Imagine this, you’re carelessly glancing through the pages of a monthly music magazine, memorising gig dates, noting down the stand-out tracks from the newly released albums, catching up on the latest news from some of the planets biggest names in music. Then, without any kind of warning, it hits you. Something else catches your eye, something you need to read twice just to make sure. You scan it again to double check. It reads, “The next project that I’m trying to initiate involves me on drums. Josh Homme (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal) on guitar, and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) playing bass. That’s the next album. That wouldn’t suck.”
Those are the words from Rock Monster Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) which were quoted in MOJO Magazine back in July 2005, and mother of god they sound good don’t they! Surely it’s not going to happen though hey? Could this be THE super group that the Rock world has been waiting for?
Let me try to bring you up to speed. Since that massive announcement by Grohl, the collaboration had been long anticipated by music fans all over the world. Until late July 2009 when it was confirmed that John Paul Jones had indeed linked up with Grohl and Homme to form new band dubbed “Them Crooked Vultures”. It wasn’t a rumour!! Remember those words you imagined reading back in July 2005? Never doubted them for a second did you!
With the buzz already being phenomenal the band went on to debut at a post Lollapalooza gig in Chicago’s Metro on August 9th. Tickets were snapped up in minutes. During the 75 minute performance the band were joined by Alain Johannes, fellow Queens of the Stone Age guitarist, and premiered a dozen new songs including Elephants, New Fang, Scumbag Blues, Dead End Friends, Bandoliers Mind Eraser, Gunmen, Daffodils, Interlude w/ Ludes; Caligulove, Warsaw, Nobody Loves Me. Needless to say the gig was nothing short of mind-blowing.
Flying high and adopting the line “Follow What’s Heard”, the band spread their wings to circle Europe, and mid-August saw the band gig in Amsterdam before quietly moving onto Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium. They also – blink and you’ll miss it - sneakily debuted in the UK on August 26th with a support slot for the Arctic Monkeys at O2 academy in Brixton. Shortly followed by surprise performances at both the Reading and Leeds festivals (where they were voted as the band of the weekend by NME). Didn’t see that coming did you! After a final European appearance at ‘Rock en Seine’ festival on August 30th, they announced a UK (and US) tour on Sept 1st which looks like this:
Plymouth (Pavillions) December 10th
Portsmouth (Guildhall) December 11th
Blackpool (Empress Ballroom) December 13th
Birmingham (O2 Academy) December 14th
Edinburgh (Corn Exchange) December 15th
London (Hammersmith Apollo) December 17th and 18th
Now if you’re thinking of going to see them I’m going to have to disappoint you and mention that all dates sold out instantly. The quickest sold tour in the UK actually, 12 minutes to be precise. Not bad considering the band has not even officially released a song to date!
Your browser may not support display of this image. The sound is described as occasionally brutal, yet there is subtle musicianship at the core and Grohl’s obvious love of late Led Zepp drummer John ‘Bonzo’ Bonham is evident in his drumming (my opinion is that Grohl has always been a great front man but was always better suited behind that drum kit!) By means of a series of unannounced gigs, rumours throughout the music world and some cleverly leaked snippets of videos of tracks from their forthcoming album, Them Crooked Vultures, or TCV as they are often known, have quickly established themselves as the most talked about band of the year. Even without a release date as yet for the forthcoming album, the path ahead looks anything but crooked for this new super group. I myself will be one of the first in the queue for that album.
Are you lucky enough to have tickets for any of the gigs? Were you at Reading or Leeds this year? Have something to say about the band? If so get in touch and give us your comments below.
Chief
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