A new 2007 MEGADETH MegaFanClub package will be available for order this coming week at this location.

According to the band's official website, current fanclub members will be able to renew their membership three months early with an added bonus.

More details will be revealed as we get them.

As previously reported, Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine recently issued the following update:

"Droogies!

Well, the holiday season is here and some of us are definitely getting coal in the ol' stocking, which is getting off easy. Me, I probably deserve a boxcar of the stuff, but again I look back and what looked like a topsy-turvy year, but in the end turned out to be one of the best years in my career yet.

From the gifts of Gigantour 2006 and all the bands, Gigantour Australia and all the bands (some from G2006), Gigantour Day in Tokyo (some from G2006), the new Megadeth record nearing completion, hiring my new bassist and very close friend James Lomenzo, changing management to the illustrious Azoff Artists group under the watchful eye of my new fantastic manager Mark Adelman, the same can be said about the changing of agencies to the perfect home for Megadeth with Scott Sokol and Pinnacle Entertainment, to the best gift of all – reconciling with my wife and family, . . . that is what Christmas is really about for me.

I thank every one of you for your kind words, prayers, positive vibes, and the cards, letters, and gifts, . . . as well as the insults, curses, bad blood, negative posts, threads, and just plain existence for being my inspiration, to have made what is a record I can't stop listening to. Even though it has taken a long time to make; this one needed to be this way. A "statement" is going to be made in less than four months.

I also just agreed to the first confirmed concert date next year in the summer in Europe in one of my favorite countries and as soon as I can say something, I will. It could be today, if we have permission to say.

Lastly, while I left ESP guitars as an endorser, I also left behind friends in the staff. To Matt, Jose, Allen, the girls in the office, and the guys in the shipping and back room, I miss you and happy holidays. I have a new guitar home and will be announcing it at NAMM 2007.

So long to Kevin Gasser and his lovely wife Lisa, and new born son Austin, to John Dee, and to his staff at Benchmark; Jenni and who knows who else, to Keith Sarkesian and William Morris Agency, and to anyone else that we worked with that we have completed our time together on this earth, I thank you and wish you the very best in all things and with all of your families.

And to you, my very special Droogs, where would I be without you? I would have all this music and no one to thrash to it.

Thank God thank you are all here and a part of my life. I am eternally grateful to my band mates and the special relationship the four of us have with you. I think about how to play for you night and day. Everything I read I turn into a song and everything I see I want to share with you, but alas that is garbage for a romance novel.

Until then, I, speaking on behalf of Megadeth, will see you again . . . real soon! (like maybe me and Glen next month in Birmingham)"

Source Megadeth

Pitriff recently conducted an interview with KISS legend Paul Stanley, on his new Live To Win solo album. Few excerpts are follows:

Pitriff: Why did you decide to release a solo release at this point in your career? Some people may argue the point of why not just release a KISS release...

Stanley: "I've already done KISS. I'm sure people are aware of that. The truth is that for a long time, while everybody else was running off doing other projects outside of KISS, I've always felt kind of like the keeper of the flame in KISS. I didn't feel the band might not be impacted tremendously by me also going off and doing things. I just kind of figured that when the time is right I'll do it. For the time being, I let everybody else run off and do everything else they feel like doing. At this point, it really felt like KISS is as solid as ever. I felt that it was time for me to do an album of my own and it's an oppurtunity to really do something to please myself."

Pitriff: Live To Win is comprised of a great mix of heavy rocking songs and a couple of slow tunes in there. I think people will be surprised at how much Live To Win rocks. Going into writing mode for the release did you entertain the thought of steering your writing towards the heavier songs? Did you feel that you had to come up with songs that at least matched or surpassed songs that you have been well known for?

Stanley: "I didn't aim for anything. I was aware that if I did an album that sounded like my first solo album someone would say that it sounds too much like my first album or he hasn't grown at all. Then I was also aware that if I did an album that didn't sound like my first album, someone would say it doesn't sound like the first album and he's trying to do something new. You're damned if you and damned if you don't. None of that stuff is of any interest to me. It's all part of Live To Win. I don't listen to what other people have to say. I set my goals for myself and that is all that matters. People who say I shouldn't, couldn't, that it's impossible, or if it's the right or wrong direction, etc. - none of that matters to me. It's only about me pleasing myself."

Pitriff: Was it easier writing songs then without having any restrictions of meeting a certain criteria of say writing songs for KISS? Was there more freedom to expose yourself in the songs a little more?

Stanley: "I would like to think that anything I write has some of me in it. You have to put some of yourself into it. There's a lot of songs on this album that are very much about me. I'm either singing about my philosophy of life and philosophy that's gotten me to where I am. ...or I'm singing about relationships with women. (laughing) Two big parts of my life!"

Source Pitriff

BBM has issued the following message regarding Don Dokken updates:

DOKKEN is continuing work on its new album, "Lightning Strikes Again", for a 2007 release via Rhino Records in the U.S. and Frontiers Records in Europe. The follow-up to 2004's "Hell to Pay" will feature the lineup of Don Dokken (vocals), Jon Levin (guitar, ex-WARLOCK), Barry Sparks (bass, TED NUGENT, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, MSG) and Mick Brown (drums).

"It will be a very heavy progressive record," Dokken recently told Deb Rao of KNAC.COM. "Just some cool songs, some dark songs, and some medium tempo. Some of the best work that I have done in years.

"I am not looking for any kind of sound. I am just writing whatever spiritual inspiration comes to me. You could say the sound is very heavy, like 'Kiss of Death'.

“We have been lucky all these years. In our career a lot of bands have come and gone. It is all about the music. As long as you keep making good music, people will buy it.

"I think a lot of the bands made the mistake of just writing the same record all over again. Nothing fresh, nothing new to say. DOKKEN is always trying to grow.

"I think one of the most fun New Year's new shows in recent years was playing with DEF LEPPARD in the Millennium. Because it was the year 2000, it was a special night playing in the arena in Chicago. We had a great party afterwards.

"I remember that show specifically because my New Year's resolution was to quit drinking. I quit drinking for two years. I didn't drink a drop. I decided to give my liver a rest. It is hard to do, on the road, when you want to have a glass of wine unwind after a show. It is like anything. You have to do it in moderation."

Source BBM