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| HISTORY |
| Part One: The Yardbirds Part Two: Led Zeppelin's early years |
| Part Two: Led Zeppelin's early years "We were going to form a group called Led Zeppelin at the time of 'Beck's Bolero' sessions with the line-up from that session. It was going to be me and Beck on guitars, Moon on drums, maybe Nicky Hopkins on piano. The only one from the session who wasn't going to be in it was Jonesy, who had played bass. Instead Moon suggested we bring in Entwistle as bassist and lead singer as well, but after some discussion we decided to use another singer. The first choice was Stevie Winwood, but it was decide d he was too heavily committed to Traffic at the time and probably wouldn't be too interested. Next we thought of Stevie Marriott. He was approached and seemed full of glee about it. A message came through from the business side of Marriott, though, wh ich said 'How would you like to play guitar with broken fingers? You will be if you don't stay away from Stevie'. After that the idea just sort of fell apart. Instead of being more positive about it and looking for another singer, we just let it slip by . Then The Who began a tour, The Yardbirds began a tour, and that was it. Jimmy page was working at the sessions for Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and John Paul Jones asked him if he could use a bass player in the new group I was forming. "Now John Paul is unquestionably an incredbile arranger and musici an - he didn't need me for a job." They agreed that in order to give what they had to offer, a new group would have to be formed. John Paul Jones "I've rated Jimmy Page for years and years. We both came from South London, and even in 1962 I can remember people saying 'You've got to go and listen to Neil Christian and The Crusaders - they've got this unbelievable young guitarist'. I'd heard of Pagey before I'd heard of Clapton or Beck. The Yardbirds had concerts they were supposed to fulfill. Shortly after the goup split up John Paul Jones called Page and said he was interested in getting "something together". I'd originally thought of getting Terry Reid in as lead singer/second guitarist, but he'd just signed with Mickie Most as a solo artist... quirk of fate. He suggested I get in touch with Robert Plant, who was then in a band calle d Hobbstweeedle. When I auditioned him and heard him sing, I immediately thought there must be something wrong with him personality wise or that he had to be impossible to work with, because I just couldn't understand why, after he told me he'd been sing ing for a few years already, he hadn't become a big name yet. Robert Plant "We needed a drummer who was a good timekeeper and who really laid it down, and the only one I knew was the one I'd been playing with for years. Who was Bonzo Bonham. I got so enthusiastic that I hitched back to Oxford and chased after John, got him to one siade at a gig and said 'Look, mate, you've got to join The Yardbirds.' But he wasn't easily convinced. He said 'Well, I'm all right here, aren't I?' He'd never earned the sort of bread he as getting with Tim Rose before, so I had to try and pe rsuade him. I had nothing to convince him with really, except a name that got lost in American pop histroy." John (Bonzo) Bonham "I had so much to consider. It wasn't a question of who had the best prospects, but which was going to be the right kind of stuff. Farlowe was fairly established and I knew Joe Cocker was going to make it. But I already knew from playing in Band of Joy with Robert what he liked, and I knew what Jimmy was into, and I decided I liked that sort of music better." "I wasn't into blues at first but soon followed Robert's interest in it. During our first rehearsals, any feeling of competition within the group vanished after one number." The band was considering a name for the group, and had already passed "Mad Dogs". "... eventually (it) came down to the fact that the name was not really as important as whether or not the music was to be accepted." It was just a joke in England. We really had a bad time. They just wouldn't accept anything new. It had to be The New Yardbirds, not Led Zeppelin. We were given a chance in America. We started off at less than $1500 a night. We played for only $200 at one gig, but it was worth it. We didn't care. We just wanted to come over to America and play our music. I had assumed that even though the Yardbirds had been getting about $2500 a night, Led Zeppelin could only hope to start off at about the $1500 mark and work our way up from there." |
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