Newsbites: Alice In Chains confirm album name

Name game: Alice In Chains

Alice In Chains have confirmed their second album with William DuVall at the helm will be called The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. It’s due out in May. The announcement follows their release of the name in anagram format complete with a request for fans to guess the correct title. They’ll kick off a US tour in April and appear at the 2013 Download Festival in the UK on June 14-16.

Def Leppard will lead their own edition of the Rock’n'Roll Fantasy Camp in Las Vegas during April 4-7. It ties in with the band’s residency in that city’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Event founder David Fishof says: “I’m beyond thrilled to be producing the Def Leppard Fantasy Camp. I know this is going to be an amazing experience for any Def Leppard fan regardless of musical experience.”

Tony Sheridan, early Beatles collaborator and said to be the first person to play electric guitar on TV, has died aged 72. The fledgling Fab Four played their first recording sessions as Sheridan’s backing band and their appearance on his 1961 single My Bonnie – billed as the Beat Brothers – led to Brian Epstein’s offer to manage them. Original Beatles drummer Pete Best has paid tribute, saying: “My friend Tony passed away this morning. Great guy and great memories. I will miss you.”

Guns n’Roses’ London show in June 2012 will be the main attraction in a five-hour special broadcast on VH1 Classic on March 9. Former guitarist Izzy Stradlin made a guest appearance during the set, which also featured covers of AC/DC’s Whole Lotta Rosie and Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall Part 2. The presentation also includes a repeat of frontman Axl Rose’s 2011 interview on That Metal Show.

George ‘Shadow’ Morton, who wrote and produced for key 1960s talent including The Shangri-Las, has died of cancer at the age of 72. He’s best remembered for Leader Of The Pack and Give Him A Great Big Kiss, while his first-ever song, Remember (Walkin’ In The Sand) made number 5 in the Billboard chart. Morton left the music industry in the 1970s and became a golf course designer.

Sanctuary Records, once home to Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Megadeth and many others, has been sold by Universal to BMG. The deal is part of an agreement with competition regulators after Universal bought EMI, and it’s thought to have been worth $62m. BMG boss Hartwig Masuch says: “We have made no secret of our ambition to create a new force in the music industry focused on delivering service and revenue to artists. We believe this deal will be good news for those artists, good news for our partners particularly in the independent sector and good news for the music industry as a whole.”