Paul Weller stopped by last.fm recently to discuss his new album, Sonik Kicks, working with Blur’s Graham Coxon and Amy Winehouse, as well as how the music business has changed over the years.  He also performed acoustic versions of several songs from Sonik Kicks, including “The Attic” and “That Dangerous Age”.   Visit HERE to watch the full session.

Paul Weller returns to the US this fall for a performance at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on October 19.  Visit HERE to purchase tickets.

There are very few artists who’ve enjoyed the kind of success and influence over four decades that Paul Weller has. Even to this day he has been on a never-ending creative peak and retains a constant critical high, continuing to push boundaries from one day to the next. Paul Weller has had six era-defining albums with The Jam, five with The Style Council and eleven as a solo artist. That’s a lot of classic albums to milk on the nostalgia circuit, but, Paul Weller is not like other artists. He doesn’t want to look back: that’s not his way. He is only concerned with the here and now.

“Of course I’m proud of what I’ve done,” says Paul, “but I’m interested in what’s next. I want to be relevant now, in 2012. I’ve done my bit for the past. I’ve only ever been about what’s next, really, and I’ll be that way until I keel over.”

The UK’s number 1 selling album, Sonik Kicks, is the follow-up to 2010′s Mercury Music Prize nominated Wake Up The Nation and was recorded as usual in Weller’s own Black Barn Studios in Ripley, Surrey, with co-producer Simon Dine and trusted engineer Charles Rees.  Paul enlisted musician friends such as Noel Gallagher, Graham Coxon and Aziz Ibrahim to help out on Sonik Kicks — often playing any instrument other than that which they are famous for — as well members of his touring band, including long-serving lieutenant Steve Cradock, with Weller himself also playing just about every instrument. His wife Hannah sings with Paul on “Study In Blue,” while his daughter Leah and youngest son Mac join him on the final “Be Happy Children.”  Click HERE for more information about Sonik Kicks and to order the CD, LP or digital now at the Yep Roc Store.

Visit the player below to listen to the single “When Your Garden’s Overgrown” from Sonik Kicks.