Does Your Band Perform Led Zeppelin?

[Dirigible]

What kind of listener reaction do you get? How do other musicians respond to it? Is the criticism fair, unfair? Compliments? If you earned 'em you deserved 'em so let's hear 'em. Friends opinions count too, but the most valuable ones come from folks you never met before who approach you with them. Therefore it's not bragging repeating compliments a total stranger from the audience paid you. Besides, I requested that you do, that lets you off the hook of moral dilemma.

The only boundary of discussion should be tales of lovely lemon-squeezers whose actions spoke louder than words. If your five-man band encountered a girl's basketball team on the road or Lori Maddox knocked on your bedroom door in the middle of the night however exceptions to the rule are as permissible as repeating compliments.

As posted elsewhere I played Zep covers for 28 years. I played drums and sang with a guitarist nicknamed Semi Page (Semi Hendrix too). We had four different bassists over the years but Semi and I were a constant. He died in his sleep during the 2006 Thanksgiving weekend. Fortunately I have plenty of video and audio of the band to keep his memory alive. Our credo was to learn the studio version first then incorporate hot licks from bootlegs. We always got favorable reactions from other musicians, sometimes even respect, LOL. And we had no ego at all, if somebody wanted to say we played great that was fine, but for one of us to say the same thing was a loss of face. After a gig one night some guy in the crowd asked for Semi's and my autograph. I'd've hated to see the look that passed between Semi and me, we howled with laughter all the way home in the truck, we thought the guy was nuts.

There's more but I know what reactions I've received, I'm interested in what people have said to you.

[huw]

Well the best comment I ever had was when I played my cousins a tape of us playing SIBLY & they thought it was a Zep bootleg - praise doesn't come much higher than that.

The girl who sang for us at the time could really do that Janis Joplin meets Robert Plant thing. A bit crazy, but wow she could sing.

We've always done Zep numbers - in fact it was after a storming & spontaneous version of ALS that we realised that we had a band & not just a jam session - but the vocals are always the tricky bit, aren't they? Without her we have fun, but don't come as close as we did back then.

[Dirigible]

Well the best comment I ever had was when I played my cousins a tape of us playing SIBLY & they thought it was a Zep bootleg - praise doesn't come much higher than that.

The girl who sang for us at the time could really do that Janis Joplin meets Robert Plant thing. A bit crazy, but wow she could sing.

We've always done Zep numbers - in fact it was after a storming & spontaneous version of ALS that we realised that we had a band & not just a jam session - but the vocals are always the tricky bit, aren't they? Without her we have fun, but don't come as close as we did back then.

Lots of bands Semi and I ran into said they didn't bother playing Zep because they didn't have anyone to sing it. I'll see about posting some of our Zep stuff here so you can hear how badly I sing. Like you, there was a girl singer in a second band I was in; even if she hadn't nailed Plant's vocals, she could inflame testosterone for miles around. Thanks for jarring loose that memory, I'd all but forgotten her.

SIBLY has that whack 6/4 goin' on, sweeeet! Damn, huw, you didn't mention your ax. Whaddya play, my brother? Don't be shy, you're among friendz.

[Cactus]

I think that if you enjoy playing it and people enjoy hearing it then you should do it.

I think it's great that you have those memories of your guitarist and recordings you can look back on.

[Trashbag]

If I had a band, I would perform Zeppelin...

[lzfan715]

I played The Ocean with a friend at a school talent show and a lot of people from the town showed up. I was at Wal Mart a few weeks after and a random person came up to me and said "Hey, you played guitar at the school, great job! I loved it." It felt really good to have that happen.

[Dirigible]

I don't wanna sound like the bloody hall monitor but you blokes and you lady players please be reminded not to forget to tell us if you sing or drum or guitar or keyboard.

[marmorek]

I don't really have a band right now, but when I jam I enjoy jamming Zeppelin.

[huw]

SIBLY has that whack 6/4 goin' on, sweeeet! Damn, huw, you didn't mention your ax. Whaddya play, my brother? Don't be shy, you're among friendz.

Well, since you ask, I do drums, bass, keyboards & guitars. Used to do woodwind but that was a long time ago. Oh - & I played double bass for a while at school too - nearly forgot that one.

But mainly these days it's guitar. I've changed the rig a lot over the years, done racks, MIDI, modeling etc but I've settled on this lot - main squeeze is a 2003 Les Paul standard, through a Fender Super Reverb amp (superb amp - recomended!!) plus a smallish number of pedals, most notably a couple of Pete Cornish overdrives (yummy). Behind that is the usual large pile of dusty stuff that I don't use much these days...

Band is two guitars, bass, drums & an ever changing supply of singers, most of which, for some reason have been girls.

[irg82]

Good Times Bad Times is on the setlist for our next gig.

My band here:

http://www.myspace.com/wetmoore1

[Dancin'Days]

Have any of you musicians ever played on the streets before? I have met a few street musicians and they make pretty good money.

[mud]

me and a few friends do some zeppelin jams, mostly Black Dog. We mostly just get smiles and the occasional "that was cool." I play guitar

I've heard some really good zeppelin covers on youtube, guitarists username is jun696 i think. look it up

[Dirigible]

Have any of you musicians ever played on the streets before? I have met a few street musicians and they make pretty good money.

Have you ever been to the French Quarter in New Orleans? A hotbed of badass players, in the clubs, in the streets. The buskers there could make you weep because they're such masters. Saw a drummer whose only drum gear was a bass pedal and drumsticks; he played a potato chip can and a tire rim among a bunch of unrecognizable junk and made them sound like drums. Incredible.

[Evster2012]

I have a band called Valhalla that does nothing but Zeppelin. The core of the group has been playing together for 18 years. Rush, Ozzy, Floyd, all kinds of stuff. A few years ago, I met Lori (aka Zoso4Vida on the board), at a Led Zepagain gig. We hit it off and I invited her to a jam we were having, just to hang out and party. We recorded the jam, and when listening back a few days later, we realised the overhead mic had picked up her voice, and it was like Who the f**k is that??! I called her up and invited her to our rehearsal room. She'd never sung before in a group, and certainly never in public. It was a whole lotta rockin! Response has been all positive when we've played out. Last month, we played Trevi Entertainment Center's Annual Classic Rock Summer Kickoff. We did an 18 song set, and people went nuts! The roar at the end of Kasmir was deafening! My bass player is still mixing the 8-track audio with the video, so I don't have it up on YouTube yet, but I do have some clips from our very first gig a couple of years ago, as well as some stuff from 1995. Same three guys, with our old pal Howard sitting in on keys:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer..._type=&aq=f

[ArmsofAtlas]

Hell yeah!!!!

Key-less version of Misty Mountain Hop

What Is and What Should NEver Be

Custard Pie

We get pretty good feedback for all. Our singer has a higher register, so doin the Plant stuff is right in his wheel house.

He actually got the compliment that he was better than the singer in a fairly well traveled Zep cover band.

[Dirigible]

In the pre-CD days I was trading bootlegs with a dude in England. He had all the available March 1973 German shows and we arranged a massive trade. When I finished the tapes for him I found I had an entire 45 minute side left unrecorded, so I filled it with a Zep set by the band I was in and mailed it. I just knew this European bootleg snob was going to crucify my American whitebread butt. I'm confident being a singing drummer; and people have hired me to be lead vocalist in several bands I didn't drum in (including being Mick in a Stones tribute band). Yet I'm uncomfortable with 'my Plant impersonation' because using the top of my voice and bashing like Bonzo at the same time is exercise. If I got out of breath and had to lay off the drums or the vocals I sure as hell wasn't going to jack my strong suit, Bonzo's part (we're Gemini.)

Anyway after the Englishman got his tapes he emailed me, said he listened to us playing Zeppelin more than he did all the other sides of tape put together. Semi Page and I were thrilled.

[lzfan715]

I don't wanna sound like the bloody hall monitor but you blokes and you lady players please be reminded not to forget to tell us if you sing or drum or guitar or keyboard.

Sorry, I played guiatar and so did the girl who played with me. We played over the cd. We didn't have a inger or a drummer or anything so we turned up the cd player and then turned the amps up a little bit louder.

[JimmyPage1977]

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=3362816

I've posted it before.... How Many More Times ........live a few years ago....it's the only recording of one of my bands doing a Zep song.

[Dirigible]

Nice raunchy version, JimmyPage1977, I started listening to it first thing this morning (6:30) with my wake-up beer. It was great, the song, not the beer, I poured it down the bog and had a coffee.

I like this forum because people don't refer to Led Zeppelin as gods. They're musicians and once they release a new LZ record other musicians can copy the songs. The common denominator I've noticed about bands covering Zeppelin is that the language spoken on guitars and drums pretty much remains the same. The biggest difference is very few singers sound like Plant (I know I'm self-conscious). If your group has a singer with Plant's vocals sussed out, you're quite fortunate.

That didn't detract one iota from my enjoyment of your How Many More Times, JP77, if your singer hadn't sounded different people here at the forum might've thought you were playing us a bootleg version. Again, it was great. Thanks for the link, wished I could've been there to hear it firsthand.

Since you're JimmyPage1977 can we assume you played the guitar?

[danelectro59]

right now, the group i'm in does only 2 Zep songs

the rover and wonton song. we used to do thank you, but we agreed it was not a strong song for us, so we dumped it. This year marks the 40th year i've been playing R&R music. I started just as Led Zeppelin were forming and i've been in dozens of groups since. Nearly all have attempted, at one time or another, to perform their songs. It is then you realize how special and talented these four guys were. It's hard enough to learn the music, then you have to hope the vocalist can cut it. Most times, it's a wash. So, over the years, I haven't had the pleasure to play enough Zep music. But I still love playing as much as i did when i started, so "i'll just keep on rolling along with the grace from the lord above"

[Dirigible]

right now, the group i'm in does only 2 Zep songs

the rover and wonton song. we used to do thank you, but we agreed it was not a strong song for us, so we dumped it. This year marks the 40th year i've been playing R&R music. I started just as Led Zeppelin were forming and i've been in dozens of groups since. Nearly all have attempted, at one time or another, to perform their songs. It is then you realize how special and talented these four guys were. It's hard enough to learn the music, then you have to hope the vocalist can cut it. Most times, it's a wash. So, over the years, I haven't had the pleasure to play enough Zep music. But I still love playing as much as i did when i started, so "i'll just keep on rolling along with the grace from the lord above"

dan59, contrats on the big Four Oh anniversary of playing rock music, a noble endeavor. Congrats also for STILL doing it. I'm older (yet still gathering no moss) and find I'm having to do it with younger and younger cohorts as most players are married and settled by forty. Kicking out the jams four or five times a year is better than nothing for married-with-children players but nothing compares to rawking four or five times a week.

[danelectro59]

dan59, contrats on the big Four Oh anniversary of playing rock music, a noble endeavor. Congrats also for STILL doing it. I'm older (yet still gathering no moss) and find I'm having to do it with younger and younger cohorts as most players are married and settled by forty. Kicking out the jams four or five times a year is better than nothing for married-with-children players but nothing compares to rawking four or five times a week.

Thanks, man. Seems like yesterday, but then I think of all the changes since then and it boggles the mind. Just one thing; i remember buying two brand new Zildjian crash cymbals (a 16 & 18") in 1969 for a hundred dollars. Look at the prices on them now.

[Dirigible]

Thanks, man. Seems like yesterday, but then I think of all the changes since then and it boggles the mind. Just one thing; i remember buying two brand new Zildjian crash cymbals (a 16 & 18") in 1969 for a hundred dollars. Look at the prices on them now.

The Zildjian hint dazes and confuses your Danelectro name and signature that made me think you're a guitarist. "Here's another clue for you all, the Walrus was Paul . . ." If you been kickin' it old school for four decades I know you know what I mean. Peace.

[JimmyPage1977]

Nice raunchy version, JimmyPage1977, I started listening to it first thing this morning (6:30) with my wake-up beer. It was great, the song, not the beer, I poured it down the bog and had a coffee.

I like this forum because people don't refer to Led Zeppelin as gods. They're musicians and once they release a new LZ record other musicians can copy the songs. The common denominator I've noticed about bands covering Zeppelin is that the language spoken on guitars and drums pretty much remains the same. The biggest difference is very few singers sound like Plant (I know I'm self-conscious). If your group has a singer with Plant's vocals sussed out, you're quite fortunate.

That didn't detract one iota from my enjoyment of your How Many More Times, JP77, if your singer hadn't sounded different people here at the forum might've thought you were playing us a bootleg version. Again, it was great. Thanks for the link, wished I could've been there to hear it firsthand.

Since you're JimmyPage1977 can we assume you played the guitar?

Yes, I'm a guitarist! Thank you for the nice comments! The bummer is that we played it much better the following night and the sound dude let the tape run out!!

I'm also a little sad that my current band does not play any Zep, except a short snippit of The Lemon Song during a Medley which starts out with a Vanilla Fudge version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and ends with Aerosmith type version of "Walkin' The Dog". That medley is about 11 minutes long! FUN!

Evster has a bunch of great stuff out there on YouTube! It's great to see the stuff performed!

[Dirigible]

Yes, I'm a guitarist! Thank you for the nice comments! The bummer is that we played it much better the following night and the sound dude let the tape run out!!

I'm also a little sad that my current band does not play any Zep, except a short snippit of The Lemon Song during a Medley which starts out with a Vanilla Fudge version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and ends with Aerosmith type version of "Walkin' The Dog". That medley is about 11 minutes long! FUN!

Evster has a bunch of great stuff out there on YouTube! It's great to see the stuff performed!

The guitar in HMMT is great, did you bow any of the parts? Sounds like you did but I've seen people do it with a pick. It's a win-win for you pickers, either way is impressive. And Vanilla Fudge too! Nice.

As far as Evster's band goes the ballsy first note of Valhalla's Kashmir caused a breeze to emanate from my tiny computer speakers that blew my hair around on my head. Driving to Kashmir indeed.