When I spoke with Jason Bonham, son of John Bonham (as in Led Zeppelin’s late drummer), he was in sunny Florida and ready to talk about his famous pops, drumming styles, the staying power of Physical Graffiti 50 years later and how he puts his stamp on all of it.
If imagination has any say in this setting, he was somewhere near ocean waves at the time.
Bonham brings his Led Zeppelin Evening to Deer Valley Sunday, August 10. They’ll be playing most nights in August, making this their busiest year since doing this. A lot of that comes from choosing to celebrate Physical Graffiti in its entirety all year long, he said.
Q: What’s it feel like, getting to perform Led Zeppelin tunes?
Bonham: Well, I still call this my side project, a way of having fun with friends while playing the music of Led Zeppelin. Once I got comfortable knowing we could do it in a different way — part storytelling, part musical journey — it made more sense. All I’m doing is highlighting an amazing band, one that had a very eclectic musical taste. They were allowed to be as diverse as they wanted, and had such an amazing variety of songs to perform, from folk to blues to rock, even Caribbean funk. When I put this show together, I wanted to highlight all of that. Songs the band never did live were even more important for me to perform.
The idea of doing Physical Graffiti start to finish came about, and it turns 50 this year. It’s one of my favorite albums. The agent said it would be a very limited run if we chose to do that. Two months ago, though, we did 24 shows, and it’s the most successful we’ve been. They were wrong about the album having a limited audience. Everybody enjoyed it. We added 24 more shows in August, and another 25 in October and November.
All things considered, it’ll be the most shows we’ve played in a year. Normally, we do 30.
Q: Does doing this tribute help connect you to your dad in any way?
Bonham: I’m very fond of the music, and it does bring me closer to [my] dad. When I’m playing, I can just drift. It takes me back to such a happy time. Sometimes I haven’t even had to rehearse certain songs before getting them right. That’s the uncanny bit: I can play a Led Zeppelin song I have only played two or three times in my life, and I don’t know why, but I’ll just know it.
Q: Do you change your drumming style when you play Zeppelin versus your own songs?
Bonham: Hell yeah. When I’m playing my own stuff, my drum parts have elements of all my heroes. From Phil Collins to Keith Moon, their influence comes into my playing. I can listen to an original song and know when it starts to sound like Phil Collins. Or Keith Moon. Or Simply Minds’ Mel Gaynor. Or my dad. Other people will listen and say, ‘No, that’s you. That’s the way you play.’ But that’s not what I’m hearing in my head.
Q: Favorite Zeppelin song?
Bonham: I’ve got to go with “The Rain Song.”
Oh, that’s a great one.
Bonham: If somebody says to me that they love “Rock and Roll” or “Black Dog” or “Stairway to Heaven”, I say, ‘Fair enough. You own Zeppelin IV’. I’ll suggest they listen to the next album. There’s great stuff there, too. “The Rain Song” is one of my favorites to play, even though there’s no drums for ages. It’s an epic masterpiece of songwriting that surfaced at a time when everyone saw them as a heavy band. And yet, it’s so beautifully written. To this day, when those strings come in, I get goosebumps.
Q: How have the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reacted to what you’re doing?
Bonham: We haven’t talked about it. Robert [Plant] said to me that, once everything went quiet, I was one of them. What he meant was, once you get close enough to the circle of Zeppelin members, there’s no more correspondence. Robert said to always be ready, though. If any of them were ever unhappy, they’d let me know. But do I want to be the kid who sends a video and asks them to comment on how great the cover is, a song they created? It doesn’t work that way. The last thing Jimmy wants to hear is, ‘Listen to this guitarist. He plays just like you.’
Q: Does playing your dad’s songs allow fans to celebrate someone who wouldn’t otherwise be celebrated?
Bonham: The music my father made, if I don’t perform it, it’s not going to be forgotten. But I try to give the audience the human side of who he was: this quiet, regular guy who was a carpenter as a kid, coming up in the family building business. In four years, he went from getting his first drum kit to recording Led Zeppelin I. His path was just meant to be.
The reality he knew disappeared pretty quickly. He was still a humble guy. A little too much sauce or booze could lead to a little bravado, but he was 20 years old and suddenly a millionaire, part of the biggest band in the world. Two years prior, he was living in a 16-foot trailer behind his mother-in-law’s place and couldn’t afford to buy diapers. It was a big change.
Q: When you were a boy and seeing him experience that, were you able to separate the two sides, who he was on stage versus who he was at home?
Bonham: I only got to see three Zeppelin shows in my life. The first time was in Birmingham (England) to an audience of 2500 people. The next time, they played in front of 70,000. I was 11 and I asked who else was playing. I couldn’t comprehend how big they’d become. And the last time I saw dad play was in 1979. 200,000 people were there for that one. I have these moments where I think to myself: Did he have any idea of who or what he was going to become? Did he realize what legacy he was leaving behind? Did he realize any of that in the midst of it?
If he saw somebody good, he’d say, oh my god, I can’t do that. He was easily wowed; when he heard great players, it turned him on. I introduced him to Stuart Copeland (of The Police) in the late 70s, and he absolutely loved the band’s energy. He’d say he didn’t know if he could do what he did anymore. He was 31 years old and ready to leave it to the new kid in town.
Q: How far do you think you’ll take your Zeppelin experience?
Bonham: This is a journey we get to share as fans — what the band and songs have meant (and mean) to me — and we play these songs to the best of our ability. If you want to enjoy the music along with us, please do. We get to pay respect to some of the greatest music ever written. Yes, my dad was in the band, but we do this out of our love for the music.
Doing this, I get to share about time I’ve spent with [Led Zeppelin] and playing with them, something I never thought I could do. I’ve done that a few times, though. Once, I won a Grammy. My mom said ‘Your dad never won a Grammy.’ When I countered, saying I won by playing with my dad’s band, she’d say, ‘No, I won’t let you make it seem like it’s nothing.’ She said I should be proud. When we played, she said the other band members had nothing to prove. The world was waiting for me to screw it up. When I pulled it off, my mom said it made the rest of them play great in return.
The longer we do this, the more it allows us to keep enjoying and playing the music, and continue connecting with those who want to enjoy it with us.
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