White Noise: News on Megadeth, Def Leppard, Marilyn Manson, Shadows Fall and More

Yesterday afternoon, the Noisecreep office was graced by the presence of Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott, who is a bona fide riot. He's also crazy tall, which we never knew before. Def Lep's tour with Cheap Trick and Poison kicked off this week, and tomorrow in Hamburg, New York, the band will be honored by city officials. During our interview with Joe yesterday, he spoke about the honor, the tour, the band's future recording plans, and he cleared up some statements he made last year about Poison. We'll be bringing you more from that conversation in the coming days and weeks. Right now, though, we've got to get to the White Noise.

+ So, as we were saying, this Friday, June 26, has been proclaimed "Def Leppard Day" in Hamburg, New York, by virtue of a unanimous vote on Monday by the local town board. On Friday, guitarist Phil Collen and bassist Rick Savage will sign autographs at a local record shop, and performs that evening at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center nearby. The proclamation states that the town is honored to be the site of the in-store appearance, and urges town residents to enjoy the music of Def Leppard "today and for years to come." What did Elliott have to say about the honor? "My guess is the mayor wants tickets for his kids."

+ If you want to hear something from the new Megadeth, call (866) 597-6342, and listen to a fresh track, called "Headcrusher." The track is taken from the band's twelfth studio set, 'Endgame,' which will land in stores in September.

+ You can see the cover art for Shadows Fall's forthcoming album, 'Retribution.' The album will be in stores September 15.

+ Far isn't exactly a metal band, but for some reason, metalheads love these guys. So do we. Now, comes word that the reunited band and are looking for fans to contribute gang vocals for a chorus on one of their new tracks. Far's comeback LP is due out later this year through Vagrant, and is expected to feature a song written in tribute to ailing Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, who has remained in a waking coma since his involvement in a car accident last November. The track's called "At Night We Live" and was written about a dream band frontman Jonah Matranga had about Cheng.

+ Marduk have set 'Wormwood' as the title of their eleventh album, which will be in stores before year's end. Just in case you were wondering, that rules.

+ Spin recently spoke with Marilyn Manson, and asked him about the origin of his latest album's title, 'The High End of Low.' "I went through a tough period over Christmas, during which I learned the difference between love and dependence, and the difference between weakness and desire," Manson said. "And it made a big difference in my life." We're thinking that "tough period" was Manson's reconciliation over his breakup with Evan Rachel Wood. The record, he says, is "about giving up what you are to prove that you love somebody more than you love yourself."

+ Lightning Swords of Death will be contributing to the soundtrack of the upcoming video game "Undead Knights." In the game, the protagonist is the anti-hero, battling the wrath of fearless enemies to build the nastiest, most irreverent army possible.

+ More dates have been revealed for Children of Bodom's 20-city fall trek with the Black Dahlia Murder and Skeletonwitch. The tour launches September 18 in Providence, R.I., and runs through October 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

+ In other tour news, Sunn O))) has rolled out more dates for its tour, featuring the Accused. The band will be touring from August 5 in Seattle,Wash. through August 14 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

+ Vader, Decrepit Birth, Warbringer, The Amenta, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky, and Augury will team up this fall for the "Monsters of Death Tour." The trek begins in Baltimore, Md. on November 4, and runs through December 13 in Philadelphia, Pa.