Jason Bonham said he found unmarked tapes in his father's belongings and recalled the 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion

[luvlz2]

Jason Bonham has discussed in a new podcast interview finding unmarked reel-to-reel tapes in his father John Bonham's belongings and recalled how Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion came about.

Speaking to They Vinyl Guide podcast, Bonham said he hasn't yet played any of the unmarked tapes which be unreleased studio mixes of Led Zeppelin songs.

"Believe it or not, Dad didn't like to play at all at home," Bonham told podcast host Nate Goyer. "He has no recording equipment. We've got his old Revox two track and that was literally just to be able to play mixes when he came back from the studio."

 

"I found a box of tapes, reel to reels, at home last time I was there," Bonham said. "But I need to get the machine up and running and hook it up, which...I will save that for an episode for YouTube, like 'Let's get this thing up and running. Let's find out if we've got anything that hasn't even been released yet.' Because they're all unmarked, that's the best of it. Or they just deteriorated."

 

"They might jus...you put them in the machine and it just erases them the moment you press start. I think they has to do that when they were doing the Knebworth mixing. They has to bake the... they only had the U-matic tapes and they had to bake the tapes to preserve what was on there. Imagine all the multitracks they've got, from the one-inch to the two-inch, sitting in Jimmy's facility or whatever."

https://ledzepnews.com/2023/03/21/jason-bonham-said-he-found-unmarked-tapes-in-his-fathers-belongings-and-recalled-the-2007-led-zeppelin-reunion/?fbclid=IwAR0_VnTUFtq7agHQ4vgPfZN-Poc3WkEQ1lHs2xyZggD_qCLhC4yeV0zy9wA

https://www.thevinylguide.com/episodes/ep383-celebrating-led-zeppelin-with-jason-bonham

[Sticks of Fire]

1 hour ago, luvlz2 said:

Jason Bonham has discussed in a new podcast interview finding unmarked reel-to-reel tapes in his father John Bonham's belongings and recalled how Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion came about.

Speaking to They Vinyl Guide podcast, Bonham said he hasn't yet played any of the unmarked tapes which be unreleased studio mixes of Led Zeppelin songs.

"Believe it or not, Dad didn't like to play at all at home," Bonham told podcast host Nate Goyer. "He has no recording equipment. We've got his old Revox two track and that was literally just to be able to play mixes when he came back from the studio."

 

"I found a box of tapes, reel to reels, at home last time I was there," Bonham said. "But I need to get the machine up and running and hook it up, which...I will save that for an episode for YouTube, like 'Let's get this thing up and running. Let's find out if we've got anything that hasn't even been released yet.' Because they're all unmarked, that's the best of it. Or they just deteriorated."

 

"They might jus...you put them in the machine and it just erases them the moment you press start. I think they has to do that when they were doing the Knebworth mixing. They has to bake the... they only had the U-matic tapes and they had to bake the tapes to preserve what was on there. Imagine all the multitracks they've got, from the one-inch to the two-inch, sitting in Jimmy's facility or whatever."

https://ledzepnews.com/2023/03/21/jason-bonham-said-he-found-unmarked-tapes-in-his-fathers-belongings-and-recalled-the-2007-led-zeppelin-reunion/?fbclid=IwAR0_VnTUFtq7agHQ4vgPfZN-Poc3WkEQ1lHs2xyZggD_qCLhC4yeV0zy9wA

https://www.thevinylguide.com/episodes/ep383-celebrating-led-zeppelin-with-jason-bonham

I wonder if these reels are actually the Akai video reels from Japan 1971 which Bonham can be seen using at the airport in Tokyo?   Jason seems to mention them with baking the Knebworth videos.   
 

Makes sense why they haven’t ever been transferred if they are video rather than audio.   

[Sticks of Fire]

[Strider]

12 minutes ago, Sticks of Fire said:

I wonder if these reels are actually the Akai video reels from Japan 1971 which Bonham can be seen using at the airport in Tokyo?   Jason seems to mention them with baking the Knebworth videos.   
 

Makes sense why they haven’t ever been transferred if they are video rather than audio.   

Excellent point. At any rate, let's hope Jason gets qualified tape experts to handle it so as not to damage or lose them forever.

[SteveAJones]

Vague and noncommittal about the whole thing, which pretty much sums up the state of Led Zeppelin in 2023. 

[luvlz2]

On 3/21/2023 at 7:24 PM, Sticks of Fire said:

I wonder if these reels are actually the Akai video reels from Japan 1971 which Bonham can be seen using at the airport in Tokyo?   Jason seems to mention them with baking the Knebworth videos.   
 

Makes sense why they haven’t ever been transferred if they are video rather than audio.   

Thought crossed my mind as well.

[chillumpuffer]

On 3/22/2023 at 12:28 AM, luvlz2 said:

"I found a box of tapes, reel to reels, at home last time I was there," Bonham said. "But I need to get the machine up and running and hook it up, which...I will save that for an episode for YouTube, like 'Let's get this thing up and running. Let's find out if we've got anything that hasn't even been released yet.' Because they're all unmarked, that's the best of it. Or they just deteriorated."

 

 

Really? I mean Reels and Tapes "Found".

Considering this man makes his living on the back of his Fathers' band, you would have thought that he would have done something about it before now?. John has been dead 43 years, so one would assume that all his belongings would have been catalogued and/or viewed or listened too? It's taken all this time (and with the decomposing of such rare and interesting material) to find the stuff and do something about it?  He also never told Jimmy about it, especially as there is a documentary about the band and this would have been a very welcome addition? 

 

 

 

[reids]

There’s a lot of if’s in this:

If the tapes (audio or video) are in decent condition, if the tapes contain anything salvageable, if JP, RP and JPJ agree to ever review and then release any of this content, if this is accurate at all...

R😎

[Sticks of Fire]

4 hours ago, chillumpuffer said:

Really? I mean Reels and Tapes "Found".

Considering this man makes his living on the back of his Fathers' band, you would have thought that he would have done something about it before now?. John has been dead 43 years, so one would assume that all his belongings would have been catalogued and/or viewed or listened too? It's taken all this time (and with the decomposing of such rare and interesting material) to find the stuff and do something about it?  He also never told Jimmy about it, especially as there is a documentary about the band and this would have been a very welcome addition? 

 

 

 

You’re not wrong.   Seems this stuff would have been found in 1981…

[SteveAJones]

6 hours ago, chillumpuffer said:

one would assume that all his belongings would have been catalogued and/or viewed or listened too? It's taken all this time (and with the decomposing of such rare and interesting material) to find the stuff and do something about it?  

My initial thought was they could be Deborah Bonham demos or Monty Python episodes for all we know, because by all accounts this material has not been properly catalogued or viewed/played back. I do find it completely plausible it's a new discovery, whatever it is, because Old Hyde Farm is quite a large property and as far as we know a professional archivist has never documented all of the belongings. I find boxes of recordings I had long since forgotten about all the time and many people can relate to having similar experiences.

[chillumpuffer]

1 hour ago, SteveAJones said:

My initial thought was they could be Deborah Bonham demos or Monty Python episodes for all we know, because by all accounts this material has not been properly catalogued or viewed/played back. I do find it completely plausible it's a new discovery, whatever it is, because Old Hyde Farm is quite a large property and as far as we know a professional archivist has never documented all of the belongings. I find boxes of recordings I had long since forgotten about all the time and many people can relate to having similar experiences.

Yeah but you're not the son of the drummer of one of the biggest bands of all time. Considering how little video and/or audio exists that has not been unearthed, it does sound strange that after 40 odd years he "found" Reels to Reels and Tapes that could have some unseen footage and audio. Would you not have had a rummage before now?

 In all the times he has been to the property, to see his Mother for example, did he never once think "I wonder if there is anything stored away that may be interesting"? The farm maybe large but unless it's a 40 roomed mansion, which it isn't, then he couldn't have looked very well previously

[reids]

Remember, Jason has been known to videotape every rehearsal, every opportunity he can to play with his dad’s band (individually or collectively). He’s also been known to know how they played the arrangements of songs from one tour to the next (‘68-‘80), so for him to not take initiative or interest until now to unearth potential materials seems very out of character. 
However, like Steve said previously in this thread, there’s always a possibility of now just unearthing something based on the sheer size of real estate.

R😎

Edited March 23, 2023 by reids

[Rodrigo]

Quote

“It was great seeing everybody and saying ‘What do you want to play then?’ and Jimmy went ‘Let’s start off with something easy, how about Houses Of The Holy?’ And I went ‘That wasn’t on the list!’ And he went ‘Oh, shut up!’ And that was it, the first thing [we played]. It wasn’t on the list, we went into it. It was just like ‘Yeah, there you go.’ I should have known, don’t trust the list.”

[porgie66]

I have hoped for a long time that Jason would make some videos showing some of his dad's gear which I'm sure has been in the family. I know some things have been auctioned off over the years, but how cool would it be if he would just showcase some of his dad's drums, cymbals?? Whatever? There are several prominent online drum channels that I'm sure would be very interested in a showcase like that.

[custard pie man]

something not adding up here, you claim to have tapes or reels yet no one has looked at them and  band has been working on  Becoming Led Zeppelin and Page has mentioned with the director that they unearthed some rare audio/video of a very early interview Bonzo gave yet  Jason doesn't mention  these findings  to Page? Bizarre, makes me think there is nothing

[SteveAJones]

14 hours ago, custard pie man said:

something not adding up here, you claim to have tapes or reels yet no one has looked at them and  band has been working on  Becoming Led Zeppelin and Page has mentioned with the director that they unearthed some rare audio/video of a very early interview Bonzo gave yet  Jason doesn't mention  these findings  to Page? Bizarre, makes me think there is nothing

There's quite a bit of hand-held "home movie" footage recorded by Bonzo during early '70s Led Zeppelin tours which has never been released publicly. Personally, I'm hoping they have found something like that or informal jamming at Old Hyde Farm as opposed to just more variations of album mixes.

Edited March 31, 2023 by SteveAJones