`LAST WORDS' FOR A DAD (Jason Bonham)

[Cat]

`LAST WORDS' FOR A DAD

Chicago Tribune - August 18, 1994

Author: Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News.

Before recording the track "Last Words" with his new band, Motherland, drummer Jason Bonham had never addressed the death of his father, the late Led Zeppelin skin basher John Bonham, in song.

"Our guitarist, Marti Frederiksen, and I were up late one night talking about my dad, and Marti wrote the lyrics based on what we were talking about," Bonham, 28, said during a recent visit to Los Angeles.

Bonham played drums on Jimmy Page 's first solo album and tour and filled his father's old drum seat when surviving Zeppelin members Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones reunited for a set six years ago at New York's Madison Square Garden

"I was brought up with them, and they were one of the most spontaneous bands in the world," Bonham said. "They could be horrible one night and great the next. When I'm playing, I like to try things out on stage too. I learned that from them."

Motherland recently released its debut album, "Peace 4 Me" (Sony). The group hopes to tour this year

[SteveAJones]

Motherland's 'Peace 4 Me' album was released June 6th 1994. So far as I know they never managed to put a tour together. Jason was on drums for Paul Rodgers' set at Woodstock

'94 (August 14th) and by 1996 he had formed The Jason Bonham Band.

[MHD]

Here's a bit of info and photo that I had saved from sleaze Roxx

Once the American success of the band Bonham started to wane, group leader Jason Bonham attempted to change musical direction with a new band name and vocalist.

With the addition of vocalist/guitarist Marti Fredericksen (a former member of Outlaw Blood) the remaining members of Bonham, Jason Bonham (drums), Ian Hatton (guitar) and John Smithson (bass), now had a new lease on life with their Motherland project. However the Peace 4 Me album offered little of interest to the loyal Bonham fans and was doomed to fail in the grunge era.

Even though the band broke-up shortly after starting, Bonham, Fredericksen and Smithson all worked together on some of John's solo material. Fredericksen would move out of the spotlight and pursue a career in production, working with such big names as Aerosmith and Def Leppard.