Them Crooked Vultures (abbreviated as TCV) is a rock music group that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2005. Comprised of drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Probot, Queens of the Stone Age, Scream), vocalist and
... Them Crooked Vultures (abbreviated as TCV) is a rock music group that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2005. Comprised of drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Probot, Queens of the Stone Age, Scream), vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal) and bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), the band also features Alain Johannes (What Is This?, Eleven, Queens of the Stone Age) as a live rhythm guitarist. The band's self-titled debut album was released on November 16, 2009 in the UK and November 17, 2009 in the US. It was released to the internet on November 9, 2009 via the band's YouTube page.
History:
Formation and early shows:
A collaboration between Homme, Jones, Grohl was first publicly mentioned by Grohl in a 2005 interview with Mojo, in which he declared "The next project that I'm trying to initiate involves me on drums, Josh Homme on guitar, and John Paul Jones playing bass. That’s the next album. That wouldn’t suck." Of the nascent project, Homme's wife Brody Dalle commented in July 2009 that "I'm not at liberty to talk about it [...] but I think [the project] is pretty fucking amazing. Just beats and sounds like you’ve never heard before." British music magazine NME reported in July 2009 that the trio had begun recording in Los Angeles.
Them Crooked Vultures performed its first show at the Metro, Chicago on August 9, 2009. The band played all original material during its 80-minute set, debuting such songs as opener "Elephants", "Scumbag Blues", "Caligulove" and closing song "Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I". TCV made its European debut on August 19 with a performance at Melkweg in the Netherlands, the same day on which a short video clip of studio footage was uploaded by the band, featuring the song "Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I", essentially confirming its inclusion on the band's debut album.
With subsequent festival performances in Europe at Pukkelpop and Lowlands, the band first performed in the United Kingdom at London's Brixton Academy supporting English alternative rock band Arctic Monkeys on August 26. The trio subsequently performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals on August 28 and 29. Playing the Leeds Festival first then moving onto Reading the next day.
Debut album:
Them Crooked Vultures was released by Interscope Records in North America, and Sony Music internationally. On the 21st of October radio personality Alan Cross announced the lead single for Them Crooked Vultures debut album to be "New Fang" which premiered on October 26. The single was released on November 2 worldwide as a free download. Iconvision subsequently announced that the album will be released on the 17th of November, 2009. On November 3, the band gave a free copy of "Mind Eraser (No Chaser)" to fans that had bought tickets to a live performance and offered it on iTunes as a free download. On November 9, Them Crooked Vultures started streaming their full album on their website, and also through a link to their mailing list with the title "Fuck Patience, Let's Dance."
On September 1, the band announced two 2009 tours of North America and the United Kingdom, in October and December respectively. The 2009 Tour will be titled Deserve the Future Tour and the UK leg sold out in just under 12 minutes, making it one of the quickest sold tours in the UK - without the band even officially releasing a song to date. On September 21, the band also announced 3 Germany dates for December 2009.
