Mona singer Nick Brown says rock legend Robert Plant told him that the Nashville band play the blues better than Led Zeppelin.

According to NME, Brown met Plant while filming Later... With Jools Holland last year and told The Sun newspaper: “Robert Plant told me how much he loved our song ‘Lines in the Sand.’ He said Led Zeppelin tried to rip off the great American blues, but they never quite nailed it like we have with that song. What can you say to that? I just mumbled something like, ‘But you’re Robert Plant, dude’ and then I flung my arms around him like a little kid.”

Brown also said he compares Mona to rock icons like Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan.

“Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Joe Strummer – I see them as the competition,” he said. “They’ve run the race, now I want to run it faster. I don’t mean any lack of respect. I just have complete conviction in what I do. And in any case those people would be the first to say ‘go for it – outdo us’.”

Mona’s debut album is set for release next week in the U.K. on Island Records

Drummer Jason Bonham has completed a track written by Led Zeppelin in 2008… but it will appear on the next Black Country Communion album.

Bonham worked with Led Zep’s Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones on a reunion project following Led Zeppelin’s one-off London show in 2007. But all was abandoned when singer Robert Plant declined to take part, and the three couldn’t settle on a satisfactory replacement.

But now, the son of John Bonham says he’s finished the piece and recorded it with Black Country Communion bandmates Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and Derek Sherinian.

He told the Toronto Sun, “It’s a song called ‘Save Me.’ It started off as an idea I worked on with Jimmy and John. You’ll notice it – there’s a slight Zep-esque riff – it’s got a definite feel to it.

“I was very much under the impression that we were going to write an album and put together a new project. But in early December 2008 it all came to a halt. It was a hard thing for me to get over for a while – I’d just played the concert of my life.”

BCC’s second album, simply called 2, will be released June 13 in Europe and June 14 in the U.S. On Monday, May 9, the band will make a free download available for the new single “The Outsider.”

Robert Plant has added an eleven concert North American tour to his current itinerary. The run starts up in San Diego, CA and ends on the East Coast at the Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. The concerts on previous legs of his tour have been some of Plant's most inspired live performances in years. Nearly one year into playing together, the Band of Joy has found a rare sweet spot where composition and improvisation come together to create a firey and soulful brand of rock & roll.

These new dates, which will feature a stop at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in TN, are the latest that have been confirmed in support of his recent, stellar, Band of Joy (Rounder Records) album release. His touring band is the same that made the record: Patty Griffin, vocals; Darrell Scott, multi instrumentalist/vocals; Byron House, bass/vocals; Marco Giovino, drums and percussion/vocals, and co-producer Buddy Miller, guitar/vocals. The full itinerary is listed below.

June 8 - San Diego, CA Copley Symphony Hall

June 9 - Highland, CA San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino

June 12 - Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

June 13 - Columbus, OH Palace Theatre

June 15 - St. Louis, MO Fabulous Fox Theatre

June 16 - Highland Park, IL Ravinia Festival

June 19 - Telluride, CO Telluride Bluegrass Festival

June 21 - Winnipeg, Canada Centennial Concert Hall

June 23 - Ottawa, Canada Ottawa Jazz Festival

June 24 - Montreal, Canada Wilfrid-Pelletier Theatre @ Place des Arts

June 25 - Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa

If you’re looking for some new material from Them Crooked Vultures, you’re not going to have to wait very long, at least according to bassist John Paul Jones. In an interview with Stuff.co.nz, the Zeppelin-low-end-turned-Vulture has explained that the band plan to record their second album later this year.

“We’ll do a second album this year,” he told Stuff. “By the end of summer, something like that.”

He added, “We’re all hard workers. In a way we need to do this for ourselves. Once we committed to it we worked as hard as a young band would, put the hours in. It’s got to be good – we’ve got reputations to uphold more than anything else.”

That’s fantastic news to us, but what about all those Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age fans clamoring for some action? Jones promised they’d get back to their respective home bands eventually.

“I haven’t really stolen them – it’s Dave’s baby, it’s his fault,” he said. “They’ll get them back – one day.”

It isn’t hard to guess that the band’s success helped soften the blow of Led Zeppelin’s reunion/tour plans falling through for Jones.

“(Zeppelin fans) have been disappointed a long time – they’re getting used to it… I think they’re enjoying (the Vultures). It doesn’t sound like Led Zeppelin but it’s got a similar sort of vibe. It’s a groovy, exciting rock band.” Damn right it is.

Them Crooked Vultures are set to play at this year’s Coachella Festival and we will be there to soak in the greatness!.

John Paul Jones says Them Crooked Vultures is the best band in the world now Led Zeppelin are gone ( WE AGREE!). And he’s pleased with the trio’s anti-press and guerrilla gig approach which has resulted in the ideal reception for the Vultures’ debut album next week.

The band features ex-Led Zeppelin bassist Jones along with Foo Fighters’ mainman Dave Grohl and Joshe Homme from Queens of the Stone Age.

The band streamed the entire self-titled album via YouTube last night to massively positive reaction – but before that, asides from some teaser releases, the trio had deliberately kept out of the limelight.

And Jones says he’s enjoying the band so much he’d like it to continue, and he’s enjoying it every bit as much as he enjoyed Led Zep.

He tells Nova919.com: “We kept it quiet so there wasn’t all the speculation and pressure. There was enough pressure between ourselves to do a really good record. We were trying to impress each other – we didn’t want everybody to go, ‘What’s it like? When’s it out? What are you doing?’ There will be time for all that – we wanted to concentrate on the music.”

The approach gave them the ability to play gigs to crowds who didn’t know what to expect. Jones says: “It’s 90 minutes of all new stuff – none of us have played covers in rehearsals or jamming and we’re very happy with that. Nobody shouts out for Zeppelin numbers or Queens numbers or Foof numbers, and that’s refreshing.

“To have an audience standing there, listening, taking it all in – it’s just amazing. They’re reacting really really well.”

Jones says he always aims to be in the best band in the world, and Them Crooked Vultures attains that level as much as Led Zep did: “There are so many parallels with the old days. We’re making music we want to make. We’re not thinking, ‘What’s going to sell?’ Zeppelin was exactly the same – we got the songs together. None of uit was manufactured.”

He’s enjoying working with Grohl and Homme so much he hopes it continues, and is looking forward to the chance of a second album.

“We all listen to each other,” he explains. “With the experience we have nobody has to explain anything to anybody else. If something’s not working everybody knows it’s not working. With experienced musicians you can fail – you can try something out knowing it might not work.”

And Jones’ comment about the future might dispel some Led Zep reunion rumours: “I hope there’s 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 too much fun at the moment.

“I’m proud of the Zeppelin legacy and I hope I’m keeping the spirit alive with this band. Led Zeppelin were the best band in the world – until this one came along.”

This band is insanely good! The live show is where this band will truly shine, with bombastic meat bats slaying away and low end thunder. Topped off with stellar guitar and vocals. Killer line up and exceeds our expectations of a modern supergroup! Check it out for yourself here and check the live videos on you tube. My favorite album of the year for sure.