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Robert Plant: “There was no infrastructure in Zeppelin!”

How the singer escaped the gravitational pull of his old band

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The new issue of Uncut – in shops now or available to order online by clicking here – features an exclusive interview with Robert Plant about his intrepid post-Zeppelin travels, from the Retford Porterhouse to the Malian desert.

As a new boxset entitled Digging Deep assembles key songs from his first eight solo albums, Plant looks back on many marvellous sonic adventures while a string of collaborators, including Phil Collins and Justin Adams, share insights into his working practices.

On paper, Robert Plant’s solo career began on December 4, 1980 – the date Led Zeppelin publicly disbanded. The truth is a little more complicated than that. As befitting a band of such magnitude, Zeppelin exerted a gravitational pull from which it was difficult to escape. The loss of John Bonham on September 25 that year had an incalculable impact. “Bonzo and I had been together since we were 16,” notes Plant. “It was always pretty combative, which was great fun. In the Band Of Joy he’d set up right at the front of the stage so he could get another job, ’cos people could see him. I was standing next to him going, ‘Fuck off out the way, will you? I’m at the front.’”

While Zeppelin had been musically and financially speaking the heaviest group of the 1970s, a solo career was a matter of gradual progress, not overnight miracles.“I’d been hanging around with a lot of people where I live,” Plant explains today. “People had been making records, but I hadn’t imagined myself taking on anything where it’s just got my name on it. I’d been in this magnificent fortress – Fortress Zeppelin! – so there was no real melding with anybody apart from a few frivolous things around my home area with people like Andy Sylvester and Robbie Blunt.”

This was the Honeydrippers, who toured local pubs and small clubs during early 1981 playing R&B covers. To some, the Honeydrippers were an intriguing puzzle. Had Plant given up the jet-set glamour of Zeppelin for this? The original Honeydrippers were over by the summer – but a precedent had been set for the kind of mercurial moves Plant continues to make throughout his career. Strategically, too, the Honeydrippers allowed Plant time away from prying eyes to rally himself and to consider his next steps.

I ask Plant whether he could move much faster as a solo artist, away from the scale of Zep’s infrastructure… “There was no infrastructure in Zeppelin!” He laughs. “Don’t for a minute think it was like a Fleetwood Mac tour. These were days when people didn’t even have a guidebook. With Zep, Bonzo and I, we knocked six bells out of each other, but the next day we got up and played to our strengths,” he continues. “It was not a delicate excuse me. But when you start working fresh with people, you have to be quite tentative about things.”

For Plant, then, his first steps towards a fully fledged solo career were cautious and exploratory. He set up a makeshift four-track studio in a barn at Jennings Farm – his home near Kidderminster – before sessions moved to a more formal setting: Rockfield studios in Monmouthshire. Gradually, a full band was assembled. Paul Martinez joined on bass and – how else to follow the mighty chops of John Bonham? – the services of two drummers were required. Cozy Powell first and then Phil Collins.

“I was living just outside Guildford and I got this phone call from Robert,” remembers Collins. “I was dumbfounded. I didn’t know him at all. He said would I like to play on his album. So more dumbfoundedness. He sent me a cassette of his new material with Jason Bonham on drums. I went to Rockfield and straight away we hit it off. We worked through the tracks in about a week. We became quite close – Robbie Blunt, Paul Martinez, Jez Woodroffe, me and Robert. It was nice to be part of a group that talked and drank like a group.”

For Plant, the release of Pictures At Eleven, in June 1982, was the beginning of a new perspective on life. There was a new band, new songs and even a new look. By the time the cover photo for Pictures At Eleven was shot, Plant had had his hair cut. Such symbolic gestures aside, Plant confirms his view that Pictures At Eleven was a noble attempt “to break the mould of expectation of me being part of some huge juggernaut”.

You can read much more from Robert Plant in the new issue of Uncut, out now.

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https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/interviews/robert-plant-there-was-no-infrastructure-in-zeppelin-123333/

 

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8 hours ago, pujols05 said:

I've long thought putting LZ (or Mr Page or Mr Plant, probably) on the cover of music magazines like these was likely to boost circulation. Anyone have any hard numbers to confirm or refute that?

I don't have the sales figures to prove it at the moment, but it's reasonable to assume a magazine with Led Zeppelin/Page/Plant on the cover generates more sales than one with a lesser known artist. Certainly in Japan Led Zeppelin is among the top 3 most collectible artists. Sometimes placement on the front cover is a requirement/pre-condition for getting the promotional interview in the first place.  

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15 hours ago, pujols05 said:

I've long thought putting LZ (or Mr Page or Mr Plant, probably) on the cover of music magazines like these was likely to boost circulation. Anyone have any hard numbers to confirm or refute that?

Considering there's nothing new to promote by the band and nothing new to say that hasn't already been said, it's almost certainly just pandering to a collector fanbase who'll buy anything featuring their image. 

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1 hour ago, gibsonfan159 said:

Considering there's nothing new to promote by the band and nothing new to say that hasn't already been said, it's almost certainly just pandering to a collector fanbase who'll buy anything featuring their image. 

The impetus for the Young Mates Music Player (7/2020) cover is the Japanese edition of Chris Salewicz 'Jimmy Page The Definitive Biography' among other features.

2020 07 Young Mates Music Player (Japan).jpg

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I wonder if Led Zeppelin are considered the best rock band anywhere without question? It always seems to be The Stones, The Beatles, and the mighty Zep in somewhat of a 3 way tie, or spread. Is there anywhere (Japan, Europe) that the public consistently holds Led Zeppelin as the clear GOAT?

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On 6/11/2020 at 7:31 AM, gibsonfan159 said:

Considering there's nothing new to promote by the band and nothing new to say that hasn't already been said, it's almost certainly just pandering to a collector fanbase who'll buy anything featuring their image. 

Exactly. I'm guilty of it...usually they're well produced, but haven't purchased such a creature for a good while now. 

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I posted this in the JP Book thread:

Picked this up today. New interview with Jimmy promoting his book. It's on overview of his career, nothing really earth-shattering or any news of the future. He's playing guitar during lockdown but wouldn't go into further details when pressed about it. 

cr-jp.jpg

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On 10/13/2020 at 10:41 PM, zeplz71 said:

I posted this in the JP Book thread:

Picked this up today. New interview with Jimmy promoting his book. It's on overview of his career, nothing really earth-shattering or any news of the future. He's playing guitar during lockdown but wouldn't go into further details when pressed about it. 

cr-jp.jpg

Read about this on Twitter, not bought CR since they stopped cover mounted CDs

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4 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Now that's a very nicely done cover. Very few times has Jimmy with The Yardbirds made the front cover of a magazine.

Definitely buying this.

Shindig has to be one of the most underrated / overlooked music mags out there. Lots of interesting psych bands and decent writing. Wonder if it's just a late career overview or if Jim McCarty has been interviewed?

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The Bonzo Book 
 
John Bonham, invincible drum god who led Led Zeppelin's rapid advance, is featured in a new book, "The Bonzo Book" from Shinko Music on December 18. Detailed investigation with more than 300 photos.
 
■ "The Bonzo Book" A4 format / 232 pages / Body price 2,700
yen + tax / Released on December 18 ISBN: 978-4-401-64983-9

<内容>


レッド・ツェッペリン ジョン・ボーナムの詳細徹底総括考究本『ザ・ボンゾ・ブック』発売 - amass

The Bonzo Book.jpg

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