Tour”. The tour will closely mirror, in terms of production and content, MAIDEN’s original 1988 concert video of the same name, shot on the “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son Tour”. COHEED begins its stint on the “Maiden England World Tour” on July 24 in Winnipeg and ends August 18 in Houston, with stops in Seattle, Denver, Dallas and Los Angeles along the way. Tickets go on sale March 2 and March 3.

Earlier this week, COHEED AND CAMBRIA lead singer Claudio Sanchez “leaked” an acoustic version of the brand new song, “Sentry The Defiant”, via YouTube (see below), telling fans, “Instead of making you wait until the [new] album is released, I thought I’d share my excitement for this song with you now. I decided with this piece to video document it’s creation.” He added, “This is literally the first time I played the song through in its entirety.”

The video has received more than 100,000 views and seems to be spreading. The band is also giving away a free download to the audio of the song on their web site.

COHEED AND CAMBRIA last November announced the return of drummer Josh Eppard. He rejoined the band following the departure of Chris Pennie, who let the group due to creative differences.

Eppard exited COHEED AND CAMBRIA in 2006 in order to receive treatment for substance abuse.

Pennie officially joined COHEED in 2007, replacing Eppard and touring extensively with the band internationally. He is featured on COHEED’s most recent studio album, “Year Of The Black Rainbow”.

-Blabbermouth.net

Unofficial VAN HALEN web site VHLinks.com has uploaded VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth’s handwritten lyrics and graphics for “Tattoo”, the first single off the band’s forthcoming album, “A Different Kind Of Truth”. Check out the image below.

According to Billboard.com, “Tattoo” blasted onto the Rock Songs chart at No. 16. The song arrived with 4.6 million first-week audience impressions on 78 stations, according to Nielsen BDS.

The Live Nation store is taking pre-orders for vinyl tour collector’s edition of “A Different Kind Of Truth”. The double gatefold vinyl album includes all 13 songs on two LPs plus custom artwork. This edition also comes with the Deluxe MP3 Edition of the album which will be delivered on the release date for pre-order customers. The deluxe MP3 also includes “The Downtown Sessions”, four acoustic video performances on Quicktime .mov files “Panama”, “You And Your Blues (intro)”, “You And Your Blues” and “Beautiful Girls”.

The exclusive vinyl album is only available in the U.S. and Canada and will ship on or around February 24, depending on the manufacturing schedule.

VAN HALEN released “Tattoo” on January 10. The song itself said to be is a rewrite of a very old VAN HALEN track “Down In Flames”, which the band used to play in its late Seventies club days but never recorded for any of its albums. The new version has a slightly different arrangement and fresh lyrics from singer David Lee Roth.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, at least two other songs on the new record, “She’s The Woman” and “Bullethead”, date back to the band’s early days as well. “She’s The Woman” appeared on a 1976 VAN HALEN demo produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons, and was performed by the group last week during its show at the tiny Cafe Wha? in New York City.

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen has said in numerous interviews over the years that he has “10 albums” worth of unreleased material in his archives from throughout the band’s career.

Ironically, it was former singer Sammy Hagar who hinted that VAN HALEN might be digging into the vaults on the new album. Hagar recently told Rolling Stone, “I heard this record is old outtakes from the old days. I mean, stuff from before I even joined the band . . . Because from what I heard, they aren’t working with new material. Ed and Dave didn’t actually write new songs.”

VAN HALEN will kick off a North American tour on February 18 in Louisville, Kentucky. KOOL AND THE GANG will open for VAN HALEN on selected tour stops.

“A Different Kind Of Truth”, will arrive on February 7 via Interscope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3WfQ-hV3WtA