Hey Mike, Mike, Mike! What day is it? …..Let’s start out with the first news out of the Tool camp in, what, 8 years? Tool guitarist Adam Jones revealed earlier this week in an interview with Yahoo! Music that the band had finally settled a complicated lawsuit that has dragged on for eight years and set back the band’s recording and touring plans. Jones revealed how badly the legal issues affected the group and its members: “You know, when you try to be ethical, and you try to sleep good at night, and you try to do the right thing, and people are not doing the right thing, and using that against you, it really affects your creativity, it affects your sleep and it affects your relationships with people and it affects everything you do. We would have had an album out a long time ago, we would have been taking a lot more tours, and that lawsuit, it was really distracting.” As previously reported, a friend of the band sued them eight years ago, claiming that he had created artwork for the group and wanted credit and compensation for it. Then an insurance company Tool had hired to protect itself against such lawsuits sued the band itself over technicalities in the case. Tool countersued the insurer, with the case finally being resolved in their favor. Jones told Yahoo! that the whole affair “got really ugly and shameful.” In the midst of all this, Jones also revealed that an undisclosed member of the band faced a “really scary do-or-die, serious illness.” The band is now working at a faster pace on music for its first new studio set since 2006, with one song finished musically and 10 others in various stages of completion. Jones said about the new music, “Some of it’s really heavy, some of it’s complex and some is more atmospheric, but it’s definitely Tool.” Tool guitarist Adam Jones revealed earlier this week in an interview with Yahoo! Music the band had finally settled a complicated lawsuit that has dragged on for eight years and set back the band’s recording and touring plans. Jones told us just how badly the legal issues affected the group and its members: “You know, when you try to be ethical, and you try to sleep good at night, and you try to do the right thing, and people are not doing the right thing, and using that against you, it really affects your creativity, it affects your sleep and it affects your relationships with people and it affects everything you do. We would have had an album out a long time ago, we would have been taking a lot more tours, and that lawsuit, it was really distracting.” As previously reported, a friend of the band sued them eight years ago, claiming he had created artwork for the group and wanted credit and compensation for it. Then an insurance company Tool had hired to protect itself against such lawsuits sued the band itself over technicalities in the case. Tool countersued the insurer, with the case finally being resolved in their favor. Jones told Yahoo! that the whole affair “got really ugly and shameful.” In the midst of all this, Jones also revealed that an undisclosed member of the band faced a “really scary do-or-die, serious illness.” (I am guessing on the member is bassist Justin Chancellor, since we did not see or hear ANYTHING about him the entire time, while we knew Maynard was happily making wine, a baby and Puscifer music, and drummerDanny Carey has been working on a few side projects like Volto! And Adam was with his family raising their son and working on his artwork. This is just speculation on my part and we hope whoever it is that has suffered a medical scare is A O K.) The band is now working at a faster pace on music for its first new studio set since 2006, with one song finished musically and 10 others in various stages of completion. Jones said about the new music, “Some of it’s really heavy, some of it’s complex and some is more atmospheric, but it’s definitely Tool.” He also said he is hopeful the new music could be out later this year. Be listening for Adam Jones as Tool will be our Featured Artist of the Week Apr 06-10 on hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus and on hardDriveabout a week before. In the meantime, watch this nearly two hour Tool concert in Mexico City filmed last year by a fan. (Thanks Pulse Of Radio!)…Breaking Benjamin returns this summer with a new album called Dark Before Dawn on June 23rd. The follow-up to 2009′s Dear Agony will be preceded by a single called “Failure,” which is scheduled to arrive at rock radio the week of March 23rd. The new single and album follow a long period of inactivity for the band during which songwriter, frontman and sole original member Ben Burnley battled health issues and was engaged in legal action against two former members. Burnley unveiled Breaking Benjamin 2.0 last year, with the lineup consisting of drummer Shaun Foist, bassist Aaron Bruch, formerRed guitarist Jasen Rauch and ex-Adelitas Way guitarist Keith Wallen. The group reportedly began recording its fifth album late last year. Not surprisingly, Burnley told us a while back he’s a perfectionist when it comes to making music: “I’d say every song that I write, I lose a little bit more hair (laughs). You know, it is a stressful thing, but you have a standard that you put yourself through being the singer, the songwriter and the performer all in one, and you have to be a little bit of a perfectionist. I think every musician is like that. I don’t know anybody that’s really not.” Check the Road Rage page for Breaking Benjamin tour dates and be listening soon for Ben in his first radio interview in many years on the air with Lou! And watch the band perform “So Cold” back on Valentine’s Day in Rochester, NY….Oh MAN! Linkin Park posted a video of the day Chester Bennington broke his ankle (serious break with major damage) while playing basketball (on the Pacers’ court!) and his valiant try to do their show in Indianapolis that night. Check it out right here. And you can see drummer Phil Manansala from Of Mice & Men post a killer mid-court three point shot, too!….Ozzy Osbourne is getting his own comic book. The Metal Madman is releasing today in both print and digital versions. The book was written by Michael L. Frizell and Jayfri Hashim with art by Hashim, and features a cover by famed horror artist Stefano Cardoselli….<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', 'Helvetica Neue', Georgia, Tahoma, ar
