July 3rd, 2011

Dave Grohl Back On Drums

buncha hoologans

I don’t mean to jam more Seasick Steve down your throat, but this just happened, right after Seasick Steve and John Paul Jones (from Led Zeppelin) played with Jack White and Dead Weather. It was a busy weekend.I found this on the Consequence of Sound blog.

Dave Grohl and the other Foo Fighters had a huge guest list recently. They’re filming a live DVD, and the guest appearances make it more appealing, plus… wouldn’t you if you could? If you recall, back in 2008 both John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page jammed with the Foo Fighters. This year it was Alice Cooper, Bob Mould, Roger Taylor, and Jonesy and Steve. I hope you dig it. It’s the Coolest Thing Ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txh3bACc1j0

Led Zeppelin is a passion of mine, as I’m sure you know, Youdopia. I have been a fan for almost 30 years now. John Bonham is one of the main reasons Led Zeppelin has maintained such prominence in the pantheon, three decades after his demise. He is arguably the best rock drummer ever. That’s a subjective assertion, but when you watch the video, from “I’m In A Rock n Roll Band” (a British show on BBC), you will see several great rock drummers… and Tommy Lee… discussing Bonzo. Jimi Hendrix said his “feet were like castanets” because one foot did the work of two. Bonzo only used one bass drum (aside from a very short stint in the Summer of 1969). All those amazing triplets are done with one foot. Holy Shit.

If you haven’t already, download the 6/21/77 concert I posted here, and listen to the drumming of a true prodigy. I found a site that has posted mp3′s of Bonzo’s isolated drum tracks, from the In Through The Out Door sessions. You can hear him grunt and mutter, and even hear some of the bleed from his headphones, as he plays amazing drums with that amazing force and tone. Fool In The Rain is genius. His music is the Coolest Shit Ever.

Vale, Youdopia. John Paul Jones’  new band is totally awesome. I don’t like them, but they kick nine different varieties of ass. And… when you see the footage, and hear the harmonies, bass, keyboards, etc… you cannot find the senior citizen in the group. Them Crooked Vultures is a great band. A real band. A tight band. And, the kids are all worked up. Mainly they’re excited to have Josh Homme from QOTSA and Dave Grohl together (again), but they’re all astonished at how badass Jonesy is. That’s because he has always been badass. He wrote the Black Dog riff. He plays the mandolin on Going to California… he is amazing. He’s just got the star quality of …. a bass player. He scored the orchestration to Kashmir…. and for Donovan’s Mellow Yellow as well. He’s been on as many sessions as Jimmy, but he was never in the Firm, or Coverdale/Page.

When Zeppelin broke up he taught Electronic Composition at college. Jimmy well… did this. I love Jimmy, I do. He is still my hero. Jonesy is just.. who I would rather be in a band with. Here’s a little pro shot video snippet of Them Crooked Vultures:

And here is a live song they played at the same festival as Faith No More, last week (8/09) It sounds kind of like Cream, but their other songs don’t, and they did no covers. No Nirvana, no Zep, no QOTSA, no Foo for you. Listen to the Grohl/Jones harmonies. It’s a really tight band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRBsgRYPR-4

This one’s all for Daddy. It’s Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones jamming with the Foo Fighters. When was this? Oh, yesterday. Yup. gotta love video cell phones, and the internet… and Led Zeppelin. All Hail.  I think this night was the genesis of Them Crooked Vultures.