The official name of the new band is "RPA & the United Nations of Sound" and they will be releasing their debut album, "United Nations of Sound" on July 19th.  Go watch the video for "Are You Ready?"

Me neither!  Apparently he formed a new group called, "The United Nations of Sound" which is a great name.  And he has an album coming out on July 19th.  On NME's site you can also view a video with some studio footage and a sample of some of the tracks.  Finally, you can check out the lead off track of the album, "Are You Ready?" over at youtube which I dub the britpop version of "Mamma Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J.

Verve hasn't formally broken up as they have two times in the past.  There were rumors that another US tour was in the works, but that has been shelved and the members are now working on their own projects.  Nick McCabe and Simon Jones have formed a new band called The Black Ships, check out their myspace page for some samples of their sound.

MTV actually listened to the complaints and will air 10 hours of uninterrupted performance footage from last week's Live8 concerts. Starting at 10am-3pm, VH1 will start the broadcast and then it will switch to MTV from 3pm-8pm. Some of the performances include: U2, Pink Floyd, Coldplay/Richard Ashcroft, Paul McCartney, Killers, Robbie Williams, the Who and more...

If you can't watch, then maybe you'd like to download the performances from AOL. That site has a list of direct download links for almost every performer in every country. And as always, please go to the Live8 website and sign up, they don't want your money, just your face.

What Virgin Records was originally estimating as an October 22nd release of the new solo cd by RICHARD ASHCROFT has apparently been put off until after the new year. There is no word on why "Human Conditions" will not have a US release this year.

The tour is back on! RICHARD ASHCROFT rescheduled his US tour for January/February 2001. And he even added a few dates just to make up for it. Check out the dates here.

RICHARD ASHCROFT has postponed his entire US tour due to illness. No more details are being offered at this time, other than a statement to NME that Ashcroft is currently "at the doctor's." If/when the dates are rescheduled, we'll have 'em.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Richard Ashcroft, former leader of the seminal UK stalwarts, The Verve, has just released his first solo record, Alone With Everybody. Excellent Online correspondant Jay Babcock was able to sit down with Ashcroft to reflect on his former band, his new album, and his renewed look on life. Notes from this interview were used for a story which originally appeared in July/August 2000 issue of Mean magazine, but we're pleased to bring you the transcript of the entire interview.

Interview by Jay Babcock

RICHARD ASHCROFT is ready to release his first solo single, "A Song for the Lovers" on April 13th. His solo album is apparently set for a release later this year.