On Friday, we were in Camden, N.J., all afternoon, for the Rockstar Mayhem tour. But being members of the illustrious fourth estate, we spent much of our time backstage. While you were out there watching the bands slay, or perusing glass pipes and T-shirts with cuss words emblazoned across 'em, the real action was happening behind the scenes. So, what goes on backstage, where all the buses idle the day away? We saw the dudes from Behemoth pumping iron, the Black Dahlia lads unloading boxes of merch, the guys from God Forbid meeting Bam Margera and his wife. Band dudes stretching under the shade of nearby trees, women in black leather walking around aimlessly and the Trivium guys setting up their equipment. There's guys longboarding all over the place, and clusters of band dudes smoking cigarettes. Basically, you didn't miss much. In fact, maybe we missed more than you did. Let's get to today's White Noise, which is loaded with news and album notes. Let's begin.

+ The one-day festival being organized by the Slipknot chaps in their hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, on September 9, has been cancelled. Slipknot were to headline the event, with a second stage featuring all local acts. No reason has been offered for why the event was nixed. We'll bring you more on this event as it becomes public.

+ As I Lay Dying's Tim Lambesis will return this fall with his Arnold-flavored side project, Austrian Death Machine. The band's two-disc set, called 'Double Brutal!,' features covers of Metallica's 'Trapped Under Ice' and Megadeth's 'Killing Is My Business ... and Business Is Good,' along with soon-to-be-classic tracks like 'See You at the Party Richter,' 'Come on Cohaagen, Give Deez People Ehyar' and 'Come on, Do it, Do it, Come on, Come on, Kill me, Do it Now.'

+ Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward recently told Eddie Trunk, host of "Friday Night Rocks" on New York's Q104.3 FM, the reason he pulled out of Heaven & Hell nearly three years ago came down to "a musical difference. For quite a long time now, the only band that I've ever felt comfortable in is the original band." So, would he be willing to reunite with Sabbath? "If everything gets in order and everybody is on the same page, or even half a page, I'm ready to do multiple tours, or multiple albums, with the original band. I always have been; I've never moved from that stance in the last 30-odd years. So I'm down [with] that."

+ According to Biohazard guitarist Bobby Hambel, the band wants to record new stuff. "We wanna do a new record," he says. "So we're gonna take this experience and just be completely inspired by the crowds that we have been playing to for the last year and a half. It's such a great opportunity to have a second chance, so we're gonna do a new record, man. So 2010 should see a brand new original Biohazard album ... We're working on music. We're trying to get the live playing out of the way. The only thing we're scheduling right now is to be in the studio and be recording throughout September, October and November, putting together a new record."

+ A Metallica biography called 'All That Matters' will be in stores this October. Penned by Paul Stenning, the 320-page book is "the first all-access biography" of the band's "entire history from early childhood through to the present day based on exclusive interviews with the band members themselves and those closest to them."

+ Billboard is reporting that Mötley Crüe will be "taking quite a bit of time off" following the completion of this summer's Crüe Fest 2, and that the tour will not be returning until 2011. The band will begin working on new material, and bassist Nikki Sixx doesn't rule out the staging of future Crüe Fests, without Mötley on the bill.

+ Five Finger Death Punch will be headlining their own tour next month, called the Shock and Raw Tour. Shadows Fall, Otep and 2 Cents will serve as direct support on the trek, which launches Sept. 18 in the band's stomping grounds of Las Vegas.

+ The Jonbenet have scheduled two farewell shows. Coincidentally, these two shows will also be the last for At All Cost. Those gigs are set for Dec. 18 in Austin, Texas; and Dec. 19 in Houston, Texas.

+ Poison The Well will spend the rest of the summer on the road with Vanna and This Time Next Year. That tour gets underway on Aug. 17 in Richmond, Va., and runs through Sept. 12 in Douglasville, Ga.

+ Our new favorite band, Saviours, will release their new album, 'Accelerated Living,' on Oct. 27. Mark your calendars.

More From Noisecreep