The Icarus Line have been on hiatus for a little while now but while casting an eye over a tickets web-site, that seems to be over as the band are due to play two UK shows in August. Catch them at Manchester Roadhouse on August 5th and August 9th at London’s Kings Cross Water Rats.

…you may have heard of an 80’s metal covers band formerly called Metal Skool and currently going by the name of Steel Panther. These guys are funny as hell, whether it’s picking on members of the audience or bringing up Hollywood celebs to join on famous glam-rock anthems (trawl YouTube and you’ll find everyone from Scott Ian, Matt Sorum and Phil Anselmo to Kelly Clarkson, Vince Vaughn and Mr Belding from Saved By The Bell).

Anyways, they’ve signed a deal with Universal and are about to release an album featuring classics-in-waiting ‘Asian Hooker’ and ‘Stripper Girl’. If by some small chance they manage to make it to the UK, then do anything you can to secure a ticket.

On Wednesday June 4th, Metal Hammer photographer Sam Scott-Hunter will have his work on display as part of a new exhibition taking place at The New Rose, 84-86 Essex Road, London N1 8LU. If you fancy casting your arty-eye over some great metal photography, featuring some in-depth versions of the photo’s you will have seen in the pages of Metal Hammer, get yourself along to this corking exhibition and support a great metal photographer. Check this for more details: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lV5fumXznmo

According to Anthony Kiedis, the Red Hot Chili peppers are going on hiatus for a while. Apparantly, they’ve been so over-worked that they’re going to take a minimum of one year to recharge their batteries and reconnect with the world.

The more cynical of us would argue that they’ve been taking a break since about 1994, when they seem to have ceased to make music with any energy or creative merit. That’s just the cynics of us, though. Naturally.

We here at Metal hammer want to extend a very metal congratulations to UK band Sacred Mother Tounge. The boys have released their digital single Two Thousand Eight Hundred/The Suffering and it has managed to climb into the HMV Download Top 100 at number 19. These boys are DIY to the core and play straight-up metal so this is a remarkable achievement and we throw the horns in your general direction. Well done, guys!