Otto Masson Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Roy Harper has turned 70 now, and some new interviews have been published on the occasion - in Wire, for instance. In Uncut there are some interesting observations about Led Zeppelin from him. Notably, it [i.e. Stormcock - OM] was also the first of your albums to feature Jimmy Page. How did you meet? We met at the Bath festival, which was a brilliant event. He came up to me and asked me to play my instrumental "Blackpool", for him. I did and he just said, "Yeah, very good." Then he walked off. The only thing I thought about him at the time was that his trousers were too short. They were white pants and the trouser legs barely came down to his ankles. And then he appeared later on that day with a band I hadn't seen, although I'd heard of them. They came on stage and I recognised the guitar player as the guy who asked me to play him "Blackpool." I thought this could be interesting, so stayed to watch them. The first song was brilliant and I thought this was a powerhouse of a band. When they started the second song, it could have been "Dazed and Confused", all the yound women around me stood up involuntarily and they were crying, all of them. I knew I was witness to something I'd never forget, ever. They were almost extra-terrestrial. They weren't part of the world. I became a fan from that moment, and then discovered they were fans of mine and we went on from there. I remember Jimmy later giving me a copy of Led Zeppelin III and playing with the little wheel on the cover and telling him it looked really nice and he said, "Read the back of the sleeve." And I saw they'd recorded a track called "Hats off to Harper" and remember thinking, "Wow. That's a real accolade, a serious compliment." Tell us about the Jimmy you know. Jimmy's a gentleman, a first-rate gentleman. I'll stand by him for the rest of time. There may be sides to him that he's never shown me, that he kept hidden from me. But I doubt it and if he does have a dark side, I was never part of it. The heavy atmosphere that surrounded Zeppelin at times had everything to do with Peter Grant. He was something to behold, a very powerful man. He was a brilliant businessman as an ogre who had a reputation for breaking people's fingers for just looking at him in the wrong way. He was someone you did not cross in any circumstance. You went to parties and there were two people who never ended up in the swimming pool, who you'd never, ever, think of throwing in the pool - Jimmy and Peter. Oh, and the woman who was carrying for the band and had something or other in her bra. Were you envious of Zeppelin's success? I would like to have been more successful, yes, and sold more records. But I was only ever interested in success on my own terms. I wasn't writing the right kind of songs. From Uncut 170, July 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BUCK'EYE' DOC Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Nice article! Thanks for posting it! Funny first impression of Jimmy by Roy! I can't imagine that Jimmy did not look very dapper, even while wearing white pants that were too short! He was probably setting a new fashion trend, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Masson Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Roy is right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouillon Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Roy's cool, and he too is a gentleman. A friend of mine once interviewed him, and told me he was one of the nicest guys he'd ever met. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackDog71 Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Great interview. He sounds like a very laid back and humble guy. No wonder bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd wanted to work with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Masson Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 Thanks! I can't say I am all that surprised by what Roy is saying there, but I do find his comments really worthy of note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDave Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Great article. This one seems similar to another interview with Roy Harper a few months back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackDog71 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Great article. This one seems similar to another interview with Roy Harper a few months back. Would you happen to have the link by any chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Masson Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 Would you happen to have the link by any chance? I would appreciate that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDave Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Would you happen to have the link by any chance? Not off hand, but I'm sure it's in this section of the forum. Roy basically says the same things. Not sure if it's the same interview, but it seemed so familiar. It's rather brief as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Here's the link...it's the same Roy Harper Uncut Magazine interview talked about here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Masson Posted July 26, 2011 Author Share Posted July 26, 2011 Okay, for a while there I was not sure whether I should be worrying that I had made a duplicate thread - or just that I had missed out on a Roy Harper interview some months back (it couldn't have been the same one a few months back, however, as what I have posted is from an original interview from this month's issue of Uncut). In any case, aen quoted less than half of what is here. What she did quote, however, is certainly worth thinking about. The management, after all, is a very important part of the whole history of the band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDave Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Okay, for a while there I was not sure whether I should be worrying that I had made a duplicate thread - or just that I had missed out on a Roy Harper interview some months back (it couldn't have been the same one a few months back, however, as what I have posted is from an original interview from this month's issue of Uncut). In any case, aen quoted less than half of what is here. What she did quote, however, is certainly worth thinking about. The management, after all, is a very important part of the whole history of the band. Not your fault. It happens. Especially, when some time has passed and these threads get buried several pages back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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