Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, recently met with Danny Wimmer to discuss his family-like relationship with Robert Plant. Jason also shared the backstory of how his dad almost agreed with mum and considered rejecting Robert Plant’s offer. He recalled:
“He [Robert Plant] and dad [Jason Bonham] grew up obviously very similar and played in bands together in the early days. There was always that great thing Robert mentioned recently, but my dad wouldn’t answer the call because my mom kept saying, ‘Every time you play with Robert, you never go anywhere, and you never earn any money.'”
Even though Jason revealed that his mom was not on board with his dad getting involved with Plant, the drummer did it anyway. He added:
“At the time, my dad had a resident gig with a guy called Tim Rose, and then Joe Cocker had also asked him to join the band. But he decided to get on the train and go down to London. The rest is history when you think about it.”
Although John did end up in Led Zeppelin, Plant had originally advised Jimmy Page to consider the drummer for the Yardbirds after getting a thumbs up from his wife. In an interview with Rolling Stone last summer, Robert said :
“It was when I went to the first rehearsal with the Yardbirds. I had suggested to Jimmy Page that the drummer that he’d lined up was just nowhere near the dynamism of John Bonham and was a totally different thing altogether. And so once John’s wife finally gave him permission to come to a rehearsal — because Pat always said, ‘Keep away from Plant, because you’re just going to end up broke and in trouble.'”
You can watch Jason Bonham’s interview with Danny Wimmer Presents below.
