19/09/2010 The legend of Zep's Bonham lives on | …

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The legend of Zep's Bonham lives on

By DARRYL STERDAN, QMI AGENCY

Last Updated: September 19, 2010 2:00am

Thirty years ago, the rock world lost its

greatest drummer. The members of Led
Zeppelin lost their friend and bandmate.
But Jason Bonham lost someone far
more important: His dad.

"It's obviously a far more personal thing

for me," understates the 44-year-old son
of John Bonham, who died Sept. 25,
1980. "I was just 14. We never went
through the 'I hate you, Dad!' adolescent
years. He was my idol."

Drummers around the world would echo

that last sentiment.
Jason Bonham, left, and his late father John
Bonham, right. (WENN.COM file photo) Even before his untimely death at age 32
after a drinking binge, Bonham was
universally regarded as rock's most
talented, original, distinctive and influential drummer.

Not bad for a guy who never took a lesson -- and didn't even get a set of drums until he was in
his teens.

"He had a God-given talent," claims Jason, who has carried on in his father's musical
footsteps. "He got his first snare drum at 12. He didn't get a kit until he was 14. But within five
years or so, he had done Led Zeppelin I.

"He did all these amazing feats as a drummer -- which we look at now as iconic and even life-
changing to some drummers -- before he was 32. It all just came natural."

***

Like his talent, Bonham's career and success seem almost pre-ordained.

Born May 31, 1948 in Redditch, Bonham left school at 16. A headmaster supposedly
predicted he would "either end up a dustman or a millionaire."

At first, the former seemed more likely; he worked for his father as a carpenter. But he soon
put down the hammer and took up the sticks full-time, working with a succession of local
bands to make ends meet.

One of them was called Band of Joy, fronted by a young Robert Plant. Their friendship came
in handy a year later when former Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page was recruiting members
for his new band.

Plant suggested Bonham, and after seeing him work his magic onstage, Page offered him the
gig. Bonham initially declined -- the £40 he was earning weekly with his current band was a
bird in the hand he didn't want to lose. Eventually, he reconsidered. Life would never be the
same.

Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album came out Jan. 12, 1969. Who drummer Keith Moon had
supposedly named the band when he quipped they would go over like a "lead zeppelin." He
was wrong.

The power of Page's blues-rock pyrotechnics, Plant's feral yowl and John Paul Jones' nimble
basslines -- all underpinned by Bonham's hammer of the gods wallop -- proved undeniable.
And their momentum proved unstoppable.

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"He and Keith Moon created a whole new genre of drummers. Now we are known as the
neanderthal men of bands -- this force of destruction. That was Bonzo."

That force became self-destructive on Sept. 24, 1980.

While rehearsing for the band's first tour in three years, Bonham was hitting the vodka hard.
Supposedly he downed upwards of three dozen shots during a binge that began over
breakfast and continued into the evening.

He was put to bed in a bedroom of Page's house. Jones and the band's tour manager found
him dead the next morning, asphyxiated on his own vomit.

He was cremated and interred at a Worcestershire cemetery.

"He will always be remembered in our hearts," the tombstone reads.

***

Three decades later, Bonham is not only remembered -- if anything, he's more influential than
ever.

Mastering his thundering fills has become a mandatory rite of passage for drummers. His big
beats have been used by rappers like Beastie Boys. The sound of his bass drum has been
sampled on countless recordings.

It's all testament to his talent, says Jason. But the real secrets to his father's brilliance lie
elsewhere.

"The simplicity was the great thing about his playing. The simplicity and the groove. His
groove was immense -- intensely relaxed and laid-back, but not late. If there's anything that's
the hardest thing to get right, it's his groove. No one can touch him. Me? On my best day, I
couldn't shine his shoes. There isn't anybody out there that could."

Jason oughta know. He literally learned to play at his father's feet.

He's spent years collecting, studying and mastering his father's work. He's performed with
Zeppelin's surviving members several times -- including their 2007 reunion in London.

This fall, he's launching his own show: Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, a multi-
media tribute to his father that will stop in 30 North American cities.

He'll approach it the way his father would have, he says.

"I will play as a Bonham," he says. "Dad never played the same way twice. He had
fundamental signature parts, but everything else was freeform. That was one thing he taught
me: Always take chances."

But before he pays tribute to the world's greatest drummer, he'll pay tribute to his dad.

"On Sept. 25," he says, "I'll be at home with my family in Florida, thinking of him."

JOHN BONHAM HIGHLIGHTS

You can't go wrong with any of Bonham's performances on Led Zep's eight studio albums.
Here are a few highlights:

Rock and Roll

Not just Bonham's signature, but one of the most iconic beats in history. The beginning -- with
Bonzo bashing out simultaneous, syncopated 16th notes on his open hi-hat and snare -- was
reportedly inspired by Little Richard's Keep A-Knockin'. The ending -- when he unleashes a
thundering torrent of triplets and quadruplets on his toms and bass drum -- is all him. If you
can't play this, you're not really a drummer.

Moby Dick

Bonham's aptly titled spotlight was indeed a whale of a solo, often stretching to 30 minutes in
concert -- and ending with his hands bloodied from beating the drums without sticks. The
version at Royal Albert Hall in 1970 -- captured on the Led Zeppelin DVD -- is awesome.

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Good Times Bad Times

First album, first song. Bonzo instantly makes his presence felt, laying down a solidly funky
groove and filling every space with bass drum triplets and cowbell flecks. An auspicious
introduction.

Black Dog

The stop-start beat. The off-balance accents. The shifting time signatures. That little tom-tom
shot in the bridge. That groove. It all seems so simple. It's not.

When the Levee Breaks

Like Black Dog, the behind-the-beat rhythm Bonzo lays down seems easy -- but no less an
authority than Jason Bonham says it's almost impossible to replicate.

The Crunge

Along with power, Bonzo had precision. Listen to him make like Clyde Stubblefield, setting
intricate James Brown funk against a 9/8 groove. Has anybody seen the bridge?

Dazed and Confused

Kashmir, Stairway to Heaven, In My Time of Dying, No Quarter -- Zep had more than their
share of majestic slow-burn epics. Any will do in a pinch. But it all starts here.

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Everybody's got their own favourite Bonham beat. Insert yours below.

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