A 35-year gap between solo releases is a lengthy one by any standards. John Paul Jones, however, has done one or two other things during the years between his 1964 debut single Baja and the release this month of his first solo album, "ZOOMA". For starters, he put in a 12-year stint as bassist/keyboard player in the most successful rock band of all time, not to mention his countless session/arranging credits from the 60's and the many producing/arranging projects in which he has been involved, post-Zeppelin.
He may have had a lower profile than the other ex-Zep members in recent years, but he has been far from idle. After production triumphs with the Mission, REM and the Butthole Surfers, John Paul Jones has finally kickstarted his solo career. His ambitious new album, "ZOOMA", is a firm reminder of just how important a role he played in shaping the sound of Led Zeppelin.
Zooma has been a long time coming. How long did it take to record?
The actual recording of the initial tracks was done in about a month with Pete Thomas, but I've really made the album twice. I demoed it all first with drum machines and tapes to give me an idea of how it was all going to fit together. Then I did all the overdubs and the mixing. On and off, it stretched out to around two years. It wasn't something I wanted to rush. I don't think the next one will take as long. I wasn't sure how it was going to sound in the beginning as I only had a few ideas down. Then slowly I began to think through the direction it was going to take.
The first thing I worked on was the title track. Then I went back through a couple of tapes and rediscovered "B Fingers". That was a track I'd written around the time of the Diamanda Galas album. I tried it out with Pete and discovered neither of us could play it. That's typical of me - write something and then discover nobody can play it! We eventually did manage to get it down but we couldn't play it for any length of time. It was a good riff so we began to learn it and it came out well.
Do you have a library of work-in-progress tapes that you refer back to?
I do have a few things. I've got loads of odd tapes but I don't often go back and listen to them. Generally, if I listen to something in progress, it tends to inspire other ideas.
Were all the tracks written as instrumentals?
Yes, that was the whole idea. I don't sing and I didn't really want to join a band, get a singer in and go that way. I simply wasn't interested in coming up with song-based rock.
How did you choose the musicians for the album?
Pete Thomas was on Diamanda's album. I knew he was a really conscientious drummer and he also does what I ask of him. Basically I always say that from the waist up, drummers can do what they like. But from the feet down, they're mine! I know what I want to hear: it makes a lot of difference to how effective a riff or pattern is, so I write up parts for the drums in that way. The fills, cymbals and all that, well, they can do what they like. So first of all I did the tracks at home with Pete. Than I burnt a CD-ROM of the sessions and took it over to America to record Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers, Trey Gunn from King Crimson and Denny Fongeiser on a couple of cuts. Denny plays a big African hand drum called a djembe. I came across him when I was producing Heart.
You also used the London Symphony Orchestra on the track "Snake Eyes".
I'm used to arranging orchestras but it was a real indulgence to orchestrate one of my own compositions. It was great, because I didn't have to ask anyone what they wanted, which usually happens on sessions. I was paying for the session so I could do anything I wanted. It was real fun to have that freedom. We recorded the LSO in AIR Studios. It's a big room there and it sounded fantastic.
Were you aware of the Zeppelin trademarks in some of the arrangements?
It's not something I consciously think about, but I guess it still comes through. It's the way I play. Diamanda Galas once told me that having worked with me, she felt a lot of the Zeppelin riffs had John Paul Jones trademarks. I mean, I have been influenced by the overall Zeppelin sound myself. Having been in the band that long, it's hard not to have been, but I've always had that groove to my playing even before Zeppelin.
"B Fingers" sounds like "Black Dog" - was it recorded live?
Yes, we did some of the tracks with a live rhythm section. That's a track I'm looking forward very much to playing live. I've just got some new amps I'm trying out, and the sound is huge. It fills out the whole stage. You only need the drums to compensate the sound.
I recorded "B Fingers" as an intense jazzy party rocker. I had this feeling that it would be great if we made the track feel like it was being performed in a bar somewhere.
Where do you think the album fits in the current music scene?
I haven't a bloody clue! I can't really think like that. I obviously want people to hear it and I want people to buy it . All that stuff about I'm only making music for myself... well, why bother to record it?
You could just sit at home and play! I think a lot of Zeppelin fans will like it, but if I'd wanted to be commercial, I'd have got a singer and gone with whatever's commercial today, but I don't need to do that. This is rock under my own terms. It will also be something that I will enjoy going out to perform. It's going to be really exciting on stage because of the way the material can be adapted live.