Newstead, Lee, Clarke to Headline "Rock Star"

CBS is attempting to cash in on the success of Rock Star, the reality TV show aimed at finding a new front man for the Australian band, INXS. After finding Canadian J.D. Fortune to replace the late Michael Hutchence, the band became revitalized and released its first album in 8 years, entitled Switch, which sold more than 300,000 albums to date. Now, former Metallica bassist Jason Newstead, former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and Guns 'n' Roses former guitarist Gilby Clarke have united to form a metal super-band, and are looking for CBS to find them a front man, through season 2 of Rock Star

The new band to be formed will be called Supernova. Supernova, and their producers, already have a schedule in place to launch the band. Rock Star is scheduled to start this summer, filling a need for CBS by giving it original programming during the summer. After a singer has been picked, Supernova will head into the studio to record their first album. Already lined up to produce the album is Butch Walker, who has worked with Tommy Lee in the past, on his project Tommyland: The Ride. Walker has also previously produced albums for alternative pop sensations Pink, Bowling for Soup, Sevendust, Lindsay Lohan and Avril Lavigne, and was named Rolling Stone Magazine's 2005 "hot" producer. After the album is packaged and pressed, a world tour is planned for Supernova for early 2007.

For the second installment of Rock Star, CBS has brought back the hosts of the first Rock Star, Dave Navarro and Brooke Burke. Navarro, the former Jane's Addiction guitarist, successfully launched the reality show in summer 2005. Rock Star originally aired three times weekly on CBS, but had one of the weekly shows, the behind-the-scenes episodes, shifted to VH1, due to low ratings. As a surprise treat, Dave Navarro has talked about guest stars on the show. In an interview with Variety, Navarro said "Friends of mine, like Slash, Macy Gray, Moby and Rob Zombie, will join us and throw in their two cents about who should stay and who should go."

Tommy Lee is no stranger to the reality circuit. Lee had his own reality series, Tommy Lee Goes to College, which aired on VH1 in the summer of 2005. The six episode series showcased Tommy Lee trying to fit in at the University of Nebraska. Lee was the producer of the show, and, although it was labeled a reality show, many of the events shown were actually scripted. Tommy Lee did not enroll in the University of Nebraska for the show.

Jason Newstead is currently a member of the band Voivod, although he will be dedicating himself to Supernova. Newstead achieved stardom after leaving his band, Flotsam and Jetsam, in 1986 to join Metallica. Metallica needed a new bassist after Cliff Burton died while on tour in Sweden. The bus Metallica was on flipped and Cliff Burton was thrown from the bus, with the bus landing on top of him. Newstead left Metallica in 2001, with the last song he performed being "Fade to Black".

[Additional Sources: Variety]