John Norum, EUROPE guitarist, recently gave an interview to BW&BK, discussed about the band's new album and how their grittier, heavier sound will affect the band's old songs on their upcoming tour:

“We tune down a half step which makes the older songs sound heavier, and they blend together with the new songs a lot better that way," says Norum. "We've even changed the keys of some of the older songs to update them. We really just pick the ones that are still fun to play. I'm not excited about some of the songs, to be quite honest with you; playing ‘Rock The Night' every night isn't that much fun for a guitarist (laughs). When I get to the point of saying ‘Do we have to do ‘Cherokee' tonight..?,' that's when I think about the fans and how happy it makes them to hear those old songs. I try to pull myself together and groove with it to hopefully make it more interesting. The focus is on the new stuff, though, so we'll be playing a lot from Secret Society and Start From The Dark. There will be fewer older songs in the set; less pop, more rock.”

Source for the full story in BW&BK's Riff Notes column in issue #101.

The Roadrunner Records has announced the following message:

"After first sharing it with their official fan club, Outside The 9 last Friday, Slipknot are now ready to unveil the striking final artwork for their forthcoming DVD, Voliminal: Inside The 9 (pictured), to Maggots everywhere.

Stay tuned to RR.com for more advance info, clips and art in the coming weeks."

Previously Roadrunner Records announced the news as followed:

" Slipknot, the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning, hard rock enigma, will release the DVD Voliminal: Inside The Nine on December 5th, 2006.

A special double disc package, Voliminal: Inside The Nine takes the viewer on a long journey into the world of Slipknot as the band recently circled the globe in support of the multi-platinum album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). Far from your usual tour film, Voliminal: Inside The Nine is more of an art piece -- while fans are taken in the studio, on stage, backstage, on their tour bus and everywhere in between as they experience the energy of a band literally living, breathing and fighting for the music they created, none of it unfolds in ways you'd expect.

Disc 1, titled Voliminal, features a 90-minute film, created and directed by M. Shawn Crahan that gives the Slipknot fan a window into the world of the band as seen through the mind of its creator. The film was shot on hand-held cameras and, as a result, is brutally honest and visually unique. The sound and visual edits are intense, disturbing and jarring while the cinematography brings the viewer as close as one can get to the band. Buried in Disc 1 are nine different “rabbit holes,” that, when activated, will show a short vignette of each one of the nine members of the band. Not the typical extra footage often found as “easter eggs” on the average DVD, this footage contains some of the most surprising and revealing elements on the DVD.

Disc 2 features three main elements – live footage, music videos and interviews with each member of the band. The live shows were captured at various venues around the world and show Slipknot in unique and somewhat unconventional settings. Everything from outdoor and daytime shows all the way to television award-show performances are included as well as the music videos for 'Duality', 'Vermilion', 'Before I Forget', 'The Nameless', and the controversial video for 'Vermilion 2', which was never officially released. Additionally, for the first time ever, fans get an up-close look at the band's “Death Masks” used onstage during this tour.

The interviews on this disc are just as ground breaking as anything the band has ever done. After twelve years, everything is about to change. Nothing is held back and everything is discussed.

Slipknot is the nine piece, ground breaking, hard rock band out of Des Moines, IA that has sold over 400,000 albums in Canada on three studio albums. Their last studio album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) was released in May, 2004, debuting at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart in the U.S. and has sold over in excess of 1.5 million copies in North America to date. The album broke new ground for the band and spawned the hit singles 'Duality', 'Vermilion' and 'Before I Forget'. In November 2005 the band released Slipknot 9.0: Live, a double live album that has sold over 400,000 units in North America."

Source Roadrunner Records

The classic progressive rock, TILES has issued the following statement:

"Tiles has halted the new record and focused the Tiles finances on getting Chris Herin (guitar) TIX for the world series. As he was at the clinching game on Saturday. He was lucky enough to witness that great home run by Magglio Ordonez. Because of that Tiles thinks he should continue the good luck streak by going to all of the home games. As this will no doubt break the bands finances, recording will have to be halted. Jeff Whittle (bass) does assure us though that all of the ukulele parts have been finished for the new record."

Legendary producer Terry Brown (RUSH, FATES WARNING) is working on Tiles followup to 2004's Window Dressing, called D4 (Dragons, Dreams, and Daring Deeds), due out in nearly 2007.

Source TILES