Jamiroquai percussionist and rhythm section master Sola Akingbola has just relaunched his personal website over at www.solaakingbola.com.  

In other news, Rob, Paul and Derrick recently held a workshop at Leeds College of Music and together with Daniel Pearce their band 'Shuffler' will be performing at Bucks University Student Union on 17 December.  Early in the new year the band DOTFUNK will be performing at the Jazz Cafe in London.

If you like your music a little more rock/metal-esque then Paul Turner can sometimes being found playing bass for a group called The Dark Sinatras.

Finally, Jamiroquai were in action this past weekend - the band performed at the Red Bull Formula 1 Racing Team Christmas Party at Silverstone (near London) on Saturday 10th December.

A few days ago Jamiroquai guitarist Rob Harris mentioned on Twitter that...

"It seems we may be playing a new years eve show in Sydney."

...well, the news has now been revealed that on New Years Eve Jamiroquai will be one of a number of acts performing at Glebe Island in Sydney, Australia as part of the Sydney Resolution Concert Series.

More information and a chance to win tickets can be found at the Yahoo! TV website.

The Jamiroquai Facebook page has today (Friday 28 October) made the following announcement...

We are sorry to announce the cancellation of the gig at Lotto Arena, Antwerp (Belgium), on 3rd December. This is due to unforeseen logistical problems, which have led to the difficult decision to cancel the gig. We hope to re-arrange the gig in 2012.

This is unfortunately the eighth concert (as far as I know) to be cancelled this year.

Jamiroquai bandmembers Paul Turner, Rob Harris and Derrick McKenzie who together with a few other super talented musicians make up a group called 'DOTFUNK' will be playing at the Jazz Cafe in London on 21 January 2012.

Tickets are available in advance from the Jazz Cafe website.

DOTFUNK take to the Jazz Cafe stage with a determination to bounce the house to it’s foundation!  No "same old versions of the same old tunes", they promise a groove laden set guaranteed to nod the head of all those hip to the real deal.  The band includes some of the UK’s most experienced and funky musicians and vocalists, with a line up featuring members key of Jamiroquai, Incognito and the Brand New Heavies. They are the real deal for real funk music lovers. The rhythms will be hard n nasty, the horns tight n funky and the vocals soaring n soulful, let's party!

Natural Energy is the name of a track by Jay Kay (before even the days of When You Gonna Learn on the Acid Jazz label) which was never released but understood to have been pressed a very limited number of times on the 'World Dance Records' record label.

Well, the track has recently been played on the Street Sounds show - a show broadcast on Solar Radio in the UK.  To listen to the track head over to the Street Sounds website, click on the Street Sounds Show banner and listen to part 1 of the show from 14.10.11 at approximately 24 minutes 10 seconds in (direct MP3 link).

Along with Rock Dust Light Star came the return of a brass section with the band.  One of the members of this section, trumpeter Malcolm Strachan has answered a few questions (asked by fans) about how he got involved with Jamiroquai and what its like working with Jay and being on tour.

Read the interview now over at jamirotalk.net.

After a gap of around a month during August the band are back on the road for a few gigs.  After performing in Istanbul, Turkey on Monday night (which confused me as the wrong date was originally announced) the band now head to Italy for the F1 Rocks event on Friday.  A gig in Brazil at the end of the month and then Germany, France and Belgium later in November.

Here's hoping that the injury problems that Jay's had are behind him and that the forthcoming gigs all go ahead as planned.

Finally, here's the set list from Monday's concert in Istanbul as sent to me by a fan...

• Rock Dust Light Star, Main Vein, Cosmic Girl, High Times, Little L, Morning Glory (Intro), Canned Heat, All Good In The Hood, Hey Floyd, Feels Just Like It Should, Love Foolosophy, Use The Force (Interlude), Travelling Without Moving, Scam (Break), Alright, Deeper Underground, White Knuckle Ride