AVRIL LAVIGNE, SUM 41 FRONTMAN TIE THE KNOT
Avril Lavigne and Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley tied the knot this past Saturday (July 15th) during an outdoor ceremony at a private estate in Montecito, California. According the People.com, Lavigne wore a Vera Wang gown and carried white roses as her father walked her down the aisle. The couple exchanged vows in front of 110 guests, including family and friends from their native Ontario.

• Their first dance was to the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris."
• Twenty-one-year-old Lavigne and 26-year-old Whibley have been dating for two years and became engaged in Venice, Italy in June 2005.
• Lavigne has been writing songs for her third album, the follow-up to 2004's Under My Skin. She told People.com that fans should expect a lot of love songs on the next set, saying, "That's what I feel, so that's what I'm going to end up writing."
  Earlier this year, Sum 41 started writing songs for its next album, the follow-up to 2004's Chuck.

EVANESCENCE LOSES BASSIST
Evanescence will release their new album, The Open Door, on October 3rd. That?s the same day that The Killers will come out with their new one, Sam?s Town, but unlike The Killers, Evanescence won?t have their original line-up. According to MTV News, bassist William Boyd has left the band. Boyd left the band because he did not want to head out on tour again and wanted to spend more time with his family. Frontwoman Amy Lee said that she is supportive of his decision, saying that they ?love Will very much? and wish him ?nothing but happiness in everything he does. We?ve been playing music together since I was in junior high. I miss him already.? Evanescence will be looking for a replacement in the near future.


HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS GROW UP
?Pens and Needles? is the latest single off of Hawthorne Heights new album If Only You were Lonely, an album that frontman JT Woodruff says brings out the grown-up side of the band. (Actuality #1) ?I think it?s just maturity. You know, as you grow as a musician, you don?t want to just put it all out on the table at once and as we wrote this album we tried to make each part distinctive and basically impact the next part that came right after it. So, we definitely made a conscious effort to build the songs, sort of like a story line and not just you have a climax right at the beginning but ups and downs and stuff.? Hawthorne Heights are currently on tour in Canada, but will be back in the U-S for a show in Bonner Springs, Kansas on July 29th.


30 SECONDS? MORE LIKE 3 YEARS
A Beautiful Lie, the second album by Jared Leto?s band, 30 Seconds to Mars, seems to be getting its second wind on the Billboard chart ? this week, it?s jumping back up from number 74 to 66. Bassist Matt Wachter says the group?s pretty happy, because the record took an unusually long time to make. ?It took nine months to record the record, about two and a half to three years to actually write the record so, over those two and a half, three years, we went through a lot of changes, both individually and as a band. So I think that really reflected in the songs.? 30 Seconds to Mars will be playing Orangevale, California, tomorrow night.


CLERKS II
Clerks II is the sequel to Kevin Smith?s indie debut, which was released back in 1994. The film chronicling two convenience store clerks over the course of one day?s trials and tribulations quickly became a cult classic. This new film marks the return of Brian O?Halloran as ?Dante? and Jeff Anderson as ?Randall,? who are now in their 30?s and haven?t grown much in the past ten years. Smith knows he is setting himself up for abuse from the Internet savvy fans who have a lot of time on their hands. ?The thing about the Internet for me is that it is the boon and the bane of my existence and if you are going to believe the positive stuff you have to also believe the negative stuff. So, you know if I read I am a genius, I take that with a massive pound of salt and if I read that I am a hack and the worst director ever, I take that with a pound of salt as well. The truth lies somewhere in between.? Smith also pays a great deal of attention to critics and fan reactions to his films. ?I am really dialed into reaction of all the films. I am not one of those filmmakers that lies and says, ?I don?t read the reviews and I don?t go on the Internet.? I read every review and spend and inordinate amount of time on the Internet? way too much. So, I know you are always going to run up against people that are like, ?It?s balls compared to the first Clerks?.? Clerks II also marks the return of Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as ?Jay? and ?Silent Bob,? respectively and it also stars Rosario Dawson. Keep a look out for cameos by Jason Lee and Ben Affleck when it hits theaters on Friday.


NEW CRANK YANKERS CALL IN TO MTV2
MTV2 announced a deal last week that will bring band new episodes of Crank Yankers to the network. The show, which features prank calls made by comedians and celebrities that are re-enacted by a cast of puppets, originally premiered on Comedy Central. Now, eight new episodes will run on MTV2. Showdates and times have yet to be announced.


TAKING BACK SUNDAY SINGER RATES ANGELS & AIRWAVES
Taking Back Sunday and Angels And Airwaves have been co-headlining across the U.S. since June 22nd. Angels frontman Tom DeLonge recently told LAUNCH that he didn't think the two bands were necessarily a good musical fit, so we asked Taking Back Sunday vocalist Adam Lazzara for his assessment: ["Their music reminds me of that scene in The Breakfast Club, it's like the last scene in the movie, it's when Judd Nelson just throws the one hand up in the air and it freezes there and the credits roll -- that's what Angels And Airwaves is to me. They just have more of like a U2, kinda like ballady feel to 'em. And then we come on and we just play our rock tunes."

• DeLonge told LAUNCH about Angels And Airwaves, "This band is very much not in that punk rock scene. I just think that it's definitely not meant just for, like, this punk rock kind of underground thing."
• Taking Back Sunday's third album and major label debut, Louder Now, was recently certified gold for sales of more than 500,000 copies. The album's first single is "MakeDamnSure."
• Taking Back Sunday will perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno next Monday (July 24th) and Last Call with Carson Daly on July 28th.
• The two bands, along with the Subways and Head Automatica, play tomorrow (Tuesday, July 18th) in Mesa, Arizona.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD SINGER INTERVIEWS METALLICA

Avenged Sevenfold singer M. Shadows interviewed Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and frontman James Hetfield for the September issue of Revolver magazine, which is on newsstands now. The interview was conducted last month when the two bands were playing European festivals together. Shadows asked his heroes why they decided to work with producer Rick Rubin on their next album, to which Ulrich replied, "Everything that's great about rock, from Slipknot to System Of A Down to the Chili Peppers to Mars Volta...it's all Rick Rubin...we want to work with the guy who's got the total finger on the pulse."
Hetfield told Shadows that younger bands like Avenged Sevenfold kept Metallica excited about playing music, explaining, "Bands like yourself are getting us to step up again and getting us to remember the roots where we came from."

• Metallica is currently writing its ninth studio album, which the band hopes to begin recording this fall.
• Avenged Sevenfold is touring on the main stage of Ozzfest as it continues to support its 2005 major label debut, City Of Evil.

SNOW PATROL SINGER CLEARED FOR DUTY

Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody has been given the green light to tour again. The Scottish band was forced to cancel its entire U.S. tour last month after Lightbody was diagnosed with polyps on his vocal chords, but the frontman posted at the band's official website last week, "I saw the doctor in Glasgow this week and he gave me a clean bill of health. The gigs for the rest of the year are on and we're itching to get on the road...I'm feeling better than I have in ages and we are bursting to get back at it."

• The British act has rescheduled its U.S. dates, beginning with some radio festivals in mid-August before heading out on a month-long trek starting on September 6th in Atlanta.
  Tickets for the canceled tour will be honored at the rescheduled fall dates. Some of the venues have changed.
• Snow Patrol will be back on the road supporting its new album, Eyes Open, which features the single "Hands Open." The new track from the disc is "Chasing Cars."

SLIPKNOT DJ BECOMES 'THE NEW LEADER'

Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson, also known as DJ Starscream, will issue his debut solo album on August 29th, titled The New Leader. The project, which has been in the works for four years, features Wilson's "mixture of aggressive DJ and production style with an in-depth knowledge of hip hop and metal," according to Blabbermouth.net. The disc features an appearance from Slipknot and Stone Sour guitarist Jim Root on a track called "L.A. Headspace."
The New Leader will come out a month earlier in Japan, on July 25th.

• Wilson is the latest Slipknot member to come out with a solo project. Root and vocalist Corey Taylor will issue the second Stone Sour album, Come What(ever) May, on August 1st, while percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan is working on a new disc with his side band, To My Surprise.
• Slipknot plans to release its next album sometime in 2008.

THIS WEEKEND'S TOP TEN MOVIES - JULY 14-16
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $62.2 million
2. Little Man, $21.7 million
3. You, Me and Dupree, $21.3 million
4. Superman Returns, $11.6 million
5. The Devil Wears Prada, $10.45 million
6. Cars, $7.5 million
7. Click, $7 million
8. The Lake House, $1.6 million
9. Nacho Libre, $1.5 million
10. A Scanner Darkly, $1.2 million

LATE NIGHT TALK SHOWS for MONDAY, JULY 17
DAVID LETTERMAN (CBS) - Regis Philbin, Bryce Dallas Howard
JAY LENO (NBC) - Cuba Gooding Jr., Chris Matthews, Ray Davies
CONAN O'BRIEN (NBC) - Rosario Dawson, Kevin Pollak, Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
CARSON DALY (NBC) - Nick Cannon, Alien Ant Farm
JIMMY KIMMEL (ABC) - Fred Willard