Cool Britannia

The Verve reunion may have been short lived, but Richard Ashcroft didn’t stay away for long.

The frontman is back with the album “Redemption” with his new band The United Nation of Sound.

Expect the album, that was produced by No ID and mixed by Chris Potter, in late March.

Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack started Pin Me Down last year with New York songwriter Melina Mepris.

The duo released the single “Cryptic” last year, but is now getting ready for the release of their first album. The album is electro-rock and was recorded while Bloc Party was on tour. Mepris recorded the vocals in New York while Lissack recorded his bits from different cities. The two exchange sound bytes over e-mail.

Bloc Party is currently on a long break after a highly disappointing album and tour.

The Spice Girls are one of the most loved groups of Britain in the last two decades. The world-known girl group has secured plans for the long rumored musical based off the lives of all five girls.

Working alongside producer Judy Craymer (Mama Mia!), former manager Simon Fuller and Universal Music, the girls have a first hand involvement with the production.

All five girls have signed on to the project after a dinner in London in December. The girls are said to have loved “Mama Mia!” and have wanted to do something similar.

Coldplay wants to record a stripped down acoustic album to go back to their roots.

According to The Herald Sun, the band fears they lost their sound after becoming arena-rockers. The band is said to have locked themselves in an abandoned church to record instead of their Primrose Hill London studio.

The album is expected for 2010 and will be produced by Brian Eno.

There’s Them Crooked Vultures, Monsters of Folk, Chickenfoot, Tinted Windows.. and now, Apparatjik.

Apparatjik is the newest supergroup and although the group combination is not as odd as Hanson, Cheap Trick and The Smashing Pumpkins, it is not far from it. The new band consists of  Magne Furuholmen and Martin Terefe from 80’s sensation A-Ha, Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman and Mew singer Jonas Bjerre.

For Coldplay fans the collaboration should be less of a shock since Chris Martin has never been shy of A-Ha’s influence on the band.

Babyshamble’s frontman, Pete Doherty spoke to NME about minor details of their upcoming third album. The yet untitled album is set to be released in mid 2010 despite the fact that the band has not booked a producer or studio time.

According to Doherty guitarist Mik Whitnall has been recording demos in London off of “loads of equipment” he purchased off Ebay.

Doherty also added that potential songs include “Cuckoo 1440,” “352 Days,” “Tinker’s Daughter,” “Fixing up to Go,” “Bonjour Triste” and “After He.”

It may help the band’s recording if Doherty could stay out of jail in the mean time.

Ex-Libertine and Dirty Pretty Things’ Carl Barat is trading in his rocker image for a role in Sam Shephard’s “Fool for Love.”

The production is part of the Desire And Destruction repertory season at Riverside Studios in London.

“I have always wanted to act, so when Sadie and Neil offered me this I was very much up for it - it’s certainly one hell of a challenge, but I’m really enjoying the process of collaboration,” Carl Barat told the London Metro.

The show runs from January 25 through March 10.

For more Carl Barat news visit Carl Barat News.

35 year-old Robbie Williams is no stranger to demons. Over his short life the singer/songwriter has been in and out of rehab for drug and alcohol addictions.

With his first release in three years, Williams is hitting the main news sources across the world and announced in Australia that people should not expect a large world tour for “Reality Killed the Video Star.” According to the former Take That starlet, the last tour for 2006’s “Rudebox” sent him into rehab, postponing his career for three years.

In Williams’ 2002 biography, “Feel,” the star went into great honest detail how much touring takes out of him.  The anxiety and stress was almost too much for the singer to deal with.

Bloc Party’s lead singer, Kele Okereke, is rumored to be working on a solo album. Although details are vague whether he is just collaborating with Baltimore’s Spank Rocker, producer Hudson Mohawke has confirmed he is branching out from the band.

In October Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong confirmed the band is taking a hiatus after their last concert on November 19. He did however also add that the band is not breaking up, just simply taking a break.

Fans are anxiously awaiting to see what to expect from Okereke. Will his music stay with the band’s rock roots or more towards the latest, more dancy Bloc Party?

The PRS for Music, the music royalties body, has released the most played song in 2009. The list is as follows:

1. Gabriella Cilmi - ‘Sweet About Me’
2. Coldplay - ‘Viva La Vida’
3. Moloko - ‘The Time is Now’
4. Duffy - ‘Mercy’
5. Take That - ‘Shine’
6. Girls Aloud - ‘The Promise’
7. Jordin Sparks - ‘No Air’
8. The Script - ‘The Man who Can’t be Moved’
9. Take That - ‘Greatest Day’
10. Jennifer Hudson - ‘Spotlight’

Experts thought “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay would top the list, but were dissapointed.