Jump to content

Mick Wall Interview


Kentuckygirl

Recommended Posts

She dated him. They were adults, or at least he was, and chose freely. She was eighteen years old in 1966. He was eighteen years old in 1962. She talked about helping him once when he was in a difficult situation. I think you may have misjudged her.

Are you talking about the groupie who wanted to start a reality tv show to train other young girls in the art of groupie hood? Thank goodness the idea was turned down.

Agreed. He does smile a lot.

That wasn't always the case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That wasn't always the case.

I would go on tour with them, on planes, in the back of limos, to parties. I would be on stage with Led Zeppelin, the Stones, the Who and the Doors. It was a magic time," recalls Des Barres, who has just written her fourth book, Let's Spend the Night Together. This tantalising follow-up to her 1987 debut, I'm With the Band, includes interviews with Elvis's secret mistress Tura Satana, the notorious Cynthia Plaster Caster and modern-day muses and career-groupies such as LA rock sirens Lexa Vonn and the Plastics (see box).

She has written it, she says, on behalf of the women regularly derided as the painted, backstage sluts or gold-diggers of the music industry, vampishly chasing the famous in order to satisfy a craving for notoriety. "In the 1960s, 'groupie' was just a word used to describe girls who wanted to hang out with groups, but over the years it has slowly become a negative term," she says wistfully. "I wanted to give these girls a voice, for people to understand the groupie mentality."

"Like most groupies, I was never just a follower," says Des Barres, who is imbued with the kind of rock-star majesty that could only come from being touched by some of the century's most celebrated musicians (Page was her greatest lover, apparently). Resplendent in leopard skin, hands laden with rings, lips scarlet, she proffers an unapologetic splurge of colour against the drab London hotel lobby.

Groupies are not just star-fuckers, insists Des Barres. "We inspired the guys as much as we were inspired by them. It was very equal. They loved us because we dared to have a blast. We looked after them, picked their clothes and showed them the best restaurants to go to. I made cowboy shirts for Jimmy Page and Miss Christine [fellow member of her all-girl band, the GTOs], showed Alice Cooper how to do his make-up".

I ask about her most memorable groupie experience and she giggles wickedly and recalls the time she ended up, high on PCP, at Jim Morrison's house in Laurel Canyon doing backbends on his Persian rug. "I was 17 and heard The End playing from a house nearby. It hadn't even been released yet, so of course I was curious. I wandered over to this house to find Jim Morrison standing next to his refrigerator in unzipped leather pants, no shirt, looking the epitome of rock god, singing along to his own record." Des Barres' impromptu acrobatics earned her Morrison's admiration and his then-girlfriend's wrath (on discovering the spaced-out teenage Pamela in her kitchen, she chased Morrison out of the door, smashing all his unreleased demos after him). Backstage, later that same night, Des Barres remembers "making out passionately" with Morrison, spread out on top of her " crazy muskrat coat" and thinking, "this is the most beautiful man I have ever seen. He was so gorgeous, everything about him was just perfect."

The rock star eventually went home to his girlfriend ("he was always a one-woman man"), but the thrall of the music, the magic of backstage and the artists who presided over it continued to be a seductive combination for Des Barres. Alongside various day-jobs, including designing cowboy shirts, performing in the GTOs and nannying for Frank Zappa's kids, Des Barres dipped in and out of relationships with many rock'*'roll greats during the 1960s and 1970s. Jimmy Page won her heart and in return allowed her a place on his amplifier, so "I could feel the audience's insanity and energy pouring on to the stage".

-The Independent

http://www.pameladesbarres.com/articles.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I would go on tour with them, on planes, in the back of limos, to parties. I would be on stage with Led Zeppelin, the Stones, the Who and the Doors. It was a magic time," recalls Des Barres, who has just written her fourth book, Let's Spend the Night Together. This tantalising follow-up to her 1987 debut, I'm With the Band, includes interviews with Elvis's secret mistress Tura Satana, the notorious Cynthia Plaster Caster and modern-day muses and career-groupies such as LA rock sirens Lexa Vonn and the Plastics (see box)."

I actually wasn't able to grab a quote from that post...

No wonder...

someone pass the barf bucket!!!!!!!!!

btw, I do AC.R.O.bat.i.j.c.s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RogerPe...ingInfinity.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never think Jimmy loved Miss P as far as I've read Mick Wall's book.

In fact he called her a bimbo (of course it means other girls too) in the end of the 80's.

Their relation was expressed by the word 'one tour stand' in the new LZ bio.

I also enjoyed Miss P's first book, but it was her side story.

As Jimmy said to the DJ who asked him about her book, 'You know how girls like to exaggerate" ,I believe what he said.(I personally think Robert does understand Miss P much more than Jimmy.)

In this January 18th, Robert said in interview about the time of Jimmy's hardship after Led Zeppelin that 'I did not sympathize with him so much. I had been utmost about me. And he had great children.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't see that--but if he was being serious, it can only mean that Wall's approach in the book is very different from what he said in the interview. :unsure: I can't imagine Halfin approving of him saying Jimmy was wasting his talent lying around watching football, for instance--unless Wall doesn't actually say that in the book. Very odd! :huh:

Unless he and Jimmy have fallen out again!

Well, you're right--once again, the interview takes things out of context--the "joyless" remark is actually a quotation from Robert as reported to Wall by Kevin Shirley. And I'm sure Ross finds the new-found football interest as disheartening as Wall seems to--like you, Aqua, I very distinctly remember his making rude comments about it. I think we're all a little sad that Jimmy's not out and about playing. It's also clear, I should add, that on his web diary, MW finds the lurid press for this book irritating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read the book and thought it was a jolly good read. Very well researched, I'd seriously recommend it to any Zep fans.

His comments in that interview are a little harsh but there's an element of truth and I admire his honesty. I agree it's a shame that Jimmy Page hasn't been able to move on the same way as Robert Plant has.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mick has particularly harsh things to say about Page, even though he was once very close to the guitarist.

The two fell out when Mick decided to write his book about Led Zeppelin.

Initially, the rock writer attempted to persuade his old friend to get involved.

But Page refused and has even threatened to sue over the contents of the book.

I thought that Jimmy had cooperated agreeing so that Mick might write this book.

It is certain that M Wall's book considerably has the quotation from the other

several books.

I know Jimmy hates all of them. He once called HOTG a 'crap'.

And this book resembles HOTG partially.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One, the Crowley reference at the end of the interview seems totally irrelevant to anything, and two, and I hate to find myself citing Halfin as a source here, but I remember him saying in his diary, during the last World Cup (or maybe the previous one), that he was sick of it, not least because even Jimmy had asked him if he'd seen the Argentina (I think) match the night before. So maybe Jimmy's developed an interest in football in recent years. I know, this is probably the least important aspect of the interview, but just thought I'd mention it.

I remember seeing that on Halfins diary.

If true, I think Jimmy's relatively recent interest in football has come from Jimena. She is a football fan. When Brazil played at Wembley I caught the same tube as her and the kids...they were all decked out in Brazil shirts going to the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know what everyone is all pissed off about. Is it that the tone of the article is negative towards Jimmy and not Robert? There are only a few direct quotes from Mick Wall and they are just his opinion and are as valid as anyone's. A lot of the negative spin, "Jimmy Page is a shadow of his former self", are the words of the Sunday Mercury writer not Mick Wall. Mick's direct quotes below:

“Robert is exactly where he wants to be,” says Mick. “He no longer needs to have anything to do with Led Zeppelin and is in charge of his own destiny.

“More so than Paul McCartney, more so than Mick Jagger, more so than Roger Daltrey. Plant has really pulled it off.”

I think this statement is accurate that Robert is happy with where he is at.

“Anybody who has seen those wonderful shows Robert’s done with Alison Krauss knows he is so happy, so enjoying what he’s doing on the stage,” he argues.

“The music he’s playing at the moment has so much meaning for him, far more than singing old Led Zeppelin songs that he first sung when he was in his 20s.”

Again, almost everyone who has seen one of the RPAK shows have commented on how happy he seems.

“It’s far more fun working with Alison than working with people like Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones,” he says.

“They can be fairly joyless people at this point. Really hard work, very uphill.

“Everybody has got their own manager. Everybody has their own agenda.”

Now being that most of us do not know Alison, Jimmy or John Paul, we don't have any way of knowing how accurate this statement is. Joyless seems harsh, however from all accounts, it seems as though Robert and John were the jokers of the group and Jimmy and John Paul were far more reserved and serious. Alison seems to be very reserved onstage, but apparently she is a bit of a goofball off-stage.

Mick has particularly harsh things to say about Page, even though he was once very close to the guitarist.

The two fell out when Mick decided to write his book about Led Zeppelin.

Initially, the rock writer attempted to persuade his old friend to get involved.

But Page refused and has even threatened to sue over the contents of the book. “It has been made plain through mutual friends that I’ve burned my bridges with him,” says Mick.

“But you know what? I’m 50 now.

“When I was 30, 35, even 40, it was very important for me to keep those doors open with Jimmy.

“But now it’s far less important.

“I’ve had 20 years of talking to him and I don’t really need to talk to him again.

“I know him almost too well. They say familiarity breeds contempt. I don’t think it’s turned into contempt by any means, but the novelty wore off a long time ago."

This sounds to me that their friendship was solid as long as it was on Jimmy's terms. Jimmy is a control freak; in the studio, in how Led Zeppelin is marketed, and apparently in his friendships. I am interpreting this as Mick held Jimmy in high regard (obsessive fan as all of us are) and had to work hard to keep the friendship going. After 20 years of a somewhat lopsided friendship he no longer cares. By all accounts the book is accurate and well researched. I suspect Jimmy is angry because he had no control and would have wanted to sanitize it.

Mick even claims Page – who is infamously passionate about the writings of the late Midland occultist Aleister Crowley – has squandered his immense talent and now rarely plays guitar.

“Not because he’s brooding over the works of Crowley,” says Mick. “These days he’s far more likely to have a remote control in his hands.

“From what I’ve heard from mutual friends, he just sits watching football on the telly. Tragic, really.”

Jimmy has done very little new work since Led Zeppelin. That's a fact. His post-Zep career is very thin. It's possible that he sits watching football all day. You can't pry the remote out of my 65 year old dad's hand so I don't think this is an unlikely scenario. In Jimmy's case, if it is true, it is tragic. Hopefully he is writing new music and it's very good and he'll prove Mick wrong on this one.

I do plan on buying this book. Nearly all reviews that I have read have been positive stating that it is well-researched and unbiased account.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While it sounds nasty, the way Mick has slammed Jimmy in this latest interview, that doesn't mean there isn't any truth there. What has Jimmy done over the last 28 years that hasn't been Zep related? Not much. While not beholden by anyone to do anything in his professional life, he has indeed wasted his immense talent by living only thru the past. Only time will tell if he has anything new to say. Even if he doesn't, I'm grateful for his life's work and thats Led Zeppelin.

Well, he did produce most of the albums and would presumably own all of the master tapes, so he still needs to take care of them.

And also, why the hell are people so excited over whether or not Jimmy watches football?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As long as there is an extra nickel to be drained by exploiting Led Zeppelin is great.

Source: Peter Grant, Manager, The Song Remains The Same 4:35

Peter Grant, (5 April 1935 – 21 November 1995) was an English music manager. Grant managed the popular English bands The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and Bad Company, amongst others, and was also a record executive for Swan Song Records. He is widely credited with improving pay and conditions for musicians in dealings with concert promoters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Grant_(music_manager)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't let behavior by the author determine the merit of the work. Mick and Jimmy might have strong opinions about the other at this point, does that render a journalist with a inside understanding of Zeppelin to be fraudulent?

Well it all depends on what type of book it is.

If it's a personal account, "My story of the nights and drugs I spent with Led Zeppelin" then no, it doesn't matter what spats he has with Page.

But if the book is supposed to be biography of the band, and a definitive one at that, then yes it makes a big difference to the quality of the book and merit of the work, because the biographer or historian if you like has to be able to construct and present the material in a balanced, un-opinionated way. Otherwise it's not a definitive biography, but yet another gossipy tell-all trash book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can anyone who has read the book tell me if it adds some new insight to how LZ created their music? I'm not really interested in details of who slept with who and I don't care about the occult unless it directly affected the music.

I don't want to judge artists by their reaction to unimaginable fame and fortune. I know I would have done some crazy stuff if it had been me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That pic of Peter with the money sticking out of his ears and nose is insulting to my entire family and history. Do what was best for the band? Heavy drug addiction. death.... oh yeah. Tell me more bs..

Insulting, how?

And what is this pic?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alice, I've been reading the book over the last week and I would have to say if you own HOTG and Cole's STH, the contents on what happened is very similar although Wall does attempt to try and expand on it somewhat.

Meg

Mick has particularly harsh things to say about Page, even though he was once very close to the guitarist.

The two fell out when Mick decided to write his book about Led Zeppelin.

Initially, the rock writer attempted to persuade his old friend to get involved.

But Page refused and has even threatened to sue over the contents of the book.

I thought that Jimmy had cooperated agreeing so that Mick might write this book.

It is certain that M Wall's book considerably has the quotation from the other

several books.

I know Jimmy hates all of them. He once called HOTG a 'crap'.

And this book resembles HOTG partially.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...