New Supergroup

It has emerged in the last few hours that Brent Hinds of Mastodon as well as members and ex-members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Mars Volta, and Jane's Addiction are to form a supergroup. Currently the group lacks a name. The members (source Noisecreep) will be:

• Brent Hinds (Guitar)- Mastodon
• Ben Weinman (Guitar)- The Dillinger Escape Plan
• Eric Avery (Bass)- (Formerly) Jane's Addiction
• Thomas Pridgen (Drums)- (Formerly) The Mars Volta

So from the start it looks to contain a high level of musical talent. I admit to not knowing Jane's Addiction or The Dillinger Escape plan very well, but from what I know of Mastodon and The Mars Volta this new project could produce some great music. However throwing a bunch of talented creatives into a room together does not guarantee success, as has been the case with many supergroups in the past. The effect of this has been that many in the musical community have been wary of the term as they feel it rarely works out.

An example of a supergroup formed in the last few years is Them Crooked Vultures. This consists of:

• Josh Homme (Vocals/Guitar)- Queens of the Stone Age
• John Paul Jones (Bass)- Led Zeppelin
• Dave Grohl (Drums)- Foo Fighters, Nirvana

The effect of the musical alliance of this trio was the production of an album entitled Them Crooked Vultures. The album was great, the band members obviously had the right chemistry and it showed in the music. However it's my opinion that they shot to fame as a group too quickly. As a result of having such famous members they bipassed the stage most bands go through of touring as a support act for another band. While they did do at least one support gig, they embarked on a big headline tour. The problem with this is that because they only had one album out they didn't have enough material for a full set, meaning that songs were extended to take up the time. The result? A good gig, but the latter half was too self indulgent for my tastes; especially the inclusion of a very long interlude in one of the songs that was far too monotonal. Had they toured as a support act for longer they could have waited until they had more material before embarking upon their own headline tour, or at the very least swapped out some of their weaker songs for some covers from the many acts the individual members had been a part of. It's not that the album was full of bad songs, it's that most albums aren't suitable to be played in full at a live show. In order for that to be possible every song needs to be good, with no filler anywhere on the album. Looking through my music library I can think of very few albums that I'd like to see played in full. The only ones being Mastodon's Crack The Skye, Iron Maiden's Dance of Death and The Number of the Beast, and Tool's Lateralus and 10,000 Days, with the possible addition of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly's The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager. So those were the main problems with Them Crooked Vultures: they took off too fast, and that they didn't have sufficient material for headline tour.

Right that's it for now.

Thanks,

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