Music | December 31, 2009 | 6 comments

New Supergroup Them Crooked Vultures (Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme)

source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122053566

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atomiclegion
At Morning Edition, we've been finishing 2009 by catching up on great music we didn't get a chance to tell you about this year. On the last day of the year, it's Them Crooked Vultures.

The story starts with a birthday party for Dave Grohl, who first became famous as the drummer for Nirvana, and later as the frontman for Foo Fighters. His party guests included John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.

The trio sat down in a castle at a Medieval Times restaurant in Southern California. It featured knights in armor and live jousting.

"We began to talk over dragon's-breath soup, which is what they were serving," Homme says.

The idea looked good on paper.

"It read well," Homme says. "And so, after that initial meeting, we decided to test that paper chemistry, and we decided we had real chemistry."

They tested it in a secret jam session.

"The first one was sort of exploring the edges of our musicality together and trying to stump each other and realizing that wasn't very easy," Homme says.

So they came back for a second day and, in time, wrote an album. It was a chance for two younger musicians to play with one of the biggest stars of the '70s.

"You got this age thing — they're not that young," Jones says, laughing.

For Grohl, it was also a chance to return to his old instrument: the drums. For 15 years, he's been singing and playing guitar with Foo Fighters.

"Playing drums is like dancing," Grohl says. "People who think about their dancing aren't the greatest dancers in the world. And people who don't have to think about their drumming — they're some of the best drummers in the world. I don't really have to worry about it. I just do it."

As they play, the members of Them Crooked Vultures say they learn from each other.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122053566
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    Led Zeppelin,  dave grohl,  Queens of the Stone Age,  John Paul Jones,  2 more
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6 comments // New Supergroup Them Crooked Vultures (Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme)

  • crashbangnoises
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • Three AMAZINGLY talented guys. Seems like ego usually prevents these kinds of mergers -- glad (very glad) these guys either lack that kind of ego or were at least willing to set them to the side in order to make incredible music.

    • 2 years ago
  • jesuswho
    • 0
      jesuswho  

    • Sweet post I'm a diehard fan, if ever in doubt of hommes skills go see a live show, a queens show is top 3 on my list. And the new album rocks glad to see grohl not being a pussy . And jpj is killer.

    • 2 years ago
  • spacemikey
    • 0
      spacemikey [removed]  

    • I know Dave Grohl was in at least one Queens of the Stoneage video, I got the impression he helped them with an album or on tour for a while. I miss Queens of the Stoenage, I haven't heard anything new out of them in a while and was pretty well impressed by them. When I saw Mr. Grohl playing drums in that video I had hoped he gave up on the Foo Fighters and was with QotSa.... Bummer, but it was good while it lasted....

    • 2 years ago
  • tomindeed
    • 0
      tomindeed  
    • spacemikey:

      dave grohl was with queens for the album songs for the deaf and its tour, but he was never considered a permanent member as they mostly have a rotating line up. they've released two albums since then, but you should really just got through their discography as it doesn't have any really weak albums imo.
      as for them crooked vultures, anyone that's slept on it until now should finally check them out. it's an amazing album that sounds exactly like anyone familiar with these three should have expected.

    • 2 years ago
  • jfill
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