It sounded feasible at 4:45am...
Have you ever sat up until 6AM, stoned out of your mind trying to come up with the greatest supergroup of all time? What if, like, Jimi Hendrix was, like, still alive and he was playing guitar with, like, John Bonham, who was just brought back to life, on drums and, like, Les CLAYPOOL WAS on BASS! More and more it seems like those hazy nights are turning into real life occurrences as rock and indie gods from all generations and locations are enlisting the help of one another in an effort to collectively blow peoples’ minds. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last three days, the news of the newest supergroup Them Crooked Vultures is just another example of a recently revitalized trend in the industry. It seems as if artists are saying, “Well, we can’t make money individually, but I bet if we formed one band we could make a TON!” TCV is perhaps the most exciting in recent memory, however, featuring Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters) on drums, Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age) on guitar, and the indelible John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin) on bass. Their 1st show, as told by Pitchfork, will be at the Metro in Chicago on Sunday night after the massive Lollapalooza wave breaks.
But even though TCV is one of the craziest groups formed recently after years of rumor, there’s a few others that are kicking up dust touring the country that are worth mentioning. If you live in the Midwest, wear skinny jeans, have a beard, and/or the sound of a banjo causes you to get up and dance, than you might be interested to know that supergroup Monsters of Folk has just announced a big time Fall tour. This group includes heartthrob Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes), Mike Mogis (also of Bright Eyes), scarier-looking-than-he-sounds frontman Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), and now-popular-with-college-co-eds-because-of-iTunes craftsman M. Ward. All you folk-hippies will be even more charmed to hear that they are donating $1/ticket to local NPOs in each city they visit.
And for all you Dads out there still pretending to listen to rock music, there’s recently formed Chickenfoot (not to be confused with Oysterhead, a supergroup from a few years back). CF is on tour in the US right now so don’t hesitate to tell your parents they should go! CF is the strange (from a young person’s standpoint) formation of some of rock’s biggest underdogs including two Van Halen vets (Michael Anthony on bass and SAMMY HAGAR on vox), Will Ferrell impersonator Chad Smith (of Red Hot Chili Peppers on the skins), and Coldplay‘s biggest hater, soloing God Joe Satriani. Boy they sure are… old. Expect their shows to start and end before the sun goes down so they can get some rest!
If anything’s true about the music industry, it’s that the old people still running it think that supergroups will be a sure-cure for the digital download blues. These acts will surely draw huge recession-proof crowds and for good reason: why pay $150 to see three separate bands when you can see all your favorite musicians from each group on one stage for a fraction of the price.
Tags: Chickenfoot, Monsters of Folk, Supergroup, Them Crooked Vultures
Lifting Fog 
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