Megadeth's Dave Mustaine (file)
Photo: Getty Images

Dave Mustaine's never been afraid to speak the truth — or at least his version of the truth. So when the Megadeth frontman is asked what exactly inspired his decision to pull an Ozzy and launch his own metal festival — the ominously named Gigantour — you'd expect him to come back with a biting comment about how he's trying to change the deplorable state of heavy metal for the better. Something like that.

But instead, Mustaine said his festival — which features Dream Theater, Nevermore, Dillinger Escape Plan, Life of Agony, Symphony X and his own band — is about spreading positive vibes, dude. And no, he's not looking to eradicate Ozzfest.

"I have no crosshairs on any of the other festivals," he said. "I'm not the giant-slayer that's gonna go take on these other festivals and make 'em look bad. I want to have a festival that's positive, encouraging, fun — something people will look forward to. After all, what are the first two syllables of festival? Festive, man!"

The bands the legendary metal axeman handpicked for Gigantour's inaugural trek, he says, craft and execute superb metal.

"The music business recently has been bereft of any kind of guitar heroes," he explained. "Certainly, the ones that show up in guitar magazines nowadays, who say they're guitar heroes, ain't the kind of heroes I knew growing up: [Michael] Schenker, [Jeff] Beck, Jimmy Page. Some of these guys today, it's like, 'OK, tune your guitar down to Z and never do a solo because it's not cool.'

"As of late, there have been numerous musicians who have decided to take naps onstage, and I don't want to be around that negativity. I wanted to have positive and encouraging bands out there who would be positive and encouraging for young people, young musicians, young music fans. People, they're gonna come [to Gigantour] and see people take a guitar and actually make it work."

Mustaine added, in so many words, that, at an average of $35 a ticket, Gigantour's a better headbang for the buck. He plans on adding one more band to the lineup — he has two in mind but hasn't decided which one to go with yet. He also said he hopes Gigantour becomes an annual event: "I would love to say 10 years from now, 'Thank you for you wishing me a happy 10th anniversary,' like Ozzfest," he said.

As for whether we'll see new material from Megadeth in the future, Mustaine didn't entirely rule it out. "You can probably expect to see some music come out of us at some point, whether I decide to call it Megadeth or go on as my own."

In the meantime, Capitol will release a collection of Megadeth tunes on June 28 called Greatest Hits: Back to the Start, and there's also a two-DVD retrospective, "Arsenal of Megadeth," due September 27.

Gigantour starts July 21 in Fresno, California, and runs through September 10 in Seattle.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Swedish thrash titans the Haunted — who'll be playing a number of Ozzfest off-dates this summer with Arch Enemy, Black Dahlia Murder, Shadows Fall and It Dies Today — recently shot a video for the track "No Compromise" with acclaimed director Roger Johansson (In Flames, Soilwork); look for it to debut on "Headbangers Ball" next month. Singer Peter Dolving described it as a "pretty boy-band video to make us ugly f---ers look sweeter than your next-door, Class-A, golden-boy jock meat." ... Less than two months after the death of guitarist Bryan Ottoson, American Head Charge have scheduled a full tour with Static-X. Dates run from June 13 in Tempe, Arizona, through August 15 in Portland, Oregon. Guitarist Benji Hellberg — who took Ottoson's place during the remaining shows of the Mudvayne tour — will play all shows. ...

Bassist Matt Deis has left Massachusetts metallers All That Remains "to pursue other exciting avenues," according to the band's Web site. In the same posting, it was revealed that Deis' replacement has already been found. Josh Venn of Blood Has Been Shed has decided he'd like to be in two bands — much like BHBS' singer, Howard Jones, who also fronts Killswitch Engage. ... Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society have shot a video for the "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott tribute track "In This River" with director Eric Zimmerman (Megadeth, Napalm Death). In the video, Wylde's seen strumming an acoustic guitar and seated at a grand piano set in the middle of a flowing river. Once the song reaches the guitar solo, the Wyldeman smashes his guitar and sets the piano ablaze. ...

On June 28, Twisted Sister will release the DVD-plus "Live at Wacken: The Reunion," which captures the band's 2003 appearance at the German rock festival. One side of the disc will be a DVD of the show and the other will feature a CD of the same concert. Twisted Sister will perform a show in Philadelphia on July 15 to help fund a liver transplant for their former sound engineer, Charlie Barreca. ... Monster-loving shock-rocker Alice Cooper will release his new album, Dirty Diamonds, on August 2. Cooper will also launch a tour with power-pop legends Cheap Trick on August 20 in Cincinnati, with dates running through September 16 in Phoenix. ... Industrial-tinged death-metal band Fear Factory will release their seventh album, Transgression, on August 23. The group will preview some of the songs live during the aforementioned Gigantour. ...

Alabama slammers Haste have spent the last few months writing material for the follow-up to 2003's The Mercury Lift. The band's completed a three-song demo, and in a posting on its Web site, guitarist Nick Brunson claims Haste have been getting some positive feedback on the tracks. "Most of the people that heard them said they liked it a lot," he wrote. "Maybe that's because I had a gun pointed at them and dared them not to like it." ... Death legends Obituary will film a video for "Insane" next week. The track's from the band's forthcoming, self-produced album, Frozen in Time, which hits stores July 19. ... Himsa have finished working on Hail Horror; look for a late September/ early October release. ... Death merchants Paria need a new singer. That's because barker Brian Craig's decided to pull a Rodney Dangerfield and go back to school to "further his education and continue pursuing a career." In the meantime, former Analog frontman Paul Pettit's been called on to substitute during Paria's August tour. It's quite possible he may become a permanent member of the band. ...

Finnish black-metal veterans Impaled Nazarene have just released the live album Death Comes in 26 Carefully Selected Pieces ahead of schedule. The record was recorded in Helsinki in December 2004 and includes the tracks "The Horny and the Horned," "Goat Perversions," "Motorpenis" and "The Endless War." ... "Osmose NoisyMotions," a two-and-a-half-hour black- and death-metal DVD, will be released August 23. The disc includes performances by Immortal, Absu, Melechesh, Dark Tranquillity and Abominator. ... The last three dates of Eyehategod's U.S. tour have been canceled due to "logistical reasons." Fans who bought tickets for shows in Birmingham, Alabama (June 16); Hickory, North Carolina (June 17); and Johnson City, Tennessee (June 18), can obtain refunds at point of purchase. ...

• Megadeth
• Zakk Wylde
• American Head Charge
• Twisted Sister

American Head Charge (file)
Photo: Rte/DRT

By the time American Head Charge's tour bus pulled to a stop outside the Plex in North Charleston, South Carolina, just before 6 a.m. on April 19, Bryan Ottoson was already dead. Somewhere between Baltimore and North Charleston, Ottoson stopped breathing. But American Head Charge's guitarist died doing something bassist Chad Hanks says he loved to do.

"All he wanted to do was tour," Hanks said in American Head Charge's first interview since Ottoson's body was discovered (see "American Head Charge Guitarist Found Dead"). "He was always upset when we had to come home from touring. He did everything he could to stay on tour."

Ottoson's passion for mile-logging, Hanks said, made the band's decision to rejoin Mudvayne on the road this past weekend, after dropping off the tour for a handful of dates, not easy, but obvious.

"Who knows what Bryan would have wanted," he said. "All I can go by is what I think he might have wanted, and all I can figure is he would have said, 'Shut the f--- up, figure it out and go out and do it.' Without a doubt in my mind, that is what he would've wanted. That's what he always wanted to do. He wanted to be on a bus, touring. So it seemed the line of thinking would have been, well, just keep doing it."

Since Ottoson's death, which authorities have ruled to be the result of a prescription-drug overdose, Hanks said each member of the band's been grappling with the loss in a number of different ways. He had never lost anyone close to him before, so for Hanks, Bryan's death has been especially hard.

"It would have been easier to handle this if I had some kind of prior experience," he said. "It's been strange. You've got your couple days where you're grieving. While you're trying to figure out where the wake is, you're trying to figure out how the f--- you're going to get to Lubbock, Texas, to make the last show of the Texas part of the Mudvayne tour. The two thought processes just don't intersect very well. They're at total odds. You're just back and forth, completely flip-flopped emotions. 'Got to be business, got to be business ... holy sh--, I miss the guy.' "

Hanks recalled what happened the afternoon Ottoson's body was discovered by band keyboardist Justin Fowler. Hanks said he was inside the Plex, shoveling food from a catered spread onto his plate. He was talking to Mudvayne frontman Chad Gray and Gray's fiancee when a member of Mudvayne's crew rushed in. Out of breath, he said, "Chad, you need to get out here right now."

"The guy was f---ing white," Hanks said. "I'm thinking, 'Great, somebody just got arrested for drugs.' " As they made their way to the Plex's door, Mudvayne's crew member looked at Hanks and said, "Your little guitar player? He's not breathing."

Hanks sprinted outside, where a swarm of police cars, ambulances and other emergency-response vehicles had already amassed around the bus. He made a beeline for the bus' door, but was stopped by Mudvayne's tour manager: "Don't go on there, man. He's passed away."

It would be three hours before the last police officers and forensics officials would emerge from inside the group's bus. For the members of American Head Charge, those three hours were filled with silent pacing. "Everybody was just walking around in shock for three hours. No one could go on the bus. It was just really ... I didn't believe it was f---ing real for like five hours," Hanks said. "I guess when they had found him, he had been dead for a while. Rigor mortis had already been setting in."

American Head Charge have spent much of the last two weeks in their native Minneapolis; Ottoson's funeral was held Wednesday. Several questions have come up in the wake of Ottoson's death, such as how his body went unnoticed for what officials say was more than 10 hours. Apparently Ottoson was something of an insomniac: The generally accepted rule amongst the band's members, Hanks said, was "when Bryan fell asleep, you didn't wake him up."

"He maybe got two hours of sleep a night and he would nap on and off all day," Hanks explained. "So, no one was going to Bryan's bunk to see if he was awake or anything, because it was a general rule that, you know, leave him alone, he finally fell over. No one thought weird of it because, when he's asleep, he's asleep. This is a guy who, when we'd get hotel rooms, we'd get a band room, and maybe a crew room. He would spend his own money once a week, once every 10 days, to get his own room so he could go in there and turn the TV off, have nobody smoke, turn all the lights off, shut the drapes and get eight hours."

And then there are the rumors that have been popping up on the Internet about Ottoson's alleged drug use.

"Bryan had actually been on penicillin — he had strep throat," Hanks said. "He actually had strep two or three times in like four months, five months. He just had a real propensity for getting strep. Every time he got it, it got worse. This time, his tonsils were literally black. The one to the right was black."

Ottoson saw a doctor in Philadelphia who prescribed him painkillers, "because every time he swallowed, tears would come to his eyes. He was really the type of guy that, I'd say, was real paranoid about taking things when he didn't know what they were. Real careful. He didn't take any painkillers the first few days because he thought it would make him play funny. He wasn't swallowing handfuls of pills and not knowing what they were. This was a guy that maybe liked to drink a little bit, and that was it. He was not some crazy f---ing drug addict — that's probably the rest of the band. That's been widely gone over. Everybody knows pretty much all of us have been to rehab. On top of everything else, as far as my life has gone since I've been 17, and all the stupid sh-- I've done, and some of the stupid sh-- I know other people in the band have done — for this to happen to the most innocent guy in the band, it's just bizarre to me. It was the last thing you'd expect from Bryan."

Black Flood Diesel's Benji Hellberg has been tapped to fill in for Ottoson for the remainder of this tour with Mudvayne, Life of Agony and Bloodsimple, after which Hanks will take over on guitar and the band will start looking to hire a new bassist.

"I feel like we're just cursed," Hanks said. "Just as soon as something starts to move uphill for us, something slams us in the f---ing head."

• American Head Charge

Bryan Ottoson (file)
Photo: Scott Harrison

Less than 24 hours after his former bandmate Bryan Ottoson's funeral, American Head Charge bassist Chad Hanks — known to fans by his stage name, Mr. H.C. Banks III — spoke to Metal File about the events that led to the guitarist's death last week, and the anguish the group has been feeling.

In his first interview since Ottoson's death, Hanks tried to dispel Internet gossip that the guitarist was a heavy drug user. Ottoson — whose body was found April 19 on the band's tour bus in North Charleston, South Carolina, where American Head Charge were to perform that evening — was determined by investigators to have died of a prescription-drug overdose.

"Brian had actually been on penicillin," Hanks explained. "He had strep throat. He actually had strep two or three times in like four, five months. He just had a real propensity for getting it. And every time he got it, it got worse. This time, his tonsils were literally black."

A doctor Ottoson saw in Philadelphia prescribed him painkillers "because every time he swallowed, tears would come to his eyes," Hanks continued. "But he wasn't swallowing handfuls of pills and not knowing what they were. This was a guy who maybe liked to drink a little bit, and that was it. He was not some crazy drug addict — that's probably the rest of the band. Everybody knows pretty much all of us have been to rehab. As far as my life has gone since I've been 17, and all the stupid sh-- I've done, and some of the stupid sh-- I know other people in the band have done — for this to happen to the most innocent guy in the band, it's just bizarre to me. It was the last thing you'd expect from Bryan."

Benji Hellberg of the Minneapolis band Black Flood Diesel has been tapped to fill in for Ottoson on the remaining dates of the tour, Hanks said.

MTVNews.com will have more from the interview with Hanks next week.

The rest of the week's metal news:

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's third solo offering, Fused, has been bumped back to July 12. It was produced by Bob Marlette, and ex-Deep Purple/'80s-era Sabbath singer Glenn Hughes provided all the vocals. "I definitely knew I wasn't going to use a lot of special guests again," Iommi said. "I wanted to use just one singer, and I wanted it to be more like a band this time." Tracks include "Dopamine," "Wasted Again" and "Grace." Iommi, Hughes and ex-John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff will tour North America after this summer's Ozzfest. "In addition to playing material from this album, we'll probably do a couple of tracks from The DEP Sessions: 1996 [released last year] and a few Sabbath songs, too," Iommi said. ...

When Iron Maiden cross North America on this summer's Ozzfest, singer Bruce Dickinson will likely take at least a moment or two to plug his new album, Tyranny of Souls, which comes out May 24. The disc, his first solo venture since 1998's The Chemical Wedding, was written by Dickinson and producer and guitarist Roy Z after the last Iron Maiden tour. "We both worked quickly together, which I like, and the recording is very organic, so it came together quite easily," Dickinson said in a statement. Track titles include "Soul Intruders," "Kill Devil Hill" and "River of No Return." ...

Metallic hardcore band Between the Buried and Me will enter a studio in their native North Carolina in May with producer Jamie King to record their third album. ... In Flames have been promoted to a main-stage band for this summer's Ozzfest. ... Crisis have started working on new songs with drummer Justin Arman (ex-Society 1), who has previously played with the band as a substitute. The group's last drummer, Ryan Ball, was fired in February and arrested in Pennsylvania on armed-robbery charges shortly thereafter. The new disc should be finished by early next year. In the meantime, Crisis will launch a tour with M.O.D. and Beyond the Embrace on June 8 in Texas. ...

Subterranean Masquerade, an experimental supergroup featuring members of Novembers Doom and Agalloch, will release their new disc, Suspended Animation Dreams, on June 21. The album blends elements of extreme metal, urban jazz, folk, classical, world and progressive music and includes the tracks "Wolf Among Sheep" and "Kind of a Blur." ... Scathing Orange County metalcore act Bleeding Through have entered Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles to begin work on their new disc, The Truth, the follow-up to 2003's critically acclaimed This Is Love, This Is Murderous. The album is being produced by Rob Caggiano (Cradle of Filth, The Agony Scene) and is scheduled for a fall release. ...

Passionate hardcore progenitors the Warriors will soon record several new songs that'll be tacked on to the upcoming reissue of their latest effort, War Is Hell. Eulogy will release the revised disc later this year. ... Throwdown's forthcoming new disc, Vendetta, will hit stores on June 28 and features guest appearances from Killswitch Engage and Blood Has Been Shed muscleman Howard Jones and Hatebreed axeman Sean Martin. ...

Heavy-hitting thrash-metal machine A Perfect Murder are close to wrapping up their second record, Strength Through Vengeance. The album's slated for a July 26 release; it was recorded at Quebec's Wild Studio with Pierre Remillard (Cryptopsy, The End, Voivod). ... Ozzfest 2005's Arch Enemy have re-signed with Century Media. The label will release the band's nearly completed forthcoming LP, Doomsday Machine, on July 26. ... Deutschland death metallers Defleshed have shot a video for "Grind and Rewind," a track off of their latest album, Reclaim the Beat. The album's worth owning, if only for the seventh cut, a cover of Mötley Crüe's "Red Hot." ...

A limited, first-edition run of As I Lay Dying's forthcoming Shadows Are Security will include a bonus DVD featuring 25 minutes of live footage. The disc drops June 14. ... The sophomore offering from Philadelphia metalcore grinders A Life Once Lost, Hunter, will be released on June 28. The album was produced by Rob Caggiano in February at Millbrook Studios in upstate New York. ... Acrobatic thrashers Byzantine will release their second disc, ... And They Shall Take Up Serpents, on July 12. The album's the follow-up to the West Virginians' 2004 debut, The Fundamental Component, and was produced by the band with Charles A. Fisher. ...

The debut by thrash/death quasi-supergroup Thine Eyes Bleed, In the Wake of Separation, was bumped to June 21. The band features ex-Kittie touring guitarist Jeff Phillips and bassist John Araya, whose brother is Slayer's Tom Araya. ... Swedish black metal band Naglfar will release their fourth album, Pariah, on July 12. The album features lead vocals by bassist Kristoffer Olivius, who took over for Jens Ryden after he quit the band last year for "job-related" reasons. ... Ministry drummer Mark Baker will join industrial-metal band Hanzel Und Gretyl on their fall tour. The outing will include a headline slot at Gothicfest 2005, which takes place September 17 in Villa Park, Illinois. Other dates will be announced shortly.

• American Head Charge
• Tony Iommi
• Black Sabbath
• Throwdown

Former American Head Charge guitarist Bryan Ottoson
Photo: Scott Harrison

On Friday (April 22), three days after guitarist Bryan Ottoson's body was discovered on the band's tour bus, American Head Charge posted a statement on their Web site about their bandmate's passing. "Bryan was a vital member of our group and a key songwriter on The Feeding," the statement reads. "It is our intention to honor his memory by rejoining Mudvayne, one of Bryan's favorite bands, on the current tour. Words cannot convey the depth of our sadness, but we want our fans to be able to hear the music Bryan loved so much. He'd be pissed if we didn't continue on. We will return on the Lubbock, Texas, date on April 29. Chad Ottoson, Bryan's brother, states that the Ottoson family firmly stands behind [American Head Charge]'s decision to carry on in Bryan's name." A spokesperson for American Head Charge said the group is currently working to find a replacement guitarist and will make a decision by Monday. Meanwhile, a public memorial service for Ottoson will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday at the Thomson Dougherty funeral home on Park Avenue in Minneapolis. ...

Lindsay Lohan's Los Angeles home was robbed while she was in New York shooting "Just My Luck," according to Los Angeles police. More than $10,000 worth of TVs, DVD players and other electronic equipment was stolen from the singer/actress, while her liquor cabinet and closet were also raided. Police are investigating. ... When you have the #1 album in the country, you have to celebrate correctly. So Mariah Carey partied up at Cipriani's in New York Thursday night with the likes of Jay-Z, Ice-T, Memphis Bleek, Kanye West, P. Diddy, L.A. Reid, Jermaine Dupri and Christina Milian. (Click for photos from the party.) ...

Hip-hop's favorite ex-pimp, the Archbishop Don "Magic" Juan, is launching a clothing line called the Bishop. Snoop Dogg, Lil Jon and Omarion are among the celebrities who have previewed the line in videos and magazines. Although the archbishop is known for his flashy suits, the line is actually composed of T-shirts and hats. ... Modest Mouse will hit the road in May and June for an 18-show tour with recently reunited indie darlings Camper Van Beethoven. The trek kicks off with two shows at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 25-26 and wraps with a June 20 show at Central Park's Summer Stage in New York. ...

Emo heartthrob Chris Carrabba's Dashboard Confessional have enlisted producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel) to help them with the recording of the band's fourth full-length — the follow-up to 2003's A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar. ... Courtney Love's making a comeback — or at least her comic manga series is. The next installment of "Princess Ai," called "Lumination," features the Courtney-based character facing a group of assassins and crowds of protesters as she continues searching for her identity. The title will hit in July. ...

Kinks frontman Ray Davies, who is currently on tour, failed to testify against the man who allegedly drove the getaway car for the gunman who stole Davies' female companion's purse at gunpoint and shot the singer in the leg during a January 4, 2004, attack in New Orleans. The defendant was released Wednesday after the prosecution dismissed charges, The Associated Press reports. The district attorney for the case said Davies had informed them of his unavailability until December. The DA said they plan to reinstate charges once the singer returns and is able to testify against the accused. ... Mathew Knowles' Sanctuary Urban Group will release an album of unreleased music from the late Rick James on August 2. The record will include a duet with Ty James, Rick's daughter. ...

Fugees rapper Pras shot a video in Los Angeles this week for his new single, a cover of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Maria Menounos of "Entertainment Tonight" is featured in the clip. ... After playing God on "Joan of Arcadia," Wyclef Jean is going in a completely different direction for his next TV guest-starring role. The Fugee will play a gang leader named Marcel on "Third Watch," in an episode called "End of Tour" that airs April 29 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. ...

Damon Dash, who produced the Kevin Bacon drama "The Woodsman," will next produce "Shadowboxer" with Cuba Gooding Jr., Helen Mirren and Macy Gray. "It's about a hit man and a hit woman, one being the stepmother and one being the stepson, so you've got your very different situations," Dash said. "It's a very well-written script, another piece of art." ... Jermaine Dupri is taking his position as head of urban music at Virgin Music So So seriously. On July 19, JD will flex his executive as well as artistic muscles with the release of a compilation of So So Def artists called Young, Fly and Flashy Vol 1. The first single is a Dupri record called "Gotta Getcha." Other performers on the record include Daz, Pastor Troy, and newcomers T. Waters, Young Capone and Johnta. ...

Looking for a slightly funkier Passover experience? Then you may want to pick up DJ So Called's new album of Yiddish rap and hip-hop klezmer stylings, The So Called Seder: A Hip-Hop Haggadah. Hasidic reggae beat-boxer Matisyahu guests on the LP, as does Mr. Bungle's Trevor Dunn and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate Killah Priest. ...

04.21.2005

After the Black Eyed Peas release Monkey Business on June 7 and complete their tour behind it, the group will split off and work on solo records. "Fergie has her record, I have a Spanish record coming out and Apl has a Pilipino record coming out," Taboo said. "We decided to branch out and show the world that we as individuals could represent our own styles." Members of the group are also interested in pursuing acting and producing, but Taboo insisted the Peas will continue to make music together. ...

In case you were wondering what Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey would do to follow up their holiday-themed variety special, wonder no more. The no-longer newlyweds are shooting their performance this week at Rammstein Air Force Base in Germany for "Nick and Jessica's Tour of Duty," which will air May 23 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. ... Move over, Madonna — Mariah Carey's planning to give the Material Mom a run for her money with her own series of illustrated children's books, "Automatic Princess," which she started working on last summer. The project got slightly derailed since Carey was also recording her album at the same time, but she says it's time to revisit the idea. "The way I do things, I need to be involved. I wouldn't just be like, 'Here's a concept, go run with it,' " she said. "It's still something I really want to do, and I'm going to do, and I'm going to start getting that into production soon." The series would explore the journey of a biracial orphan girl who goes through what Carey experienced as a child. ...

R. Kelly, who was due in court Thursday (April 21), won't have to make an appearance until next week. The singer got a continuance for a pretrial hearing in his child-pornography case until April 29, according to the Cook County state attorney's office in Illinois. ... The judge in the Michael Jackson case denied a motion on Thursday to allow an expert on battered women's syndrome to testify, which the prosecution had hoped would explain much of the accuser's mother's bizarre demeanor on the witness stand. Judge Rodney Melville said that the JC Penney case the mother was involved in wasn't established to be a domestic-abuse matter. Melville also denied a motion to allow former Neverland guard Kassim Abdool to testify regarding an incident where he says he saw an "aroused" Jackson and the 1993 accuser in bed. But Melville will allow Abdool to corroborate an incident previously testified to by another former guard, about finding wet swimming trunks on the floor of the restroom near the Neverland Jacuzzi (Ralph Chacon had said that he observed Jackson molest the boy in that restroom). Meanwhile, a potential witness for the defense has been arrested on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old. Eighteen-year-old Ahmad Elatab, who used to visit Neverland and knew the current accuser, is being held on $25,000 bail on charges of sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and impairing the morals of a minor. ...

Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and his son Justin, who had been facing two third-degree felony counts of battery stemming from a 2003 New Year's Eve altercation with law-enforcement officers, have accepted plea agreements to reduce the charges to a single misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence, according to The Associated Press. The incident took place after security prevented the musician's son from joining the house band at Naples, Florida's Ritz-Carlton Hotel restaurant onstage to sing to his wife. The guitarist allegedly elbowed a cop in the face, pushed a female officer down a staircase and ripped an officer's radio from his uniform. Lifeson and his son agreed on Thursday to serve one year of probation and pay all court costs. ... Eminem, the White Stripes and Anita Baker were among the big winners at Wednesday night's Detroit Music Awards. Em won Outstanding National Major-Label Album for Encore, the Stripes won Outstanding Major-Budget Video for "Black Math" and Baker took Outstanding National Single for "You're My Everything." ...

XXL magazine held an appreciation party for Common and Kanye West Wednesday night at Club 17 in New York. Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri, Kwamé and 7 Aurelius were among those in attendance. ... That same night, Kanye rocked clothing giant H&M's fashion show in Central Park. "I'm here to perform ... to rock the house," West proclaimed inside the 15,000 square-foot, four-story tent complex erected by the department store. The Grammy Award-winner then performed his hit single "Through the Wire" with Miri Ben-Ari and John Legend. ...

Dave Navarro, who documented his drug abuse and recovery in his book "Don't Try This at Home," is being honored by MusiCares for his devotion to helping other addicts with their own addiction and recovery processes. Tom Arnold will serve as host for the gala, which is being held May 20 at the Music Box in Hollywood, and will feature performances by Jerry Cantrell and Navarro's new band the Panic Channel (which also includes Stephen Perkins). All proceeds will benefit MusiCares' MAP Fund, which provides musicians with access to recovery treatment. ... Former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus has taken time away from his busy schedule of blogging about the NBA and creating nonsensical poems on his official site to key us in to the track list for his third solo album, Face the Truth (due May 24). According to a post on StephenMalkmus.com, the new album is 11 tracks long, and boasts song titles like "Murder at the Yoga Olympics," "Post Paint Boy" and "Pencil Rot." Malkmus also writes that he plans on touring the U.S. in early June, though no dates are available at the moment. ...

A Florida couple were married Wednesday night before thousands of Mötley Crüe fans after winning a local radio station's "Mötley Matrimony" contest. Duane Trump and Michelle McGee exchanged vows on the stage of Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena, just before the Crüe's thunderous set, according to Floridian NBC affiliate WTLV. The new Mrs. Trump said the couple were excited about the ceremony, saying it's "definitely a story to tell." ...

• American Head Charge
• Lindsay Lohan
• Mariah Carey
• Jay-Z
• Dashboard Confessional

Former American Head Charge guitarist Bryan Ottoson (file)
Photo: Scott Harrison

American Head Charge guitarist Bryan Ottoson was found dead on Tuesday. The 27-year-old musician's body was discovered in a sleeping bunk on the band's tour bus in North Charleston, South Carolina, where the group was set to play at the Plex club, a spokesperson for the band's label said.

According to North Charleston police records, investigators have determined Ottoson's death to be the result of a prescription-drug overdose. Police found a pill bottle containing "numerous amounts of prescription medicine" in Ottoson's bed.

Members of American Head Charge told police they last saw Ottoson alive at around 4 a.m. on the morning of April 18, just as the band was departing Jessup, Maryland, for North Charleston. Ottoson had consumed "a large amount of alcohol at a bar" in Jessup that evening, according to police documents.

Police were called to the scene at around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening; by that time, Ottoson was dead. Bassist Chad Hanks (known to fans by his stage name, Mr. H.C. Banks III) and guitarist Karma Cheema told police that Ottoson was a "heavy sleeper, and it was not uncommon for him to sleep late before a concert."

The report also claims police were told that Ottoson had been "consuming unknown prescription medications."

The band had been on tour with Mudvayne, Life of Agony and Bloodsimple. American Head Charge are expected to miss at least the next three dates of the tour, and it's unclear whether they will rejoin it at all. At the moment, the bandmembers are said to be heading home to Minneapolis. An official statement from the group is expected late Wednesday (April 20).

The industrial-metal collective was formed nearly a decade ago by founding frontman Martin Cock and Hanks following a chance meeting in a Minnesota rehab center. In a recent interview with British magazine Metal Hammer, Hanks said, "In the past three years, we've had two or three relapses, two treatment centers, a divorce, two members leaving, and a whole heap of other sh-- going on." In the same article, Cock alludes to the fact that alcohol and drug abuse has nearly ended the band in the past.

American Head Charge released their latest album, The Feeding, in February.

• American Head Charge

Ozzfest 2001 Tour Kickoff Photos

• Papa Roach
• Black Sabbath
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Slipknot
• Mudvayne