Jimmy Page's new project 'is not Led Zeppelin'

A representative for Jimmy Page says that the Led Zeppelin guitarist is forming a new band with John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham, according to an article by Brian Hiatt posted today at RollingStone.com.

Note: A new band. The rep's statement cited in the article makes this point abundantly clear.

"Whatever this is, it is not Led Zeppelin," Page's rep is quoted as saying. "Not without the involvement of Robert Plant."

In September, Plant released a statement in which he officially turned down the opportunity to record and tour with Led Zeppelin. If he sticks to his guns, recording and touring may be exactly the plans for this new group consisting of Page, Jones, Bonham and a yet-to-be-named singer.

The man most often pronounced as under serious consideration for the front man role in this new band is Myles Kennedy, lead singer and one guitarist for the band Alter Bridge, which is currently touring England.

The Rolling Stone piece quotes an assistant for Kennedy's manager, Paul Geary, saying he "declined to comment on a report that [Kennedy] is the front-runner."

The article does, however, contain a three-word quotation from Geary's assistant, who says, "Nothing is set."

This brief statement is consistent with what an inside source disclosed to LedZeppelinNews.com earlier this week, that no final decisions have been made as to identifying a singer or what, exactly, the new group would do as far as touring or recording.

Not mentioned in the article is the apparent fact that Page, Jones and Bonham were present at the side of the stage Kennedy graced in London over the weekend. This was also disclosed to LedZeppelinNews.com by the same inside source, as reported Monday.

As Alter Bridge tours England, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti is coming across as supportive of Kennedy in published interviews. As previously reported here, Tremonti told Kerrang magazine Kennedy would remain a member of Alter Bridge should he be selected for the gig with Page, Jones and Bonham.

However, Tremonti neither confirmed nor denied that Kennedy has been under consideration for that job.

Tremonti makes similar comments in an interview for MusicRadar, adding that Kennedy "deserves" to sing for Page, Jones and Bonham, and that it would only benefit the name recognition of Alter Bridge.

John Paul Jones to get his holiday jam on

John Paul Jones has been booked to perform in an all-star jam session over two nights in Asheville, N.C., this December.

The 20th Anniversary Christmas Jam is to be presented by Warren Haynes, guitarist and singer for Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band. Both of those bands are slated to appear over the Dec. 12-13 event.

It has yet to be determined which of the two nights Jones will play. He may ultimately appear on both nights, sitting in with various other artists and groups who have been booked to appear.

Those include Joan Osborne, Travis Tritt, the Derek Trucks Band, Steve Earle, Audley Freed (formerly of the Black Crowes) and others.

The Christmas Jam is to be held at Asheville's Civic Center Arena. Tickets are priced at $55 apiece, not including a $1 facility fee. Post-production proceeds are to benefit the Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity.

A pre-sale has concluded, and more tickets are to become available Nov. 24 via Ticketmaster. For more information, visit the official event Web site.

Jones sat in with Gov't Mule at last year's Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tenn., affording him the opportunity to jam onstage with Haynes on a number of Led Zeppelin tunes. From that set on June 17, 2007, here are "Moby Dick":

"Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)":

"Since I've Been Loving You":

and "No Quarter." Part one:

Part two:

Myles Kennedy holds his own on guitar

Much has already been made of the voice Myles Kennedy would bring to the table in a collaboration with Jimmy Page. But what about the fact that he's also an accomplished guitarist in his own right? Here's a look at Myles Kennedy on guitar.

Here is Myles Kennedy jamming on "Travelling Riverside Blues," a Robert Johnson song that ought to be familiar to Led Zeppelin fans. This lemon-squeezing performance is from Alter Bridge's Feb. 10, 2008, show in Copenhagen, as namechecked in the song. Drummer Scott Phillips adds some sparse accompaniment.

That's a resonator guitar he's playing in this clip. And yes, you get a sample of Kennedy's ability to hold a very long note at the end of this. What a singer!

In 2005, Alter Bridge allowed its two guitarists to take center stage for some solo features. In this Nov. 15 show at the Astoria in London, Myles Kennedy starts off this spectacle with some "Voodoo Chile," paying tribute to Jimi Hendrix. His more technical counterpart, Mark Tremonti, follows up with a taste of the Eddie Van Halen guitar solo "Eruption."

The same show also includes this cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" with Myles on rhythm guitar.

When Tremonti takes lead guitar, I can't help but concentrate on the steady rhythm guitar that continues throughout and think of how this would complement Page. In fact, I'm also reminded of two recent tours on which Page was assisted by at least one other guitarist when performing Led Zeppelin songs like this. He allowed this to happen with Porl Thompson of The Cure when touring with Robert Plant from 1994 to 1995 and again with Black Crowes guitarists Rich Robinson and Audley Freed in 1999 and 2000. In interviews, Page was very vocal on the latter occasion about how pleased he was to have the other guitarists with him to add layers to the music that are impossible for one guitarist except in the studio, where overdubs are fair game.

See how Myles responds to the Bristol Academy crowd in his guitar solo at the beginning of the following clip from 2006. After Tremonti's "Eruption" is a full-band rendition of a Bolero-inspired instrumental called "Ahavo Rabo Taco Salad."

There's no matching video for this pair of guitar solos, recorded Oct. 15, 2005, in Las Vegas. Again, Myles goes first, then Mark.

Myles and Mark in this video clip from the Alter Bridge show in Barcelona from May 21, 2006:

Here's one from the archives. This is from 15 years ago or more. If you're anything like me and that rhythm from the drum machine bothers you, you may want to skip right to the guitar solo beginning at 2:56. Kennedy shows off his finger dexterity in this.

Oh, and it's nice to see Myles knows what he's talking about when it comes to guitar gear. He must have fun talking gear with Jimmy Page. At 1:42, Myles has an "It Might Get Loud" moment.

Source: Page, Jones, Bonham watch Alter Bridge in London; DVD filming postponed

There's been no official word from Jimmy Page and the guys on Led Zeppelin this past week, so we rely on inside sources and gossip instead.

Alter Bridge was scheduled to film a DVD at their London concert this Saturday night. I speculated that Page would show up for the concert with John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham in tow -- perhaps to appear onstage with the band's Myles Kennedy, the singer who is said to have been rehearsing new material with Page, Jones and Bonham.

Well, an inside source tells LedZeppelinNews.com the Zeppelin guys did show up for the concert but did not appear onstage. Furthermore, the DVD was not filmed! A decision had been made to postpone filming to Dec. 7, when Alter Bridge performs in Amsterdam at the Heineken Music Hall.

The band apparently did use a handheld camera or three, though, to capture some of the onstage moments at London's Brixton Academy. No word if Page, Jones and Bonham show up in any backstage clips that may have been filmed, although the source reveals they were present at the side of the stage to watch the singer.

Does this signal it is all but decided Kennedy will sing on tour with Page, Jones and Bonham -- whether they would call it Led Zeppelin or not? No decisions have been made, apparently. Would it be an album and tour, or just a tour with no album? Still up in the air, the source says.

How about an album but no tour? Maybe Page is wavering about the possibility too. Some news site called Popbitch says so, relying on the account of a Led Zeppelin fan who supposedly heard from Page himself that he would never tour without Robert Plant.

Never tour without Plant? Except that he has. Many times. Don't count the times he toured in the 1960s before he and Plant ever met. Every time Page has been on the road since 1980, except for that short span of time between 1995 and 1998, it has been with singers other than Plant at his side. And almost every time, Page's set lists have had Zeppelin numbers in them.

OK, fine, history aside. Would Page tour without Plant ever again at this point? Yeah, I think he would. Page loves touring. Once he gets that itch, it's all he wants to do. And since he hasn't toured in the last eight years, he must be itching to go outside again -- especially since the world is clamoring for it based on the demand and overwhelming support surrounding his only onstage appearance last year.

You can take Jimmy Page out of the touring circuit, but you can't take the touring circuit out of Jimmy Page. And now that he's building a lineup for a new group that involves John Paul Jones, one of the greatest musicians he's ever played with, and Jason Bonham, who forms with Jones as great a rhythm section as Page will ever play with again, and with an enormous Led Zeppelin devotee at the microphone, how can Page ever resist the call of the road? Glandular fever?

No more garden incidents and broken fingers -- OK, Jimmy? Stay healthy!

Also on the rumor mill, has Robert Plant shown up in Orlando karaoke bars singing Led Zeppelin songs as a goof? That's what one New York City radio station has reported. Sounds like a joke to me, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open just in case.

Note-for-note recitation: Classic Albums Live reprises Zeppelin's debut LP

Last night, I caught an 8 p.m. show by Classic Albums Live. The concept is simple: Musicians replicate a classic album, song for song, word for word, note for note, sound for sound. These musicians are experts in their craft and pay exquisite attention to detail.

They were playing Led Zeppelin's first album, from "Good Times Bad Times" on through "How Many More Times." I saw the fourth of six performances in two weeks during a homestand at Paradise Live in Hollywood, Fla. It was definitely worth $20 to witness these professionals pay tribute to Led Zeppelin by repeating the nine songs as they appeared in the final mix on the album recorded 40 years ago last month.

First of all, it takes more than four people to do what Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham accomplished in the studio. For most songs, there were five people onstage, with one guitarist handling the acoustic parts and the other handling the electric lines. A few times, a keyboardist added himself to the mix. Other times, the group dwindled down to a fourpiece. For one song, guitarist Rob Phillips shuffled between the electric strapped to him and the acoustic on a stand. The singer stayed away from playing instruments except for his harmonica solo on "You Shook Me" and also playing the part of guest tabla player Viram Jasnai on the acoustic instrumental "Black Mountain Side." The rhythm section of bass and drums kept the tempo consistent and the groove tight all throughout the night.

When I say these guys play everything, I'm not referring just to the notes you'd read off of sheet music. That would be too simple. Of course you'll hear the bass drum's insistent shuffle behind the second half of the guitar solo on "I Can't Quit You Baby." There's a lot more to them than that. They're also replicating everything as far as the subtleties that come from overanalyzing a song. So when Plant laughs off-mic in the second verse of "You Shook Me," you can be sure to see vocalist Nick Hildyard put on a smile and do that too.

And the crowning moment of the night came during "I Can't Quit You Baby" when I knew coming up was the one instance toward the end of his guitar solo that Jimmy Page strikes a power chord a split second too early. It's something I've seen Jimmy discuss in an interview, claiming it was intentional and not a mistake. I wondered if even this intricacy woud come out when reproduced onstage by fiery axeman Dom Polito. It was. He did it. And I marvelled.

But immediately after he played the chord that sounds too early, the bass player mistakenly followed him! That wasn't in the sheet music!

One of my absolute favorite things about Led Zeppelin, from listening to their official and unofficial live recordings and comparing them to the studio renditions of their songs, is the onstage improvisation. The group never performed a song the same way twice. So it was odd to be attending a performance of live musicians playing what to my ears were meticulous run-throughs of those studio renditions. The way the group happened to perform the songs in the studio on that one particular take that made it to vinyl is the way these performers rehearse it and play it night after night without any variation.

I think I would find that infuriating. If I were a guitarist who was restricted to churning out identical nine-minute readings of "Dazed and Confused" every night and, in the process, refrain from the improvements Page added to the song over the course of six years of playing it live, night after night, I would only be frustrated. My creativity would be stunted, and I wouldn't dig that. How long would I last?

But just as I was thinking that during "Dazed and Confused," the band was reprising the main theme of the song having played such a tight rendition of the segue from the violin bow solo. And the reason this band was so tight was because Led Zeppelin was tight on that part of the album. It probably is the tightest Led Zeppelin ever played that, and it made it onto the album and finds itself being repeated meticulously 40 years later by some afficianados. It must be an honor for them to be duplicating such a great and tight version of that song.

And of every song.

So maybe it's not so bad after all!

Foo Fighters concerts with Page/Jones encores come to DVD in U.S. Nov. 18

The Foo Fighters' "Live at Wembley Stadium" is to be released in the United States this month, capturing a special guest appearance by Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.

This official release on DVD and Blu-Ray captures the Foo Fighters' June 2008 performances in London including the moments Page and Jones sat in on Led Zeppelin songs "Ramble On" and "Rock and Roll" during an encore set.

The DVD was previously available in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This U.S. release is now scheduled for Nov. 18.

VIP packages are available for the release that include a commemorative Foo Fighters bag, glossy prints of the band members taken onstage, a limited edition Serpent T-shirt, two backstage laminates, and the feature on either DVD or Blu-Ray.

How might Jimmy Page's new singer be announced?

These particular words of John Paul Jones last week stick with me: "When we know what we're doing, we'll let you know," he told BBC Radio Devon.

He was speaking, of course, about the search for a singer to record an album with Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham and himself, and to go on tour.

This comment made me think there would be a grand, official announcement immediately after the decision was made and a singer was picked.

So then why have anonymous sources told Billboard that Myles Kennedy has the deal wrapped up? Why did this story get published Friday with no official word to follow it up over the weekend?

I have an idea. Because it's true and they're going to announce it onstage next weekend!

It's the second time the name of Myles Kennedy has been leaked publicly: Last month, a source told The Sun in England that Kennedy was sitting in with the others in rehearsals. And Dee Snider said he had heard it too.

Last week, Steven Tyler's name was also thrown into the ring after another leak to the Daily Mail in England. That was either a stunt just to throw off the media or, as fellow Aerosmith member Brad Whitford suspects, a last-ditch attempt to encourage Robert Plant to come over and sing.

All these leaks... drip, drip, drip... but no official statement so far.

Jason Bonham evaded me yesterday. I turned out to an event in Hollywood, Fla., where he was scheduled to appear.

And he was a no-show!

The guys at event sponsor Resurrection Drums said they didn't know what happened to him -- "no call or anything" to say he wasn't going to make it.

I wondered if Jason had been suddenly yanked across the Atlantic and that announcement was imminent. But it didn't happen yesterday, and we're still waiting.

If they have picked Myles Kennedy and they announce it today or tomorrow, it would be just in time for the first date of his current band's U.K. tour. Alter Bridge plays its first show tomorrow at the Academy in Sheffield, England.

And the group's London show this coming Saturday is to be filmed for a DVD, which reminds me of the Page/Jones guest appearance at a Foo Fighters show in London five months ago that was filmed for a DVD.

The fact that something Zeppelin-related would happen in London at the second Foo Fighters show was seemingly leaked to a fan with a mouthpiece. So far, no such leak for this Saturday's Alter Bridge show, but I'm all ears if anyone wants to leak it to me!

If Kennedy has the job in the bag, perhaps the leaks will continue throughout this week so as to hype up the London show and get a lot of media attention there.

And then, on Saturday at Brixton Academy, for the encore set, onto the stage walk John Paul Jones, Jason Bonham and Jimmy Page.

It would be there and then -- onstage, in front of screaming fans and a throng of music industry press and mainstream news reporters -- that the full lineup of Jimmy Page's new band is unveiled once and for all.

And then they launch into something new that'll be on the album.

And then they launch into "Kashmir."

I don't know. I'm just thinking.