Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor said earlier this week that his band would be doing one last, brief American tour before retiring, and today he announced the locations and dates for these farewell shows. There will be 10 performances – four in New York, two in Chicago, and four in Los Angeles – that will begin August 22 and conclude September 6. Reznor promised “longer set-lists, possible special guests, cool openers and other surprises” at these shows – suffice it to say these concerts will sell out in a heartbeat.

Nine Inch Nails Tour Dates:

• Aug. 22 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
• Aug. 23 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
• Aug. 25 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
• Aug. 26 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
• Aug. 28 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
• Aug. 29 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
• Sept. 2 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium
• Sept. 3 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
• Sept. 5 - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theatre
• Sept. 6 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex

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Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images.

Pearl Jam debuted the first song off their forthcoming album, Backspacer, at the beginning of June on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien. But on August 8, Pearl Jam fans will get to hear “Got Some” and presumably other Backspacer tracks when the band play Canada’s Virgin Festival in Calgary. On top of that, Pearl Jam have just announced a handful of new live dates that will coincide with Backspacer’s September 20 release – the kick-off September 21 show in Seattle will be the band’s first in their hometown in more than four years.

Pearl Jam Tour Dates:

• Aug. 8 - Calgary, AB - Canada Olympic Park
• Aug. 21 - Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre
• Aug. 23 - Chicago, IL - United Center
• Aug. 24 - Chicago, IL - United Center
• Aug. 28 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
• Sept. 21 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena
• Sept. 22 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena
• Sept. 30 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre
• Oct. 1 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre
• Oct. 6 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre
• Oct. 7 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre
• Oct. 9 - San Diego, CA - Viejas Arena
• Oct. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum
• Oct. 30 - Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum

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Photo: Rob Loud/Getty Images.

Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington’s new side band, Dead by Sunrise, gave one of their first live performances July 4 in Las Vegas, and now comes word that their in-the-works debut album is ready to go. Warner Bros. will be releasing Out of Ashes, which was produced by Howard Benson, some time in the fall.

In a press release, Bennington described the songs on Out of Ashes, which were written before the recording of Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight, as “darker and moodier than anything I’d come up with for [Linkin Park].” Dead by Sunrise features Bennington on vocals, Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh on guitar, Brandon Belsky on bass, Elias Anda on drums, and Anthony Valcic on keyboards. Because some of Bennington’s new bandmates also play in Orgy and Julien-K, there’s speculation that Dead by Sunrise might emphasize industrial-edged electronic rock. For his part, Bennington did say, “there are no hip-hop influences at all on this record” and that “the amount of vocal layering and use of harmony really showcase my voice in a new way.”

Side projects often allow established artists to branch out into musical territory that would feel weird coming from their primary band, and Bennington’s comments about Dead by Sunrise definitely lean that direction. “I was involved in the entire process of making the record, including the programming and the production, which was not only a great educational experience, it was very empowering,” he said. “I’m really excited that the album is finally going to see the light of day!”

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

No matter how much Chris Cornell tours to promote his pop-friendly solo album Scream, journalists just keep asking him about Soundgarden and when they might get back together. Rolling Stone was the latest to pester Cornell about the possibility, but although he said nothing concrete about a reunion, he did acknowledge that the band members have discussed releasing a B-sides collection.

“This is something we first talked about 10 years ago,” Cornell said. “We all feel it’s time to do that, and we have a lot of fans out there, and we have a lot of new fans discovering our music, and I think the catalog and the legacy of the band has been ignored by the record label and previous management, so we decided to get together, and start working towards putting something like that out.”

This collection might be an album or a whole box set, although nothing has been hashed out definitively yet. Soundgarden’s last studio album, Down on the Upside, came out in 1996 with a greatest-hits compilation, A-Sides, following a year later. The band broke up in 1997, but with peers like Jane’s Addiction and Stone Temple Pilots recently reforming, is Cornell tempted? “It takes somebody to really stand up and say, ‘We should do this, we have to go do this, let’s go do this,’” he said about reuniting, “and so far, no one has raised their hand to do that. Still, it’s not impossible.”

Photo courtesy A&M.