Working with Legends.

There are 2 (ok, 3) cats I wanna give kudos to. Both of these guys are brilliant producers, musicians, songwriters and they both do things their own way. cue "My Way" Also, they have both established a new sound that pays homage to their influences, while bringing something new and fresh to the table. This is difficult to do. These days more than ever. Oh...and they both have worked with members of Led Zeppelin. Figured it out yet? While Dave Grohl definitely wears all of these adjectives superbly, I am referring to Jack White and Josh Homme. I kind of see these guys as the new torchbearers of Rock and Roll. When you listen to a White Stripe record, it is every bit as innovative as Zep was when they launched. And Jack is just getting started. Take a listen, a good listen to QOTSA Songs for the Deaf and tell me that it is not in the same family of the great concept records. I also think that their recent collaborations with Zep members (Grohl and Homme on Them Crooked Vultures and Jack on the film It Might Get Loud) are not only apropos but a smart career move. It puts them firmly in the company of the very Legends that inspired them to pursue music in the first place. Can you imagine?
I've have also noticed that these guys share the drive and creative breadth that drive them to get involved with many different type of projects. From production to writing to playing on other's projects. They are also both multi-instrumentalists. It seems to me that a major element to their success is a ton of hard work and smart -out of the box- thinking in terms of the industry norms. I suspect they are both very good business men which may mean that they are simply smart enough to surround themselves with the right business minds.
I mean, Jack just opened a recording studio! You would have to be crazy to do that in the current economic state of the music industry. I bet it will do very well. Along with the label too...
I can't wait to see It Might Get Loud. The DVD release date is Dec 22.

Kudos to theses guys and cheers to their continued success and innovation!

Them Crooked Vultures Release (you can hear it Right Now!)

Exclusive for my faithful Bloggers! (all ten of ya...) You can stream the entire TCV release in High Quality from YouTube 8 days before you can actually buy it. Smart marketing IMHO. I would love to see the number as to how many CDs and downloads they sell even though they are essentially giving it away. I mean with a stream catcher....heck what am I saying, it's probably already on the torrent sites. ( I got the email from TCV about 3 hours ago). I am guessing that the type of die-hard fan that already likes QOTSA and Eagles of Death Metal will buy it anyway. While this continues to be an evolving marketing plan (giving your music away and then selling it) groups like Radio Head an others have had pretty good success with it.
Anyhoo...Here is the link, It Rocks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6arQ-qK34