Newsbites: Dio left unfinished tracks

Unfinished: Dio

Former Dio drummer Simon Wright says there’s a chance that four unfinished demos could be completed for a future release. Ronnie James Dio’s last track, Electra, was released after his death, but Wright reveals scratch tracks of other songs exist. “There were three or four songs he had been working on,” says the drummer. “I’m not sure what will happen. At some point, maybe, they’ll come out. You would have to be careful how you approached it – you wouldn’t want to overstep your bounds. We’d sit and listen to them and see how far he got. We’d do it with total respect and we’d do it delicately.” [Classic Rock Revisited]

Former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach recently met up with ex-bandmate Snake Sabo for the first time since their 1996 split. Bach says: “I know you have been waiting to see this happen. We got to hang out together for the first time in a long time. We talked, laughed and, in the end, even hugged. It was great to talk with Dave about the past – and the future.” Bach recently said only one band member was standing in the way of a classic lineup reunion.

White Sister guitarist Rich Chadock has died after a battle against cancer, his tour manager has confirmed. Paul Forslund says: “Perhaps today you might put on some White Sister and turn it up – hopefully so Rick can hear it, just to let him know no one will ever forget.”

Jerry Lee Lewis‘ bassist BB Cunningham has been shot dead while working as a security guard. The musician, 70, had also worked with Billy Joel and Elton John among many others. He’d been a member of Lewis’ band since 1997.

Jimmy Page has recalled not being able to hear the first two songs of Led Zeppelin‘s 2007 reunion show, as featured in their Celebration Day movie. But the guitarist says it didn’t break their stride: “We couldn’t hear the monitors on stage. We put a lot of time and effort into it so that’s how well attuned we were.” [NME]

Metallica and Iron Maiden have both been confirmed for next year’s Rock in Rio in September.

Fleetwood Mac will tour next year, Stevie Nicks has confirmed. She reports: “We go into rehearsals around the end of February. If everything goes to plan we should probably be on the road by April or May, I would think.”

Will Stapleton of rising star band Jettblack will play the Voice of Humanity in the new staging of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds musical. He’ll deliver the track Thunder Child alongside a cast including Liam Neeson, Marti Pellow and Jason Donovan. Stapleton says: “I’m raring to get on stage.”

10cc will release a 40th anniversary box set on November 19. Tenology contains two discs of singles, one of album tracks and one of B-sides and rarities, a DVD and literature. It’s been curated by Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart with artwork by Storm Thorgerson.

Clutch have announced their next album will be called Earth Rocker. It’s due out in March 2013 and guitarist Tim Sult calls it “the heaviest and fastest album to date.”

Van Halen won’t appear at next year’s Superbowl despite polling over 100,000 of the 150,000 votes cast in a public vote. Instead, pop star Beyonce will make a second appearance. Frontman David Lee Roth recently said: “The honour has not been bestowed up on us, though it’s one we would accept in a New York minute. It is a holy grail of musical recognition. It’s an honour to be considered.”