Ozzy Osbourne sues over rights to Black Sabbath name

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has sued his former band mate Tony Iommi over the ownership of the group's name.

Osbourne, 60, filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York, on Tuesday accusing the guitarist of falsely claiming to be the sole owner of the Black Sabbath name, his representatives said on Friday.

He is also seeking a share of the interest in the Black Sabbath trademark and a cut of the profits that Iommi earned while touring under the Black Sabbath name in the 1990s when the British heavy metal band was in disarray after numerous changes to their lineup.

Osbourne said in a statement issued on Friday that he was sorry he had gone to the court over the dispute with Iommi which he said he had tried for three years to resolve amicably.

Imommi performed in clubs under the Black Sabbath name after Osbourne was thrown out of the band. The original four members -- Osbourne, Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward -- reunited in 1997 and Black Sabbath was inducted in the UK and US Rock&Roll Hall of Fames in 2005 and 2006.

Osbourne said in a statement that it was thanks to the efforts of his management representatives over the past 12 years that "the name 'Black Sabbath' now has a worldwide prestige and merchandising value that it would not have had by continuing on the road it was on prior to the 1997 reunion tour."

"We've all worked too hard and long in our careers to allow you to sell merchandise that features all our faces, old Black Sabbath album covers and band logos, and then you tell us that you own the copyright. We're all in our 60s now. The Black Sabbath legacy should live on long after we have all gone. Please do the right thing," Osbourne said.

Blind pianists wows audiences at piano contest

FORT WORTH, Texas – With a dramatic bow of pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii's head, rich sounds of the piano, violins, cello and viola broke the concert hall silence as he and a string quartet played Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44.

Just before the final note about 30 minutes later, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition audience began clapping. People jumped to their feet, some whistling or yelling, "Bravo!"

The standing ovation lasted nearly five minutes, so long that the 20-year-old from Japan returned to the stage twice to bow, grinning from ear to ear.

The audience may have loved Friday's performance, but not everyone may have known its significance. Tsujii — who was born blind — had to figure out how to cue the other musicians. That was especially important with the Schumann piece, because all instruments must start playing simultaneously in the first movement.

After his first rehearsal last week with the Takacs Quartet — the University of Colorado at Boulder-based group that performs with all 12 Cliburn semifinalists — Tsujii said he decided to nod his head as a cue.

He had only played with a chamber music group once before, recently in Japan, after learning it would be required should he advance to the Cliburn semifinals. He previously performed with symphony orchestras in Paris, Berlin and Tokyo, and he followed the conductor's breathing, he said.

But Tsujii said his blindness has not limited his playing opportunities and that he doesn't want to be known as the pianist who cannot see.

"The most important objective as I'm performing is that the audience is going to be moved," Tsujii said through an interpreter.

While playing on stage, first violin Edward Dusinberre occasionally glanced at Tsujii, and he and the other Takacs Quartet members also seemed to rely on musical cues.

"We've had a great time working with him," Dusinberre said before Friday's performance. "There is of course a tremendous intensity to his listening to what we're doing, and his sense of timing is very natural, and so we're having a great time communicating with him."

Cliburn officials initially said Tsujii was the competition's first blind competitor but recently were reminded about a blind pianist who didn't advance past the first round in 1973.

Tsujii, nicknamed Nobu, already had fans in Japan but has gained even more since arriving at the Cliburn. So far, video of his preliminary round performance on the contest's Web site has about 11,400 views, the most of the 29 pianists who started in the competition.

Van Cliburn, the legendary classical pianist and namesake of the prestigious contest held every four years, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Tsujii's playing was "absolutely miraculous" and "truly divine" after hearing him last week.

Tsujii was just a baby when he showed an interest in music, said his mother, Itsuko Tsujii of Tokyo.

"When I would put on Chopin CDs, he reacted very actively, patting the sofa, and seemed to be enjoying it," she said through an interpreter.

After he played the toy piano she got him at age 2, he started taking lessons at 4 and began learning to read music in Braille. But because that method took too much time, he listened to music recorded by his piano teacher and memorized it, which took a few days for some pieces or a week for longer, more complex ones, he said.

"Although he is blind, you never know that when listening to his music," Rena Miyamoto, an assistant piano teacher at Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo who recently began working with him, said through an interpreter. "His music is from his soul, his heart."

The six Cliburn finalists will be announced Sunday night. All of them will receive managed concert tours worth $1 million, and each of the top three finishers will receive $20,000 and get to record a CD, among other prizes. The winners will be announced June 7.

Attack! Attack! embark on hidden cities tour

Cardiff based rockers, Attack! Attack!, who have just wrapped up another successful headline run around the UK, are set to embark on their 'Hidden Cities' tour next week. The tour sees the band playing a series of weekend runs all over the UK throughout June, July, August and September.

Singer/guitarist Neil Starr explains how the tour came about, "we've played the major cities of the UK a few times already since we released the album, so rather than just play a few festivals and sit around doing nothing this summer, we saw this a the perfect opportunity to play in places we hadn't visited yet. Our guitarist Ryan (Day) came up with the Hidden Cities thing, I don't know what goes on in that kids head most of the time, but this idea I liked."

In other news previous single 'You And Me' is scheduled to appear in the forthcoming Guitar Hero 5 video game, while recent single 'Honesty' appears on the upcoming Fuel video game.

As well as the Hidden Cities dates, the band also play the Download, Sonisphere, Hevy, Guilfest and NASS festivals. Full tour dates are below:

JUN 04: SWINDON, 12 Bar, JUN 05: CAMBRIDGE Radar JUN 06: COVENTRY, Kasbah JUN 11: STOKE, Sugarmill JUN 12: ALTON, The Lounge Bar JUN 13: BRISTOL, The Cooler JUN 14: DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL (Red Bull Stage) JUN 18: BOURNEMOUTH, I Bar JUN 19: HARLOW, The Square JUN 20: SALISBURY, The Barn JUL 03: CREWE, The Box JUL 04: DERBY, The Royal JUL 09: WINCHESTER, Railway Hotel JUL 10: GUILFEST FESTIVAL (Guildford) JUL 11: RELENTLESS NASS FESTIVAL (Shepton Mallet) JUL 16: YORK, The Duchess JUL 17: 2000 TREES FESTIVAL (Cheltenham) JUL 18: WESTON, The Rock Gardens JUL 22: SOUTHEND, Chinnerys JUL 23: GUILDFORD, Boiler Room JUL 24: ALDERSHOT, West End Centre JUL 25: TUNBRIDGE WELLS, The Forum JUL 29: PORTSMOUTH, Cellars JUL 30: LUTON, UBSU JUL 31: CITY BIG WEEKENDER (Cardiff) AUG 01: HEVY FESTIVAL (Kent) AUG 02: SONISPHERE FESTIVAL (Knebworth) AUG 13: CARLISLE, Brickyard AUG 14: WAKEFIELD, Escobar AUG 15: PETERBOROUGH, Met Lounge AUG 29: SUNDERLAND, Independent AUG 30: BARROW, The Canteen SEP 04: HITCHIN, Club 85 SEP 05: HIGH WYCOMBE, The Blues Loft SEP 12: BUTTERFEST (Hampshire)

Paul Weller new DVD

'Just A Dream' is a celebration of an amazing year for Paul Weller which included 3 sold out tours, a critically lauded No 1 album – '22 Dreams' and a Brit Award for Best UK Male.

The DVD feature is the full 90min live session recorded by Paul for the BBC, first televised in December 2008, 21 tracks in all. Special guests at the session included Graham Coxon, Eliza Carthy and Gem Archer from Oasis. Other features include a 5-track session recorded for Channel 4, the videos for 'Have You Made Up Your Mind’ and 'Echoes Round The Sun’ and an exclusive end-of-2008 interview with Paul and his band.

The CD features 13 live tracks recorded at the Brixton Academy, London in November 2008.

DVD track-listing goes like this:

1. Peacock Suit
2. 22 Dreams
3. All I Wanna Do
4. From The Floorboards Up
5. All On A Misty Morning
6. Brand New Start
7. Have You Made Up Your Mind
8. Wild Blue Yonder
9. Black River
10. Invisible
11. One Bright Star
12. Where'er You Go
13. Wildwood
14. Why Walk When You Can Run
15. Butterfly Collector
16. Seaspray
17. Echoes Round The Sun
18. Changing Man
19. Eton Rifles
20. Push It Along
21. Whirlpool's End

CD track-listing is as follows:

From The Floorboards Up / Have You Made Up Your Mind / Broken Stones / Porcelain Gods / Shout To The Top / Come On Let’s Go / Echos Round The Sun / Wishing On A Star / You Do

"Boom" sets off nonstop party from Black Eyed Peas

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – "As individuals, we're misfits," says Fergie, the sultry female singer of the Black Eyed Peas. "Together, we're like one big misfit. People are always questioning who the hell we are."

It's the day after the group's May 6 performance, in futuristic garb, on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Chilling out in a small, sparsely furnished room at Center Staging in Burbank, California, she and fellow members of the multiracial group -- Will.i.am, Taboo and apl.de.ap -- resemble a live version of a United Colors of Benetton ad.

Fergie is dressed in black-and-white capri-length leggings set off by a hot pink shirt and a sharp pair of black ankle-strapped heels from her self-named shoe line. Sitting next to her on the sofa is apl.de.ap in a lemon V-neck T-shirt, white-framed shades and his signature Mohawk. Opting for blue-green glasses, Taboo sports a black leather vest, an eye-catching cross on a silver chain and several impressive arm tattoos.

With his close-cropped hair hidden under a red plaid cap, Will.i.am sits astride a black chair, wearing a striped shirt and gray jeans tucked into black combat boots. He's pondering the question Fergie just answered: Who are the Black Eyed Peas?

"When something is different, authentically unique, it's always going to be questioned," the Peas' mastermind says. "By default, people aren't going to understand us because there aren't that many like us."

'THE E.N.D.' IS NEAR

After the multiplatinum pop success of 2003's "Elephunk" and then 2005's "Monkey Business," the Black Eyed Peas stood accused by fans of selling out: blunting its cutting-edge, live-band hip-hop in favor of lightweight pop crossover fare. As the June 9 release date for their fifth studio album, "The E.N.D." (will.i.am music/Interscope), approaches, some of the same criticism has cropped up. But what's not in question is the exploding popularity of "Boom Boom Pow" -- the first No. 1 single for this band of creative misfits.

Rooted in club beats and the 808 old-school kick sound, the energetic track is a runaway top 40 hit, and has been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks.

The concept for "The E.N.D.," an acronym for "The Energy Never Dies," doesn't stray far from the Peas' basic formula, Will.i.am says. "We've always had a smorgasbord of sounds including dance," he notes, pointing to songs like "Be Free" from "Behind the Front," "Weekends" (on "Bridging the Gap") and "My Humps" ("Monkey Business"). This time around, Will.i.am became inspired while in Australia filming his first major movie role, as the mutant John Wraith in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." During downtime away from the set, he soaked up the electro dance and house club vibes in Sydney.

"The youth in those clubs are pumping a whole different thing," Will.i.am says. "It felt like hip-hop 1989, 1990, 1992. But they're not rapping. It's all beats. I came back just buzzing."

With Taboo, apl.de.ap and several band members in tow, Will.i.am flew to London, where Fergie was working on her first major film role, in "Nine." Setting up shop at the same studio where they recorded "Monkey Business," the Peas began working on "The E.N.D."

'ARTISTIC FACTORY'

"There's always a sense of Andy Warhol whenever we make a Black Eyed Peas album," Fergie says. "It's an artistic factory with several rooms going at the same time. We don't just sit down. We jump from room to room, all of us adding ideas to the recipe. If you get burned out on one idea or your ears get tired, you walk to another room and step into a whole fresh creative zone for more ideas."

Enlisted to help draft beats were MSTRKRFT, David Guetta, Boys Noize, Keith Harris and Paper Boy. The result is a nonstop party album fusing rock, soul, hip-hop, reggae and dub with thumping beats, tempo twists and turns, and memorable hooks. Beyond "Boom Boom Pow," there's the upcoming second single, "I Gotta Feeling," which apl.de.ap describes as a "college anthem for people looking forward to escaping life's pressures by going out and having a ball."

Picking up on the same escape theme is "Out of My Head." Channeling R&B veteran Millie Jackson, a slurring Fergie opens with three little words, "I'm so tipsy" -- which she was while recording the song. "This song reminds me of the fun character of 'My Humps.' I told Will we have to get some wine if I'm going to do this correctly. I'm not going to front on this song. So we all got a little tipsy."

"Now Generation," another notable track in the 16-song set, is a nod to the young generation who helped move President Barack Obama into the White House -- galvanized, in part, by Will.i.am's viral "Yes We Can" video. Powered by a guitar and bass intro that morphs into fist-pumping rock 'n' roll, the song captures the emotion of being part of that generation. "This is the first time in history where we have a powerful new youth generation connected by technology, not by religion or government. So they want things now," Will.i.am says.

The "E.N.D." goal, he adds, is to make people move and escape. "If you had to pick one genre that's migrating at the highest frequency, it would be the dance world," Will.i.am says. "That's where music as a culture really lives. It's a genre making music for the sake of music."

He added that, with people downloading individual songs, "the concept of the album doesn't exist anymore. So this will be like a never-ending record; it will just keep going like the title says. It's still important to be successful in the remaining business we do have, but you also want to position yourself so you're not playing catch-up or riding someone else's bandwagon."

Come fall, the Grammy Award-winning group will start its first official worldwide arena tour in Asia and Japan. One of the stops along that route is a recently announced September 24 performance as part of Guinness' worldwide celebration of its 250th anniversary. Then it's off to Australia before returning to the United States for five shows on U2's stadium tour. After a break, the Peas will launch the North America leg of its tour, then visit the United Kingdom and Europe.

IN THE BEGINNING

The Black Eyed Peas got started when best friends Will.i.am ("the only black dude in a Mexican neighborhood") and apl.de.ap -- a non-English-speaking adoptee from the Philippines -- began break-dancing and freestyling together. In 1991 the teens signed to Eazy E's Ruthless Records as part of the band Atban Klann. But their vision of hip-hop and dance didn't mesh with that of the gangsta label. So the pair left and formed the Peas after meeting Chicano Taboo (whose "musical heroes were A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul") while battling at a local club.

After signing with Interscope, the trio released its critically acclaimed debut album, "Behind the Front," in 1998. Two years later came "Bridging the Gap" and the Macy Gray-assisted single "Request Line." Also featured on the album was the group's female singer Kim Hill, who left the group in 2000.

Three years later the Peas notched their first major breakthrough in 2003 with third album "Elephunk" and the anthem "Where Is the Love?" featuring Justin Timberlake. Providing backup accompaniment on the album was former Wild Orchid member Stacie "Fergie" Ferguson, who later became the fourth Black Eyed Pea. The foursome scored its biggest single at the time -- the No. 3 Hot 100 hit "Don't Phunk With My Heart" -- when fourth album "Monkey Business" was released in 2005.

Touring almost nonstop stateside and overseas between 2004 and 2007, the group spun off another hit ("My Humps") and picked up two Grammys for best rap performance by a duo or group ("Let's Get It Started" and "Don't Phunk With My Heart"). In between, Fergie released her 2006 multiplatinum solo debut, "The Dutchess," and got married. In addition to producing Fergie's debut, Will.i.am collaborated on projects by Sergio Mendes, Nelly Furtado and others as well as releasing his solo album. During that time, Taboo and apl.de.ap began recording their own solo albums, among other projects.

But now everyone is back in the pod and ready to keep going for as long as they can. Playfully ribbing Fergie about how long she'll be performing "Boom Boom Pow," Taboo hobbles around the room and jokes, "We'll be touring on the moon while she's singing, 'I'm so 2000 and 80 ... all my kids come on.'"

As the room erupts in laughter, Will.i.am has a final word for the naysayers: "What we've gone through to get here has been a great journey -- some unique-ass s--t. We haven't changed conceptually from what the Peas were and wanted to be: mass appeal, not segregation. And we've stayed true to that."

Linkin Park crosses "New Divide" for "Transformers"

DETROIT NEW YORK (Billboard) – Hard at work on its fourth album, rock band Linkin Park has kept busy on a number of other fronts as well, among them its first movie soundtrack.

In addition to the group's contributions to the new "Transformers" film, some of its members have solo projects in the works. As for the new Linkin Park album, it likely will come out in 2010, according to co-frontman Mike Shinoda.

"It's moving," Shinoda told Billboard.com. "I feel like we've been writing a lot. I'd say we've got about half the music done, though I shouldn't say halfway, because who knows how long the next batch of songs will take."

Shinoda said he expects the album to reflect "an interesting transition" from the sound of 2007's "Minutes to Midnight," in part as a result of the band members' side projects. Singer Chester Bennington's upcoming solo album, "Dead By Sunrise" -- due out this fall -- "is much more of a rock album," Shinoda said, and it could take the band in new directions.

At the same time, Shinoda's rap side project, Fort Minor, is likely to influence the group's new material. He acknowledged that rap, which did not play a major role on "Minutes to Midnight," might be more prominent this time out. "I think I have some of the Fort Minor energy in me that wants to come out, so you'll probably hear more rapping on it," Shinoda said. "I don't know if it'll be a little or a lot, but I know I've been sitting down writing a lot of verses, so there's a better chance of those making it on the record."

"It's not going to be 'Hybrid Theory,'" Shinoda said of the work-in-progress. "It's not going to be 'Minutes to Midnight.' And if we do it right, it'll have a cutting-edge sound that defines itself as an individual record separate from anything else that's out there."

For now, however, Linkin Park has given its fans "New Divide," the theme song for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." As confirmed fans of the toy and cartoon franchise, the group "created a song that we felt fit the spirit of the movie and the characters and also obviously stayed true to the spirit of the band," Shinoda said. Film composer Hans Zimmer adapted "New Divide" into instrumental segments for the film score, and Linkin Park worked with Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky on other pieces for the movie.

"It was incredible," Shinoda said. "I've never tried to write music to visuals. It's a type of working that's new to us, and it's really fun."

Mel B searches for new Spice Girls

MELANIE BROWN is set to host a new talent show in an attempt to discover the next big girl group.

The former Spice Girl has been in talks with music channel VH1 about hosting the show to search for stars of the future.

Brown, currently appearing in Las Vegas burlesque act Peepshow, said: "It's going to be a real chance to find some edgy raw talents and watch it unfold as part of the show."

And she ruled out ever reforming with her former bandmates, even for the right price.

She added: "It wasn't about money for us - it was about going out on top where we finished."

Jackson attends just two tour rehearsals

MICHAEL JACKSON has reportedly only managed two rehearsals for his comeback tour this summer.

The pop star has been described as being "in a stupor" which has increased fears his tour could be scrapped altogether.

Jackson has already postponed the opening four nights at London's O2 Arena saying he needed more time to prepare for the show's "size and scope".

But speaking to British newspaper The Daily Mail, a source said: "The suggestion that they need more time to set up the show in London is a joke.

"I think the fans who have already bought tickets should hold their breath and cross their fingers, because there is no guarantee any of this is actually going to happen.

"There is a possibility that this will still happen, but it is up to him to get his act together.

"Michael has only been to two days of rehearsals for the show. His dancers have been working on it every single day for 45 days at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, but Michael has been nowhere to be found."

Radiohead back in the studio

RADIOHEAD have confirmed that they have started recording their eighth studio album.

Bassist Colin Greenwood revealed that the band have begun recording the follow up to 2007's 'In Rainbows'.

The news comes after guitarist Ed O'Brien confessed in March that the band had begun writing new material as they came to the end of their In Rainbows touring.

Speaking to the BBC, Greenwood said: "We just went in last week. It was really good. It was really noisy and chaotic and really fun."

But he said that fully formed songs are yet to appear and the band are still working on ideas.

He added: "We're at the stage where we've got the big Lego box out and we've tipped it out on the floor and we're looking at all the bits and thinking, what next?"

Many people will be interested to know how Radiohead plan to release the new record following the 'pay what you want' download style of In Rainbows.

"We've got lots of ideas but we don't decide what we're going to do until we've finished the thing. It's all up in the air, but it was up in the air last time."

The Enemy think Oasis should support them

The Enemy want Oasis to support them on their next tour.

Frontman Tom Clarke - whose band will open for the 'Wonderwall' rockers when they tour the UK this summer - thinks his group should be headlining because Noel Gallagher is past his prime.

Tom told Britain's The Sun newspaper: "I don't think Noel needs to do it any more. He's doing it for the love of it. That's the dream. That's when you can say you've made it."

Tom also claims he and his bandmates Liam Watts and Andy Hopkins - whose latest album 'Music For The People' reached number two on the British charts - have a better work ethic than Oasis stars Noel and Liam Gallagher.

He added: "I've always wanted to work hard at everything in every job I've had. I used to do gardening in the summer and sell washing machines and TVs.

"And I wanted to be the best at selling washing machines and tellies. If you're going to do a job, you've got to give it your best. You get out what you put into life. When you're given an opportunity and you want it, then work your a**e off for it."

Coldplay releases live album as free download

NEW YORK (Billboard) – "LeftRightLeftRightLeft," the free live album that Coldplay is giving away on CD to every fan who attends this summer's "Viva La Vida" tour, is now available as a free download from the band's website.

The giveaway begins as the band's North American tour kicks off with a Friday night (May 15) show at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida.

"Playing live is what we love," Coldplay said in a statement. "This album is a thank you to our fans -- the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen."

The nine-track live album was recorded at various cites during the "Viva La Vida" tour.

Coldplay's tour wraps with two huge outdoor shows September 18 and 19 at Wembley Stadium in London.

Rihanna writes Chris Brown break-up song

Rihanna has written a song about her split from Chris Brown.

The 21-year-old beauty – whose on/off boyfriend Chris allegedly assaulted her on February 8 - is believed to have penned the track 'Silly Boy’ to warn him their relationship is over for good.

She sings: 'I said I’m not coming back / You fooled me once but you can’t have that ego turning.

'Just too bad for you, that when you had me / Didn’t know what to do, she’s over you.

'Cause you had a good girl, good girl / Girl that’s a keeper / You had a good girl, good girl but didn’t know how to treat her. 'So silly boy get out my face / Why do you like the way regrets taste?'

A demo of the song – which featured vocals from Lady Gaga - has been posted on the internet by her rapper friend Kanye West. This is not the first time Rihanna has written a song about separation and revenge.

The Barbados-born beauty was working on a track about killing a cheating partner at the time of Chris’ alleged attack on her. Rihanna had teamed up with rapper Akon for the track 'Emergency Room’, in which she dreams about seeking revenge on an unfaithful boyfriend by hospitalising him and removing his drip.

She sang: 'I’m going to leave your heart broken on the floor / You’re gonna be in the emergency room / I’m standing by your bed / And so tempted to pull out your IV.'

Last month Chris, 20, pleased not guilty to felony assault and making criminal threats in relation to his alleged attack on Rihanna.

He is accused of punching, biting and choking Rihanna until she was unconscious during an altercation in his rented silver Lamborghini.

Woodstock veterans to headline anniversary show

BETHEL, N.Y. – Some performers from the 1969 Woodstock concert will get back to the garden for a 40th anniversary show this summer.

On the bill for Aug. 15 are The Levon (LEE'-vahn) Helm Band, Jefferson Starship, Big Brother and the Holding Co., Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Mountain, and Country Joe McDonald.

They'll perform at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel. It was built on the site of the dairy farm trampled on by some 400,000 people on the weekend of Aug. 15-17, 1969.

It includes an amphitheater and a museum up the hill from the original stage.

The returning acts feature some Woodstock veterans, including Helm, who performed in '69 with The Band.

Green Day tests new ground on way to "Breakdown"

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt is fatigued from the three stage dives he took last night at Oakland, California's Uptown Nightclub.

For the final plunge, "I decided to climb up on the monitors and dive in from there," says the 36-year-old musician, who's also nursing a mild hangover. "I'm just feeling it today a little bit. But it was a good time."

The mid-April $20-ticket gig was the fourth installment of what drummer Tre Cool calls a "guerrilla Bay Area Green Day assault." In the days leading up to the tightly packed show -- the Uptown holds about 750 people -- the Oakland-based trio also played its forthcoming album, "21st Century Breakdown," from start to finish at the Independent and DNA Lounge in San Francisco and the newly opened Fox Theater in downtown Oakland.

The hometown gigs grew from the band's desire to break away from tedious rehearsals and test new material in front of an audience. "We've been deprived of playing live for so long that it was kind of a free-for-all, like we were playing as if our lives depended on it," singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong says. "It was kind of like playing your first show all over again."

The last-minute shows surprised Bay Area concert promoters. "An arena band like that doesn't usually show up at a nightclub, especially in their home base," says Larry Trujillo, co-owner of the Uptown. "You wouldn't see that from Madonna or U2."

'DESPERATE TIMES'

Awaiting the May 15 release of "21st Century Breakdown" (Reprise/Warner Bros.) are not only the band's longtime fans, but the younger audience that came aboard in 2004 with the release of "American Idiot."

A politically driven rock opera, "American Idiot" moved away from Green Day's routine three-chord punk anthems and into new depths of songwriting. And at a time when people worldwide were questioning the policies of President George W. Bush, the social and political messages behind the set helped Green Day earn its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and nab Grammy Awards for best rock album and record of the year.

Collaborating with Armstrong, Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer has adapted "American Idiot" into a stage musical that will premiere in September at the Bay Area's Berkeley Repertory Theater in September.

Like its predecessor, "21st Century Breakdown" has a narrative structure, telling the story of a young couple, Christian and Gloria, growing up amid the turbulence of the early 21st century.

"The main message is trying to make sense out of desperate times and chaos," Armstrong says, noting that the 18-track set features social commentary about religion, war, politics and love. "We're writing the best material we've ever written in the past five years."

Produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage), "21st Century Breakdown" is divided into three acts: "Heroes and Cons," "Charlatans and Saints" and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades." But the band didn't set out to do another concept album.

"We went down to Costa Mesa (California) for summertime, let our families take a vacation, and then we hit the small studio every day," Dirnt says. "Billie pulled out all the lyrics and read through them and we started looking at what was making sense, and seeing the correlations from song to song, and what songs were naturally making different chapters of this record."

The album also reflects new musical directions for the band. On "Restless Heart Syndrome," a piano-driven rock tune that morphs into a crunchy four-chord progression, Armstrong sings in falsetto. The album's title track, a melodic midtempo rocker with power chord verses -- featuring Armstrong's observation that "my generation is zero/I'd never make it as a working-class hero" -- moves through a Who-style breakdown with sustained guitar blasts and thumping drums. On "March of the Dogs" the band experiments with complex song structures while proclaiming, "The sirens of decay will infiltrate the faith fanatic."

GLOBAL AUDIENCE

Green Day's world tour, its first in more than three years, opens with a 38-city North American arena jaunt, beginning July 3 in Seattle and wrapping August 25 in Los Angeles. Ticket prices for the United States and Canada will be between $25 and $50. Dirnt declined to reveal production details for the summer trek but says it will be "angry and sexy and all that s--t." The stage design will reflect the cover art for "21st Century Breakdown," which features a spray-painted sketch of two young lovers embracing against the backdrop of a brick wall.

The North American dates will be followed by performances in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In 2010, the band will hit Japan, Southeast Asia and South America before returning home for more North American shows. Armstrong also hopes to "explore some different places that we've never been before," which might include China.

"They're truly defined as a global touring band, because they can sell tickets in every corner of the globe," says Jason Garner, CEO of global music at Live Nation, which will promote about half of Green Day's performances worldwide. "It's one thing to sell a lot of tickets in one city, state or country, but Green Day has become one of those global touring powerhouses that can sell tickets from Stockholm to Paris to Kansas City to Toronto."

Green Day proved its strength at the box office in 2005, when it cracked the Billboard Boxscore top 10 list of the year's biggest tours, pulling in $36.5 million from 76 concerts that drew more than 978,000 people. For the first time, the band played multiple arena dates and even a few stadiums.

Before its success with "American Idiot," Green Day maintained respectable album sales, but the trio was "clearly not having the impact they once had," Warner Bros. chairman/CEO Tom Whalley says. "Insomniac" and "Nimrod," the two studio albums that followed 1994's "Dookie" -- which, with sales of 7.9 million copies is the band's best-selling album to date -- have sold 2.1 million copies each, according to SoundScan; "Warning" (2000) has sold 1.1 million.

Green Day's Cool says the band was getting used to being the underdog but that it was never driven by sales. "We don't do it for record sales," he says. "I don't think any record is going to do what 'Dookie' did ever again, so you can't really compare the record to something that was that much a part of pop culture. We just wanted to keep going forward and opening new doors for ourselves musically and challenge ourselves as songwriters."

Even so, when the band returned home after the "American Idiot" tour, it didn't want to lose its rediscovered stardom. "We came home and were at the top of mountain, saying, 'I sure as f--- don't want to get off the top of this mountain,'" Dirnt says. "So we somehow had to figure out how to get to the highest peak. It definitely had an impact and inspired us to chase some of our heroes and try to go for that next step and be the greatest band Green Day can be."

GARAGE-ROCK SIDE TRIP

To keep things interesting, the threesome toured small clubs last May as their alter-ego side project, the Foxboro Hot Tubs. "We were sitting around one night and drinking a bunch of wine at the studio," Dirnt recalls, "so we decided to write a bunch of trashy songs." The result was the EP "Stop Drop and Roll," which debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 55,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The side project "gave us a platform to put something out and have some fun and get out from underneath the Green Monster," Dirnt says.

Armstrong notes that the '60s garage-rock sound of the Foxboro Hot Tubs is the "complete opposite" of material found on "21st Century Breakdown." The other members agree that the rock opera is the band's most ambitious album to date.

After playing it live for the first time at clubs in San Francisco and Oakland, Dirnt says, "21st Century Breakdown" is "probably the most physical record we've ever done. It's physically really hard to play." Cool says his intensive drumming during rehearsals and the gigs erased some of his fingerprints and has given him "new muscles on my arms that I don't know where the hell they came from."

All three band members say that fans so far have reacted positively to the new material, and they look forward to playing the new material for the rest of the world. The punk-at-heart trio won't stop making new music anytime soon, Armstrong says. "Nobody leaves this band," he says, "unless it's in a coffin."

The Killers: 'We want to knock Led Zeppelin and Nirvana off their pedestals'

The Killers have thrown down the gauntlet to American music fans, declaring they will knock Led Zeppelin and Nirvana "off their pedestals."

The Las Vegas band is currently in the middle of a North American tour, and frontman Brandon Flowers has told NME.com he will use the dates to help repeat the success the band has already enjoyed in Britain. But first, they'll have to overcome the U.S. public's listening prejudices.

"We’ve been embraced in Britain in a way that I’ll never understand, and it’s such a wonderful thing," he declared. "But over here [in America], people are still so obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, those sorts of bands, that nobody else is allowed [to grow]."

He added: "It’s not just us; there are a lot of great bands that have been held down or confined by the influence of these people that we’ve put up on pedestals. I’m tired of it, you know? I just want to knock them all off! And people don’t like that attitude. It’s almost like they don’t believe that it’s possible that anybody else can be the real deal.

"It doesn’t matter how many great songs we write or how many great shows we play. But we’re slowly chipping away at it. With this last album [Day And Age], there’s been a noticeable shift but we’re still nowhere near where we are in Europe."

Anthrax confirmed as HMS Hammer second stage headliners

Thrash metal icons and international rock gods Anthrax have been confirmed as the headline band for this year's HMS Hammer second stage, part of the Metal Hammer Golden Gods award show.

Now in its second year, the Golden God¹s second stage invites 500 lucky metal heads on board HMS Hammer, which sails up and down the river Thames for three hours docking at Indigo2 and depositing the bands and fans on board in time for the start of the award show.

In honour of the legends that will be headlining this year¹s second stage, Metal Hammer magazine will be rebranding the boat HMS Anthrax. Anthrax¹s gig aboard HMS Anthrax will be the band¹s first outside of the US with new singer Dan Nelson, who joined the band in 2007 but has yet to tour the UK and Europe.

The Metal Hammer Golden Gods 2009 take place on Monday 15th June at Indigo2, part of London¹s prestigious O2 complex.

Also confirmed to perform aboard HMS Anthrax are cult Maryland rockers Clutch, Reading metal crew Malefice and deathcore upstarts Trigger The Bloodshed.

Manic Street Preachers announce no single policy

The Manic Street Preachers have announced that they will not be releasing singles from their new album 'Journal For Plague Lovers', preferring to see the record as a complete "body of work". The lyrics to the album were written by former guitarist Richey Edwards before he disappeared back in 1995.

Speaking to Xfm, James Dean Bradfield explained, "It's hard to envisage some of these lyrics being played as a single. It's just such a body of work and the concerns of somebody that didn't care about commercial success. We did worry that our record company wouldn't know how to handle it, but they've been pretty gracious."

"I think there's an element of bafflement and bemusement on their behalf," added Nicky Wire. "But it's a tribute to Richey... It's a tribute to the notion of an 'album'. It feels kind of old fashioned, it's pre-digital. It was written on a typewriter because Richey never had a mobile phone or a laptop. We recored it on analogue tape with no computers."