JASON BONHAM Hopes There Will One Day Be A DVD Of LED ZEPPELIN's 2007 Reunion Concert

Steven Rosen of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with drummer Jason Bonham about JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE — which celebrates the life and music of Jason's father, the legendary LED ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You performed with ZEPPELIN for their one-off reunion show on December 10, 2007. Did your desire to put together the LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE grow from that one show? Can you describe what that moment felt like?

Jason Bonham: It's hard to describe in words. It's one of those things when you've been a part of it for such a long time in some form whether it be [on the] sidelines watching your dad be with them. For me it was just a dream come true to sit in that seat as an adult and be kind of treated as an adult with them. I didn't feel like a kid anymore. It was monumental. I mean the reviews say it was good. Obviously there had been things in the past where things hadn't gone as well but this time everyone was prepared; we were all very, very prepared. And really, really hungry to do it and wanted to play and I think everybody, not only myself, wanted to prove something. I think everybody wanted to prove something.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You bring up an important point, which is the reviews of the show, were glowing and the audience loved it.

Jason Bonham: Everyone was on top form and on top of their game. For me, I'm looking forward to... I hope one day they release the DVD of that or the CD. That would be a wonderful thing for me to have officially something with my name on it that had LED ZEPPELIN above it would be any drummer's dream. Whether I'm related or not, I've had this conversation with quite a few different drummers in the world and I say to them, "You know first and foremost I'm a fan." I became a fan of their music after dad died which was a shame. It was OK when I was a kid; it was a band that dad was in. It wasn't until he passed away that I really wanted to listen to his work and go, "What have I missed out on here?"

Ultimate-Guitar.com: ZEPPELIN have always seemed to be so supportive of you. Jimmy Page is incredibly protective of what he does and yet he's embraced you from the beginning in a number of projects that were sort of ZEP-related. And then to bring you in as the drummer for the reunion show was huge.

Jason Bonham: There's a huge belief that I had that I knew without being too confident, that I'm the only guy for the job. I was strongly committed in my head. I really didn't believe anybody else could do it; I didn't care who it was. Because it's not enough knowing the song: you've got to know them. Anybody can learn the song; you've got to learn the people. You've got to know where it's gonna go; you've got to know how they tick and what they think. But it took me a long time; it took me way longer than dad to figure it out. I read an article, an interview with my dad that I found in my scrapbook that I kept as a child while I was putting together stuff for this EXPERIENCE. I found my childhood scrapbook and there's an interview in there with dad from 1970. He talks about how long he's been playing the drums and he'd only been playing drums six years in 1970. You know? So in the weirdest way, he'd only been playing drums for four years when he did "Led Zeppelin I". Unbelievable.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: The LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE is obviously about commemorating your father's legacy but it must also bring up a lot of deep memories for you.

Jason Bonham: When I kind of thought about it at first, I never imagined myself doing it. So when I committed to do it and do it this way where it's a very personal storyline — part storyteller/concert with how LED ZEPPELIN's affected me — I ended up delving into the past and mind you it's been very, very emotional. Stories of certain songs I play and give a reason of why I'm doing them and what I remember about it or what was so special about it or some anecdote. So it's not just, "I'm gonna go and play LED ZEPPELIN music." I ended up delving into the past and it's been way too emotional really for a 44-year old guy to sit there and go through stuff and go, "I can't keep doing this."

Ultimate-Guitar.com: So it's been like therapy for you.

Jason Bonham: My mom said, "Jase, for five or six years, you never cried once. You didn't cry at the rehearsal." So it's been hard going through it all but fantastic going through and finding stuff again. One of the things in the interview I found of dad's was I wouldn't have gone searching for stuff like that if I wasn't doing the show. So to read things about me when I'm three or four in dad's interviews when he's going, "Oh, my son plays drums" or "He's gonna be good," is encouraging.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: As you were putting the LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE together, how did you choose the songs? Were they your favorites? Your dad's favorites?

Jason Bonham: I basically had a list that I kinda like would have liked to have done and I was hoping that when I found the right singer he'd be able to do all of them. I was even thinking about getting three different singers. One of the greatest things about LED ZEPPELIN was Robert [Plant, vocals] did change and not in any detrimental way; I think he was one of the successes of the band as well. The fact that he was different at all different periods. If you listen to him on "I" or "II" and listen to "Physical Graffiti" or "Presence", he's still fantastic in a slightly different way. When you think about "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and then you go back to "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", it's just phenomenal. The list of songs that I had that represented each album as I went through each album because there was so many I'd want to do more. I mean we've even rehearsed more than we need and we change at different times; some nights we'll do other ones from other ones. So I mean I just chose ones that really meant something to me where I still put on now and go, "Wow! It really just still takes my breath away."

Ultimate-Guitar.com: What has the reaction to LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE been like so far?

Jason Bonham: The response has been wonderful; I couldn't ask for anymore. The ticket sales have been phenomenal; it's kind of overwhelming. There's the haters in the world, there's a few, but there are a lot more embracers than that. There are a lot more people that want it than not.

Read the entire interview at Ultimate-Guitar.com.