Dave Grohl, left, and Joshua Homme of Them Crooked Vultures.
Them Crooked Vultures
- Air Canada Centre
- Toronto, Saturday May 15
What looks promising on paper, these so-called super groups of star musicians, means nothing until the fancy components come together for real. Them Crooked Vultures, the heavy rock unit comprised of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters and Nirvana), Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), seeks to mess with the numbers, making a case that one plus one plus one equals something more than three. Hitting the stage at Air Canada Centre - the fourth of five Ontario and Quebec dates that kicked off a North American tour - the Vultures charged like a brainy light brigade through the thrill-ride hard-rock blues of its self-titled debut album, leaving a head-swirling audience to do the math.
Homme Sweet Homme
Halfway into the night, the long, tall charismatic Californian presented the band (which included the excellent second guitarist Alain Johannes), closing off the introductions with: "And you know me, I'm Joshua. " If the large amount of Zeppelin fans in the audience didn't know Homme at the start of the show (opening with the swaggering and sexy riff-rock of No One Loves Me & Neither Do I) they knew him by the end. The singer-guitarist writes the trio's lyrics, and his signature staccato rhythms and muscularity are all over the material. His New Fang, with its rock 'n' roll hoochie koo chorus, had teeth. On the multi-part Elephants which boogied, lumbered, brooded and raced, he used his gloomy voice register - he does a falsetto thing too - to hold the beast together. His guitar solos were tight and tasty, sometimes adding keranging noise for effect. After the drugged-out queerness of Interlude With Ludes, he wiped his brow and said this: "That song is bizarre, even I know that."
He Got the Led Out
On Interlude With Ludes, the open-minded Jones struck memorable Johnny Nash notes on a keytar. On No One Loves Me & Neither Do I he manipulated an open-tuned slide guitar in a peculiar fashion. On the Kentucky blues of You Can't Possibly Begin To Imagine he began on fiddle and ended hitting saloon-style chords on an electric piano. And, yes, he played bass - eventfully, in an almost lead-style as he countered Homme's staggered chords. The multi-instrumentalist's best moment was Caligulove, where his organ sounds brought a kind of castle-majesty to a brutish, turgid rocker. At the end of the night, Jones received the biggest hand, but, no offence, the heartiest round of congrats should have gone to the drummer with the beard and long hair.
He Grohls on You
This guy was the power plant - a back-beat hitting, double-fisted dynamo. As the front man for Foo Fighters, Grohl takes criticism from some quarters for his overly affable stage chatter. On drums, in the back row, he's the opposite: An industrious timekeeper, purposefully mute. The Vultures songs are credited to all three members, but the collaboration seems to be more of Jones-Homme thing. Grohl was the one who brought the two together in the first place, though, and now he keeps it going as one of the most listenable kick-drummers in the business.
Super Is as Super Does
Not even counting Johannes, whose blues-solo interlude blew my mind and made Eric Clapton irrelevant, the Vultures added up superbly. These guys bang heads with imagination to spare, and the talk of a second album indicates this is an ongoing project. Super news, that.