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Who: Them Crooked Vultures, Mini Mansions
Where: 9:30 Club, Washington D.C.

John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl in the same room is more than enough to excite most rock fans. But to see the Led Zeppelin and Nirvana/Foo Fighters legends, along with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, play a set comprised entirely of brand new songs — so new that none of the tracks have been released yet — in an intimate club setting is pure rock-fan heaven. It also doesn’t hurt that the new tunes are insanely powerful, wild and intense.

After a boring and pointless set by Los Angeles’ Mini Mansions, the Vultures — Grohl on drums, Homme on lead vocals and guitars, John Paul Jones on bass (and other things) and touring guitarist Alain Johannes (also a Queens member) — took their positions. The hulking Homme, who looks like a taller, thicker Craig Kilborn, at center stage, Jones to his right, Johannes to his left and Grohl on a new cobalt-blue drum kit behind him. The band launched into a furious, punishing introduction that built the intensity on stage and in the sold-out-yet-intimate club of about 900 fans.

Homme’s stink is all over this band, and that’s a good thing. But it’s a fuller, different sound than the Queens of the Stone Age. Homme’s squealing guitars, wacky time changes and deadpan vocals have made it over from his day job, and there’s a Queens-ish mechanical vibe, with Grohl snapping off taut, stuttering fills and the band locking in perfectly. But there’s also a dynamic earthiness, thanks to the vocal harmonies and Jones’ funky, busy playing.

Jones, by the way, in addition to his standard bass, played a 12-string bass, a mandolin/guitar hybrid, piano, a keytar and a guitar-like instrument with a wide, angled neck that resembled a Chapman stick. He also sang backup vocals. One might expect the 63-year-old rock god to seem out of place in a club with players 20 years his junior, but he dug in, rocked out and smiled all night.

Johannes was an important part of the Vultures’ set as well. In addition to guitar and backing vocals, he added keyboards and played bass on the songs in which Jones did not play his bass.

Song titles — which include “Elephants,” “Scumbag Blues,” “Caligulove” and “Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I” — are for the most part irrelevant, with no reference points besides YouTube clips. But the songs are solid, smart and swaggering.

It felt like being a part of history, watching some of the most revered and creative players from two different generations make music together, but the show was not a nostalgia trip. No Nirvana, Foo Fighters or Zeppelin tunes were played, and that takes a lot of restraint; promoters would’ve put this band in arenas, and the payday would’ve been exponentially bigger if the members did revisit their back pages.

Them Crooked Vultures’ debut album is expected to be released in late October in the U.S. on Interscope. If the set it played in D.C. and the legitimate fan buzz surrounding the band is any indication, we’re in for a massive new band — a super group, really, not just a supergroup.


 

About the Author

Education
Penn State University, University Park
Bachelors degree: Journalism, English minor
Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia
Masters of arts degree: Writing studies
Manchester University, Manchester, England
Communications

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The Weekender, LexisNexis Securities Litigation, ESPN.com, The Associated Press, Philadelphia Daily News, Philly Edge, Universitywire.com, The Daily Collegian

From
Pittston

Resides
Scranton

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