The Week in Drums

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We know it can be difficult to keep up to date with all of the latest goings on in the drum world, so here's our weekly round-up of the week's most pressing stories.

The Rev 'appears' on new A7X album

Avenged Sevenfold have revealed that James 'The Rev' Sullivan will appear on their new album.

Frontman M Shadows told The Pulse Of Radio that the late drummer's vocals have made it on to Nightmare, which is due for release in July.

He said: "Jimmy actually left a couple of vocals on the record. They're kind of like a goodbye.

"It just happens that he sang 'em in key, he sang the words very clearly, and there was no bleed in the mics or anything, and so we used 'em on the record."

The album includes drum parts written by The Rev and played by Mike Portnoy, which is all the reason we need to be counting the days until we got our hands on a copy.

Brian Downey back with Thin Lizzy

Brian Downey is getting back behind the kit for Thin Lizzy.

Downey has been unveiled as part of a new-look Lizzy which includes Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell and The Almighty frontman Ricky Warwick.

The trio will be joined by Scott Gorham, Marco Mendoza and Darren Wharton.

The boys will be in towns all over the UK in January, as they kick off a full tour.

Tired Pony album details revealed

Tired Pony, the collaboration featuring Belle and Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn and REM's Peter Buck, will release their debut album this summer.

The band, completed by Gary Lightbody, Iain Archer, Garret Lee, Scott McCaughey and Troy Stewart, will release The Place We Ran From on 12 July.

'Dead American Winters' - the record's first single - will also be out on the same day.

For more information head to www.tiredpony.com.