IT'S ONLY ROCK 'N ROLL...

but it's still news. Guns and Roses' big hair boy Slash has announced that he has left the band. Half a decade has passed since the group released their last disc; in the meantime, the guitarist has kept relatively busy recording his other project, Slash's Snakepit. According to the band's label Geffen, the departure was a 'mutual agreement.' Source: Jam

THE CRANBERRIES: FREE TO DECLINE

Cranberries manager Lewis Kovak has finally spoken out, addressing rumours of anorexia concerning frontwoman Delores O'Riordan. After the group pulled out of the final leg of their Free To Decide world tour last week, the U.K. tabloids once again brought their suspicions to the front pages of the papers. Kovak, in a statement to NME last week, said that "the rumours are definitely not true. She's just very underweight and weak. No one's sure exactly why, but we believe that she has not recovered properly since she hurt herself in Australia. She's been overdoing it on the physiotherapy, which has been up to two hours a day, then performing and doing interviews and everything, which have combined to drain her so that she just wasn't eating properly." There are no future dates planned at this time.

TRENT AND BILLY IN BED TOGETHER

Well...uh... metaphorically, that is. The buzz about David Lynch's new film Lost Highway has begun; this time, however, it's not about the plot, the stars, or the twisted visuals. The big attention-grabber thus far is the Trent Reznor-produced soundtrack. The collection will not only include a new Nine Inch Nails song ("The Perfect Drug") and a Marilyn Manson done cover tune ("I Put A Spell On You") but also plans the inclusion of a new song by Billy Corgan (sans Pumpkins) called "Eye". Source: Addicted To Noise

EVERYTHING BUT THE ACOUSTIC

Everything But The Girl continue on with their successful beat-driven formula, this time to release a five track e.p. entitled Everything But The Girl Vs. Drum 'N' Bass. To help explain what drum 'n' bass is, here's Girl member Ben Watt's take on it. "Drum 'n' Bass has become a recognized term in the UK dance culture to define an area of music that has grown largely out of the increasing complexities os up tempo groove within Jungle, Techno, and modern down tempo funk styles like Trip Hop. Within EBTG, we wanted to find a new way of contrasting our natural mellow sound with a hard sensibility. Drum 'n' Bass seemed an ideal vehicle. Its poly-rhythmic relation to Latin music (bossa and samba) and jazz (especially be-bop) have us another handle that enabled us to link it to ideas we've always worked with....It will also hopefully encourage people to examine the Drum 'n' Bass scene itself, which is, in it's roots form, the most progressive and expressive instrumental music of the day."

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