Huge Random News (Sabbath,Nickelback.AC/DC,Robert Plant,)

According to a posting at AC-DC.net, Epic/Sony will issue an AC/DC double DVD, entitled "Family Jewels", on March 29. The two-disc set will include video material from the periods 1975 to 1980, and 1980 to 1993, respectively. In other news, Bubi Heilmann, a German photographer for the Bravo magazine who first brought AC/DC to Germany in 1976 has just published a book (200+ pages, hardcover) containing hundreds of his best photos of the band taken from 1976 to 1980. Currently only available in Germany, the book can be ordered from Amazon.de.Also on the AC/DC-related front, a special AC/DC issue of Guitar Legend was published last month, featuring reprints of all AC/DC interviews done by Guitar World magazine over the years (including tons of rare photos).

Former Nickelback drummer Ryan Vikedal would like to set the record straight: His departure from the band was no "departure." He was fired. "I still don't know the reason," he says during a phone call to the Sun yesterday. "We met with producer Bob Rock before Christmas holidays and everything seemed fine, but when I got back from the holidays, I was told I was fired." Vikedal says he was taken completely by surprise and had been ready to start work on the next album when he got the news. He says he wasn't impressed by how singer Chad Kroeger and the other musicians handled it - summoning him to the tour manager's house for a meeting on Jan. 3 only to be told "my heart wasn't in it," the 29-year-old drummer says. "And then they went on to say that I'm not quite the rock drummer that they were looking for - and this after three albums and 17 million records sold."I had to direct the meeting because they kept blabbing about my playing and that I wasn't happy with the band. It was just a bunch of lame excuses because no one could tell me the deal. "I had to tell them to cut the s--- and get to the point. And even then they couldn't bring themselves to tell me I was done." Vikedal says his replacement will be Three Doors Down drummer Daniel Adair, who is from Vancouver. Nickelback and Three Doors Down toured together last year and Vikedal says he figures the change was in the works even back then. On the prospect of Three Doors Down now needing a drummer, he shoots back, "No, thanks. I'm done with them." Now, he says, "I feel like there's a weight off my shoulders but I'd like the honest truth to come out. "I feel pretty betrayed by what was once called a family." Vikedal says he's going to take a year off to study music in Boston, with teachers from the Berklee College of Music. Nickelback, meanwhile, will not be working with Bob Rock after all, according to Vikedal, as Kroeger will again produce the band himself for the followup to the multi-platinum selling album, The Long Road. Following the hit single How You Remind Me in 2001, the former Hanna group became one of the biggest modern rock bands in the world. Of the snippets of new Nickelback material Vikedal has been privy to hear, he offers a one-word description: "Ballad-y." A spokesman at Nickelback's Los Angeles management company denied that Vikedel has been replaced, saying he and the band have just "parted ways." The band itself was not available for comment.

Launch Radio Networks is reporting that BLACK SABBATH will be back in action this summer. Singer-bassist Glenn Hughes, who's finishing up a new album with SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi, said that Ozzy Osbourne and company will hit both Europe and North America this year, and that he might also be on the bill. "They are doing the, the festival run in Europe, and I believe ? if I'm not shooting my foot off here ? that they will be playing Ozzfest," he said. "And there's a rumor that Tony and I will be, with our new project, on that same bill, but I can't say that's gonna happen ? but you never know."BLACK SABBATH has already signed on to play Denmark's Roskilde (pronounced Ross-kill-dee) Festival, one of the largest annual music events in Europe. Roskilde, in its 34th year, will take place June 30 through July 3. Last year's festival drew 75,000 fans to hear 150 bands performing on six stages.Other groups slated to play this year's Roskilde Festival include GREEN DAY and AUDIOSLAVE.Osbourne is preparing for the March 22 release of "Prince of Darkness", a four-CD box set of material from throughout his career, as well as some newly recorded cover songs.Besides the project with Iommi, which should be out this summer, Hughes has a solo album called "Soul Mover" that's due next month. It features RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS drummer Chad Smith and ex-JANE'S ADDICTION guitarist Dave Navarro.

In what appears to have all the makings of a European summer tour, the original BLACK SABBATH ? Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward ? have been confirmed to appear at Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria on June 20. Support at the show will come from VELVET REVOLVER. Tickets go on sale on February 2. The original SABBATH's last appearance in Vienna took place on June 5, 1998.

Launch Radio Networks is reporting that former LED ZEPPELIN singer Robert Plant is expected to announce a U.S. release date soon for his new solo album, "Mighty Rearranger". The 12-track album comes out in the U.K. on April 25, with a single, "Shine It All Around", due out April 18. It's Plant's first studio set since 2002's "Dreamland", although his 2003 retrospective, "Sixty Six To Timbuktu", also featured some new recordings.Plant recorded "Mighty Rearranger" last year in Wales and England, with a group called the STRANGE SENSATION.Plant kicks off a short U.S. tour on March 11 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He'll also be delivering the keynote speech and performing at this year's South By Southwest music festival on March 17 in Austin, Texas.Plant will also take part in a tsunami relief benefit on February 19 in Bristol, England. Other bands on that bill include MASSIVE ATTACK, PORTISHEAD, and the CORAL.