Band of Joy interview-Part 1

[Diane <RAMBLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As promised, here is an interview I did with two of the members of The
Band of Joy. This was in 1992 and originally published in Nirvana
Magazine (copyright Kelsey Publications 1992).  Because it is so long I
will post it in several parts (with some changes in the intro and minus
the photo). Please overlook any typos, as I just scanned this in and
didn't take time to go over all of it!) Hope you enjoy it.  (p.s.-to the
guy who emailed me about the Band of Joy album, sorry, I remembered
wrong-it is explained in the interview!)
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Before Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant was in many bands around the Midlands.
These included Hobbstweedle, The New Memphis Bluesbreakers, The Black
Snake Moan, The Banned, The Crawling Kingsnakes, The Tennessee Teens and
Listen. One of the earliest of these groups was The Band of Joy. This
group went through several incarnations, with and without Robert, but it
seemed to play an important part in Plant's formative years as a singer.
In 1967 The Band of Joy line up was Robert Plant on vocals, John Bonham
on drums, Kevin Gammond on guitar, Paul Lockey on bass, and Chris Brown
on keyboards. Today, Kevin Gammond is a music professor at a Midlands
college and Paul Lockey is a primary school teacher. They both continue
playing music in their spare time, and both remain very close friends
with Plant. This interview took place over a period of several hours,
and was more of a conversation than an interview, so a lot of editing
was needed, and the end result is a series of excerpts that are not
necessarily in chronological order! It was an enjoyable trip down memory
lane for them, and I think they did quite a good job remembering things
from 24 years ago!

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D- (LOOKING AT BAND OF JOY PHOTO AND SPEAKING TO PAUL) THAT'S YOU?

P-YES, I'M 19, THEY'RE ALL 19 ... (LOOKING AT JACKET HE WAS WEARING
IN THE PHOTO) JOHN HAD THIS JACKET THAT HE USED TO WEAR WHEN HE WAS
PLAYING, AND HE LOOKED ABSOLUTELY TREMENDOUS, AND I ALWAYS LIKED THIS
JACKET.  APPARENTLY HE'D WON IT IN A CARD GAME, A SUIT ACTUALLY WITH
TROUSERS TO MATCH, WOULD HAVE COST A FORTUNE, SO ANYWAY JOHN SAYS TO
THIS GUY I'LL PLAY YOU FOR YOUR COAT, ALWAYS LIKE THAT, ALWAYS THE
GAMBLER, SO HE WON THE COAT. 	AND THEN SIX MONTHS LATER I GOT THE COAT. 
BECAUSE I LIKED IT SO MUCH THAT WE CUT A DEAL, I DON'T KNOW, SOMETHING
LIKE 2 POUNDS OR 2 POUNDS FIFTY AND SOME CIGARETTES, SOMETHING LIKE
THAT.  AND I'VE STILL GOT IT IN THE WARDROBE NOW!

D-	WHO IS THIS?
K-	CHRIS BROWN THE KEYBOARD PLAYER IN THE BAND. HE
PLAYED THE (MARQUEES?) -.
P- WAS IT, OR DID HE HAVE A HAMMOND ORGAN IN THE END?
I THINK HE HAD A HAMMOND-
K-DID HE END UP WITH A HAMMOND?
P-I THINK SO YEA.  BACKING VOCALS ALSO.

D- KEVIN IS REALLY A PRETTY GOOD GUITAR PLAYER, I SAW
A VIDEO OF YOU LAST NIGHT AT THAT LITTLE BENEFIT AT
THAT DANCE CLUB--
K- AH, FRANK FREEMAN?
D-YEA, FRANK FREEMAN-
K-AHH, OH MY GOD!
D-YEA, IT REALLY WAS GOOD..
K-FRANK FREEMAN 1S A LITTLE PIECE OF HISTORY IN THIS TOWN
(KIDDERMINSTER).  EVERYBODY STARTED OFF COMING THROUGH THE FRANK FREEMAN
SORT OF SCENE.
P- YEA YEA-
K-	IT WAS VERY AMAZNG REALLY BECAUSE GROUPS LIKE CAPTAIN BEEFHART AND
ALL MY SORT OF HEROES WERE MUCH MORE SORT OF ETHICAL AND MUCH MORE -.
BUT I CAN SORT OF LOOK BACK NOW AT ZEPPELIN AND THINK, OH MY GOD, AND
CAN REALLY APPRECIATE. AT THE TIME I WAS NOT AT ALL?..- I WAS MUCH MORE
SORT OF VELVET UNDERGROUND, LOU REED, CAPTAIN BEEFHART, ALL THAT
SORT OF AN AREA, AND PAUL I THINK?WHERE WERE YOU AT -YOU WERE MUCH MORE
SORT OF?

P- WELL A BIT OF EVERYTHING REALLY, A BIT OF THE BLUES, A BIT OF THE OLD
SOUL STUFF, IN THOSE DAYS EVERYBODY WAS INTO THE SOUL STUFF.  I SORT OF
DRASTICALLY CAME FROM NOWHERE REALLY, HA HA, TO PLAY THE BASS?..I'M A
GUITAR PLAYER, BUT DURING THAT TIME WITH BAND OF JOY I LEARNED TO PLAY
THE BASS AND TO PLAY LOUD.
YOU HAD TO BECAUSE JOHNNY BONHAM WAS SO LOUD, I STOOD NEXT TO HIM EVERY
NIGHT GOING AHH!?MINDBLOWING YOU KNOW.

K- WHEN 	YOU LISTEN TO ZEP STUFF NOW, EVEN
THE	FIRST ALBUM, IT'S VERY GOOD-.
D-YEA, THE FIRST TWO ALBUMS ARE MY FAVORITES?.
K-YEA, BUT THEY WERE JUST?
P-WELL IT WAS JUST WHAT THE BAND OF JOY WAS PLAYING-
K-YEA, LIVE YEA-.
P-ONLY THEY DID IT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT, YEA, SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT-.

(part 2 to follow)
- -- 
Diane Lovett
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http://home.att.net/~RAMBLD/diane/dianesweb.html