{"id":3224,"date":"2011-08-09T02:44:03","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T09:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3224"},"modified":"2011-08-09T02:44:32","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T09:44:32","slug":"jason-bonham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/jason-bonham\/","title":{"rendered":"JASON BONHAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

JASON BONHAM<\/h1>\n

Drumming up a salute to the Led Zeppelin legend\u2014and his family name<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Led Zeppelin reunited for one show in London three years ago, many hoped the event would be followed by a full-fledged tour\u2014not least of all Jason Bonham. He had impressively taken over the drum seat once occupied by his late father, John Bonham. But Zeppelin singer Robert Plant balked, and a plan to continue in some fashion without him fizzled. So Bonham elected to carry on the band\u2019s legacy himself with Jason Bonham\u2019s Led Zeppelin Experience, a multimedia tribute tour currently barnstorming across North America. We caught up with Bonham in Los Angeles to talk about carrying on\u00a0the family business.<\/p>\n

How did this tour come about? <\/strong><\/p>\n

We did the show at the O2, and after that I had been playing with [Zeppelin guitarist] Jimmy [Page] and [bass player] John Paul [Jones]. But that got put on hiatus for a while, and I had nothing to do. The people who put on the [Beatles tribute] show \u201cRain\u201d called and asked if I wanted to do something like this. I said, \u201cI don\u2019t think I can do that right now.\u201d They said, \u201cBefore you say no, would you come and see the show?\u201d Later when I was watching the show, I suddenly realized that I could make it more than just going out and playing the songs. We started negotiating, talking about how I\u2019d like to do it. I imagined the show as a personal salute to my dad, with stories behind the music, and explanations of why I was doing certain songs, making it more of an interactive journey with video and other elements.<\/p>\n

Is that a technical challenge? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. You can have all the ideas in the world, but then you have to actually put them together. For one thing, you\u2019ve got to know the songs backwards and forwards. But when I saw the possibilities of how it could be, that made me want to do it even more.<\/p>\n

How did you pick the songs? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I definitely wanted to represent every album. Of course there were songs I knew I had to do, like \u201cKashmir.\u201d It\u2019s like, what\u00a0do you not<\/em> do?<\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite album? <\/strong><\/p>\n

If it\u2019s down to one album, Physical Graffiti <\/em>is phenomenal. I\u2019m also a very big fan of Presence<\/em>, which is under-appreciated. A lot of people overlook it, but I adore\u00a0that album.<\/p>\n

How\u2019d you approach the drum parts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to play the same beats that my dad did, but I\u2019m also trying to recreate his swagger, that feel that you have to have. For years I ignored that element of it. I thought it was about the chops, but it\u2019s also about finding the groove.<\/p>\n

When did you start playing Ludwig, as your dad did?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was with DW for 22 years. But I did this \u201cThe Drums Remain the Same\u201d promotion for Ludwig in 2005, playing off [the Zeppelin song] \u201cThe Song Remains the Same.\u201d People have said to me, \u201cYou knew then that you were going to do [the reunion show], didn\u2019t you?\u201d But I didn\u2019t\u2014and I wouldn\u2019t know for another two years. (laughs<\/em>) It\u2019s sort of ironic. So I went back to Ludwig and did a signature kit in 2007, and it\u2019s been pretty cool.<\/p>\n

Do you ever tire of being asked questions about your father? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I lost my dad at such an early age\u2014I was 14 years old, and I held him in such high regard. He was my hero. So I have no problem talking about him or following in his footsteps. I hold him so dear.<\/p>\n

\u2013Chris Neal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JASON BONHAM Drumming up a salute to the Led Zeppelin legend\u2014and his family name When Led Zeppelin reunited for one show in London three years ago, many hoped the event would be followed by a full-fledged tour\u2014not least of all Jason Bonham. He had impressively taken over the drum seat once occupied by his late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[2332,1175,970],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3224"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3228,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224\/revisions\/3228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}