An analysis of NME's double page spread.

1. NME Feature Article Analysis
By Meghan

2. General
The magazine has chosen to interview the group because it is made up of three famous musicians and they had kept the group a secret. By writing an article on it,
the magazine is more likely to get people to want to understand what has happened. The genre is somewhat reflected by the use of profanities and the black and
white text with a splash of red. The photo, however, is not particularly rock and roll. The target audience is anybody who knows about the supergroup as it was
such a big shock to fans of the bands. If you don’t know who the band is, the article will most likely not interest you unless you know any of the members within
the band. The dps (double page spread) doesn’t have anywhere which specifies whether or not it is part of a regular feature.

3. Mode of Address
The text is quite informal and uses a lot of taboo language. For example, “work with his best fuckin' mate Josh Homme.” It is quite comical as each subheading is
an instruction that links to the title, as if it is an instruction guide. To be able to fully enjoy the article, you need to have a basic knowledge of each of the
member’s separate careers. However, you can still read it with no knowledge. All of the speech is the artist speaking directly- we do not know what questions
were asked. There is no example of specific semantic fields within the text but the bands have been abbreviated to Foos, Queens and Zeppelins. There is some
slang such as “jam” and “muso”, but mostly just profanities. This is probably to attract a younger audience.

4. Layout
There is an equal amount of text to pictures as each takes up a page. There are four columns, to split up the reading into an easier format. There isn’t really a
photo frame. We don’t see any of the questions that are asked the band members. There seems to be a byline on the right hand side. There is one quote which
is enlarged as it is quite an amusing one due to it’s silliness as John Paul Jones’ main remark about the band positively is presented to be “It’s nice that nobody’s
been shouting for “stairway”…” There is a huge drop cap T at the start.
The article covers quite a few dps as it is 2539 words long, including the title but not the space taken up by the enlarged quotes. The write was making the article
more interesting by making it like a guide book, so the writer would have liked to write a lot. There is no box-outs.

5. Images
There is one long shot here of the band as a whole, on location, where they are using direct address. The picture is in colour which makes it look nicer, and more
noticeable in line with the lack of colour on the text page. The location seems an odd one as it doesn’t seem to link to the article in any way, however we could
guess it is at the studio where the album was made, or was meant to represent a barren place where vultures may live. There is a caption, however, it is too small
to be read on my computer as it cannot be zoomed into.

6. Small Details
There is a page number- the double page spread may go across pages 24-25 (again it it is hard to read). The masthead is not on the page and there is no footer or
mention of a website.

7. The Article (which appears on the page)
NME Article
How to make a supergroup.
The worry was that Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme might damage
their legacies with Them crooked Vultures. The result, says NME is a band worth
of being mentioned in the same breath as their past glories...
The first anyone knew of it was a page on the Lollapalooza website in August this
year, which just stated 'Metro - 8/9 -Midnight' below three symbols: that of
Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters and John Paul Jones' own cipher from 'Led
Zeppelin IV. That was enough for the show to sell out in three minutes. When Josh
Homme, Dave Grohl and Jones came onstage, announced themselves as Them
Crooked Vultures and blew faces apart with their never-before-heard,
Sledgehammer Of The Gods rock, two questions arose: 1) How the hell had they
managed to keep this a secret? and 2) How amazing is this?
The three members are speaking exclusively to NME about Them Crooked
Vultures for the first time, although scheduling conflicts, most notably Grohl's
overseeing of the Foos' 'Greatest Hits', mean they have to do it individually. Such
an air of a flame that could flicker out at any time is only adding to the excitement
surrounding this, something which the band are hardly quelling. Fittingly, given the
way they announced their arrival, they even have their own coat of arms now.
"I consider the album to be the most exciting thing I've done in my whole entire
life," says Dave Grohl from Nirvana and Foo Fighters.
John Paul Jones can barely contain himself, "Oh YEAH I'm excited! It's a dream...
it's like the old Zeppelin days."
Josh Homme simply smirks, "Well, no pressure then."
Meet In An Unusual Place
Them Crooked Vultures began, as these things often do, in drink. Dave Grohl was
speaking to his pal John Paul Jones after presenting Led Zep with an award in
London in September last year, and since he was "absolutely pissed," rattled on
about his plans to work with his besht fuckin' mate Josh Homme, and asked Jones
to come play in LA. Grohl and Homme both wanted a break from Foos and Queens
respectively, had been looking for an excuse to work together again for ages, and
now Grohl had an amazing one. "For 20 years people have asked me what my
dream band line-up is. And now I can say, I'm in it!" he says. However, at the time
Jones had a Led Zeppelin around his neck. "I wasn't quite sure what was happening
with another band we were trying to start!" he laughs. "Once we heard that Robert
didn't want to do anything, Page and I weren't going to reform Zeppelin, but just a
new band. But nothing came of that, so I called Dave up and he invited me over for
his birthday party at Medieval Times."
The US restaurant chain where you eat while watching knights duel on horses was
a very Grohl-ish place to set up Homme and a member of that most Arthurian of
bands on their "blind date".
Homme recalls, "Dave never mentioned John to me until December, and I didn't
even believe him until January [at his birthday party]. What was good about
Medieval Times was that there was no risk of pretension. It broke the ice. With a
lance." Jones says they quickly arranged to play amid the clash of swords. "It was
weird, the blind date, but I was aware of Josh's music, obviously, and I thought he
was really interesting as a singer, a guitarist and songwriter. I couldn't imagine it
not working."
When It Comes To Rehearsals, Man Up
Two days later, these three legendary musicians converged on Homme's Baby Duck
Studios like the greatest gunfighters in the West ready to prove who was the
fastest of them all. Grohl and Homme, arguably the greatest drummer and guitarist
of their generation, eyeballed each other as they set up, but when Jones strolled
through the doors like an old sheriff - the greatest bass player of all time, who was
playing 'Kashmir' while they were still shitting in nappies - they trembled. This was
not for the faint-hearted, this was muso-a-muso, Goliath Vs two only slightly
smaller Goliaths, and the sheer weight of musical history hung between them in
the air. Josh Homme is still having palpitations about what happened next. "It was
white knuckles - oh right, HERE, and then HERE. It was like cramming for a test. To
be honest, I was fucking nervous. It was just a blur. But the second jam it was like,
this is on. It had a real forward motion to it, and I think we all understood we had
to grab hold of it."
Grohl chuckles at the memory of the Titans Of Rock awkwardly seeing if they
should get serious. "After three days John had to go back to England, and we put
down our instruments, sat down and looked at each other and went, 'OK, should
we be a band?' and everyone nodded. It was funny, none of us has started a new
band for years!"