Talk about getting a case of the munchies. In another strange tale from Axl Rose's surrealistic fight club, according to police in Sweden Axl bit - yes BIT a hotel security guard on the leg. Axl was promptly arrested by Swedish law enforcement. According to Swedish health authorities since he was unable to provide his vaccination records, Axl's head will now be removed and sent away for rabies testing.

This of course follows Axl's now infamous foxy boxing episode with Tommy Hilfiger in a New York night club. One is left to ponder who is next on the Guns 'n' Roses lead singer's hit list or whether Rose's career plans include professional boxing as a featherweight.

According to Michael Barnes over at the Statesman, long time music landmark, and ex-smoky dive The Back Room, will close on July 29th, victim of Austin's ravenous development. Metal fans across Texas are encouraged to wear black leather or T-shirts to note the bars demise and it's becoming just another footnote in Austin's music history. In its 30 year battle millions of braincells were killed and potentially hundreds of children conceived on its premises.

Over the years The Back Room has hosted literally thousands of bands on its stages, and it's closure will leave a great venue gap in Austins metal scene. The Back Room can be added to that list of dead venues now marked by the cold steel and concrete headstone of developement that has already claimed such famous venues as the Armadillo World Headquarters and Liberty Lunch. Luckily other stalwart clubs such as The Continental Club and Emo's have survived, and newer venues such as Stubb's and La Zona Rosa have come onto the scene and risen to the legendary status. Lets hope that Austin's metalheads find a new place to call home.

A very very partial listing of some of the bands that have appeared there include the following:

• Cheap Trick
  
• Guadalcanal Diary
  
• Sugar Cubes
  
• the Plasmatics
  
• Public Enemy
  
• Linkin Park
  
• Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones
  
• King’s X
  
• Ace Frehley
  
• Slash
  
• Pantera
  
• Warren Zevon
  
• George Clinton & the P Funk All Stars
  
• Dangerous Toys
  

Welcome all the guys and girls over at Metal Blade Records to club.kingsnake. We like all different genres of music here, including of course all flavors of metal, so Metal Blade's support of our web site is much appreciated. We approached a number of record companies and Metal Blade jumped in with both feet. We are glad to have you on board.

We will be working with Metal Blade to bring you lots of neat stuff like reviews of their shows (including Ozzfest) and their artists (like Cannibal Corpse) and podcast interviews with some of their artists. HOPEFULLY we can talk them into letting us give away some neat Metal Blade swag along the way.

For those of you not familiar with Metal Blade Records, their first release contained songs by some then-unknown bands called Metallica and Ratt, and the label has been the home of many of todays bigger metal acts, like Slayer and Gwar. Started by Brian Slagel in 1982 on a shoestring and a dream, Metal Blade has been an important influence in the careers of many bands.

A special shout goes out to Michelle at Metal Blade, who not only has a thing for metal, but is also a ball python owner (natch!) and was able to hook us up with press access, photo badges and more, making our job so much easier. You guys at Metal Blade should give her a raise, she talked us into giving her all our prime ad spots. ;)

According to Pollstar, a blood disease has sidelined Korn's lead singer, Jonathan Davis, sending him to the hospital and forcing Korn to cancel the remainder of their summer tour. Snow Patrol's lead singer Gary Lightbody's throat problem has not improved forcing them to cancel the remainder of their tour as well.

Those looking for that cure to the summertime blues might try looking at the new Beavis & Butt Head Collection DVD that released on Tuesday.

Tony Jones has joined our staff to cover the live music scene in and around the U.K. Based in London, Tony is a well positioned to write about one of the greatest live music scenes in the world and we are glad that we can extend our coverage across the pond. Tony just got back from touring a bit with New Model Army around the U.K. and though he's a bit bruised and bloodied he's back and ready to write.

We always are looking for new writers to join our staff. Right now we especially need authors and photographers to cover the live music scene in Southern California and New York City, but really we are interested in the live music scene around the world. If you like alternative music, punk, metal, indie, like to go clubbing for live bands, like to write or take pictures, and are interested in joining our music community as a staff blogger, contact us. This is a lot of fun!