Could we finally have a cool supergroup again?

It sounds as though it cant be a bad thing but how many times have you heard the word supergroup only to be let down by what was eventually offered to the fans? It seems simple enough to take a bunch of talented musicians and have them make some music that everyone will love but somewhere along the way, supergroups stopped becoming fun. Back in the 1960s, Neil Young would be popping up everywhere and the tapes of John Lennon jamming with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell as Dirty Mac are still revered today. At the time, that band pulled members from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience but the era of the supergroup hasn’t been as exciting since then but that may be changing sometime soon.
Even jaded rock fans would have raised an eyebrow at the news that Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones are going to work together in a group called Them Crooked Vultures. There hasn’t been much music working its way from the band yet but there has been a promise to not suck and if they achieve that, then they will probably be a bigger success than many peoples previous attempts to pull together a supergroup.
Dave Grohl certainly needs no introduction having been in two of the biggest bands of the last two decades. When Kurt Cobain took his own life and ended the career of Nirvana, you would not have put too much money on the drummer going off to become the biggest success of all the group. That is exactly what has transpired with Grohl dropping the drum sticks and picking up guitar and forming the Foo Fighters. The first Foo Fighters record was practically a solo lp in all but name but since then they have evolved into stadium rockers extraordinaire. That has kept Grohl rather busy but he has found time to hook up with some other bands with one of the most popular being with the Queens of The Stone Age.
Grohl joined with Homme and Nick Oliveri, and Mark Lanegan on a few numbers, for the phenomenal ‘Songs For The Deaf’ record so there is a previous working relationship between the two as well. Grohl also provides the link to the other member of the new group as rumours persisted that he would be the man to complete a reunion of another well revered rock n roll band.
When the Led Zeppelin reunion tour rumours were starting to build, the talk was about who would replace John Bonham on drums and Dave Grohl was heavily tipped to take on the mammoth role. We all know that Bonhams son eventually took the chair but perhaps something stuck with John Paul Jones. Grohl may not be playing with Robert Plant or Jimmy Page but he will get the chance to play behind their bass player, which is much more than most rock n roll fans will ever get to do.
Who knows if Them Crooked Vultures will be a success but it can only be hoped they do because with the talent at their disposal, they could be just what the genre needs.

It’s okay to get the blues

June and July have so many gigs and festivals that it can be hard to keep up to date with everyone that is playing and sometimes there can be some cracking gigs that slip by un-noticed. One such tour at the moment which may not be getting the column inches compared to the others but is sure to be a great night out is the BB King and John Mayall tour. It’s hard to think of too many Blues guitarists with more experience and talent than Mayall and if there is, they’ve definitely worked with or been influenced by these two. When a guitar player has a name for his axe, you know its something special and there isn’t a more famously named guitar than BB Kings ‘Lucille’. It may be a woman’s name but the name just conjures up tremendous licks and driving rhythms and King still rocks out, regardless of his age.
Of course, John Mayall is no slouch either and when you think of Mayall, its hard not to think about Eric Clapton and all the other amazing names who featured in its line-up. With the exception of The Byrds or The Yardbirds, it’s hard to think of a band that had more famous names than the Bluesbreakers and even if you are unfamiliar with the music, you’ll instantly know some of the star turns who used the band as a stepping stone to even greater things. Eric Clapton cut his teeth there and then took bassist Jack Bruce to form Cream alongside Ginger Baker. Cream were probably the first ever supergroup and vied with The Jimi Hendrix Experience for the role of most scintillating rock trio of all time.
Cream owe a lot to the Bluesbreakers but so do Fleetwood Mac, especially their original main man Peter Green. Green may not have made it to the bands most commercial era but his early playing gave the band a huge cult following and very quickly made them a major name in the late 1960s gig scene. Fleetwood Mac also took John McVie from the Bluesbreakers, further emphaising the role of Mayall in the British rock scene and if that wasn’t enough, they also produced a key guitarist for the Rolling Stones.
Okay, it wasn’t Brian Jones or Keith Richards but Mick Taylor was a major part of the Stones early 70s sound, which remains many peoples favourite era as it was the time when the band really gelled and produced a run of great albums. Mick Jagger may believe its all due to his vocals and struts but there was so much more to the Stones than his big lips.
So the proof of the Blues pudding is in the eating but even if you don’t like the Bluesbreakers, the songs and styles of so many more acts will be channelled during the shows. Whether it’s the old devil at the crossroads authentic blues styles of people like Robert Johnson or Lead Belly or the later, electrified stomp of Howling Wolf or John Lee Hooker, there’s a style of blues music to appeal to everyone. All of which goes to show, there is no age barrier to great Blues music and there is something major to get your teeth into this week.