Radio 2SM Interview w/Page (5/31/77)

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Last week when I posted to this list in response to someone's regret that 
the newly surfaced
Largo, MD soundboard was not the 5/30/77 gig I mentioned that I had 
discovered an interview
with Jimmy Page in my archive which was apparently recorded immediately 
following that gig.
I have since learned that is fact quite true, and that the interviewer is 
David White of Radio 2SM
from Australia. Radio 2SM broadcaster Debbie Kruger accompanied David White 
on that trip and
the following is a recollection of how the interview with Jimmy Page 
ultimately came about:

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David?s talent is he?s a great interviewer and a great researcher. That was 
one of his great strengths. But he was a tremendous organiser. And so I had 
David, and I had Russ Powers, and they were the two. And David made a lot of 
the things I wanted to happen happen. And always in my career I always had 
those that I lovingly referred to as the donkeys. Who have got that innate 
ability to carry an idea up the hill, keep going and make it happen. And 
David was one of those people. Much of what we did happened on the air 
because David put the work into it.

Question: "Is that why he was the one you sent off all over the world doing 
interviews"?

Yeah. Well, we travelled the world together quite a bit, David and I. The 
Queen?s Silver Jubilee. We had an amazing time. Eight weeks on the road, 
first class travel, unlimited American Express cards and a letter from the 
Queen. All on the Queen?s Silver Jubilee committee. Harry M Miller. It?s a 
classic story. What had happened was in early ?77 Harry had come to us and 
said, ?We want to do something special for the Queen?s Silver Jubilee. And 
we think we should be doing something with you, because we could interview 
all the British rock acts in the world and create this whole series of 
Queen?s Silver Jubilee specials. And we should interview Prince Charles 
about music and culture and all that kind of stuff.? And they said yes, so 
David and I were given the okay to go and travel the world for as long as it 
took. And at the same time while we went, I put MacRae and Trevor Johnson, 
who was the producer, the jingles/promo guy, in London to do a breakfast 
show there for two weeks as well. So we all arrived together, we rented a 
house in Chelsea, this big four-storey house which cost an absolute fortune, 
and we proceeded to live the high life.

Question: "Who was running the station"?

Russ and I forget who else was in charge. The station was incredibly well 
planned and detailed. It was more ticking it over. It might even have been 
Ronnie. It probably was.

It was one of those things that you never forget. We arrived in London, we 
flew in first class, I sat behind the pilot with the tape recorder on as we 
landed. And we didn?t know, but waiting for us was the stretch Bentley with 
the flags. The whole lot. I mean, you?ve seen how I looked in those days. 
Long hair and a beard, and dressed like a jungle bunny. We totally missed 
their signs to collect us and caught the cab into town. So we missed the 
stretch limo. And we based ourselves out at Chelsea ? we?d found this place 
before we got there ? and David and I partied so hard for the next six weeks 
that you would find us in hire cars being driven around drinking Dom 
Perignon straight out of the bottle. We interviewed every major British rock 
act in the world. We did Queen in Stockholm, Elton John, Rod Stewart, we did 
Rick Wakeman in Montreux in Switzerland? We finished the European leg and I 
got pissed off with Harry M because the Prince Charles interview just kept 
getting put back and back and back, and I had a big fight with him in the 
Dorchester in London. We?d carefully drafted these questions and Harry?s 
come back and said, no it?s a piece of shit, they?ll never approve those 
questions, you?re not doing the interview. So David and I flew to New York 
where we did Led Zeppelin ? flew on the Starship with Led Zeppelin ? 
Fleetwood Mac, Paul McCartney, blah blah blah blah. Get back to Australia, 
we?ve got all these specials, and shipped in is the interview with Prince 
Charles done by Graham Kennedy with my questions! Graham Kennedy who?s 
managed by Harry M with my bloody questions. We decided bugger it, we didn?t 
want it. We didn?t use it.

That trip? Lou Dimovich, who works at MusicMAX, still asks me to repeat the 
Led Zeppelin story. We were supposed to do the interview in the Plaza Hotel, 
five o?clock, Monday afternoon (5/30/77). And Gabrielle at Swansong Records 
has said be there, the band will be there, don?t talk until they get there. 
So we?re sitting there and five o?clock goes by, then five-thirty. Gabrielle 
walks in and says, ?The band can?t do the interview today, but they?d like 
you to come to the gig. The only problem is we?re going to go now and you?ll 
have to come with us now.? ?Cause there was a limo outside waiting for them. 
And they had 13 or 14 stretch limos around the street with all the band and 
all the hangers-on and the wives. Whoever. And a Bentley, because John 
Bonham only ever travelled in a Bentley. And out there was our limo, number 
13, and David White and I got in it and we took off. Instead of heading 
south towards Madison Square Garden, we turn around and go north. So we 
think maybe they?re playing in New Jersey or something. We go straight out 
to JFK Airport, in the back gate and there?s the Led Zeppelin Starship 
sitting there. We get on board the jet. David and I have got happy snaps. 
The jet has a bar, bedrooms down the back. We went down to Baltimore. We 
were beside ourselves. There we were with the greatest rock and roll band 
ever. You don?t do it any finer than Led Zeppelin. So we flew down to 
Baltimore Airport, get out, there?s all the stretch limos and a Bentley. 
Straight into the stadium, we were given on-stage pass, the tickets out the 
front by the sound desk. And we were told as soon as the band starts to play 
?Rock and Roll? in the second encore, just walk from wherever you are and go 
and get in your car, do not get out of your car. And so the band plays the 
most amazing concert, 40,000 people in the stadium just going nuts. We get 
back on the plane, of course they pick up all the girls, all the groupies, 
and then there?s a huge party back at the Plaza Hotel. And what always 
strikes me that?s interesting, is we?re sitting there at five o?clock in the 
morning doing this interview with Jimmy Page, the legend, and it?s a 
fantastic interview and he?s really lucid talking to us. The last question 
was, ?You?re the band, the big rock and roll band in the world right now. 
Who do you think is going to be next?? And Page says, ?I?ve got some tapes!? 
So the first tape he pulls out is The Clash. This is 1977. He says, ?This 
band will be one of the great bands of rock and roll.? The second band was 
AC/DC. And now in the Hall of Fame they?re being inducted together ? The 
Clash and AC/DC. It really struck me.
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So there you have it folks...the story behind that exlusive 5/31/77 Jimmy 
Page interview!

Regards,
Steve A. Jones