Sitting out here in cloudy Las Vegas. Yesterday, as I was walking to baggage claim, I ran into my ole pal Kip Winger and guitarist Reb Beach! The band was performing at some corporate gig here in town. Haven’t seen Kip since we produced his music vdeos for “17” & “Headed For A Heartbreak.” Anyhow, since I’ve arrived in Las Vegas, I’ve hung out with some friends who live here, including Otherwise, Ronnie Radke of Falling In Revese and Rick DeJesus from Adelitas Way, who played me 3 new songs from the band’s forthcoming new album! Holy crap! It sounded amazing! The band has launched a PledgeMusic campaign to fund the band’s next album and its plans to promote it. The group has apparently parted ways with its label, EMI Music, since a post at the campaign site states, “We are in the jam room preparing to write, record and release our fourth studio album! This album will be not marketed by dinosaur corporate suits, but by a team that we are putting together that will finally see us taking our music global!” The post adds, “In our eight years at a major label, we NEVER had our music released worldwide! We want to change this and want YOU to be a MASSIVE part of helping us spring our music across the world!” Frontman Rick DeJesus told us his band can survive because it’s built such a strong grassroots following: “You know, we worked so hard at establishing ourselves that it’s tough to get rid of us, even though people probably want to sometimes. You know, when corporations are ready to get rid of rock music, they can’t. You can try to crush us, but we do it such a real way, we do it so, you know, grassroots, so real, building a fan base, I mean, we have to go out and play five shows a week. You know, we have to go and bleed onstage every single day to build our fan base. And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way because our fans are the best.” Meanwhile, the guys from Like A Storm were also in the house last night and we’re all planning to hook up with Lou Brutus for some sit down interviews!…In other news, Foo Fighters have added a second show at NY’s Citifield where the Mets play. Due to overwhelming demand, Jul 16th has been added to the already sold-out Jul 15th show! And while we’re on the subject, Foo Fighters brought out some of the band’s favorite rock cover tunes at a recent shot in Rio de Janeiro. The band played Kiss‘ “Detroit Rock City,” Rush‘s “Tom Sawyer,” the Faces‘ “Stay With Me” — featuring vocals from drummer Taylor Hawkins — and the Queen/David Bowie hit “Under Pressure,” this time with Hawkins and frontman Dave Grohl sharing vocals. Footage from the show has been posted online….Halestorm posted their new video for “Apocalyptic” yesterday. Here it is….Tim Commerford of Rage Against The Machine has music in the form of a new project called Future User. Check out the video for “Mountain Lion,” which features Lance Armstrong and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee as well as scenes of the frontman shooting up steroids. Future User’s debut disc, #SteroidsOrHeroin, arrives on Feb 24th. Previously Tim released a viral video for the tune “Clockwork” which features John McEnroe being water-boarded. Thanks Tim!…And finally today, feast your eyes & ears on In This Moment performing at the NAMM Convention in Anaheim, CA over the weekend. They’re doing an instrumental version of Pantera‘s “Cowboys From Hell.” As Dime would say, “getcha pull!”…In the hardDriveRadio studios today, Apocalyptica performing acoustically with new singer Franky Perez. Their new album, Shadowmaker, drops Apr 07.