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The Australian band Sick Puppies made big strides, commercially and critically, with their 2009 album Tri-Polar. Can they continue the trend with their new disc? We’ll find out on July 16 when the trio release Connect.

As for what the album might sound like, frontman Shim Moore recently spoke with Loudwire, saying, “It’s a louder record, but we went for a different sound in terms of the layering of the guitars. So there aren’t as many guitars, but the ones that we do have we’ve turned up a lot more. So if that gives you an idea, it’s a louder record but it’s much more musical.”

Truth be told, some of the best moments on Tri-Polar were the more musical and melodic. If Sick Puppies have figured out how to meld volume with their sharp melodic sense, they might really have something. In less than two months, we’ll know.

Connect Track List:

• “Die to Save You”

• “There’s No Going Back”
• “Walking Away”
• “Gunfight”
• “Poison”
• “Where Did the Time Go”
• “Telling Lies”
• “Connect”
• “Run”
• “The Trick the Devil Did”
• “Healing Now”
• “Under a Very Black Sky”

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Photo courtesy EMI.

Ever since Stone Temple Pilots decided to fire Scott Weiland, there’s been curiosity about what the musicians would do without him. (Those wonders only increased after the vocalist made it clear that he may need to take legal action to keep them from using the band name without him.) Well, the drama deepened Saturday night when the Weiland-less STP played a show with Chester Bennington, the singer from Linkin Park.

The show in question was the KROQ Weenie Roast in Los Angeles, where the band unveiled a new song, “Out of Time.” They’ve also recorded the track with Bennington, and once you hear it you’ll notice that he sounds an awful like Weiland on it.

The STP members haven’t yet announced any sort of album plans, but guitarist Dean DeLeo did tell KROQ, “We know Linkin Park will always be [Bennington's] priority, but we thought it would be cool to try something together. We managed to find the time to record a song and we’re all really happy with the result.”

If they try to release this song for sale on iTunes or elsewhere, though, how will they bill themselves? Do they get themselves in legal hot water if they keep calling themselves Stone Temple Pilots? It might be funny if they opted for Stone Temple Park or Linkin Pilots instead.

Update: It looks like Stone Temple Pilots are serious about having Bennington as their vocalist. They’ve even doing promotional photos with the guy.

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Photo: Chapman Baehler.

Back in February when it was revealed that Trent Reznor was going to be reactivating Nine Inch Nails for a new tour, I noted that it wouldn’t necessarily be the same lineup as it had been at previous times in the band’s run — and that it probably didn’t matter one way or the other. “This reunited NIN will feature a new lineup, though, including former Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, although for most fans, this band starts and ends with Reznor,” I wrote at the time. Well, even if most people associate Nine Inch Nails with just Reznor, there’s been some changes to the band this week as they prepare to start touring in July.

First came word that Avery was pulling out of NIN. On Wednesday, the bassist took to his Facebook page to say, “its been a tough call and i don’t know if its the right one. but i really want to focus on my musical life here in la, on film work in particular. as the tour dates kept growing… i just got overwhelmed.” The reason for his decision stemmed from having just gotten off the road with Garbage, which he called “a year of heavy travel.” This, by the way, isn’t the first time he’s pulled the plug on a band. Back in 2010 as Jane’s was getting things back together, he tweeted that he was dropping out of the group before they started working on their new album, which would eventually become The Great Escape Artist.

But then on Friday, somebody new was added to the NIN lineup. It’s not a bassist, though — It’s Robin Finch, a guitarist who has been part of Nine Inch Nails in the past. “The addition of Robin to the mix of players I’ve assembled makes this band incredibly powerful and versatile,” Reznor wrote as part of the announcement. “We are deep in the rehearsal process and it feels exciting and great to be back at this.”

So if you’re keeping score at home, that means the NIN touring lineup consists of guitarist Adrian Belew, keyboardist Alessandro Cortini, keyboardist Josh Eustis, guitarist Robin Finck, drummer Ilan Rubin, and Trent Reznor. They’re doing two dates in Asia at the end of July, and then it’s back to the States for a performance at Lollapalooza in August. For a look at what else is on their tour itinerary, best head over to the band’s website.

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Photo: Rob Sheridan.

The new movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby is well on its way to making more than $100 million at the box office (and that’s just in the U.S.), so it shouldn’t be a surprise that its soundtrack has been a big hit as well. The Billboard Rock Charts welcomed the album with open arms, but they still also had plenty of love for Imagine Dragons and their double-platinum smash “Radioactive.” Of the three singles charts that we track, it’s been at No. 1 on all of them for at least eight weeks, a really impressive feat. Just think if the Las Vegas group had a song in The Great Gatsby. Check out my rundown of this week’s Rock Charts to see where your favorite tunes and albums ranked.

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Photo courtesy Total Assault.

Puddle of Mudd have had a tough time of late maintaining the sales momentum that their early-2000 records enjoyed. They put out their last studio album of new material, Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate, back in 2009, and it barely cracked the Top 100 on the Billboard album charts, although the singles “Spaceship” and “Stoned” had some impact on rock radio. But lately, the band has been in the news for the hijinks of its lead singer. Those tabloid scandals got more serious on Monday.

According to TMZ, Los Angeles police arrested vocalist Wes Scantlin after an incident in a store in which, allegedly, he shook his ex-wife and tried to drag her by force. He’s believed to be currently in jail on a charge of domestic violence.

Scantlin has faced legal issues for a while now. In September of last year, he was arrested after allegedly getting into an altercation with a flight attendant concerning selling him alcohol during the flight. As TMZ reported at the time, the pilot landed in Austin for an unscheduled stop just so that Scantlin could be removed and arrested. (For what it’s worth, Scantlin later insisted he was sober and that the flight attendant was being rude to him.) A few months earlier, he pleaded guilty to cocaine possession. And that’s not even mentioning an incident from earlier this month when police caught him speeding and, according to TMZ, noticed that he had warrants out for his arrest.

As you can see, this domestic violence arrest is just the latest legal embarrassment for Scantlin but, sadly, this isn’t the first time he’s been associated with this specific charge. In 2002, he and his fiancee at the time, Michelle Rubin, were arrested in connection to a domestic violence investigation. According to MTV News, “Several witnesses reported seeing a man forcing a woman into a Jeep Cherokee driven by a third person.” Unfortunately for Puddle of Mudd fans, Scantlin’s public dramas have been part of the band’s legacy almost from the beginning.

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Photo courtesy Total Assault.

Though they’re currently on tour, the guys in Limp Bizkit are looking ahead to finishing their new record. Called Stampede of the Disco Elephants, it was initially rumored to be coming out this summer. Now it looks like September is more likely.

In an interview with Billboard, guitarist Wes Borland said they’re shooting to finish the disc by August. “I think it’s a little bit more sort of playful, taking chances, a little less pop structured type of stuff,” he said about the new album’s sound. “I don’t want to say it [sounds] younger, but maybe a little more carefree, musically, to where we don’t over-think what we’re doing. We’re leaving mistakes in and going, ‘Oh, that sounds great, leave that in.’ That’s sort of the thinking instead of polishing too much or trying to stay within the parameters of a formula.”

Borland estimated that “lyrics and vocals are probably 30 percent done,” which is frontman Fred Durst’s terrain, and that “pretty much all the music” is finished. But what’s really up in the air is whether DJ Lethal, who handled keyboards and turntables, will be contributing much to Stampede of the Disco Elephants. Currently, he’s not a member of the group, but according to Borland, “I know what he wants to do but don’t know what he would do if he came back into the band. … When we had him back, nothing materialized as far as material coming out of him to add to the record. We’re talking to him. We’ve opened up dialogue back with him recently, and we’ll see what happens.” And we’ll see if this record shows up in September or ends up getting delayed.

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Photo courtesy Earshot Media.

Deftones’ last two records have been among their finest — not to mention the finest in all of rock during that time. (Indeed, both Diamond Eyes and Koi No Yokan topped their respective years’ Best Albums lists.) Still, there’s a little sadness associated with these records because they were made after their longtime bassist Chi Cheng fell into a coma following a serious car accident in November 2008. Cheng died last month, but it may be possible we’ll soon get to hear the last music he made with Deftones.

You may remember that before Cheng’s accident, the band members were working on an album called Eros. But in June of 2009, Deftones announced that they were setting aside those songs to start fresh. The new sessions brought us Diamond Eyes, but in a recent interview frontman Chino Moreno suggested that revisiting Eros could be a possibility.

At the recent Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles, Moreno said that in the wake of Cheng’s death, the band might want to unveil the songs they had been working on with their late bassist. “I think [the chances of Eros being released are] more so now probably than ever [before],” Moreno said. “I actually went back and listened to some of it recently and … you know, I don’t know when [we will put it out] or … but I feel it’s a little more appropriate now for us to think about that [than it has been] in the last few years to think about.”

It’s always dangerous to read too much into off-the-cuff comments that musicians make while walking the red carpet before an awards show. But I can’t be alone in being curious what the Eros songs sounded like. Whenever Deftones decide to release those recordings, it’ll definitely be worth hearing.

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Photo: 13th Witness.

Imagine Dragons are easily 2013′s biggest rock act. Not bad for a band that wasn’t even on people’s radar a year ago. But on the strength of two double-platinum singles, “It’s Time” and “Radioactive,” they’re absolutely dominating the Billboard Rock Charts this week. It also didn’t hurt that there weren’t any big new record releases recently, paving the way for their debut, Night Visions, to have a great week of sales. Check out my rundown of this week’s Rock Charts to see where your favorite tunes and albums ranked.

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Photo courtesy Total Assault.

About six months ago, Axl Rose gave an interview in which he hinted that he and the rest of Guns N’ Roses were deep into the follow-up for Chinese Democracy. But GNR fans know that you have to be patient. Still, a recent missive from one of Axl’s bandmates suggests that, yes, a new album could be on its way as early as next year.

NME mentions an interview that GNR guitarist Richard Fortus gave in which he gave a progress report on the record. The news story about the interview appears on VVN Music, and it contains no quotes from Fortus and simply states that “maybe” the album would arrive in 2014. That’s almost nothing to go on, so you probably shouldn’t plan next year’s calendar around the record’s arrival. As Axl mentioned last year, GNR are always working on new material. The real question is whether the vocalist decides it’s ready to reach the public. And that’s not something that Fortus — or, really, anyone — knows at this point.

Update: In a separate interview, guitarist Bumblefoot addressed the issue of new GNR music. Speaking with Rolling Stone, he said, “There’s a lot of stuff, it’s just a question of all of us organizing.” It appears that once the band get off the road, then the focus will return to songwriting. “We just have little things on the back burner,” he said, “just waiting for the right time for us to organize and make something new out of it. Hopefully we can make more music — that’s what it’s about.” Notably, he put no timetable on a Chinese follow-up.

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Photo courtesy Interscope.

Former ’60s pop crooner Scott Walker has had a spotty record of activity throughout most of his nearly four-decade-long career as a solo artist, releasing only one album of original material, in fact, between the period of 1974 to 1995. That record, 1983′s Climate of Hunter, presented the former Walker Brothers vocalist as a jarringly eclectic pop/rock artist and certainly placed him far outside the typical boundaries of ’80s music. Nevertheless, the oddly titled “Track Three” casts a spacey, foreboding mood through its plodding mechanical beginning and then an explosion of piercing lead rock guitar. Supported ably and unnervingly by the harmony vocals of R&B singer Billy Ocean, the song is genuinely strange and utterly wonderful.

Still, fans of Walker’s baroque/sunshine pop sound from his previous musical fame will likely be disappointed or at least confused by the plodding dance rhythms and spare synthesizer instrumentation on display here. But it’s possible to receive that experience as a positive one, especially considering the relative lack of production from Walker during this era. It’s good to hear from him even if it’s completely disorienting and responsible for creating an essentially creepy, robotic vibe. The uniquely passionate timbre of Walker’s voice has always been able to cast a thick, gripping spell on listeners (witness a ’60s stunner like The Walker Brothers’ 1966 recording of “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.” However, the cryptic “Track Three” invades far different territory to find its way into the permanent rock music ether.

• Sample or download “Track Three” here.
• Compare prices on Scott Walker CDs here.
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Album Cover Image Courtesy of Virgin