Them Crooked Vultures is a rock supergroup, formed in Los Angeles, in 2009, by John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme. The group also includes Alain Johannes during live performances. The band began recording in July 2009, and performed their first gig on August 9, 2009 in Chicago, followed by a European debut on August 19. On October 1 the group embarked on a worldwide tour titled Deserve the Future with dates going into 2010. The band's first single "New Fang" was released in October 2009, followed by the group's self-titled debut album the following month, debuting at number 12 on the Billboard 200.

A collaboration between John Paul Jones, Homme and Grohl was first publicly mentioned by Grohl in a 2005 interview with Mojo, in which he declared "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."

Of the nascent project, Homme's wife Brody Dalle commented in July 2009 that "I'm not at liberty to talk about it [...] but I think [the project] is pretty amazing. Just beats and sounds like you've never heard before."^[2] After finding that the name Caligula was already taken, the members arbitrarily chose "Them Crooked Vultures" as a name with no significance.^[3] British music magazine NME reported in July 2009 that the trio had begun recording in Los Angeles.^[4] The band performed its first show at the Metro, Chicago on August 9, 2009 at midnight.^[5][6] The band played all original material during its 80-minute set, debuting such songs as opener "Elephants", "Scumbag Blues", "Caligulove" and closing song "Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I".^[7] TCV made its European debut on August 19 with a performance at Melkweg in the Netherlands, the same day on which a short video clip of studio footage was uploaded by the band, featuring the song "Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I".^[8]

With subsequent festival performances in Europe at Pukkelpop and Lowlands, the band first performed in the United Kingdom at London's Brixton Academy supporting English alternative rock band Arctic Monkeys on August 26.^[9] The trio subsequently performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals on August 28 and 29. Playing the Leeds Festival first then moving onto Reading the next day.^[10]

On December 4, 2009, they performed on The Jonathan Ross show on BBC One; playing "Mind Eraser, No Chaser".

Them Crooked Vultures was released by Interscope Records in North America, and Sony Music internationally.^[11] On the 21st of October radio personality Alan Cross announced the lead single for Them Crooked Vultures debut album to be "New Fang" which premiered on October 26. The single was released on November 2 worldwide as a free download.^[12] Icon vs. icon subsequently announced that the album would be released on the 17th of November, 2009.^[13] On November 3, the band gave a free copy of "Mind Eraser (No Chaser)" to fans that had bought tickets to a live performance and offered it on iTunes as a free download. On November 9, Them Crooked Vultures started streaming their full album on their website, and also through a link to their mailing list with the title "Fuck Patience, Let's Dance."

On September 1, the band announced two 2009 tours of North America and the United Kingdom, in October and December respectively.^[14] The 2009 Tour was titled Deserve the Future Tour and the UK leg sold out in just under 12 minutes, making it one of the quickest sold tours in the UK — without the band even officially releasing a song to date. On September 21, the band also announced three Germany dates for December 2009.

On January 25, 2010, it was confirmed that the band will be performing at the Download Festival 2010.

On February 6, 2010, the band performed the songs "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" and "New Fang" as musical guests on Saturday Night Live. Dave Grohl also appeared in a sketch near the end of the show. A week later, the band appeared on the long running PBS show Austin City Limits broadcast February 13, 2010.

The band has also confirmed a series of festival appearances for 2010, including Roskilde Festival^[15], the Peace & Love Festival in Borlange, Sweden on July 1, 2010,^[16], and Hove Festival in Arendal, Norway on June 30 2010,^[17]