10 May 2018

Jason Bonham: son of Led Zeppelin drummer Bonzo

From Afternoons, 1:38 pm on 10 May 2018

If you're a Led Zeppelin fan, you'll be excited to hear about Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening coming to the country at the end of this month.

It's a live recreation of the band's sound featuring the son of original member John Bonham (aka Bonzo).

Jason Bonham -  son of led Zeppelin  drummer John Henry ‘Bonzo’ Bonham

Jason Bonham - son of led Zeppelin drummer John Henry ‘Bonzo’ Bonham Photo: supplied

Jason Bonham has played drums with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, and now he's touring the world playing the music his father helped make famous.

He tells Jesse about following in his dad's footsteps. 

When Jason's manager first touted the idea of a Led Zeppelin tribute act, he was at first reluctant.

“Is that the best advice you’re gonna give me right now? ... Please, I don’t want to tarnish what we’ve just done" he said.

“For me, the music is so timeless you really can’t really pigeonhole the time period, it still sounds fresh today.”

It was 2007 when the son of original Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham filled in and performed with the original line up for a charity fundraiser show.

Bonham, a former drummer for Foreigner, is in awe of the Led Zeppelin catalogue.

“[They] created and were able to create so many different sounds from one band. When you think of Led Zeppelin I and Physical Graffiti,  to the average person you would say it was a different band.

“They were allowed to be creative and such a short career, really – they created all of what they did in 11 years.

"What made Led Zeppelin so special was that each band member had a place.  It wasn’t just their instrument – their personality, everything – and that’s why there’ll never be that sound again.”

After Bonham Junior's critically successful appearance with his father’s former bandmates, he got an invitation to collaborate with guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones.

It was “another amazing thing to do” which gave the younger Bonham a further taste of what his father was a part of.

“Dad couldn’t really play an instrument other than the drums, but he was able to write by singing ideas to Jimmy.

“It blows my mind that ‘Kashmir’ came from a couple of pints of beer before rehearsal.

"[John Bonham] said ‘I’ve got this idea for a song it’s like dah-nah-nah-dah-nah-nah-chk”, then the next thing you know they’re doing ‘Kashmir’."

Though eventually the collaboration with Paul and Page fizzled out, Bonham realised he “could do a show in his father’s honour.”

“I started to ask my mum about home movies and stuff we put on in the show, way more than us just playing music. I could make it a more personal journey. And it kinda grew from there.

“It’s more than us just playing Led Zeppelin songs. To be able to let loose and play that music to the best of your ability and give somebody some happiness for two and half hours and let them go back in time a little bit...

“I like to drift off and think of my old man when I am playing, so for me, it’s as much a pleasure as it is playing.”

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening will perform at Horncastle Arena, Christchurch, Thursday 31 May and Auckland's Logan Campbell Centre on Saturday 2 June.