News tagged "queens of the stone age" on mun2

Them Crooked Vultures

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tue 12/22/2009

John Paul Jones, Josh Homme and Dave Grohl of Them Crooked Vultures.

(L to R: John Paul Jones, Josh Homme and Dave Grohl)

There are supergroups (Casa De Leones, Audioslave) and then there are SUPER groups. Them Crooked Vultures are the latter. With over 270 million in combined album sales, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) have an awesome track record.

Dave Grohl, who first found fame as the drummer for Nirvana in the '90s, felt it was time to take a break from his current band, Foo Fighters, which he has been fronting for over 15 years. After last year's one-off reunion of legendary '70s rockers Led Zeppelin, Grohl manned up and asked Zep's John Paul Jones to jam with him and Josh Homme, the frontman for Queens of the Stone Age. Jones wasn't itching to join another band: "I didn't really want to join another band after Zeppelin, because I knew nothing would ever be as good as that." Or could it?

Grohl, who gave himself a homemade Led Zeppelin tattoo when he was 16 years old, promised Jones it was just for fun, Then he convinced Homme that the whole idea wasn't a practical joke. By fall of 2008, everyone was in. Earlier this year, the trio began recording songs in Los Angeles in near-secrecy and eventually dropped into clubs to test their classic groove rock on unsuspecting audiences. After refining their sound, the band released its self-titled debut last month to glowing reviews. The Onion's A.V. Club writes: "Rock stars don’t form bands with other rock stars in order to top what they’ve already done. They do it because hanging out with famous rock stars is a hell of a lot of fun…Them Crooked Vultures is a hell of a lot of fun, too."

How are the fans responding? "Nobody shouts for Zeppelin songs or Queens songs or Foo Fighters songs," says Jones.

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Spanish female rapper Mala Rodríguez's Machete Music debut, Malamarismo, which includes appearances by Julieta Venegas, Tego Calderón and Cuban rapper Mahoma, "demonstrates [Mala's] desire to be original, which has opened her up to pull from new influences,” according to La Nueva España newspaper. Spanish blog Tocando Las Puertas Del Cielo is disappointed with the album’s lack of social critique and calls it “malamalísimo.”
The White Stripes' highly anticipated sixth release Icky Thump “positively swarms out of the speakers” and pushes the Detroit rock band's sell-by date “further off than ever,” according to the Guardian U.K. Webzine PopMatters commends the duo for “learning to expand the sounds in their musical repertoire while retaining the focus, power, energy and consistency that made their best work.”
Stoner metal heavyweights Queens Of The Stone Age released Era Vulgaris, an album All Music Guide declares “the best rock & roll record yet released in 2007 – and the year sure needed the dose of thunder that this album provides.” The New York Times is equally enthralled: "Queens of the Stone Age don’t just riff through their new songs; they push and pull, spar and gnash, buzz and scream and hurl chords back and forth across the stereo field to dizzying effect.”
Mandy Moore takes a break from acting and returns to music with Wild Hope, an album that “incorporates enough country, rock and pop sensibilities to satisfy any ear,” according to Billboard.com. Slant Magazine adds that Moore’s greatest asset is her “appreciation for the good ol’ fashioned singer-songwriter ethic, not to mention a desire to distinguish herself from her teenybopper past.”