Fresh off releasing Medicine at Midnight with Foo Fighters, Exclaim! cover star Dave Grohl has shared thoughts on the past and future of Them Crooked Vultures.
The celebrated supergroup — which features Grohl alongside Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones — released a self-titled debut album in 2009 that has yet to receive a follow-up.
"Them Crooked Vultures was just a dream come true for me," Grohl told Apple Music's Zane Lowe. "For years Josh and I had talked about doing some side-project. Something that wasn't Queens of the Stone Age, something that wasn't Foo Fighters. Maybe it was just Josh and I. Maybe he plays drums, I play guitar. Maybe he plays guitar, I play drums. Just something that was just an experimental project."
Grohl then recalled how he first floated Jones' involvement to Homme ahead of presenting Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Page with the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2008 GQ Men of the Year awards in London.
"I had met John Paul Jones before because he had performed on a Foo Fighters record and he had performed with us on the Grammys once. John Paul Jones is one of the most wonderful, generous, kind people you've ever met. He's just a great guy," Grohl gushed.
"He's obviously brilliant, but he's just cool. He's fun to hang out with. I said to Josh, I'm like, 'Hey, I'm about to go give the Zeppelin guys this award. Do you want me to ask John Paul Jones if he'll play bass?' Josh was like, 'You know John Paul Jones?' I'm like, 'Well, not really, kind of. I've jammed with them before.' Josh said, 'Yeah, let me know how it goes.'"
Grohl shared that Jones emailed him not long afterwards to commit. "I said to Josh: 'Oh my God, Josh, John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, he wants to come over and jam.' We set up a time for him to come over and jam with us. I mean, the best part was that it was right around my birthday that he flew over. My 40th birthday."
Musically, Grohl called Them Crooked Vultures "a dream band for any drummer because I got to be a part of this three-piece rhythm section because Josh isn't just a soloist," explaining, "Josh plays the drums. He plays the guitar like a drummer and John Paul Jones is the greatest rock 'n' roll bass player in the history of music. When we sat down to start playing, it was about 30 seconds to a minute and we realized this is a real band."
Grohl recalled of their album sessions, "This is the real deal. We would walk into the studio every day with no ideas. We would sit down, we'd have tea, we'd have coffee, we'd start jamming. By the end of that night, we'd have an eight-minute-long opus. Just a rock masterpiece."
Grohl concluded, "It was incredibly inspiring. It was a really incredible time. I hope that someday we do it again."
In 2019 — 10 years removed from their debut — Homme shared that all three Them Crooked Vultures members wanted to make another album, but "ultimately, these things happen when they're supposed to."
That same year, Grohl added in a respective interview, "Technically we're still a band. We practice once every decade, and we're coming up on another decade, aren't we? I don't have any official news but there's always something cooking."
Read Exclaim!'s interview with Grohl and learn more about the Foo Fighters frontman's Canadian music connections.
The celebrated supergroup — which features Grohl alongside Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones — released a self-titled debut album in 2009 that has yet to receive a follow-up.
"Them Crooked Vultures was just a dream come true for me," Grohl told Apple Music's Zane Lowe. "For years Josh and I had talked about doing some side-project. Something that wasn't Queens of the Stone Age, something that wasn't Foo Fighters. Maybe it was just Josh and I. Maybe he plays drums, I play guitar. Maybe he plays guitar, I play drums. Just something that was just an experimental project."
Grohl then recalled how he first floated Jones' involvement to Homme ahead of presenting Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Page with the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2008 GQ Men of the Year awards in London.
"I had met John Paul Jones before because he had performed on a Foo Fighters record and he had performed with us on the Grammys once. John Paul Jones is one of the most wonderful, generous, kind people you've ever met. He's just a great guy," Grohl gushed.
"He's obviously brilliant, but he's just cool. He's fun to hang out with. I said to Josh, I'm like, 'Hey, I'm about to go give the Zeppelin guys this award. Do you want me to ask John Paul Jones if he'll play bass?' Josh was like, 'You know John Paul Jones?' I'm like, 'Well, not really, kind of. I've jammed with them before.' Josh said, 'Yeah, let me know how it goes.'"
Grohl shared that Jones emailed him not long afterwards to commit. "I said to Josh: 'Oh my God, Josh, John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, he wants to come over and jam.' We set up a time for him to come over and jam with us. I mean, the best part was that it was right around my birthday that he flew over. My 40th birthday."
Musically, Grohl called Them Crooked Vultures "a dream band for any drummer because I got to be a part of this three-piece rhythm section because Josh isn't just a soloist," explaining, "Josh plays the drums. He plays the guitar like a drummer and John Paul Jones is the greatest rock 'n' roll bass player in the history of music. When we sat down to start playing, it was about 30 seconds to a minute and we realized this is a real band."
Grohl recalled of their album sessions, "This is the real deal. We would walk into the studio every day with no ideas. We would sit down, we'd have tea, we'd have coffee, we'd start jamming. By the end of that night, we'd have an eight-minute-long opus. Just a rock masterpiece."
Grohl concluded, "It was incredibly inspiring. It was a really incredible time. I hope that someday we do it again."
In 2019 — 10 years removed from their debut — Homme shared that all three Them Crooked Vultures members wanted to make another album, but "ultimately, these things happen when they're supposed to."
That same year, Grohl added in a respective interview, "Technically we're still a band. We practice once every decade, and we're coming up on another decade, aren't we? I don't have any official news but there's always something cooking."
Read Exclaim!'s interview with Grohl and learn more about the Foo Fighters frontman's Canadian music connections.
