So if you didn't know, The Jam's Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler formed a group last May called "From The Jam", with new members Dave Moore on keys and Russell Hastings singing, which means no Paul Weller. A concept that may seem just plain wrong to some. You can decide for yourself if you catch them at House of Blues Anaheim on January 25th or The El Rey on the 26th! From The Jam has been touring in the UK to apparent great success and the versions of the songs on their myspace sound pretty good. New singer Russell Hastings' vocals are close to Weller's (and he thankfully has the same accent - wouldn't that be weird?) but they're not quite as deep and a little less strong, in what I've listened to so far.

If you're not up on your Jam history, here's a mini lesson: the original band broke up in 1982, after which bassist Foxton, who sang on the hit "David Watts" among others, made a solo album and later replaced Ali McMordie of Stiff Little Fingers, playing with them for fifteen years. Drummer Buckler played in bands Time UK and Sharp, before returning to his first love, carpentry. Weller of course formed the widely successful band The Style Council, played guitar on Oasis's Champagne Supernova, and continues his solo career today.

Since Weller is known for vowing never to be a part of any Jam reunion, claiming the band ended in a timely fashion and didn't become "embarrassing", forming one without him is really the only way it could be done. Best wishes to Foxton and Buckler.

Photo by Paul Brown via From The Jam's myspace