Late Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins’ ex-drum tech, Yeti Ward recently sent out a grim post regarding late Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham, ahead of Foo Fighters’ Hawkins tribute shows. He wrote:
“Did Led Zeppelin tour after Bonham died? No! Just saying”
Robert Plan reveals advice to Jimmy Page about John Bonham
The former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant recently appeared in an interview with Rolling Stone and shared what he said to Jimmy Page about John Bonham while they were playing in the Yardbirds.
In the mid-’60s, Jimmy Page joined the Yardbirds replacing Paul Samwell-Smith. He created a harmonized lead guitar line-up with Jeff Beck. After Beck parted ways, the band started to slow down as they were tired of touring and recording. Jimmy Page wanted to establish a supergroup including himself, Beck, Keith Moon, and John Entwistle at that period.
Robert Plant said the following, revealing his advice to Jimmy Page:
“It was when I went to the first rehearsal with the Yardbirds, and I was 19, soon to be 20. I had suggested to Jimmy Page that the drummer that he’d lined up was just nowhere near the dynamism of John Bonham and was a totally different thing altogether. And so once John’s wife finally gave him permission to come to a rehearsal — because Pat always said, ‘Keep away from Plant, because you’re just going to end up broke and in trouble’ — so when the two of us drove down to London in John’s mum’s van, which we borrowed, in that room, on that afternoon, when we kicked in with a bunch of songs that nobody really knew, ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’.’
I knew that I was in a room full of giants, really, and that was it. By 1973, what happened in that one room had exploded into some of the most adventurous non-rock rock that you could ever wish to find, and it was just the sum of the parts. Those guys were just insanely good. And it was as if everybody had just been waiting for each other with whatever happened prior to that. It was just like, bang!”
