Have you heard of Jef Hickey? He was a legendary roadie for several RR bands (and many many more) over the years. Have you ever read Motley Crue’s ‘The Dirt’? Now there is some interesting reading about the original rock n’ roll ethos. In the same vein, albeit from a roadie perspective, read below an exerpt from a piece on Hickey, recently written by Greg Beat from LA Weekly. “For most of his life, Jef Hickey has taken rock n rolls loudest, dumbest, truest and most irresistible messages to heart, perfecting the art of life as a never-ending Kiss chorus. Sure, many people pledge themselves to sex, drugs and rock n roll, but few have done so with the self-destructive verve of the former Studio City resident. Three spiked rings decorate his dick like medals of valor. Hes contracted gonorrhea (six times), crabs (four times), syphilis (three times) and herpes. For more than a decade and a half, with lab-rat consistency, Hickey carpet-bombed his cortex with enough pills to stock a hypochondriacs medicine cabinet. At 15, he established himself as Bostons hardest-working rock serf, unloading equipment for bands like Motorhead and Twisted Sister at almost every club in town. At 17, he lived a louder, crueler, dramatically less uplifting version of Cameron Crowes rock n roll heartwarmer Almost Famous, joining Megadeth on tour as a roadie and discovering the thorny allure of hard drugs and anal sex with Canadian strippers. But now hes 35 and just paroled from a three-year stint in a Sheridan, Oregon, federal prison where he shared an 8-by-12-foot cell with another inmate and a broken-tailed cat that never purred and constantly brawled with the prisons two other feline residents. Even if drug issues and parole restrictions werent clouding his future employment prospects, well, the rock n roll road life that seems like an adventure in your 20s can become a grind in your 30s. How do you grow old in rock n roll when youre not actually a rock star? Jef Hickey hasnt really figured out an answer for that one yet, but he’s going to find out soon enough….” You can read the rest of this piece HERE.

Yes, Corey Taylor has quietly got married. The Slipknot/Stone Sour vocalist has married longtime fiancee Scarlett. Corey tells, “On March 11th, 2004, Scarlett and I became Mr. & Mrs. Corey Taylor in a small ceremony @ the Botanical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The wedding was small, attended by family, both bands and a few friends. The reception was held @ the house, with karaoke carrying on well until 4AM (we tried to get Mick to sing ‘Safety Dance’, but he threatened to kill us all). Just wanted to post a little something about it and say the wait is over, we did it, now we can fight like a normal couple í¢ä‰åäó happily ever after in holy matrimony.” Many congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Taylor from all here at Roadrunner UK.

So we finally have more news for you on our new Canadian signing Three Inches Of Blood! The band have chosen Neil Kernon (who has worked with Nevermore, Cannibal Corpse, & Deicide) to produce their first Roadrunner album in April. You can hear an initial demo from the band HERE.

Fear Factory guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers has a signature series seven-string model coming out from Jackson Guitars. Christian designed the custom model with the people at Jackson and it will be available for the NAMM US music convention this summer. Christian will be partnering up with Machine Head’s Phil Demmel in a new advertising campaign for the Jackson Guitar company.

Mix Online recently interviewed Fear Factory’s Raymond Herrera and collaborator Steve Tushar about their work in the video game industry! “It’s very exciting to be working in the video game market, because I’ve been into video games since the [Atari] 2600 came out when I was 10,” Herrera said. “I started Herrera Productions because a lot of projects started popping up that didn’t want heavy music like FEAR FACTORY. If they wanted something heavy and fast, we could still do FEAR FACTORY. If they want something different, I do it through my production company.” You can check out the full interview HERE.

Hungarian e-magazine Zenemagazin.tk has posted brand new live Soulfly photos from the recent March 12 show at Petofi Hall in Budapest, Hungary. Check them out HERE.

Word has it that Razor & Tie/Roadrunner band 40 Below Summer has been busy working on a video lately for “Taxicab Confessions”. The director is Jeffrey Nothing (Mushroomhead vocalist).

Machine Head’s axeman Phil Demmel has recorded a guest appearance on lead guitar for a new demo from Something Must Die, hailing from San Jose, California. Of 4 songs on the disc, you can hear Phil’s solo on “Bleed For No One” – recorded at Castle Ultimate studios in Oakland, California. You can hear the song HERE.

If you were hoping to catch Machine Head live this Spring, you’ll be pleased to see the guys have announced the following festival dates: April 4 – Worcester, MA – New England Metal & Hardcore Festival May 28 – Brussels, BEL – Ancienne Belgique May 30 – Gelsenkirchen, GER – Rock Hard Festival 2004 June 2 – Belfast, IRE – Mandela Hall June 3 – Glasgow, SCO – Download Scotland 2004 June 4 – Nurburgring, GER – Rock Am Ring June 5 – Nurnberg, GER – Rock Am Park June 6 – Donington, ENG – Download Festival 2004

It’s been a while… while Wednesday is currently over here, and Joey is with Slipknot, what are the rest of the MURDERDOLLS up to? Why attending the recent the “Dawn of The Dead” premiere of course! The premiere took place on Wednesday 10th March at the Cineplex Beverly Center Theatres in Beverly Hills, California. Check out a couple of Murderdoll pictures from Film Magic HERE.