Them Crooked Vultures

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Image via Wikipedia

This post originally appeared on my music column ‘The Crossroads’ at Dad-Blogs.com on December 13, 2009.

From the title you might be wondering if this band is comprised of a group of ex-Lehman bankers. Fortunately, that is not the case.

The beginnings of Them Crooked Vultures started back in 2005 when Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame dropped some hints about this project in an interview. Things finally came together this year and the the latest ‘Supergroup’ dropped their self title debut album in November.

Joining Grohl as founding members are Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin). Grohl retakes his rightful place behind the drums while Homme handles lead guitar and vocals. An ageless Jones tackles bass, keyboards, piano, mandolin and slide guitar.

While John Paul Jones is most well known for his work with Led Zeppelin, the more reserved member of the legendary band has an impressive body of work including collaborations with REM, Peter Gabriel and Paul McCartney and numerous production credits. The connection with Grohl was made when Jones played mandolin and piano on the Foo Fighter’s 2005 release ‘In Your Honor’.

An interesting combination of hard, alternative and psychedelic rock, there is a warm and familiar feel to their sound. Grohl takes his mastery of percussion to a new level and with Jones forms arguably one of the best rhythm sections out there today. For his part, Homme’s guitar work is crisp and inventive.

Throughout the album Homme’s vocal stylings obviously give the songs a distinctive Queens of the Stone Age feel, however, he does mix it up a bit. The tune ‘Scumbag Blues’ sounds like it could have been ripped from Disraeli Gears as Homme channel’s Jack Bruce. Later on ‘Reptiles’ the Zeppelin influence becomes more apparent with Homme’s vocals a little reminiscent of Robert Plant.

The album opens up with ‘No One Loves Me & Neither Do I’, which just as easily could have been a track on a QOTSA disc. The Foo Fighters influence is felt on ‘Mind Eraser, No Chaser’, especially with respect to the way Grohl’s backup vocals are arranged.

Normally I need to listen to an album three or four times before I really start digging it. This wasn’t the case with Them Crooked Vultures as I immediately dug ‘Elephant’, ‘Dead End Friends’ and the previously mentioned ‘Scumbag Blues’. If you like hard rock that feels like it could have either been released thirty years ago or last week, then this disc might be for you.

Them Crooked Vultures | CD review (guardian.co.uk)
Vultures get very ‘eavy, very ‘ard (pbpulse.com)
Them Crooked Vultures on taking flight (thestar.com)
Them Crooked Vultures Debut Lean, Mean Rock Album (evolvor.com)
Rockin’ Our Turntable: Them Crooked Vultures (chicagoist.com)

Tagged as: Dave Grohl, Foo Fighter, John Paul Jones, Josh Homme, Led Zeppelin, Them Crooked Vultures

melisalw

My son has been talking about TCV for months now, because he's a HUGE Dave Grohl fan. He loves the group; my husband (who typically has similar tastes)? Not so much. I think it's some sort of reverse rebellion, where the Dad doesn't like to get recommendations from the Son.
PJ Mullen

Interesting, I bet he secret likes them, but doesn't want to let on that he does :) I've a huge Grohl fan too and was happy to see him rightfully back behind the skins. His guitar work with Foo is ok, but I've always loved his percussion work with Nirvana.
dearjennymac

I think I am quite music savvy and freely admit I had never heard of this group. Thanks for sharing. It was a revved up way to start my morning.
PJ Mullen

Cool, glad you liked it. I knew this project was coming from an earlier column I wrote about supergroups, but it kind of got out there without much fanfare. I didn't hear the first track "New Fang" on the radio until about two weeks ago.