Music News & Notes

Travis McCoy's "Lazarus" Album Cover Revealed


Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy's Lazarus debut solo album cover has been revealed online this weekend.

Travie McCoy flys high on the cover of his solo debut album Lazarus, landing in stores June 8. The Gym Class Heroes frontman's first single "Billionaire"featuring Bruno Mars is taking off at radio, while the project boasts contributions from T-Pain, Cee-Lo, Detail and The Stereotypes. (Rap-Up)

Last month, McCoy explained why his album's title was shortened.

"Unfortunately we had to change the title to just Lazarus, because there's already this movie out there called 'The Lazarus Project,' " he explained in an interview. "So we're just calling the record Lazarus now. It's more to the point...It's hard to put a stamp on the record. With anything I do, it's hard to categorize it. With any project, I just go in and blindly start writing songs and then find out which way we want to go with it. This one took a bit longer to find the lane." (MTV)

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DISBELIEF: 'Heal' Artwork Unveiled

German death metallers DISBELIEF are set to release a 20th-anniversary album called 'Heal' on May 21 via Massacre Records. The CD will contain eight songs, including three cover versions and a remake of the classic track "Shine." The first album to be recorded and mixed by the DISBELIEF members themselves, "Heal" will also feature four original compositions which "are meant to be a tribute to bands who influenced us a lot over those two decades concerning their music and attitude!!" according to the group.

"Heal" track listing:

Covers

* KILLING JOKE - "A Love Like Blood"
* KING DIAMOND - "Welcome Home"
* CRIMSON GLORY - "Red Sharks"

Originals

* Certainty Of Reality
* The Eyes of Horror
* The Last Force: Attack!
* Isolation
* Shine (title track of 2002 album)

"Heal" will be released with a bonus DVD containing footage of a complete DISBELIEF show from the Walpurgis Metal Days in 2009.

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Dylan Cancels Asian Tour

Apparently Bob Dylan has had to cancel a tour of Asia after the Chinese government refused to allow him to perform. The singer had been planning on a series of dates in the area but when he learned he didn't have permission to play in Beijing and Shanghai, he scrapped the whole tour.

A spokesman from the Taiwan promotion company who was handling the tour stated "China's Ministry of Culture did not give us permission to stage concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, so we had no alternative but to scrap plans for a Southeast Asian tour. The chance to play in China was the main attraction for him. When that fell through everything else was called off.

"What Bjork did definitely made life very difficult for other performers. They are very wary of what will be said by performers on stage now. Last year British rockers Oasis were denied permission to play in China after it was discovered that guitarist Noel Gallagher had had appeared at a Tibet freedom concert 12 years earlier."

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The Specials Discuss a New Album

Terry Hall of the Specials has told the British site Spinnermusic.co.uk that the original members of the group were discussing making a third album after they complete their 30th anniversary tour. According to Hall: "Nothing has been written. We've played around a bit, but we've all agreed that if we're going to make an album, it's got to an incredibly great album. If we're up for that, and we think that we have the parts in place, there's no reason we won't start recording. I think at this level we need to play for a while, like we did before we had a record deal."





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The Violent Femmes Won't Be Reuniting

Bass player Brian Richie has stated that his bandmate Gordon Gano licensed their song "Blister in the Sun" to fastfood giant Wendy's for a commercial without first seeking the permission of others in the group. Richie told Spinner.com "I don't like having my sound misappropriated to sell harmful products, such as fast food. That's not why we made the music. It should not be hijacked."