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Evanescence Names Permanent Guitarist


Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee has told Australia’s UndercoverNews website that former Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo is now a permanent member of Evanescence. Balsamo stepped in as a temporary replacement late last year for founding axeman Ben Moody, who abruptly departed in the middle of a European tour last October. Lee said that Balsamo and her band “just clicked” the more they played together. “[It is] better than I ever expected…Terry’s an insane guitar player with awesome stage presence. He has a good personality and he’s down to earth and on top of all that stuff, he’s a great writer… Read more »

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Evanescence's Ben Moody Turns Up On Avril's Songwriting Team


Since Ben Moody’s departure from Evanescence in October, many have wondered about the guitarist’s whereabouts. Three months after he quit the band without so much as a “Dear John” letter, Moody has resurfaced as a part of Avril Lavigne’s Moody, who co-wrote all of Evanescence’s Fallen, including the hits “Bring Me to Life” and “Going Under,” is among the songwriters working with the 19-year-old pop star on her second album, the follow-up to her 2002 debut,Let Go. The collaboration was hatched when Moody contacted Lavigne’s A&R rep and volunteered his talents, according to Lavigne’s spokesperson. Lavigne’s guitarist Evan Taubenfeld and… Read more »

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MTV, Fuse in TV Turf War


When the upstart music channel Fuse officially launched last spring, MTV general manager David Cohn told Rolling Stone the new competitor didn’t scare him. “That ‘Where are the music videos on MTV?’ thing?” Cohn said. “I’m not sure anybody’s that fussed about it.” But in late December, industry sources were complaining that MTV had started turning up the heat on its competition, enforcing exclusivity contracts that keep some artists’ videos off Fuse. “We pay millions of dollars to the labels to support the production of videos,” says MTV spokeswoman Jeannie Kedas. “We take a handful of exclusives a year, and… Read more »

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G-Unit, Blink-182, Puddle Of Mudd Offer Fans Golden Opportunities


Even though the RIAA continues to go after Internet file-sharers, millions of music fans keep downloading songs. Naturally, this hurts album sales, which were down around 12 percent for the first half of 2003. To try to convince people to actually buy albums again, record companies have offered value-added packaging such as the ever-popular bonus DVD, which typically contains backstage footage, exclusive interviews, videos and maybe a live recording or two. But adding a DVD can be costly. Labels typically pay between one and two dollars per extra disc, which means as much as an additional $2 million for an… Read more »

News

Global Music Sales Tumble… Again


The battle-weary music industry surveyed the wreckage of another dismal six months on Wednesday as global data showed music sales tumbled almost 11 percent, piling more pressure on music companies to do deals to survive. Despite big hits from pop queen Christina Aguilera and rapper 50 Cent, Internet downloading and CD-burning continued to ravage the industry, dragging music sales down to $12.7 billion in the first half of this year, a leading industry body said. However, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) indicated the rest of the year may not be so gloomy, with a strong release schedule… Read more »

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Summer Tour Affirms Metallica's Drawing Power


Making a case for hard music, stadium tours in general and Metallica’s own status as a headliner, Summer Sanitarium 2003 goes down as a winner, taking in $46.4 million and drawing 683,472 headbangers to 19 dates. The tour reaffirms the box-office clout of Metallica, which is currently in the planning stages of an extensive headlining tour next year, tentatively set to begin in March. Metallica last toured in 2000, taking in $40.5 million from only 20 shows. About a dozen of those concerts were Summer Sanitarium dates, featuring Kid Rock, Korn and others. This year’s Summer Sanitarium lineup featured Limp… Read more »

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Fuel Guitarist Says New Album Is Best 'Selection' Of Songs Yet


When Fuel’s third CD, Natural Selection, comes out next Tuesday (September 23), it faces heavy competition that same day from new releases by Nickelback, Dave Matthews, and Limp Bizkit. But Fuel guitarist and songwriter Carl Bell revealed that he’s confident about the quality of the band’s work on this album. “I think we just really went to raise the bar on this one,” Bell said. “We sat back and said, ‘All right, we’re not gonna rush this one through, let’s take our time and do this one right.’ And I think it shows. The record is, I think, far and… Read more »

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Alt-Rockers Pay Tribute To Johnny Cash


As the music world mourns the death of Johnny Cash-who passed away on the morning of Friday (September 12), at the age of 71-artists from every genre of music are paying their respects to the legendary Man In Black. Guitarist Danny Lohner, who has played with Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle, shared his thoughts with LAUNCH on Cash’s recent cover of the Nine Inch Nails tune “Hurt.” “Johnny Cash’s version blew me away,” Lohner said. “He has such a great character voice…that video is so moving and so well done, and with his wife watching him as he… Read more »

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Fred Durst Talks More Trash About Britney, Borland


Despite an apparent cease-fire to the mudslinging between Fred Durst and Britney Spears, the Limp Bizkit frontman just can’t seem to say enough about the sexy singer. Onstage Saturday at a free concert in London’s Finsbury Park, Durst introduced the tune “Break Stuff” by taking a swipe at the pop star. At the opening of the Significant Other single with the prophetic line, “It’s all about the he said, she said bullsh-,” Durst made his proclamation. “How many people out there have had one of those f–ed-up days?” he asked the crowd. “I can remember quite a few f–ed-up days… Read more »

News

Fans Pelt Durst With Garbage in Chicago


Fred Durst must have been having a really bad day when the Summer Sanitarium tour stopped outside Chicago Saturday. The Chicago Sun-Times describes Durst as having a tantrum on stage and ending Limp Bizkit’s set after just 20 minutes. The report says heckling fans throwing garbage gave Durst a rough reception. At first, Durst encouraged the abuse, then offered to fight anyone within earshot while yelling curses and sexual putdowns. According to the report, “Had the villain in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ been a vile little boob like Durst rather than a snarly old lady in greenface, the movie’s ‘I’m… Read more »

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