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?

Friday, November 6, 2009

Jason Bonham describes his early involvement in Robert Plant's solo career; drummer performs early Plant song in concert

Jason Bonham, whose newly launched official Web site contains several videos from the celebrated drummer's career, has just yesterday uploaded a brand-new video from one of his concerts last week in California.

Bonham had five dates scheduled this month, billing shows as "An Evening with Jason Bonham." During shows, his band has been playing songs from his own past as well as from that of his father, the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.

One song from Jason Bonham's own past is one that required a spoken introduction from the man behind the drum kit. Bonham spoke up before performing "Like I've Never Been Gone," a song from Robert Plant's first solo album in 1982, to tell a story about his own life and how he came to be involved in Plant's post-Zeppelin career in those days.

To set the scene, the 44-year-old describes the setting as "a period in my life which was a bit -- quite sad, really."

I was 14 years old and had just lost my father and really didn't know what to be doing in life, but Mr. Plant came along, picked me up from school one day. He said, "Would you like to come and jam?"

So I did, and we went to his house, and Robert was working on the first solo album, Pictures at Eleven. And this, to me -- I did all those demos, by the way, before Phil Collins came along, ...

It was a great moment, and it was a great time where I could just forget about that Dad had gone and just be playing music. It really helped me through it. This song means a lot to me. It's called "Like I've Never Been Gone."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Users agree to refrain from posting obscenities and defamatory statements.

About the author

Other Led Zeppelin information from Lemon Squeezings

Lemon Squeezings archive

Like what you see?


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?