John Paul Jones proclaims Them Crooked Vultures now 'the best band in the world'; he hopes for second album, says Led Zeppelin won't be calling him back

John Paul Jones, in an interview published today by Australia's Nova 91.9 FM, says that for the second time in his life as a musician, he finds himself in "the best band in the world." Them Crooked Vultures has now taken Led Zeppelin's position as the world's best band, Jones says.

The full context of his statement comes in an in-depth interview that touches on the vows of silence under which the band labored all year to create the album now streaming online and soon to be released commercially, the reasoning behind the secrecy, his satisfaction with both of his bands, and the fact that he no longer expects to work with Led Zeppelin.

Unlike at least one other recent interview with Jones, there was no mention during this one of the group with Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham that did not come to fruition last year after being heralded by the press as a second coming of Led Zeppelin with a singer other than Robert Plant on vocals. Today's interview focuses solely on the events since this February, when Jones began working with current bandmates Josh Homme and Dave Grohl, and comparing the impetus behind their music with that of Led Zeppelin's from 1969 to 1979, when that band was releasing albums and, according to Jones, was the world's greatest.

"I always try to be in the best band in the world, I promise myself," says Jones. "I'm obviously very proud of the Zeppelin legacy, and I'm hoping I'm keeping the spirit alive with this band."

In some real ways that deal with the music, he does seem to be. "There are so many parallels with the old Zeppelin days," says Jones. "We're making music that we want to make. You're not thinking, 'What's going to sell? What is everybody else going to like?' We're making music for ourselves, and Zeppelin was exactly the same. We never thought, 'What's the new record going to be like?' We just got the songs together. It's all an organic process. None of it's manufactured."

It seems to be the exception and not the norm in the current climate of today's music scene. Jones agrees: "To my ears there's not much around that actually excites me, and this music that we're making excites me. So I assumed it might excite other people too. That's the only way you can think of it."

Furthermore, this is the first time Jones has felt this way about a band of his since Led Zeppelin's breakup in 1980, so why would he want the feeling to stop with the release of this album? Why would he want to make this disc his sole statement with Them Crooked Vultures?

He says he'll be ready to head back into the studio with Homme and Grohl, and he'd rather fight off the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age than not work with those two again right away. Jones testifies, "I hope there's maybe going to be another album. I don't have a band that's going to call me back – the other two do. But they're going to have to fight me for them because we're having a bit too much fun at the moment."

And there it was: Jones slips in that he won't be anticipating any future work with Led Zeppelin. The window of opportunity for that to happen has firmly shut, Jones affirms. There really is, as LedZeppelinNews.com anticipated not long ago, no reason to believe. Who's going to be at Glastonbury with Robert Plant? Not John Paul Jones and, therefore, not Led Zeppelin.

Jordana Borensztajn's interview with Jones carries so much more, though, than one member's de facto denial of a Led Zeppelin reunion. As for the reasons Them Crooked Vultures kept its existence the secret it was for months and months, Jones says, "We kept it quiet so there wasn't all the speculation and the pressure. There was enough pressure between ourselves to do a really good record, and we did try to impress each other. ... We just wanted to get on and concentrate on the music."

The best part of touring this new material prior to its release, says Jones, was that nobody in the audience was familiar with it and, therefore, was uniquely capable of giving honest reactions to hearing the music in a live setting for the first time. "To have an audience just stand there and listen, and take it all in – it's just amazing," says Jones. "They're reacting really, really well and it's new for them because normally they would have heard the record first and know the lyrics. It's a new experience which they look like they're enjoying and they sound like they're enjoying, certainly." Talk about taking a risk! And yes, Led Zeppelin was always known for taking those.

Jones on the band's sound:

"When people ask what it sounds like, it sounds like me playing bass and Dave playing drums and Josh singing and playing guitar. It's very obvious. It's just us -- it's straight ahead, it's very honest and it really rocks. It's multi-layered and sounds fantastic. We love it. We play it and we're like, 'Wow, this is really good.' ...

"Josh is great. You know those old competitions in magazines where they show you a familiar object from an unfamiliar angle and you have to guess what it is? That's how Josh seems to look at life. He just looks at it from a really unfamiliar angle and it's just so refreshing. ...

"And Dave is just a killer drummer – a bass player's dream. And he's a great musician. He listens, he's very enthusiastic, very excitable, he drinks a lot of coffee and there's a lot of laughter and a lot of joking all the time. It's a very nice position to be in, I have to say. ...

"We all listen to each other. With the experience [we have], nobody has to explain anything to anybody else. If something's not working, everybody knows it's not working. And also, when you're with experienced musicians, you can fail. You can try something out knowing that it might now work."

There's one other comparison Jones makes to Led Zeppelin, and that has to do with the fan reaction. The fact that the music is not "manufactured" but is made just to please the musicians themselves greatly affects whether or not fans too will like it. As Jones says, "This music that we're making excites me, so I assumed it might excite other people too."

He and his bandmates suspected their individual names had some drawing power but weren't sure exactly what effect that alone would have on public interest, on creating enough demand to fill clubs and excite festival audiences when the audiences knew not what to expect.

"We knew we would create some sort of splash and it would be noticed but you never really know the circumstances," Jones says. "It's the same as Zeppelin. People would say, 'Did you realize when you were writing "Stairway to Heaven" what a huge song it was going to be?' Well, not really."

He describes Them Crooked Vultures concerts like this:

"Our shows are extremely loud, and slightly terrifying. We love doing them. Nobody shouts out Zeppelin numbers or Queens numbers or Foo numbers at our shows -- nobody does it. And that's refreshing. They're here for us. In fact, none of us have played any covers in rehearsals or jamming and we're very, very happy with that."

This writer must fess up to shouting for Jones's post-Zeppelin instrumental "Spaghetti Junction" as a request between songs at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C. To my ears, Grohl may have teased "Moby Dick" between songs that night, but Jones didn't sate my palate for "Spaghetti Junction." Instead, he sated it with the band's new album plus other new material perhaps destined for that second Them Crooked Vultures album Jones has now publicly expressed interest in recording.

After all, he says there's no band from his past that will be calling him back. And you can take that to the bank.

Reason to believe in a Led Zeppelin reunion has faded

The rumor of a Led Zeppelin reunion supposedly in the works, sparked by something Robert Plant said to a reporter on Monday, is worth considering -- if only to keep people from wishing, hoping, believing, and being disappointed.

Briefly, for a few months one year ago, there was a reason to believe in a Led Zeppelin reunion. That reason has long since faded.

Last year, Plant was the only one with a steady gig. When Jimmy Page was asked on Jan. 29, 2008, what the chances would be of a Led Zeppelin tour later in the year, he blamed the fact that Plant was unavailable. All we know of what Page said during that day's Tokyo press conference is this: "Robert Plant also had a parallel project running and he's really busy with that project, certainly until September, so I can't give you any news."

Page himself was a bit busy at the time. He was in Tokyo making the rounds to help promote the release of Led Zeppelin's latest best-of repackaging, Mothership. Just days before, he had met for the first time with The Edge and Jack White, as filmed for the movie "It Might Get Loud."

He plays a piece in that movie, originally called "Domino" and now recast as "Embryo No. 2," a leftover from his 1999 rehearsals with drummer Michael Lee for an album they hoped to release with Robert Plant on vocals.

So, when Page spoke with David Cavanagh for Uncut magazine on March 10, 2008, the topic of his unreleased music was on the tip of Page's tongue. "I had some new material written for another album," he said. "I had about a dozen numbers, and some of them were really good, but Robert heard them and he wanted to go in another direction. He wanted to do another solo album. Fair enough."

As Page says, another album never happened back then. Walking into Clarksdale in 1998 was their last together, and Plant went on to release the solo albums Dreamland and Mighty ReArranger, followed by Raising Sand with Alison Krauss.

It's obvious from Page's comments early last year that he was still hoping for Plant to come around, nine years after they parted ways at the beginning of 1999. But he finally had reason to believe again in a productive working relationship with Plant.

They'd just played a single show together, as Led Zeppelin, and spent months and months planning it and rehearsing it beforehand. Page discussed with Uncut the commitment that was involved in making that concert the worldwide success it was, and the same commitment it would take to carry Led Zeppelin forward:

"Everybody had such a great commitment to it. Now, if you're talking about a tour -- other dates, maybe recording together -- there's only one thing that's going to be the common denominator with that. And that's commitment. That's how we did the O2."

What a difference a year makes! When the calendar flipped to 2008, and the world was abuzz with cries for Led Zeppelin to reunite, Plant could not commit to the project.

Page also spoke during his interview on March 10, 2008, about any number of projects he had cooking. He wasn't forthcoming on the specifics, but "It Might Get Loud" was one; he'd be named an associate producer of the film. As the year proceeded, it became evident that Page had been in rehearsals with John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham.

But Page said in September of last year there needed to be four members. Evidently, there weren't.

As of this writing, a year and a month later, little has been disclosed about the nature of those rehearsals Page had with Jones and Bonham. All we know are that there were multiple candidates for singers who wanted to front their band, that the members never would have called their band Led Zeppelin if Robert Plant was not involved, that they were playing "loud music," and that rehearsals "fell by the wayside" after they "couldn't really agree on singers."

And if the anonymous tipster to England's The Sun tabloid is to be believed, there's this statement, which was printed in September of last year:

"Jimmy, Jason and John are determined a tour will go ahead next year. They've been rehearsing frequently in London and the band is really gelling. There's an American guy who has been standing in for Robert regularly and doing a great job. Obviously they want the original frontman to join them on the road but he still won't commit. They will be finalising plans for shows over the next couple of months and will tell Robert that if he doesn't want to be involved they will go ahead without him."

The Sun reported that Plant was receiving "an ultimatum by his bandmates - join us on tour or we'll replace you." Them's fighting words!

By the time Page's manager, Peter Mensch, publicly said singer auditions failed, it was old news to him. Mensch told MusicRadar on Jan. 7, 2009:

"They tried out a few singers, but no one worked out. That was it. The whole thing is completely over now. There are absolutely no plans for them to continue. Zero. Frankly, I wish everybody would stop talking about it."

Also by that time, other opportunities had opened themselves up to John Paul Jones, and he beckoned their calls. Jones spent part of this February producing the debut solo album by former Nickel Creek singer Sara Watkins. Once it was out, he joined her on a late-night TV slot and, eventually, a festival appearance. When the recently departed Merce Cunningham marked his 90th birthday with a ballet series in his honor, Jones teamed up with Takehisa Kosugi and the members of Sonic Youth to make some experimental music on the fly.

These commitments kept Jones busy in the opening months of this year, but all the while, he was keeping a huge secret from everybody: During his time away from the public eye, he was hiding away, intensely preparing a complete album of all new material with Josh Homme and Dave Grohl. Now, they have a single out this week, their resulting album is due in less than a month, and they'll be on tour straight on through January, hitting England, mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Other dates are also expected.

Now, there is the rumor of a Led Zeppelin reunion taking place in June 2010 at the Glastonbury Festival in England -- all because Plant said he'd been talking to Michael Eavis about booking him in some shape or form but not being any more specific than that. Somehow, this makes many folks jump to the conclusion: He's finally getting Led Zeppelin back together! Celebrate!

I said it the other day, and I'll say it again: There just isn't any chance Plant would be volunteering eight months' advance notice of a Led Zeppelin gig. In my opinion, this isn't a Led Zeppelin gig. It just can't be. It has to be something else. Someday, what it is will be revealed. For right now, it's nothing more than Plant's cheap attempt to draw some attention to himself at a time when the only gigs he's playing are the ones he decides with no notice. (Last night in England, he played an impromptu set at a charity benefit, shortly following an unforeseen weekend of activity with Buddy Miller in California.)

Earlier this month, Jones commented on the longevity of his current group, Them Crooked Vultures. He told KUT 90.5 in Austin, Texas:

"Yeah, I think it's going to go for a while. Honestly, you know, their respective bands will call them back eventually, but I think we're going to get a good run of it before anything like that happens."

Notice he said "their bands" and not "our bands." Jones didn't even allow for the possibility that Led Zeppelin would be calling him back. No splinter group either. There you have it: It wasn't on the back of his mind.

Wish for a Led Zeppelin reunion tour eventually? Hope for this Led Zeppelin gig next summer? Puh-leeeease.

If you have read this far and still believe in an imminent Led Zeppelin reunion, then please tell me what you know and I don't, or give me a hit of whatever that stuff is you're smoking.

John Paul Jones: Project with Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham 'fell by the wayside' last year

Two days after Robert Plant's remarks carried by the BBC fueled rumors that Led Zeppelin would reunite at the Glastonbury Festival in eight months, the BBC carries an interview with John Paul Jones on the Led Zeppelin splinter group that nearly formed last year.

That splinter group, which would have consisted of Jones plus Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham and the singer of their choice, never advanced beyond the planning stages.

Jones first announced the group one year ago this week, during the Mansons Guitar Show in Exeter on Oct. 26, 2008 and quickly followed up by a radio interview with BBC Radio Devon. At that time, Jones described an incomplete band with Page and Bonham making "loud music" with him.

Anonymous tips to the press said their trio had been rehearsing and auditioning singers -- namely Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge, the only person who has admitted his participation. Other singers were weighing in with their comments; David Coverdale of Whitesnake volunteered himself and Joe Elliott of Def Leppard.

A year ago, Jones confirmed that singers had been brought in, although he didn't volunteer any names.

Now that a year has passed, Jones is back in England, promoting the November release of the debut album from Them Crooked Vultures, the band he has been rehearsing with since early this year. In an interview with the BBC, he discussed this project and mentioned that it came about shortly after the group with Page and Bonham "fell by the wayside," in his words.

Jones told BBC 6 Music, "Jimmy and I rehearsed a bit with Jason Bonham, and we couldn't really agree on singers and that fell by the wayside. Then this came along and, to be honest, I'm really happy."

From another interview Jones gave this month, we now know how the band came about. Jones told KUT 90.5 in Austin, Texas:

"He came up to [the] GQ Awards in London last year to present us with, um, Men of the Year, I believe it was, with Zeppelin. And we got to talking, and he says, 'Well, you know, if you're ever not doing anything, I want to get a little band together with Josh singing, and give you a call.' You know, so, I found out I was doing nothing after a while."

Singer auditions weren't necessary when Jones called up Dave Grohl to take up his offer to form a band. Grohl had already begun rehearsing on drums for a project with Josh Homme, singer and guitarist for Queens of the Stone Age. Homme's band was on a hiatus at the time, as was Grohl's Foo Fighters. So, the timing was right for those two.

As for Grohl and Jones, they had worked together a few times in the past like at a Foo Fighters show, at the Grammys and on a Foo Fighters album. But Grohl thought having a regular project with Jones was just a pipe dream. Back in 2005, he blurted to Mojo magazine that he dreamed of forming a band with himself on drums, Homme on guitar and Jones on bass.

But Jones fell into place, much to Grohl's surprise. In a separate interview this month with KUT 90.5, Grohl said:

"I bumped into him in London, and I said, 'Hey, I got this project I think might be kind of fun. Me and my buddy Josh are gonna do something outside of our bands.' And he kind of went, 'Oh, yeah, right.' And then I didn't hear from him for a while, and then a month later, he called and said, 'Hey, when do you think you're gonna do it?' So I called Josh, [and I'm] like, 'F***, man, I think he actually wants to do it! This is amazing!'"

To Jones, Grohl was exactly the kind of drummer he wanted. He now tells the BBC:

"I immediately recognized that this was a drummer that was -- A -- really good, and -- B -- groovy and -- C -- listened, all those nice things that bass players like in drummers."

Oh no, not again; music media really do want to predict a Led Zeppelin reunion eight months out

It was almost inevitable someone was going to read into Robert Plant's decidedly ambiguous and playful remarks on Monday and interpret them as a concrete indication that he was arranging a Led Zeppelin reunion concert.

And that chump was whoever at Contactmusic.com Ltd. dreamed up the laughably naïve headline, "LED ZEPPELIN - LED ZEPPELIN SET FOR GLASTONBURY 2010?"

Come on, give me a break!

The opening paragraph contains more like that:

"LED ZEPPELIN fans' dreams of seeing the rock supergroup back onstage together have been given a boost by confirmation frontman ROBERT PLANT is considering a slot at next year's (10) Glastonbury festival in England."

From there, however, the article transitions into a much more realistic assessment of the state of affairs. The second paragraph juxtaposes Led Zeppelin reunion rumors of a year ago with a statement that "the singer has since rejected all offers to hit the road with his old pals."

The third paragraph proves to be a little off the mark. It states:

"Last year (08), the rocker continually dismissed reports he'd be rejoining the band for a full reunion, prompting Page and Jones to consider touring without him. But those plans failed to materialise."

The statement here about what Plant did or didn't say "continually" throughout the whole of 2008 is a little misleading.

Plant may have been clear in some interviews about how much he disliked the idea of a lengthy Led Zeppelin reunion tour, but those comments did not necessarily reflect his opinions of a show here and there. It wasn't until nearly 10 months into the calendar year, as his touring commitments with Alison Krauss were winding down, that Plant produced his ultimate statement that he would not be going on tour with Led Zeppelin and not recording with them either.

That was his final word on the subject, he told us -- at least for the next two years.

So, by Plant's own words, sure, he could be making other plans for the end of 2010 that do involve Led Zeppelin. Could it somehow be that's exactly what he wants to lead the world to believe?

Or is that simply the action of a man who knows what effect his words will have? Did he want Contactmusic and others to jump at the opportunity to force his name back in the headlines at a time when all the Led Zeppelin-related news is coming from the supposedly "quiet one" and his "loud music"?

Surely, Plant's Glastonbury story got more mileage than did the context of Q magazine's Outstanding Contribution to Music award, which placed the microphones in front of his face in the first place. Maybe it was part of Plant's design to be a thunderthief to John Paul Jones on the day Them Crooked Vultures was releasing "New Fang" to radio stations and announcing further U.S. tour dates in light of a heavily anticipated album.

Plant's award didn't hold a candle to his summer trip to Buckingham Palace, where he received the rank of Commander of the British Empire at a Buckingham Palace. Everybody in England ran stories about that!

At least outside the royal residence, Plant had the dignity to mock reporters who dared ask him about the possibility of a Led Zeppelin reunion. "Sometimes I go a bit deaf in either ear, especially when people are talking nonsense," he was quoted as saying when the microphones were shoved in his face that time.

Right there, he said "nonsense."

Plant, facetiously as ever, did joke Monday about the idea of booking himself a solo spot on the Glastonbury stage. He said: "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm good at card tricks."

OK, so apparently, Plant has forgotten it is common practice for a solo artist to assemble a band for outings. What's that thing Plant's always insisting he is, over and above the singer in Led Zeppelin? Oh yeah, that's right, a solo artist. That's what.

Until he switches it up again.

Let's speculate just for a moment that Plant was meeting with Glastonbury's Michael Eavis about booking a Led Zeppelin appearance at the festival, which is set to conclude on June 27, 2010.

Go on and stick with me, baby.

If this were the case and Led Zeppelin was appearing, we would have been tipped off to the appearance eight months and a day before the festival's headlining act took to the stage.

That's just about how long Plant waited last year after the Led Zeppelin reunion at the O2 arena to announce he wasn't going to take part in any activity with that band again.

That's exactly what he's doing again!

If this really were the beginnings of a Led Zeppelin reunion, every indication is there would be no indication.

The people involved are the same people who kept their rehearsals and gig planning in mid 2007 a secret until it could be officially announced later in the year. They also kept word of last year's secret rehearsals that didn't involve Plant hidden from the mainstream media for the better part of a year. And the supergroup starring Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme was also the world's best kept secret for about as many months until it all started to unfold delicately, piece by considered piece.

There's no way word of a Led Zeppelin reunion would have leaked so callously this early on. Plant, in an attempt to cast the media spotlight on himself, merely played the ambiguity card to let people believe what they want to believe.

Plant is a magician for sure. Maybe he's not the kind that specializes in card tricks, but he really has a magical effect on some in the media and some of his fans.

But the only trick up his sleeve is the one that gets us to pay attention to artists like Buddy Miller.

Michael Moretti is a Led Zeppelin fan who contributes to the Internet discussion group For Badgeholders Only with a regularity that barely surpasses Jimmy Page's album output of the past 10 years.

When Moretti wrote this weekend, he referenced some of the songs Plant has covered and diverse artists he's named in interviews as influential and enjoyable to him. Moretti writes:

"... BECAUSE of Robert Plant, I pause to take notice of something like 'Darkness Darkness' by the Youngbloods, or 'Morning Dew,' or Transglobal Underground, or Moby Grape, or ... and the list goes on and on. This is something that the 'Led Zeppelin ripped off old blues artists and never gave them credit' crowd doesn't get.

"The legalities of royalties and songwriting credits aside, [it] seems to me that the members of Led Zeppelin have never tried to hide their influences, but in fact went out of their way to call attention to and pay homage to their influences, which has given me a greater appreciation for a whole universe of music that I otherwise might never have taken the time to listen to with open ears and an open mind.

"And while I have to say I don't regularly pop in Robert Johnson when I'm out cruising the freeway and aren't likely to anytime soon, I have a great appreciation for Robert Johnson and the art form his musical statements represent."

That, hands down, was the FBO post of the month.

Award-winning Plant eyes 2010 festival appearance -- with whom? Led Zeppelin reunion rumors to abound

Robert Plant, in picking up Q Magazine's Outstanding Contribution to Music award at a ceremony held today in London, joins the likes of past award recipients David Gilmour, Smokey Robinson and Paul Weller.

Onstage, when accepting the award, Plant thanked his fellow members of Led Zeppelin, among other artists including Elvis Presley and Alison Krauss. Plant said that without them, he would not be receiving this award today.

But the big news of the day regarding Plant is not his win at the Q Awards. It's what the singer told reporters when asked to comment on a rumor that he has been in talks with the organizer of one of England's largest outdoor summer music festivals.

And also how he said it, including what details he left out.

Plant confirmed to BBC 6 Music, "I've just been talking to Michael [Eavis]. There's place for me there [in the 2010 lineup], but I have no idea who with."

Tickets to the Glastonbury Festival, to be held June 23-27, are already sold out. Next year's event marks the 40th anniversary of the original Glastonbury festival.

Glastonbury has been a popular destination for Led Zeppelin reunion rumors in the past few years. In light of the band's one show together in December 2007, one rumor held that Led Zeppelin would appear at Glastonbury in June 2008. Plant ended up playing that year with Krauss in support of their album, Raising Sand.

Plant also appeared at the Glastonbury festival in 2002 with his band, the Strange Sensation, in support of his album Dreamland.

Surely, the new comments from Plant on Glastonbury will fuel a new spat of Led Zeppelin reunion rumors in some corners of the world.

The BBC reports:

The rock icon said he is open to the idea of playing next year: "There is a chance, yeah, but I don't know with who."

When it was suggested to him that he could do it by himself, he joked: "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm good at card tricks."

Let the speculation begin!

Study into the trend of rock reunions includes Led Zeppelin's 2008 no-go

Led Zeppelin's will-they-won't-they saga of 2008 has become the stuff of legend. The news of yesteryear has become the history of today.

Financial Times reporter Ludovic Hunter-Tinley reports from a rehearsal of the pop group Spandau Ballet, the focus of the article's introduction is on the band's collective decision to mend its wounds in favor of a long-awaited reunion tour. A few paragraphs after this focus is established, Hunter-Tinley shifts the thrust of the article to concentrate instead on other groups that have been under pressure to reunite.

Enter Led Zeppelin, along with fellow classic rockers Pink Floyd, the Police and Genesis, as well as Blur, Spinal Tap, and pop acts like the Spice Girls and Take That.

The writer says the Led Zeppelin show in December 2007 was a success:

"... [T]he sense of history was extraordinary. From the moment they opened with “Good Times Bad Times”, it was clear that the sexagenarian hard-rockers still had the old magic. On the train afterwards, fans compared the distances they had travelled to be there: one had flown in from New Zealand."

The writer then details what can happen "when a reunion fails to spark." One member of Spandau Ballet, singer Tony Hadley, offers how "embarrassing" it is to see "49-year-old guys trying to look 25."

When the writer approaches the subject of "questions of authenticity," Led Zeppelin comes up again. The band that headlined the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert on Dec. 10, 2007, was Led Zeppelin but with Jason Bonham on drums instead of John Bonham, Hunter-Tiney asserts, making exception for "purists" who "insist" that the band was not Led Zeppelin.

The writer turns it into an issue of expendability: It's OK to replace John Bonham, but it wasn't OK for Robert Plant to be replaced when he didn't want to participate in a tour at his age. There's even a quote from Plant on the subject: "The whole idea of being on a cavalcade of merciless repetition is not what it's all about."

As for Jimmy Page, last year he said it best: "If you're going to have a reunion, you need four members." It was the perfect thing to say at the time. It was September, and Plant had not yet issued a statement leaving himself out of the running. Page's spare words on the subject resounded in the following months as it was suggested he, Jones and Bonham would carry on with another singer. Maybe Page never meant Plant had to be involved; maybe he was intentionally being ambiguous because he thought somebody else could be the singer if Plant wouldn't step up to the plate! It sure got me thinking.

Ultimately, it was revealed that they didn't want to call their band Led Zeppelin, and Plant once even made the point of saying Led Zeppelin would not exist without him. (Perhaps he knew they wouldn't because he'd filed a craftily worded preventive injunction or a demand of excessive royalties should they replace him and use his songs! Theories, people! Theories!)

Regardless of anyone's best intentions, a large segment of the press insisted on using the Led Zeppelin name when referring to a potential grouping of Page, Jones and Bonham, even with another singer. The public at large saw it the same way, and the outcry against a Led Zeppelin reunion without Plant even prompted other notable people -- Jeff Beck and his manager, promoter Harvey Goldsmith, to name a few -- to speak out against dishonoring the Led Zeppelin name with another singer.

It was much the same for the members of Yes last year, when they first attempted to go on the road with a singer other than Jon Anderson to play concerts under a name other than Yes. The only name promoters wanted to use was Yes, and so it became another Yes tour.

One has to think that Page, who was spotted at one of the early concerts with Journey's latest Steve Perry clone, paid careful attention as last year's situation with Yes unfolded. Perhaps it's one factor that led him to decide against going out with three-fourths of the band that played as Led Zeppelin and use another singer.

Nobody has disclosed publicly exactly who made the decision last year to halt singer auditions and call off whatever project had potentially been in the works even after Plant had withdrawn from Led Zeppelin reunion considerations. It seems likely that Page made himself aware of what else was going on in the musical landscape enough to know even a new band with Jones and Bonham could affect Led Zeppelin's historical image.

Hunter-Tinley notes, "A full Led Zeppelin tour would ... have done stratospheric business."

One obvious end result of this is the way John Paul Jones has quickly bounced back, emerging in the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. He's at another point in his career when he's earning all sorts of praise, not the least of which comes from drummer Dave Grohl. Jones was spotted at the Austin City Limits festival this afternoon playing mandolin on three of Sara Watkins's songs, when he'll later take the stage with Them Crooked Vultures. Grohl is going to make certain that Jones holds a reputation of being a versatile musician who can rip on mandolin "and just blow your head off."

Another end result is the way Jason Bonham has also bounced back. He quit his steady gig last year, touring with Foreigner, just in case he might be called into the prospective project with Jones and Page that never materialized. However, 2009 has already seen him sitting in with a number of acts and making other appearances. He's billed to show up at a Slash and Friends gig in Las Vegas tonight (Update: This did not come to fruition as he had apparently dropped out of the lineup at some point), and then there are some other gigs coming up, including one just announced today.

It's Oct. 11 at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., "Rockstar Karaoke" featuring singer Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath, Kelly Hansen of Foreigner, Lemmy from Motörhead, Trevor Rabin of Yes, and others. Proceeds are to benefit the Painted Turtle, a camp for seriously ill children. Tickets are on sale here.

Page has been making the movie "It Might Get Loud," and he's been busy promoting it and saying he has something else planned that he has to start on in 2010. Apparently, it's not an autobiography; this much he revealed last month while he attended a book launch by -- who else! -- Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet. But a new musical project, Jimmy? I hope so. I really, really hope so.

Plant, when he's not talking about a new album with Alison Krauss, has been collecting awards and occasionally singing Led Zeppelin songs onstage without Page, Jones and Bonham. We'll see what else the future may hold for him!

But meanwhile, specific details of the recent past remain no clearer.

John Paul Jones gives first interview since debut of Them Crooked Vultures; bassist compares band's onstage improvisation to that of Led Zeppelin

John Paul Jones has given his first interview since the debut of Them Crooked Vultures. In his interview for KUT 90.5 in Austin, Texas, he commented on a number of topics all related to the new band.

There were no questions about the status of a Led Zeppelin reunion.



How Them Crooked Vultures got together:

"It's all Dave's fault. It's all Dave's fault. He came up to [the] GQ Awards in London last year to present us with, um, Men of the Year, I believe it was, with Zeppelin. And we got to talking, and he says, 'Well, you know, if you're ever not doing anything, I want to get a little band together with Josh singing, and give you a call.' You know, so, I found out I was doing nothing after a while. ... I just came over in February, met with Josh for the first time, went pretty much into the studio, and just started having fun basically."

On the fact that the band got together despite none of the three members needing to have another band at this time:

"It's got to be fun. It really has."

On the blues-based groove present in the band's songs:

"Yeah, yeah. There kind of has to be. Josh is pretty bluesy too, and I suppose my history is blues-based. Blues-based rock. And it all comes from the blues for me. I just like the sound of it, I like playing it, and we're doing basically what we want, you know."

On releasing their studio recordings:

"Yes, it is hard to come by, but ... There will be music ... real soon now, as they say in the computer world."

On the method of release:

"I can't really comment on that, but it'll be everywhere soon, don't worry."

On the band's ambitions and longevity:

"We're still a young band hoping to go places. It is, yeah. They're all still growing. We all play 'em fine, of course, but this is again one of those bands where different things happen onstage and you take the songs from different places and discover new stuff about bits. It keeps the interest, and it's good fun to do. ... Yeah, I think it's going to go for a while. Honestly, you know, their respective bands will call them back eventually, but I think we're going to get a good run of it before anything like that happens."

In a separate interview for 90.5 KUT, Dave Grohl discusses the status of the Foo Fighters and explains what it is like playing in a band with John Paul Jones.

Media abuzz over John Paul Jones band, not O2 offer to Led Zeppelin: Michael Jackson's 50 London gigs split between Zep, ABBA

Numerous media outlets have rolled with the semi-confirmed report on the musical project involving John Paul Jones with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme in the past couple of days since Antiquiet broke the story. The as-yet unnamed supergroup has been the talk of Rolling Stone, The Guardian and an infinite number of music blogs with great interest in each of the three.

Yet there has so far been no such mass regurgitation of a report yesterday that AEG Live has offered Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Jason Bonham, the would-be members of Led Zeppelin, half of the 50 concert dates at the O2 arena that had been booked for the recently departed Michael Jackson. Shows there were to begin July 13.

Perhaps the lack of coverage has to do with the current American holiday, or maybe the media are responsibly holding off until they can confirm the report, considering it was issued by the British tabloid, The Sun.

Interestingly, The Sun is the same outlet that, late last year, correctly aired the first reports of Jones and Page rehearsing Led Zeppelin songs with singer-guitarist Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge.

But this time, the report in The Sun does not come from a source close to the members of Led Zeppelin, rather from a source at AEG Live. It outlines an offer made, not one necessarily being considered, and the point of view comes from AEG Live, which the article says would "face multi-million pound losses if they cannot fill the slots."

The other half of Jackson's concert dates was offered to Swedish pop group ABBA, according to the report in The Sun. It quotes a source at AEG who tells The Sun, "Only Michael Jackson could sell out 50 nights at such a big arena, but Led Zeppelin and Abba combined might just rival him. There is huge money on the table."

This wording could translate to a mistake in making the offer an attractive one for the members of Led Zeppelin, who are hardly ever ones to make a decision about resurrecting that band name lightly. Even despite a close relationship between that band and ABBA, it is hardly acceptable for Led Zeppelin to equate itself with ABBA or any other act. The AEG Live source may have hurt the cause in obtaining Led Zeppelin by implying the group is half as good as Jackson and exactly as good as ABBA.

Another report has surfaced, quoting ABBA's Benny Andersson as denying having been approached by AEG Live. "No one has ever asked us," Andersson reportedly said. "And if they asked us they would have had 'no' as an answer." So, there you have it: ABBA may turn down an offer, although his opinion is admittedly one of four that all matter. If ABBA backs out of the equation, it could leave Led Zeppelin as the sole act to pick up the slack.

A series of 50 gigs is not something Led Zeppelin would quickly, or even slowly, agree to complete. It's reportedly been a sticking point of Plant's that any reunion activity is limited to a single gig here and there, and always for the right cause. In the case of the band's 2007 concert at the O2 arena, its first public performance in 19 years, the cause was a tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun benefiting a scholarship foundation established in his memory. It seems highly unlikely that a cause like keeping some promoter out of debt would be a top priority for the would-be members of Led Zeppelin.

For the group to accept this invitation would be highly unexpected. Instead, maybe the invitation ought to be extended to Jones, Grohl and Homme, if they're eager enough to get out there and play.

Robert Plant in and out of Nashville

Robert Plant was in Nashville briefly over the weekend, sources have confirmed. One LedZeppelinNews.com reader tipped me off to the singer's whereabouts on Saturday. Plant witnessed the banjo-plucking debut of comedian Steve Martin on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. The informant said he was in and out of town rather quickly.

That account has been bolstered now by WKRN MusicCityTV's report on Plant's Friday night whereabouts -- wearing bright red shoes while dancing with Alison Krauss at a Presbyterian church -- and his quick exit from town Monday morning.

In January, Plant and Krauss were in pre-production for a second album together, although plans to complete the project have been sidetracked for the time being. In July, Krauss will be recording a new album with Union Station, a spokesperson for her record label, Rounder Records, confirmed today. The spokesperson added there are no plans for Union Station to tour this year, which means a tour in 2010 in support of the album would be likely.

On one hand, that could leave time for Krauss to work with Plant and finish work on their sophomore release; however, my source indicates that "Alison has declared a moratorium on all work for 12-18 months with Robert because she wants to do an album and extended tour with Union Station." In the meantime, the source says, this situation has left Plant "frustrated" because he "wants to finish the thing off and be done with it."

As for what this portends for Led Zeppelin fans hoping to see the surviving members reunited once again, perhaps there is still yet hope. One observer has theorized, "By the time [Alison] works [Robert] over, he will crawl back to Jimmy Page." True, you can almost always predict how Page would react if Plant suddenly said he was in favor of some further Led Zeppelin activity.

Finally, portions of a Levon Helm concert from last September, which saw Plant and Krauss perform as special guests onstage at the Ryman Audiotorium in Nashville, are set to air June 14 on Nashville Public Television.

Taking risks and chances possible only in the past?

Is turning down an opportunity to sing with Led Zeppelin a courageous move or not?

We seem to have two sides to this coin.

On one side, you have Robert Plant the cult hero, admired for his intrepid and offbeat partnership with Alison Krauss at a time most of the world is clamoring for him to re-team with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones and give that whole Led Zeppelin thing another go. Championing this suggestion is Spin magazine's editor, Doug Brod, who says the public characterizes Plant "as a guy who's not afraid to take chances." The implication is that by turning his back once again on the past, Plant is courageously forging ahead into unknown territory, earning as many as five Grammys this evening.

On the flip side of the coin is the notion that Plant is afraid after all -- afraid of taking the biggest chance, which could involve singing songs in his 60s that he sang when his vocal range and his onstage persona knew no bounds. It could also involve submitting once again to fate and trotting off again with some old friends to see if they could draw something out of themselves that they did not know was there, and once again become the world's biggest rock band.

Plant's not willing to do that, and the conclusion is that it's because he's afraid. But it's surprising who's saying this: none other than Plant himself. He remarked Jan. 27 in an interview for U.K. deejay Ben Jones that it is "very hard" to do justice in light of certain expectations and possible disappointment. In other words, he's fearful of letting people down. He admitted on the air to being "frightened" by his limitations.

This suggestion of Plant's is only the latest in a series of comments he's made that play off an idea that Led Zeppelin was a courageous unit. He said in a promo interview conducted for the 1990 Led Zeppelin box set that the group "was bold and brave" and "took risks and chances which are no longer possible if you start from scratch."

"No longer possible," he said back then, "if you start from scratch."

Is it necessarily the case that it can't be done? I mean, the one time there was a Led Zeppelin reunion concert this century, he met the challenge head-on. Not only Plant but also Page, Jones and drummer Jason Bonham. They've all proven they've retained enough of that magic formula to fill a two-hour concert set. So even if the ability to pull it off was in question back in 1990, it can't be the excuse anymore. This recent event has proven otherwise.

For him, it's not the point to ask if he can do it anymore -- hell, he may even be more sure than ever that he can. And that one-night-only performance at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert in December 2007 wasn't his only venture down that path. There were the less-than-stellar reunions at Live Aid in 1985 and at the Atlantic 40th birthday celebration in 1988, which made an extended reunion seem like a fruitless affair. There were aborted attempts at reunions in 1986 and 1991 that never advanced beyond discussions, rehearsals and the refusal of offers. There was the five-year collaboration between Page and Plant in the mid 1990s that left Jones wondering why he wasn't included. So it's not like this is something that hasn't been attempted or at least considered before.

Plant brings to the table a more poignant question with regard to the current situation. It's one of what the purpose would be in reforming the band. A radio program once captured Plant's statement on the futility of a reunion: "The media keeps playing on the fact that it could reform. Somebody could rebuild Stonehenge, but it's not gonna happen." And similarly, last July, he compared a Led Zeppelin reunion to a new episode in the Indiana Jones film series. He told Nashville's Tennessean newspaper that there had been a new Indiana Jones movie, but so what? The old ones are classics, and the latest installment failed to live up to the expectation of being rated an immediate classic.

Well, what if it had been? Wouldn't the filmmakers be popularly hailed as history-repeating engineers? Maybe that's the point of revisiting the past.

Plant may have addressed even these points in his recent Ben Jones interview. He says, for one thing, that any attempt at revisiting the past requires "a new, fresh, make-over start." And he also says that committing "to visit old ground" is difficult to do.

Difficult, sure, but not impossible. Just challenging. You can't do it if you're frightened, and that's what Plant readily admits he is!

But then again, Plant in the same minute reverts to another argument, that the reunion is impossible anyway. It's as impossible today as it was at the end of 1980, he says, because John Bonham's death made the band incomplete. It will remain incomplete "no matter what you do."

I guess that's news to Jason Bonham, and to those who found him fully capable of filling his father's shoes at the O2 Arena in London when he bravely and boldly put his reputation on the line when he took a risk and a chance in filling in for the world's greatest rock drummer.

In interview, Robert Plant explains motivation guiding current studio work, and his acceptance of awards

When Robert Plant shared in the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Led Zeppelin in 2005, he ignored the honor.

But it backfired on him, and the award came to him. In a case of "you can run but you can't hide," Recording Academy President Neil Portnow tracked down Plant at the South by Southwest Festival and presented him with the award in person at a very public affair.

This elicited a curt acceptance speech from Plant, who said he could barely remember being in Led Zeppelin because so much time had passed since those days.


Plant has been nominated or awarded in at least one Grammy category in six of the past 15 years. Each time, win or lose, he has consistently snubbed the glitz of Los Angeles and the trappings of celebrity.

But not so this year. In a remarkable turnaround, he is guaranteed to show up at the ceremony two weeks from now.

That's not because he and Alison Krauss stand to rack up as many as five more awards, added to the one they shared for last year's Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

The reason Plant is guaranteed to show up is because he and Krauss have been booked to perform.

Pollstar relays a quote from Plant about his break from precedent this year:

"I'm looking forward to being in Los Angeles, but musically -- and spiritually -- I expect we'll be somewhere halfway between the Mississippi Delta and the Clinch Mountains."

Official word of the Plant-Krauss booking was released Thursday, one day after the airing of an interview the two gave from Nashville, where they say they are currently in pre-production for a possible follow-up album to Raising Sand.

Their interview, recorded Tuesday and broadcast the following day on Absolute Radio's "Wednesday Night Live," touches on a number of far-reaching topics, probably none more easily understandable than Plant's mindset in collecting awards.

On the night before they recorded this interview, Plant attended a Grammy party in Nashville and smiled in snapshots with current Lifetime Achievement honoree Brenda Lee, T Bone Burnett and executives of the Recording Academy's Nashville chapter. By now, Plant must be pretty used to hobnobbing at such events. After all, he and Krauss didn't spend last year doing concerts only; they were also going heavy on the award acceptance circuit. After snubbing the Grammys last February despite capturing a win in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category, the duo hit up:

• the Country Music Television awards in April,
• the Mercury Prize in September,
• the Americana Music Association awards also in September,
• the Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards in October, and
  
• the Country Music Association awards in November.

At the same time, Plant was still being honored for his work signing for the single Led Zeppelin reunion concert in December 2007. He was busy touring with Krauss in the United States last June, when Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones turned up in London to accept Mojo magazine's award for Led Zeppelin as the best live act of 2007. Plant did pose in pictures alongside them, however, when the members of Led Zeppelin were named GQ's Men of the Year.

But Plant's most prestigious and noble honor of late is being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Ben Jones asked if Plant had, for any reason, considered rejecting the honorary title assigned him by the queen of England. Plant answered that, after thinking "long and hard about it," he "reckoned that 42 years of making records" made him worthy of the honor. He has mellowed and has set aside any inclinations toward being anti-establishment or doing the "cool" thing, and just accept it.

Plant's fully elucidated response recalls a quip he made last September, when accepting GQ's top award in London. At that time, Plant said, "The thing is, when the temples get gray, the gongs start coming in thick and fast." Now, he says of his rank in the British Empire:

"It's this time of life that gongs start coming in. They're usually called lifetime achievement awards [laughing]. But, basically, somebody helps you across the street if there's a lot of traffic. ... I said to somebody, 'Well, maybe I should say, "No, I'll wait for the knighthood," for a laugh.'"

Krauss says she and Plant are in "pre-production" for a possible second album together. Plant says that for now, they're at an early stage:

"We got a whole bunch of songs and we're just going, 'Does that work?' and 'Does that work?' So, yeah, we're trying it out again."

They say they're approaching this new project with great caution, just as they had upon their first studio meeting in late 2006, to ensure that everything works to their mutual satisfaction before proceeding. Says Krauss:

"Our attitude when we were recording was, let's go in and see what it's like, and after three days, if something doesn't turn into something, then we'll say it was a nice try. I mean, I think that's what makes it surprising and interesting for Robert and myself, is that we didn't know what it was going to be like either."

Plant adds that he's "incredibly challenged by this." Elsewhere in the interview, he reveals himself as "frightened" of his own "limitations":

"She said to me about an hour ago -- we were sitting, and she said, 'What's the matter with you?' I said, 'I'm frightened by the limitations I've got in this environment.' It's quite spectacular, really."

Plant is also weary of expectations as they can only add pressure. Given the acclaim of Raising Sand by both the media and the public, along with all the awards, Plant admits he is that much more fearful of the sequel's success, saying:

"What are we gonna do? We're not going to have time to do any new stuff before it's too late! ...

"The critical -- the stuff that we've had, the acclaim and, ah -- it really doesn't bode very well for the next record, if we get that far because, I mean, people really took to it.

"But you know what? It was so genuine -- the choice of songs, the production techniques, the engineering, you know, T Bone Burnett's input -- the whole thing was just a dream and done in the shortest space of time, and it was just great, you know. It was really good.

"Of course you don't expect anything because the material isn't kind of mainstream pop, particularly ..."

Plant says he has enjoyed the freedom of employing such a trial period whenever approaching any musical project. He says it's been that way ever since his work that followed Led Zeppelin:

"I think when Led Zeppelin -- when we lost John [Bonham] in 1980, I was desperate to -- not reinstate, but do something for myself, free from the kind of shackles of people's expectations. And from that moment on, along the line ... it's not something that I think about."

He's free to pull that parachute if it's not going well. And when this came up again in the context of an answer to the inevitable Led Zeppelin reunion question, it became clear that Plant would feel this same way if approaching a reformation of his former band.

Ben Jones gave Plant a chance to address his take on why the public appetite for a Led Zeppelin reunion persists even when it is clear there will be no reunion. Plant, in his response, ignored the public perception and gave his own reasoning for not wanting to revive Led Zeppelin again. He said:

"Well, you know, the thing is -- look at it like this. The reason that it stopped was because we were incomplete, and we've been incomplete now for 28 years, and no matter what you do, you have to really guard the discretion of what you've done in the past and make sure you have all the reasons in the right place to be able to do something with absolute and total conviction.

"I mean, if my great award is to do this [sing with Alison Krauss], then I don't want to do anything that -- where I'm -- where we challenge anything we did in the first place by just going back and visiting it without having a new, fresh, make-over start.

"I mean, you only get one shot at these things, and if they're spectacular on day one, if on day 10 they aren't so good, as Alison said when we cut our -- started to make Raising Sand, we gave ourselves a deal about, if we don't get anything going in three days, let's just go out for lunch and say, 'See you later.'

"And I think the thing about it is, really, is that to visit old ground -- it's a very incredibly delicate thing to do, and the disappointment that could be there once you commit to that, and the comparisons to something that was basically fired by youth and a different kind of exuberance to now -- it's very hard to go back and meet that head on and do it justice."

This makes me wonder if Plant joined up with Page and Jones anytime last year to hear the new material Jason Bonham said they were working on and went home dissatisfied. Otherwise, I can't help but think that he didn't give them a chance to see if any further collaboration with them would prove fresh, exuberant, and enacted with "absolute and total conviction."

At any rate, Plant says working with Krauss is the award he's most proud of because:

"It's about being happy, you know. You can have a lot of gold stuff and silver stuff and whatever it is, but you end up putting them out of the way, but the achievement is really to do something I never imagined and to be schooled into getting it right. And we've both taught each other enough about swagger and precision and all that stuff, so this is a great one, really."

And as for what binds everything together that Plant has done professionally? Don't call it a career:

"For me, well, I don't have a career. I just have a bunch of great events in my life and a few dips and troughs, but this is -- I don't think I've ever had a career."

Myles Kennedy admits he jammed with Led Zeppelin members last year; singer-guitarist says there are no plans to continue

Myles Kennedy has finally admitted he sang in rehearsal with Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham last year.

But the chance of continuing with them in some capacity is now gone, he says.

"I'm not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin, but I did have a great opportunity and it was something that [I'm] very grateful for," Kennedy says in his first interview confirming his involvement last year with members of Led Zeppelin.

The singer-guitarist has previously sidestepped the issue and deflected direct questions, also refusing to address it as recently as two weeks ago.

His first confirmation came in an interview conducted at the National Association of Music Merchants' 2009 NAMM Show. Speaking to Eric Blair for an edition of the online series called "The Blairing Out Show" posted to YouTube Jan. 19, Kennedy broke the silence.


Asked how it felt being in the rehearsal room with Led Zeppelin members, Kennedy said, "Surreal. It was great." He would not comment on whether they were rehearsing new material.

His admission comes within two weeks of the disclosure by Jimmy Page manager Peter Mensch that some singer auditions took place last year for a Led Zeppelin offshoot band involving Page, Jones and Bonham.

Last August, Bonham became the first of them to admit to the press that jam sessions had occasionally taken place earlier in 2008 with him drumming for Page and Jones.

"I've been working with Jimmy and John Paul and trying to do just do some new material and some writing," he said at the time. "I don't know what it will be, but it will be something."

Kennedy, when asked to name the songs he sang with them, avoided the question. "I don't know," he said. "I'll tell that story someday, but for now it was a good experience, and I'm still pinching myself. Let's just put it that way."

Bonham's comments last August did not specify whether any singer was involved, but a disclosure to the press from an unidentified source soon said a singer was involved, at least in the placeholder capacity should Robert Plant decide to take part once his touring commitments with Alison Krauss expired. Kennedy was named shortly thereafter, and by the year's end, other names were speculated on, such as Steven Tyler's.

Kennedy is the first of those singers to admit publicly that he was involved in rehearsals.

Jones spoke last October of a project under consideration at that time that would have Page, Bonham and himself in a band fronted by a singer yet to be determined. He said he anticipated the project would include an album and a tour. He seemed to be under the impression that an announcement would be forthcoming.

Plant, meanwhile, has extended his professional relationship with Krauss beyond last year's tour, and they are said to be currently working on their second album together. Their first album, Raising Sand, is on track to pick up as many as five more Grammy awards at next month's ceremony after yielding them one Grammy last year.

Plant also issued a statement last September that said he would not be taking part in any Led Zeppelin activity.

While it was widely speculated in the press last year that Led Zeppelin was planning to tour and record under that name without Robert Plant, both Page and his management intoned that the band under consideration would never call itself Led Zeppelin. Plant, speaking in November at a time when the Page-Jones-Bonham project may have still been under consideration, also commented that his former bandmates would not be using the name Led Zeppelin in their endeavors.

Myles Kennedy announces his plans; fronting Jimmy Page's band not among them

Myles Kennedy has been working on solo material over the past month, he says in a new interview posted on his official Web site. The only other project on the Alter Bridge singer's slate, he says, is eventually developing a new album with his band.

Absent from his announced plans is any mention of the obvious. Both Kennedy and his interviewer manage to sidestep any mention of the rumors that he was under consideration for a new band featuring two of Led Zeppelin's original members -- Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones -- and Jason Bonham, the son of original Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.

Kennedy says he has been crafting music that would not suit his band Alter Bridge because it "isn't aggressive" enough for that outlet. His solo work, he says, is more of the "singer/songwriter" vein, and he's been spending a lot of time on it since Alter Bridge completed its tour in December.

"I basically got home from the European tour and then the next day I was in the studio," Kennedy says in the interview. He indicates he has been working on this new material alone, an approach he says is "a great way of challenging myself to learn to trust by instincts," although he "still had rather have a band."

Sources last year indicated that Kennedy had been rehearsing with Page, Jones and Bonham last year and was prepared to sing on a tour and album with them. Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider revealed in October he'd heard Kennedy would be tapped for activity in 2009 as long as a Led Zeppelin tour with Robert Plant wouldn't trump their plans.

Further, a confidential source in November told LedZeppelinNews.com that Page and Jones got a close-up look at Kennedy's band in action when they attended an Alter Bridge concert in London that was to be filmed for a DVD. Kennedy implies in his interview that the band postponed filming until toward the end of the tour because the London show was too early in on the tour for all of the band to be "firing on all cylinders." If that's the case, then perhaps Page and Jones were underwhelmed with Kennedy and just didn't have the patience.

That assumption jibes with the statement on Wednesday, by Page manager Peter Mensch, that Page, Jones and Bonham "tried out a few singers, but no one worked out."

Some fans will undoubtedly see this week as the official passing of the Gary Cherone era in Led Zeppelin's history. They breathe a sigh of relief today.

Even more sadly, since today is Page's 65th birthday -- the age currently viewed in countries including United States as the retirement age -- is the completion of that quote from Page's manager on any possibility of Page, Jones and Bonham continuing to work together in any capacity:

"That was it. The whole thing is completely over now. There are absolutely no plans for them to continue. Zero. Frankly, I wish everybody would stop talking about it."

Source of dismal assessment of Led Zeppelin reunion status offers murky clarification

So, more on those two seemingly conflicting quotes from Jimmy Page's manager that showed up on the Internet yesterday.

MusicRadar now offers an explanation pointing out that the BBC article providing the earlier quote from Mensch is actually dated Jan. 7, 2008 -- a year ago.

And therefore, MusicRadar surmises, the interview we were all reading yesterday must have been a year old and carry only information that has become obsolete through a year's passage of time.

So, MusicRadar argues, the correct explanation is that Mensch now says the possibility of future collaboration among Led Zeppelin's members is off the table. That's what he told them on the phone yesterday, so they consider the chance of this collaboration non-existent now, although it could have been at the time of Mensch's earlier interview for the BBC, whenever it was truly conducted.

But that argument doesn't exactly hold water with me, and here's why.

MusicRadar is right that the BBC article is dated Jan. 7, 2008, not Jan. 7, 2009. Good catch.

However, explain why the Peter Mensch interview clips were used in the most recent "Music Week" podcast on the BBC site. I downloaded and played it yesterday where this new podcast was displayed ever so obviously. It wasn't hidden in some year-old archive where I had to dig it up. It was right there.

If the BBC interview were really a year old, in theory, somebody would have recognized it. I would like to think I would have remembered coming across it only 12 months ago. I would like to think somebody at the BBC would have intercepted it before it were released for a second time.

There's no way the BBC would have purposely hoarded the interview for a full year before using it! What would the purpose of that be?

OK, now let's consider the content of the interview. BBC interviewer Matt Everitt refers to rumors that Steven Tyler was jamming with Page and Jones -- rumors that didn't exist before late October 2008. Peter Mensch also discusses the auditioning of singers, which wouldn't have happened by this time a year ago.

The BBC interview was probably conducted in November, or late October at the absolute earliest, circumstances mentioned in the interview suggest.

So I would think the 2008 inscription on the article's dateline was the result of a typographical error. As of yet, this has not been corrected. (Update: It was a typographical error, and it eventually was corrected. It now reads 2009.)

But as to why Peter Mensch would deny to MusicRadar having given an interview to the BBC, I don't know.

Maybe he gave the interview a month or more ago and didn't know what interview MusicRadar was referring to when it came up in yesterday's brief phone conversation.

We do have further reason to believe, however, that when MusicRadar's Joe Bosso called Peter Mensch yesterday for comment on the BBC article, the interviewer asked (pitifully) about a "Led Zeppelin" tour. Look, even MusicRadar admits the conversation went something like this:

JB: "Hey Pete, nice interview with the BBC, who's replacing Robert Plant, then?"
PM: "What interview? I haven't spoke to those guys for like four months or something."
JB: "So Led Zeppelin are not going to tour and record?"
PM: "No chance."

So, I guess that's what Peter Mensch was saying wasn't going to happen: a Led Zeppelin tour. Feh. Like we really needed clarification on that point.

But is it possible Mensch also means, by extension, there's no chance of any project involving collaboration between Page and Jones?

Because if that's what he means, then, well, that sucks!

As far as the comment that Mensch has no clue what Page will be up to in the event that this band with Jones and Bonham has already fallen through, that's saddest of all.

Somebody on the discussion group For Badgeholders Only has suggested that this signals the end of Jimmy Page's career once and for all. What a sad assessment if this is true.

Jimmy Page's manager claims singer auditions failed, 'no plans' for tour

OK, so the only thing that stands in the way of a new album and tour with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham is identifying a singer. Right?

That's what one would be led to believe after being exposed to the words of Page's manager, QPrime's Peter Mensch, who just said as much when he spoke with BBC Radio, as reported today.

But now Mensch is quoted, also today, by another news site saying something a little different. According to Joe Bosso's report on MusicRadar, the manager has told that site:

"They tried out a few singers, but no one worked out. That was it. The whole thing is completely over now. There are absolutely no plans for them to continue. Zero. Frankly, I wish everybody would stop talking about it."

Confused? Parse these words from Mensch carefully:

"Led Zeppelin are over! If you didn't see them in 2007, you missed them. It's done. I can't be any clearer than that."

Right. We already knew that, considering past disclosures to that effect from Page himself and an unnamed QPrime representative speaking on his behalf. This is almost exactly what Page told reporters last September:

"Playing at the 02, that was our reunion and it was one day and it was at the 02 in London. ... And basically that was it because if you're going to do a reunion, you need four members. John Paul Jones, myself and Jason would sort jam afterwards but it was nothing as monumental as people are speculating."

It almost sounds like MusicRadar's reporter was asking Mensch about a Led Zeppelin reunion, rather than a new collaboration between a singer and the established trio of Page, Jones and Bonham. It was precisely this line of questioning that went out of fashion last year after it became clear Robert Plant wanted no part of a Led Zeppelin reunion.

But it's interesting to see Mensch commenting on the fruits of the rehearsals, particularly that of the "few singers" they "tried out," "no one worked out."

While it has been reported that Page, Jones and Bonham were auditioning or rehearsing or jamming with singers Myles Kennedy and Steven Tyler last year, there have been no previous comments on how fruitful any singer rehearsals or auditions were.

And so, if you believe MusicRadar's quote from Mensch, then that's it: The project is called off. It won't happen.

The MusicRadar report concludes with one final quote from Mensch on the topic. It asks him what Page's plans are for the new year, and the manager replies:

"F--- if I know. I'm waiting to hear."

We all are, Jimmy. In fact, we have been for a while.

The guitarist turns 65 this Friday, Jan. 9. Jones just celebrated his 63rd birthday last Saturday, Jan. 3.