In an event to promote his latest movie We Bought a Zoo, Cameron Crowe was interviewed alongside Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi (who scored the film), for – you guessed it - Rolling Stone. The director tells the story of how, in 1973, when he was just 15 years old, the four members of Led Zeppelin eventually agreed to having the band on the cover of Rolling Stone, despite their bitterness towards the magazine’s awful review of their first album. Watch the director excitedly retell the events below:

The (pretty unremarkable) composite photo that Cameron mentions, which ended up being on the cover instead, is this one:

We Bought a Zoo is on theaters now, but if you don’t feel like going outside, Cameron Crowe’s documentary riveting documentary Pearl Jam Twenty is now streaming on Netflix.

Tonight, the song was supposed to premier on KROQ radio, but NIN fans broke the webstream due to excessive access. However, someone from Reznor’s Null Co. was generous enough to upload a full version of the song, officially. Listen to the entire Immigrant Song above.

Reznor had the following to say in a release:

For the last fourteen months Atticus and I have been hard at work on David Fincher’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” We laughed, we cried, we lost our minds and in the process made some of the most beautiful and disturbing music of our careers. The result is a sprawling three-hour opus that I am happy to announce is available for pre-order right now for as low as $11.99. The full release will be available in one week – December 9th.

You have two options right now:

VIsit iTunes here where you can immediately download Karen O’s and our version of Led Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song” when you pre-order the soundtrack for $11.99.

You will also be able to exclusively watch the legendary 8-minute trailer you may have heard about (no purchase necessary obviously). We scored this trailer separately from the film, BTW.

Or…

Visit our store here. We’re offering a variety of purchasing options including multiple format high-quality digital files, CDs and a really nice limited edition deluxe package containing vinyl and a flash drive.

In addition, RIGHT NOW you can download a six-track, 35 minute sampler with no purchase necessary.

Or…
Live the dream and visit both! Atticus and I are very proud of the film and our work, we hope you enjoy.

Best,
TR

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo opens 12/21 in the US.
dragontattoo.com
mouth-taped-shut.com

What this is is Michael Winslow, AKA Larvell Jones from the Police Academy movies, covering Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, with his mouth. It’s awesome, and we have Rob Sheridan to thank for the find.

Winslow actually got his start doing shit like covering Immigrant Song on The Gong Show in the early 80s. Nice to see he can still do a good Robert Plant almost 30 years down the road.

The song featured in this trailer for film director David Fincher’s upcoming remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo sounds sort of like Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor producing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O covering Led Zeppelin’s unhinged classic Immigrant Song.

That’s because that’s exactly what it is.

We heard about this little gem premiering the other night, and have been hunting for a copy ever since. Today we found it, on the internet of all places, thanks to an anonymous tip to The NIN Hotline.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, Plant has decribed the continued calls from fans for more shows as “a bit of a pain in the pisser.”

“It was an amazing evening,” Plant says of the band’s 2007 reunion show at London’s O2 Arena. “The preparations for it were fraught and intense, but the last rehearsal was really, really good, for all that it represented and all that we were trying to capture. But I’ve gone so far somewhere else that I almost can’t relate to it… It’s a bit of a pain in the pisser to be honest. Who cares? I know people care, but think about it from my angle – soon, I’m going to need help crossing the street.”

Plant’s latest album with his new project Band Of Joy was released to critical acclaim last September. He and Alison Krauss began work on the follow-up to their Raising Sand LP of 2007, but the fire didn’t take. “The sound wasn’t there,” says Plant. “Alison is the best. She’s one of my favorite people. We’ll come back to it.”

Additionally, the Rolling Stone story recounts how Plant recently flew to Morocco and retraced a trip he took with Jimmy Page where the duo wrote legendary Zeppelin hit Kashmir. “I wanted to go back and take that road,” Plant says. “It just heads all the way down the coast. It was fucking amazing.”

Perry went so far as to claim that Paul Rodgers was being considered as a replacement for Tyler, and revealed some details of what had just been a rumor previously: Steven Tyler had auditioned for Led Zeppelin. The auditions fell apart when, as Perry claimed, it became clear that Steven Tyler didn’t really know how to sing any Zeppelin songs.

Yet despite what seems like nothing short of a gory divorce, today it was announced that Aerosmith will headline the second day of the Download Festival in June, with Steven Tyler. The intricacies of how/if Mr. Tyler and Mr. Perry made peace are unknown, but given Perry’s tendency towards saying too much on Twitter, I’m sure anyone who still cares won’t have to wait long for something to chew on.

Them Crooked Vultures’ eponymous debut arrives November 17, after a summer of rampant speculation and mind-blowing live performances, allowing the trio of highly-established rockers the rarified air of having a desperately captivated audience, largely clueless of what was in store but leaping out of their skin with anticipation for what they were about to hear. When they left, they left amazed.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Grohl and Homme are lifelong Led Zeppelin disciples, and the fact that their bassist was fucking in Led Zeppelin obviously lends itself to comparison. But for the sake of sticking with the rational and relative present, how ’bout we leave Zep out of this? There’s really not much meat on that bone when all’s said and done.

Although the band as a whole are credited, Homme’s familiar production wizardry is the crystalline rudder for Them Crooked Vultures on wax, a clean and layered thousand-sided Rubik’s Cube that wouldn’t be a reach outside the Queens Of The Stone Age canon, as far as sheen and color are concerned. Jonesey’s multi-instrumental contributions lend a cockney flare and dash of cultured nobility to the proceedings, whether on a classical piano intro/outro or a keytar solo that pulls at the song’s seams of obtuse cohesion. Amidst Homme’s jittery, hook-heavy sexuality and Grohl’s pulsing metronomic backbone, Jones provides a key bit of cognitive dissonance, a regal spice of sorts.

Self-sustained on arbitrary cool, the album is a planet of popped-collar reptilian kings with wild eyes, razor teeth and twitching, rampant hard-ons, getting themselves off on the groove for the fun and the fuck of it, Rock doctrines be damned. New Fang and Elephants – the latter a gloriously monolithic stampede of crushing riffs, roughly doubled vocals and brain-tick hooks – are evidence of this. The former, being the first single and impression-setter for casual moths to the flame, is a bit misleading; it captures the energy and strut of the album, but is easily the most straightforward of the thirteen songs included.

Traditional arrangements are scarce, and appeasement of quick-fix Rock idolators is clearly not the motive here, with riff-riding rhythms (and rhythm-riding riffs) pulsing like an undeniable heartbeat through the course of innumerable labyrinthian arrangements. It’s not safe, it’s not slight, and the riff and tempo changes demand constant engagement. Trap doors are a vital component to the songs, with the sweet spots setting in unannounced as the polyrhythms shift, the clouds part and a motherfucker of a riff suddenly lifts off, taking you in entirely unexpected and adrenaline-surging directions.

Driven by cocaine confidence dripping with sultry redlight overtones, No One Loves Me is a fuck song, plain and simple. The hip-check strut belies a deeper undercurrent groove, a surging, steady rhythm that remains throughout the album, albeit shifting like a chameleon all the while. If sex is a weapon, then smash, boom, pow, how you like me now? Homme asks, before the song cuts into the first of a countless number of larger-than-life riffs on the album – a chugging, brooding current soaked in sex and attitude.

The vocal production is uneven from one song to the next, likely because the instruments – vocals included – are all given largely common ground. If the song calls for a Jones-driven Middle-Eastern melody on some strange stringed beast midway through the third verse, so be it. Josh apparently felt as if his vocals would dominate New Fang unless it sounded like he was singing from an aluminum-lined pool fifty yards away, so you’ve got a polar shift in vocal presence between Fang and following night-drive murder ride Dead End Friends.

In concert, Interlude With Ludes is a sexy slow-romp, featuring Homme’s rooster-strut and hammy overtness. On record it’s a circus-tent ecstasy ride with a side of raw ether, a mindbending binge that’s not recommended for anyone who can’t hold their psychedelics. If you want me I’m yours, Josh croons, Even if you don’t want me. Definitely the oddball track of the album, Interlude evokes the feeling of sinking into the sunshine after a handful of, well, ‘ludes. Warsaw, by contrast, is a chin-jutting groovefest, an awesome multi-part jam spaz that bathes in blues before giving way to a spacey, long-form psychedelic breakdown.

Jones’ keyboard solos and slap bass run new colors through the squealing-lead funk of Scumbag Blues, and his organ leads out-absurd Homme’s pop-chug riffage in Caligulove, making a guilty-pleasure Halloween jam out of something that shouldn’t have worked in the first place. Reptiles, meanwhile, is a little bit of Talking Heads, a dash of Queens’ Rated R and a whole lotta supercharged classic-rock melody, rolled into a murderous vaudeville song-and-dance freakshow. It’s a terrible, hateful beast in caked-on makeup, singing for the spotlight, barely able to hide its scales and deadly spite. On the jitter-strobe of Gunman, Homme’s vocals seep through like ghosts in the halls of ancient castles – layered echoes over guitar countermelodies and an alarmingly danceable beat.

Having saved the best (and longest) for last, Spinning In Daffodils is possibly the best closing track on an album by any of these men. Grinding to life after an epically melancholy mystic-fog piano intro, the sounds of a herd of shadowed giants running through ancient forests emerges. It’s the feeling of being sixty feet tall, leading an unstoppable march of Tyrannosaurs, the perfect product of millions of years of evolution and raw survivalism or, in this case, decades of top-of-the-mountain Rock experience, craftsmanship and devotion to the sound. A more beautiful, powerful climax would be difficult to imagine.

So high I just may never come down are the final words on the album, a fitting narrative to the feeling you’re left with as you watch the hurricane pass into the night – but the urge to run back into the storm and go through it all again has never been stronger. It’s hard to imagine turning on the radio after such an album. This one is special, a very rare melding of classic, psychedelic blues-rock authenticity and passionate groove-junkie sorcery. Feed with the Vultures – it’s good for you.

We’re allowed unprecedented intimate access to the creative process of each guitarist as they describe their own musical development and source of innovation, digging beneath the veneer of their star personas to get to the meat of humanity that spawned such incredible music virtuosity.

Page allows the film crew to accompany him on his visit the stone halls of Headley Grange where When The Levee Breaks was composed, and digs through early session tapes of what would become some of the most famous rock songs of all time; we head to Dublin with The Edge and watch as he pulls out the original four-track rehearsals of Where The Streets Have No Name, allowing us a rare look into the rough edges of one of the biggest bands on Earth. At his home in Tennessee, White describes being inspired by the raw style of bluesman Son House before writing a song, on camera, at the drop of a hat.

The trio eventually unite for a little jam session, discussing their craft while trying each other’s songs on for size. Several songs were recorded at the time, which will likely serve as extras on the DVD when it’s released.

I managed to keep a poker face on my gut-boiling enthusiasm at the press day for the film last month, as White, Page and Guggenheim fielded questions from the room. Here’s a few highlights:

Jimmy Page on the three musicians coming together:

I’d met Jack before. We’d done an interview and, obviously, I was really aware of his work. But, what was so fascinating about this is that we are all really self-taught guitarists. We all have real interesting characteristics. It’s not like we’re part of an orchestra, where everyone has been taught the same way and there are varied areas of interpretation. With this, it’s really strong with the character of what we’ve lived, in our music, so there was a lot to receive from the characters and how it manifests through their playing. I do really believe that all guitarists have a different character that comes through, that’s a strong character, the stronger the person is.

Jack White on the creative process:

Say a listener listens to the radio and says OK, well you chose to write this song or you chose to do this or do that on purpose. Maybe they’ll see that that’s sort of an after-effect, and aftertaste of what the songwriter’s doing to begin with. They’re trying to get to an emotion or an idea, and the byproduct ends up being a rock song or a punk song or a ballad or whatever it is. But if you see how sometimes things are attacked from the beginning, what it ends up being. When Jimmy talks about the drum sound in When The Levee Breaks in the film, you can see that it wasn’t like this is what Led Zeppelin sat down and wrote out on paper, this is gonna have this ferocious drum sound that everyone’s gonna remember for eternity, then we’ll go to the riff, and the critics will love it, it’ll be great.

Jack White on the perils of Guitar Hero:

I’ve had a lot of conversations about that, over the last couple of years, and I gave up trying to understand it. I do know it’s depressing to have a label come and tell you that this is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music, and that that’s the only outlet now. You have to put it in a video game to get it in front of them. That’s a little sad. But, other than that, I don’t really know. I don’t like to tell people what format they can get things in, or say, “I’m only going to release this on vinyl and nothing else. You have to come to my world.” I don’t like to say that to people either. But, I do think there’s a loss of romance.

Jimmy Page on what moves him now in music:

There’s always music that moves me. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s within the parenthesis of rock or blues, or whatever. It’s usually far more reaching than that. It can be in many different genres. The best part of it is that, in 20 years, you can hear something that is a total surprise to you, or you wouldn’t have conceived would have been there, musically, before. That can really move you and take your attention.

Jack White on his love for the old Son House song Death Letter (a frequent White Stripes show highlight):

Someone had played it for me when I was about 18 or 19, that song. I’d already heard John The Revelator and I was in love with that, then I heard Grinnin’ In Your Face and that was just the end of it for me. I just couldn’t believe it. But by the time the Stripes had started recording, I picked Death Letter because I wanted to sing Grinnin’ In Your Face, but it was too special to me. I didn’t want to insult it. So we picked Death Letter just off the cuff, and the funny thing was that we had recorded that song in my living room, and the door was open and I was looking at Meg while we were recording, and when I finished the song Meg had a scary look on her face. And I was like, “what?,” and came to find out that there was a drunk man standing behind me who had wandered into the house.

Jack White and Jimmy Page on starting with the right instrument:

Jack: I think starting with whatever you can afford is the best thing to do. Starting with a top-of-the-line guitar won’t facilitate anything. It will be less of a struggle and, especially someone who’s young, should have a little bit of a struggle because they’ll find their own relationship with the instrument. And, all the kinks that are in the bent neck, or the out-of-tune string, or the nut that’s broken, they need to have. It has to become their own.

Jimmy: I agree with that because you’ll see if you’ve got a passion to want to play the instrument, and that is a good initiation. From my experience, once I got a guitar that was relatively user-friendly, but not super-duper easy, I really came on as a guitarist, at that point. It helped. It wasn’t a super-expensive guitar either, but something needs to steer you a bit, if you’re playing an instrument that is really hard.

I pressed for more information in an interview I did yesterday with Homme’s wife, Brody Dalle of Spinnerette. Who’s singing? Who’s behind the kit? When do we get to hear it? She was faithfully tight-lipped, unfortunately, but did offer the following tease:

“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.”

We’ll let our imaginations take that ball and run with it (Songs For The Deaf meets Zeppelin IV? Yes please…).

Back in 2005, Mojo magazine did an interview with Grohl, who dropped the news as casually as mentioning the weather: “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.”

We didn’t hear much more about the project after that until this past April, when French journalist Cyril Deluermoz reported that Grohl and Homme were recording together, which was shortly followed by an interview with John Paul Jones, who said the following: “I’m working on some other music, which is more rock based, with a couple of other people. We hope to be everywhere this summer.” When pressed for more information, the legendary bassist clammed up. “It’s a secret, actually,” he said. “I shouldn’t have even said that, you know? There are some exciting projects coming up, let’s put it that way.”

Exciting indeed. But summer’s here, so what gives? Chris Cornell’s guitar tech claims to have heard it, and legendary rock photographer Ross Halfin has acknowledged the recording sessions as well.

With the Foo Fighters on hiatus, Zeppelin down for what looks like the count and Queens Of The Stone Age enjoying some downtime, it would make sense that the long-discussed project would finally come to fruition this year.

Grohl has never made any attempt to hide his love for Led Zeppelin, be it with tattoos or all but offering to sell his kids for a chance to sit in John Bonham’s place for a Zeppelin reunion tour that never happened.

Furthermore, in what appears to be news of an entirely separate Homme project, Ipecac Records co-owner Greg Werckman told Rock-a-Rolla magazine that his label’s other co-owner – Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Fantomas, etc) – has been approached about joining Homme on some new material.

“He’s trying to get a lot of people involved in it, too,” Werckman says, before adding that Homme is “trying to convince Mike [Patton] to go out to the desert, but Mike hates the desert.”

Greg’s likely referring to Homme’s now-legendary Desert Sessions gatherings that Patton may have been invited out for, because the Grohl/Jones collaboration has been confirmed to be taking place in Los Angeles. But then again, who knows? It’s too early to tell for certain – there’s too little information involved. But for now, we can be happy knowing that somewhere, some amazing fucking music is being made, and someday we might just get to hear it.

[Thanks to Fernando for the tip!]

I suppose our instinct for criticism comes from our high standards for appreciation. When we fall in love with an album, part of our passion comes from an awesome jealousy over the fact that the artist has achieved what we have found, first-hand, to be truly difficult, and special. And when we trash an album, it’s not just to be funny or cause a commotion- it’s because that stage is sacred ground for us. And if you don’t have what it takes, it’s an offense to all the true believers to step onto it.

Yes, music belongs to everyone, and yes, everyone has a right to express themselves and put what they’ve got out there. I’m not saying you’ve gotta have signoff on your 10,000 hours before you step out of your garage. But if you get up on that stage, you better have something to say.

Now I’ve tied a pretty long tail on this kite, but I’m speaking to a certain audience. If you’re not in this audience, you stopped reading a paragraph and a half ago. On the other hand, if you’re still with me, then we have something valuable.

It Might Get Loud is a Rock N’ Roll documentary, featuring Jack White, Jimmy Page, and The Edge. It’s not a performance documentary. It’s not a biopic. It’s about the relationship between three generations’ leading guitar virtuosos, and their relationships with their instruments.

From the synopsis:

While each guitarist describes his own musical rebellion, a rock’n roll summit is being arranged. Set on an empty soundstage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs. During the summit Page’s double-neck guitar, The Edge’s array of effects pedals and White’s new mic, custom built into his guitar, go live. The musical journey is joined by visual grandeur too. We see the stone halls of Headley Grange where “Stairway to Heaven” was composed, visit a haunting Tennessee farmhouse where Jack White writes a song on-camera, and eavesdrop inside the dimly lit Dublin studio where The Edge lays down initial guitar tracks for U2’s forthcoming single. The images, like the stories, will linger in the mind long after the reverb fades.

The trailer speaks for itself though of course. The movie, directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), is slated for a release this Summer from Sony Pictures Classics.

Thanks to Fernando Scoczynski for linking us to the newest trailer.