UK Reunites Featuring Eddie Jobson And John Wetton

32 years after their last U.S. performance together, the two progressive-rock legends and founding members of UK, Eddie Jobson and John Wetton, reunite to perform some of their classic material from UK and King Crimson. They will be joined by Austrian guitar virtuoso Alex Machacek and German drumming phenomenon Marco Minnemann.

Apr 8 – Regent Theater, Boston (Arlington)

Apr 11 – Highline Ballroom, New York

Apr 15 – Club Citta, Tokyo

Apr 16 – Club Citta, Tokyo

Apr 23 – Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

MARCO MINNEMANN Is Not DREAM THEATER's New Drummer

Despite rumors to the contrary, BLABBERMOUTH.NET has learned that 40-year-old international drumming sensation Marco Minnemann (KREATOR, NECROPHAGIST) **has NOT** joined DREAM THEATER as the replacement for the recently departed Mike Portnoy.

DREAM THEATER has yet to officially announce its new drummer despite the fact that the band has been rehearsing with one candidate exclusively since last fall. DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci previously stated about the group's drummer search, "Auditions went great and we do have someone but we are spending some time getting everything in order before making an official announcement. Let me just say that we are all incredibly excited about our choice and just bursting at the seams to let the world know!"

DREAM THEATER will co-headline this year's edition of Classic Rock magazine's award-winning High Voltage festival, set to take place Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24, 2011 in Victoria Park, London, England. The band will appear on the main stage on July 24. High Voltage 2011 will mark the first U.K. performance of the group's new lineup following the departure of Mike Portnoy.

Just days after it was announced that he'd been dismissed as the touring drummer for AVENGED SEVENFOLD, Portnoy revealed that he tried to rejoin DREAM THEATER, and was rebuffed.

Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than 20 years ago, abruptly quit the band last summer while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD.

He played on AVENGED SEVENFOLD's latest album, "Nightmare", following the death of that band's drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, and has toured with them since early summer.

Drummer MARCO MINNEMANN To Play On PSYAXIS Debut

Up-and-coming progressive metal band PSYAXIS from Tampa will enter Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 7 to begin recording its debut album. Sitting behind the drum kit during the sessions will be acclaimed drummer Marco Minnemann (KREATOR, NECROPHAGIST, EPHEL DUATH, JOE SATRIANI).

PSYAXIS is:

Matt Roberts - Lead Guitar
John Zambrotto - Vocals
Jelena Kiric - Rythm Guitar
Patrick Danielwicz - Bass

German native Minnemann — who currently resides in San Diego, California — is looked upon by his peers as one of the most gifted, innovative, cutting-edge drummers on the international music scene today. He has won numerous awards for his educational drum books and videos and was featured on the cover of the world's leading drum magazine, Modern Drummer. Minnemann's unusual drum kit setup, which includes an array of multiple foot pedals, gong drum, electronics and unique cymbal configurations, combined with his amazing, extreme interdependence skills has propelled him to superstar status among today's elite drumming royalty. His total command of four-way independence is unequaled, and his over-the-top drumming creations are simply mind-boggling.

Drummer MARCO MINNEMANN Rumored To Have Joined DREAM THEATER

40-year-old international drumming sensation Marco Minnemann (KREATOR, NECROPHAGIST) is strongly rumored to have joined DREAM THEATER as the replacement for the recently departed Mike Portnoy.

In a posting on his official web site, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci stated about the group's drummer search, "Auditions went great and we do have someone but we are spending some time getting everything in order before making an official announcement. Let me just say that we are all incredibly excited about our choice and just bursting at the seams to let the world know!"

German native Minnemann — who currently resides in San Diego, California — is looked upon by his peers as one of the most gifted, innovative, cutting-edge drummers on the international music scene today. He has won numerous awards for his educational drum books and videos and was featured on the cover of the world's leading drum magazine, Modern Drummer. Minnemann's unusual drum kit setup, which includes an array of multiple foot pedals, gong drum, electronics and unique cymbal configurations, combined with his amazing, extreme interdependence skills has propelled him to superstar status among today's elite drumming royalty. His total command of four-way independence is unequaled, and his over-the-top drumming creations are simply mind-boggling.

Marco's "Extreme Interdependence" drum instructional book was voted the No. 1 educational book in several drumming magazines. His "Extreme Drumming" DVD also won several readers' poll awards and earned Marco the prestigious Telly Award.

Not only is Minnemann a world-class drumming innovator, having brought stunned audiences to their feet at most every major drum festival in the world, but he is also a musical renaissance man. His eclectic musical skills include composing, producing, and engineering, as well as being a multi-instrumentalist on guitar, bass, keyboards, and vocals. Minnemann has seven multi-faceted solo recordings to his name, along with several outstanding recordings with his former band, ILLEGAL ALIENS, and numerous recordings as a sideman and producer, working with such artists as Paul Gilbert (MR. BIG), Mike Keneally (FRANK ZAPPA) and European superstar Nina Hagen.

DREAM THEATER will co-headline next year's edition of Classic Rock magazine's award-winning High Voltage festival, set to take place Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24, 2011 in Victoria Park, London, England. The band will headline the main stage on July 24. High Voltage 2011 will mark the first U.K. performance of the group's new lineup following the departure of Mike Portnoy.

Just days after it was announced that he'd been dismissed as the touring drummer for AVENGED SEVENFOLD, Portnoy revealed that he tried to rejoin DREAM THEATER, and was rebuffed.

Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than 20 years ago, abruptly quit the band this summer while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD.

He played on AVENGED SEVENFOLD's latest album, "Nightmare", following the death of that band's drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, and has toured with them since early summer.

November News Bytes

• The next Van der Graaf Generator album, "A Grounding in Numbers", will be released on 14th March 2011 on Esoteric/Cherry Red.
• German legand band Eloy will release double DVD's called "The Legacy Box" in December.
• A recent rumor has swirled that Dream Theater's new drummer is Mike Mangini. He has played with both James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess in the past. The others who auditioned were Virgil Donati, Marco Minnemann, Thomas Lang and Peter Wildoer. Dream Theater is to work on a new recording in January.
• Karmakanic is to play NEARFest 2011 as announced on the Gagliarchives radio program on Saturday 11/20/10

Mike Keneally's Amazing "Scambot 1" Due out Nov. 24

Calling the first volume of Mike Keneally’s Scambot trilogy "ambitious" might be understating things a bit. For five years Mike held it close to his heart as his main project, employing nine engineers and many musicians at six studios.

"We devoted intense energy to every second of the album," says Mike. "There is a plot, and a bunch of characters. The CD booklet contains a very long story I wrote which lays out all of the action. Musically speaking, it's about two-thirds instrumental. It encompasses a little bit of straightforward-ish rock and pop, a lot of rigorous composition and arrangement, some obsessively intricate vocal and instrumental harmonies, some improvisation which has been orchestrated, some digitally-manipulated musique concrete, some purely uncategorizable stuff and, I think, some of the most interesting melodies I've come up with. It is a peculiar album but I think very satisfying as a journey, and emotionally it hits a lot of different moods."

And here's another clue for you all: Scambot 1, Mike adds, is "dedicated to anyone who still listens to entire albums with their headphones on."

One of the music world's most creative, intense and unique artists, Mike's achievements as a composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist are nearly unequalled. Known chiefly as a guitarist through his work with Frank Zappa and Steve Vai, since 1992 Keneally has built a body of solo work of remarkable inventiveness and originality. His live performances, featuring brain-bending performances on a variety of instruments, have delivered consistently reliable thrills to his passionate fanbase.

Enhancing his virtuosity is Keneally’s sheer joy in exploring all types of sounds. He is equally at home singing and playing guitar with some of music’s top acts as with improvising or meticulously arranging solo piano recordings, as on 2004's Vai Piano Reductions Vol. 1, specifically commissioned by Vai, or creating The Universe Will Provide, Mike’s lauded album-length composition for guitar and Holland’s 52-piece Metropole Orchestra.

Mike is currently touring as guitarist with the [adult swim] metal band Dethklok; the new album The Dethalbum II recently debuted at #15 on the Billboard pop chart.

For more information about Mike, please visit www.keneally.com, and for Mike Keneally music online 24 hours a day (including fun unreleased things), tune in to www.radiokeneally.com.

** MIKE KENEALLY SCAMBOT DEBUTED AT #9 in the Gagliarchives Weekly Top 20 located here: http://gagliarchives.com/weeklytop20/111309.html

News Bytes For September

• A U.K. reunion tour in February/March 2010 is now planned with Jobson, Wetton, Marco Minnemann on drums (from UKZ) and Greg Howe (Victor Wooten, Vitalij Kuprij, Michael Jackson) on guitar.
• Opeth front man Mikael Åkerfeldt is planning to record a singer/songwriter styled solo album according to the Finnish rock mag Sound. He says that discovering Nick Drake has really expanded his musical world view and made him understand the power of such acoustic simplicity. He says he could well make it an Opeth album but this time he wants to do everything by himself and record the songs at home. There is no set date of release. (PA)
• On September 1, 2009, Livgren suffered a stroke early in the day. His condition was reported as "serious, but stable. By September 4, family members called his condition positive and said his progress in recovering was encouraging. Livgren underwent surgery and received two stents in his carotid arteries. The area of his brain in which the stroke-causing clot formed deals with language and other high-end skills. Livgren's family says his face did not have the "sagging" often found in stroke victims, he recognized family members, and would squeeze their hands in recognition. The family established the Kansas band website as the only authorized source for information on Livgren's recovery.