Re: 2009.12.04 John Paul Jones (with TCV) Interview following French TV Broadcast

[stevethomson@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Wyatt,

I feel sort of vindicated as I was one of those who felt the J's were indeed a 
victim of the press. As a fan, I found that whole period frustrating as well 
since it seemed rather hypcritical for some to be saying it was fine for Plant 
to get out there with Krauss and dice and slice Led Zeppelin songs to his 
heart's content yet if the other members of Led Zeppelin decided to get out 
there and play music that was as much theirs as Plant's they were accused of 
trying to cash in on the name, showing lack of respect for Plant, for the 
legacy, etc.

As for the whole notion that Page was just trying to pull another Coverdale 
thing, I feel there's probably some element of truth to that, but only as a 
secondary approach. I think Plant probably told them in January 2008 the same 
thing he told the public, that he couldn't think about anything else but his 
upcoming tour with Alison. Hence, we had Jones coming out of the meeting saying 
they agreed to do nothing for now and Page saying only that the band was ready 
to go on tour but that nothing could happen until at least the autumn of 2008 
because of Plant's tour commitments. As you'll recall, the tone of their 
statements changed later that year. I think by then, they'd probably met with 
Plant again or at least got some private word from him that he had no plans to 
work with them in the foreseeable future. IIRC, this was hinted here at some 
point by some of our usual sources. Then once the UK Sun broke the story that 
they were rehearsing other singers then suddenly posted the story that Plant 
had given in on a tour, it forced Plant to come out and say in a public 
statement what he'd already told them privately. I'm sure in the back of Page's 
mind the hope was probably there that their rehearsing with other singers would 
stir somethign in Percy to change his mind. I can also imagine that Plant's 
comment in Ibiza that year that the rest of the band were in the studio was 
delivered with a kind of backhanded sarcasm. He may felt some sort of pressure 
from that. 

However, I honestly think in Jones' mind at least, there was an enthusiasm for 
moving forward with Page and Bonham on a new project, somewhat free to make 
music without quite the same expectations as being Led Zeppelin Mark II. 
However, the music press never reported the project as a new group. Some LZ fan 
sites, yes, but otherwise, no. It was always LZ going on tour with a 
replacement for Plant. In the story itself, they'd make casual mention of their 
forming a new group, but that doesn't sell as many copies of generate the same 
number of web site hits as a headline about LZ replacing Percy. So eventually, 
they probably figured no matter what they did, the press would twist it around 
to that scenario and they'd be universally panned as the bad guys. It's a 
damned shame, but I really think it's how it went down. Could they have 
countered this with good publicists, etc.? Perhaps, but if you think about it, 
even Page-Plant was widely viewed as a de-facto Led Zeppelin reunion by 
everyone but hardcore fans (and even many of them), so take Page-Jones-Bonham 
Jr, especially after Jason's stellar performance at the O2, and you definitely 
end up with Plantless Led Zeppelin no matter what you call it. I can certainly 
understand a line of thinking where the only way these guys can make music 
together and not have to deal with a mountain of crap is if Plant joins them. 
Thus, I still have a feeling deep down in these days with everyone looking back 
at the best of the last decade, that the greatest album of the decade was the 
one that never got to be made, that 2008 Led Zeppelin album that should have 
contained all that maturity, lust and power Plant talked about to the Telegraph 
UK in the autumn of 2007.

----- Original Message -----
From: Wyatt Brake <wyattbrake@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 7:17
Subject: 2009.12.04 John Paul Jones (with TCV) Interview following French TV 
Broadcast
To: FBO <zeppelin@xxxxxxxx>

> The ending interview on the December 4, 2009 show (see my previous
> post), which was broadcast on December 17, contains some slightly
> different comments from John Paul Jones about his post-O2 activity
> than what I have heard him say in all other interviews.  
> The interview
> is not included on the DVD in its entirety, but well before it 
> is cut,
> JPJ says:
> 
> "...I was kind of up for doing something anyway because I'd been 
> - I'd
> spent - a few months working with Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham after
> the O2 thing.  We were gonna form another band but 
> everybody kept
> calling it 'Led Zeppelin' without Robert Plant [laughter], so we
> decided - it kind of fell apart.  So... but I was ready to 
> like, do
> something, and play some music - I'd been playing for quite a bit..."
> 
> He then continued to discuss the genesis of Them Crooked 
> Vultures that
> we've all heard.
> 
> Unless I'm mistaken, that's the first time that Jones, Page, or Bonham
> have ever made any public comments that diverge from the consistent
> line of 'we couldn't agree on singers' and hint at frustration with
> the media reports (almost all of which seemed to insist that 
> Page was
> finding a replacement for Robert Plant, and that he and Jones would
> then tour under the name of Led Zeppelin) as a primary reason 
> for the
> derailing of the 2008 Page/Jones/Bonham rehearsals.
> 
> I'm not suggesting that there hasn't been ample speculation that such
> frustration was a contributing factor - there has been - only that
> this is the first time I've heard one of the three guys confirm that
> had a hand in why the project was abandoned.  Some have 
> guessed that
> the supposed disagreement over singers was really Page scrapping the
> whole idea when Plant gave him an extra firm "No", and that all the
> singers brought in during the intervening weeks/months were a 
> sort of
> Coverdale-esque era tactic by Page to lure Robert into the fold,
> waiting for Plant to relent when he heard that Page had found a
> replacement.  That's the theory I had leaned toward... that Plant
> probably said "no" at their band meeting in January 2008 (the
> scheduling of which was mentioned by Jones in the Ritchie Yorke
> Brisbane interview following the Ertegun O2 show, if I remember
> correctly), but Page didn't really want to take "no" for an 
> answer at
> that point and decided to see what he could do to convince Plant to
> come around, telling Japanese media in the interim that he couldn't
> tell them anything about Plant's plans until the RP & Alison Krauss
> tour wrapped up in Fall 2008.
> 
> This was only a theory, mind you - I fully admit that, and I can't
> establish whether Plant ever actually said "no".  I base my 
> assumptionthat he DID say "No" because if he had said "Yes" or 
> "Maybe", then
> Page, Jones, and Jason would not presumably have brought in other
> singers in the first place - at least no one like Myles Kennedy, 
> in my
> estimation.  Jamming with Steve Tyler?  Sure, maybe - 
> but not a guy
> like Kennedy, whose only connection to the three guys was a tenuous
> one to Jason Bonham, who then proceeded to collaborate on new material
> with the band
> (see http://lemonsqueezings.blogspot.com/2009/12/exclusive-
> interview-myles-kennedy.html
> ).
> 
> However, if the real reason is closer to what Jones implied in this
> interview - that he, Jimmy, and Jason were so thoroughly 
> frustrated by
> media reports of a Plant-less Zeppelin that they just packed it 
> in -
> well, I find that pretty sad and completely avoidable.  
> Presumably all
> three guys have publicists that could have and should have been
> deployed to knock down any substantial media outlets' reporting of
> "Led Zeppelin" looking for a stand-in for Plant and instead issuing
> clear statements to the effect that if and when they decide to 
> form a
> band, it would be something inherently different from Led 
> Zeppelin and
> would never use that name.
> 
> It seems like any attempt to knock down the 'Led Zep replacing Robert
> Plant' stories was done very belatedly and half-heartedly.  
> Perhapsthe guys felt that they didn't want to make any 
> announcement or
> provide any acknowledgment that they were in fact working together
> until they had made a final decision on a singer and had written
> music, but if *that* was the case and they were sensitive enough to
> end the project out of frustration, then they obviously made a large
> and unfortunate (and utterly preventable) mistake.
> 
> But... I think I'm going to stick with the theory that Page was trying
> to replicate the 'jealous lover' effect that working with David
> Coverdale had previously seemed to have on Robert Plant by 
> bringing in
> different singers to audition for a Page-Jones-Bonham 
> project.  Rather
> than carry the project through, Page got cold feet at the 
> thought of
> playing with Jonesy and Jason without his real soulmate Robert and
> scrapped the whole thing.  All that rehearsing with no 
> outlet gave
> Jonesy the case of 'blue balls' that led to him jumping at the chance
> to work with Grohl and Homme.  To continue the imperfect 
> and rather
> coarse metaphor, Jason's just resorted sleeping around with the likes
> of Hagar, Satriani, Slash, and others.  And now Jimmy's finally
> (hopefully) fed up with being merely a voyeur (going to multiple
> concerts and just watching) - so much so that he's going all the way
> to China!
> 
> ;->
> 
> Go easy on that last paragraph - it was a small attempt at humor...
> 
> -Wyatt