Jason Bonham


Jason Bonham, son of the late John "Bonzo" Bonham, does not take lightly the responsibility of carrying on his father's legacy. Having made a head start at drumming while he was a child, Jason is now passing on the same lessons to a third generation of Bonham drummers.

John Bonham's death in 1980 left such an impact on the surviving members of Led Zeppelin that they knew immediately they could not continue as they were. Yet Jason Bonham's familiarity with the band made him a shoe-in to join his father's bandmates on the few occasions reunion concerts have taken place.

This year marked the 20th anniversary of Bonham's most successful album release to date, the Platinum-certified disc The Disregard of Timekeeping released by his band, Bonham. To mark the milestone, he recently toured with a new band and played under the banner of "An Evening with Jason Bonham."

In the past, Bonham has also toured and/or recorded with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Foreigner, UFO, Paul Rodgers, Joe Bonamassa, Virginia Wolf, Airrace, Healing Sixes and Motherland. He also acted in the movie Rock Star and appeared on the reality TV show "SuperGroup."

- What's the latest on Jason Bonham?

Monday, December 10, 2001

John Paul Jones on all the keyboard instruments he plays (interview part 11 of 22)

This is the 11th part of the transcript of my interview with John Paul Jones, conducted Dec. 10, 2001.

SPS: You never toured with keyboards until ’70. Then it was Hammond organ until ’71. Rhodes piano. And then in ’71 you added the mellotron. Clavinet and Steinway grand in ’75. Then, finally, the Yamaha synthesizers after that. So you’re constantly expanding your role on the keyboards... Was that your idea?

JPJ: Well, yeah, I mean. As I said, the very first album was mainly and inherently Yardbirds.

SPS: That’s with "Your Time is Gonna Come." That’s my favorite -- I’m a keyboard player.

JPJ: That’s right. All right.

SPS: Whenever I sit down...

JPJ: Oh, yeah! You’re the chap that plays the organ. Did you write me on my site?

SPS: Yeah, pretty early on.

JPJ: I thought I recognized... Yeah, basically, you can’t do everything at once. I was doing some keyboards in the very early rehearsals. ... Were there keyboards on the first album?

SPS: Yeah, "Your Time is Gonna Come."

JPJ: Oh. That’s on the first album, right?

SPS: Yeah.

JPJ: Right, OK. You have to excuse me. ...

SPS: ...And "You Shook Me" is.

JPJ: All right, OK, so I was already playing Hammond organ. But taking it on tour, you’ve got the logistics of it: hiring the instrument and all that. ...

SPS: But sometimes if you were playing a city hall or something there would be something there for you to play.

JPJ: Well, no, we had to rent it in or we’d have to [inaudible]. And so, yeah, I mean, I played a lot of keyboards. And once you play one keyboard, you can play a lot. I don’t actually play a lot of instruments. I just play a lot of families. ...

SPS: People ask me what all I play, I’m like, "Oh, piano, organ, accordion..."

JPJ: "Harpsichord, clavichord..."

SPS: "...Synthesizers! Keyboards!"

JPJ: Yeah, exactly. It’s very impressive to people who don’t know.

SPS: "Wow, that’s like 12 different things!"

JPJ: There are subtle differences. I mean, I consider myself an organ player as well as pianist. ...

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John Paul Jones is now in one of the hottest and hardest rock bands, Them Crooked Vultures. The frontman, handling lead guitar and vocals, is Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters is on drums. As for Jones, he offers not only bass and keyboard but also mandolin, keytar, lap steel and whatever else is needed.

One album was released in November, and another is forthcoming. A tour of North America completed in November, and the band now heads to Europe in December and Australia in January.

- What's the latest on Them Crooked Vultures, the group featuring John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme?

- What else is John Paul Jones up to?