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Jimmy Page and Jack White discuss future plans, video games at L.A. press conference

Friday, June 19, 2009

Reuters and the New Musical Express are reporting on a press conference with Jimmy Page and Jack White that took place this morning in Los Angeles. Both are in town for the city's film festival and tonight's premiere of "It Might Get Loud" there.

Both stories carried a humorous quip from White on whether he might consider playing again with Page, such as on the solo album White is rumored to be embarking on. "I think Jimmy needs to practice a little more," he commented. Yeah, he was joking.

The Reuters coverage carries more interesting remarks from both guitarists on the way music is presented to today's youth. For instance, neither thinks video games are very useful for musical practice.

White said, "That's like the only outlet now, that you have to put [your music] in a video game to get it in front of [kids]. That's a little sad."

Reuters carried a long, candid remark from Page about amateur musicians setting out to imitate their heroes:

"If you start with the first track on the first (self-titled Led Zeppelin) album, 'Good Times Bad Times,' and you think of the drum part that John Bonham did there, how many drummers in the world can actually play that? Let alone Dad on a Christmas morning? There might be a lot of alcohol to be consumed over Christmas, he still ain't gonna get it."
Interestingly, as the NME story tells us, Page pointed out that both he and White, and also their third co-star, The Edge, are all self-taught guitarists.

The film premieres in L.A. about an hour and a half from the time of writing.

Update: Getty Images and the Associated Press have photos of Page and others at the premiere. Also, the video below is from a Q&A session at the L.A. film premiere.

1 comments:

Steve Sauer said...

My girlfriend's 12-year-old son doesn't pay much attention to Led Zeppelin. He's an aspiring student of the electric guitar, but he somehow overlooked Zeppelin when he discovered the rock bands he idolized, which ironically enough include Def Leppard and Whitesnake.
He was happy to point out that a certain new "Guitar Hero" game supposedly contains only the best guitar songs of the '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s. So he was quick to point out to me there was no Led Zeppelin on the game, which he used as evidence that Zeppelin was not good enough for "Guitar Hero" (when songs by Billy Idol and Ozzy Osbourne were).

Au contraîre, I pointed out to him; "Guitar Hero" was not good enough for Led Zeppelin! And I had Jimmy Page's words to fall back on. The boy didn't have a good comeback, although he pointed out the obvious, that kids his age would be hearing Zeppelin for the first time who wouldn't have otherwise.

Led Zeppelin Reunion


Photo courtesy of Simon Keeping

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin regrouped in 2007, with Jason Bonham on drums, to perform a year-end tribute to Ahmet Ertegun. Their widely praised concert was witnessed in person by fewer than 20,000 people. It is likely never to be repeated, and there are no announced plans to release the concert for home viewing. However, clicking the image above will bring up multi-cam footage of the entire Led Zeppelin performance as it happened on Dec. 10, 2007, at the O2 arena in London.

Many posts on LedZeppelinNews.com have centered on the possibility of a full-scale Led Zeppelin reunion, noting particularly the inaccuracies reported by the popular press.

Page


Jimmy Page stars with fellow guitarists Jack White and The Edge in this guitar documentary, directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"), which had widespread theatrical showings beginning in August.

LedZeppelinNews.com provided a review of "It Might Get Loud" at that time.

"It Might Get Loud" will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Dec. 22 in the United States. Click here to pre-order on DVD or Blu-Ray. Prior to this, "It Might Get Loud" will be available on iTunes for two weeks beginning Dec. 8.

- What else should I know about "It Might Get Loud"?

- What else is Jimmy Page up to?

Plant


Just prior to the Led Zeppelin reunion concert in 2007, Robert Plant released the album Raising Sand with Alison Krauss. Their partnership has been the subject of much critical and commercial success, including victories at the Grammy awards two years in a row.

A follow-up to that album has been in pre-production, but Krauss's current priorities are new recordings and eventual touring with her signature band, Union Station. Progress on the second Plant/Krauss album is anticipated following the completion of the Union Station tour.

More recently, Plant entered the studio with famed U2 producer Daniel Lanois for some recording sessions, the nature of which has not been disclosed.

Following the breakup of Led Zeppelin, Plant went on to a rewarding career as a solo artist. He released six albums of his own between 1982 and 1993, two collaborative albums with Jimmy Page between 1994 and 1998, and two more solo albums since that time. Yet until Raising Sand, his biggest commercial success came in releasing an EP of classic cover material under the name The Honeydrippers.

- What else is Robert Plant up to?

Jones


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?

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?

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