We’re not ones for idle speculation here at Unreality Music. That’s why we didn’t entertain rumours of a Led Zeppelin tour to follow on from their appearance at the O2 arena.

Let’s face it, anyone who knows anything about Zeppelin would realise that Robert Plant was too excited about his album with Alison Kraus to jump straight into a Zeppelin tour. And that’s exactly what Jimmy Page confirmed recently when he spoke to the press on a promotional tour of Tokyo.

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The Lord loves a trier as my mother says, and Sheryl Crow is certainly persistent. She’s due to release her sixth studio album, Detours on 18 February.

Sheryl’s hooked up with Tuesday Night Music Club producer, Bill Bottrell for what she describes as the most honest record she’s ever made.

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You heard me right, Maurice Starr’s all-singing, all-dancing boyband, New Kids On The Block are reforming. With all these 90’s pop acts reuniting, there has never been a better time to have a midlife crisis.

Funnily enough, we were sitting in the kitchen the other day trying to remember the dance moves to The Right Stuff. When it comes to music gossip, I swear I’m psychic!

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Actually, don’t answer that…

The reason Unreality Music’s been so quiet is a combination of a couple of days being sick and a weekend in lovely Prague.

There don’t seem to be any Czech pop stars, or I would devote a post to their work. Needless to say, the place was very beautiful and very cold.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I’ll repeat the call for contributors yet again – if you love music and you can write witty, interesting words about it, get in touch with me. We’re always looking for other bloggers to help out on the blogs.

Officially (in my opinion) the finest musicians to come from Liverpool, The Zutons are currently in the United States of America working hard on their new album.

On their website, they say the experience has “taken our heads to a different place and it’s brought us closer together. Sometimes you have to go a million miles away or get on a plane for ten hours to get closer together.”

The new album is being recorded at LA’s Sunset Sound Studios, with Black Crowes producer George Drakoulias. Frontman Dave McCabe says:

George (the producer) is funny as fuck, he’s like a walking jukebox and he’s getting a good vibe in the room. It definitely feels different with an American producer than what we’re used to and I think that’s a good thing for us now.”

Sounds like the Zutons crew are having fun over the pond. We’re about due for some new material from the band, as they seem to be releasing an album every two years at this point in time.

In other news, they’re scheduled to play the Isle of Wight Festival in June of this year.

For the last week or so, we’ve been running a poll on Unreality Music asking who you think will win the Best British Group award in this year’s Brits. Among the bands nominated are Arctic Monkeys, Editors, Girls Aloud, Kaiser Chiefs and Take That.

Pundits are predicting a big year for pop acts in this year’s Brit Awards, and the voting so far implies that Take That are on course for the gold. If you haven’t voted yet – now’s your chance!

Top-hatted rock god Slash and the guys from Velvet Revolver are rumoured to be working on material for their third album. Apparently the band could begin work on the new album as early as April of this year, just after they complete their tour (which starts tomorrow, by the way).

“That’s the big thing right now,” Slash says. “I’m really jazzed about doing it. I’ve been working on new ideas, and we’ve had a couple times where the guys all got together and worked on some stuff. I’m itching to see what this third record’s gonna be, ’cause I think it’s gonna be fuckin’ awesome, and I think we don’t necessarily need to spend two years on the road like we did last time.”

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To celebrate 105 years of making the coolest motorcycles on the planet, Harley-Davidson are planning a huge bash across Milwaukee on the 29th and 30th August 2008.

Headlining the act will be New Jersey’s finest, Mr Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band. The Springsteen gig is due to take place on 30 August at the Roadhouse at the Lakefront in Milwaukee’s Veteran’s Park. Tickets for the concert will go on sale on April 5 via the Karley Davidson website.

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Andrew Dubber runs a blog called New Music Strategies. It looks at the new media landscape that the Internet offers and helps:

independent musicians and music businesses adapt and thrive in the online environment.

New Music Strategies is refreshingly positive. When you consider that the Internet is awash with anti-Music-Industry pap, most people writing about the business offer little in the way of constructive ideas for musicians.

Not Andrew. In fact, in one of his early 2008 posts, he says:

I consider myself successful to the extent that people come back to me and say “Because of what you said, I now earn £X per month more than I was previously able, my attendances have gone up at gigs, and I can now do Thing X with my music that I always wanted to do…

I’ve become more enthralled with the music industry of late. What with the turmoil caused by MP3s and the industry reaction and the upheaval that Guy Hands is causing at EMI, you can’t help but speculate on the brave new world that awaits the intrepid artist.

It’s a good time to subscribe to Andrew’s blog – he’s changing the focus somewhat, and I get the impression anyone interested in the music industry would do well to start following his blog. Here’s the RSS link if you want to subscribe.

I’ve come across a couple of great music-related posts recently. There are a few in here that should put a smile on your face…

• An excellent article over at The Trukstop that looks at the forthcoming Metallica album and how it might be received by fans. I wrote about this a while back, saying their style had drifted far from what we all originally loved about Metallica.
• Here’s a round up of folk and acoustic artists doing covers of hip-hop songs. The last thing we need is crazy singer/songwriters shooting each other up in musical turf-wars. Stop the madness!
• You know, rapping isn’t all about the bitches, hoes and bling. They gots da business to take care of too. Here’s what the excel spreadsheets and flowcharts of your average gangsta rapper look like.
• Scott Wharton over at Metal Martyr has some good advice for young metal fans. I know a lot of music fans can become blinkered to that genre. Back when I started listening though, people were excited about fusing metal with other types of music.
• Being a budding fatboy, I had an awesome session on the cross-trainer the other night to the Editors album. Then I came across this New York Times article about how music helps with exercise and how to choose the right kind. What kind of music do you listen to at the gym?

Remember, if you come across a good music article on another blog or website, let me know about it and I’ll feature it in the next episode!