Jason Bonham – an Xperience Interview (Part II)

Jason Bonham – an Xperience Interview (Part II) – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: One thing I noticed when I was watching the show itself is that you do specific renditions of the live music, too. It’s not just stuff that’s strictly off the catalog. Are there any kind of live-version songs that you feel are like “go-to” songs? If so, why?

JB: Without a shadow of a doubt. I think we’re all very familiar with “The Song Remains the Same” versions of Led Zeppelin from the movie. A lot of those arrangements, specifically for me, it’s a “go-to” every time we do it. The ‘73 version, which I found out (later on) was an edited version. They actually never played it that way. The fact that I’d known it that way and so I’d made every guitar player I ever played with, or when we do it with Mr. Jimmy, he – and we – have to do that version. It’s iconic, what I remember, like the “Dazed and Confused” version, like the “No Quarter” jam. I think that was the most played live version from ’73, which we all really remember because it was made iconic. It was a live album, and it was also a movie. There are arrangements we do of the version of “Immigrant Song” from “How the West was Won” from ‘72. Everyone, I think, has a go-to. I mean, that’s the fundamental outline of the show. We’ll choose that. But we also like to remember what Zeppelin liked to do, which was they liked to expand, they never played the same twice. So, um, that was always my thing about it, was to make it interesting, and to jam and be open, and to just be in the music and not having to play everything exactly the same.

RRX: I lost my dad a few years ago. I’m still kind of dealing with it, and we were really close. There’s one song that brings me very close to him when I hear it. It’s “4am” by Our Lady Peace. I just hear it, and he’s right there in the room with me, and, you know, it’s hard to get through sometimes. Is there any song that you play that’s in or out of the catalog of Led Zeppelin that when you play it, it’s like you feel you’re right in the room with your father?

JB: There has been. I mean that there is more than one occasion when I have those moments. Sometimes, even in the show, I’ll be telling a story of something, of a memory that reminds me of something else. And I’ll suddenly kind of lose track of where I was and start telling a completely different story as if he’s there to remind me. I had one incident where it kind of freaked me out, where I remembered what my dad’s cologne was. And suddenly, I had this overwhelming – like as if somebody just walked past me with the cologne on while I was on stage. And it really got me, it really took me, you know? It was like holy, you know? It was really too much to have that just bring him straight into my mind, the smell of the whole thing. And it was like he was there just walking, just walking through me, just there next to me. And that took a lot to get past that song. I had to take a moment on stage and say, “Can you just give me a second?” It was, uh, yeah, very special.

RRX: Yeah, I guess I’ve had feelings like that. It’s tough sometimes. You just never know what one little thing is going to hit you.

JB: I’ll say to you this. It’s now 40, was it 44, years on? And yeah, you deal with it but you never get over it, you know. How old were you when your dad passed away?

RRX: It was five years ago, so I was 43.

JB: You had a lot of time with him. So enjoy; just look back and just remember. I think anybody that loses somebody – you know, I just recently almost lost my mom 10 weeks ago, and I’ve been going backward and forwards to England with her in hospital and finally got her out of hospital. And that was, that was a real scary moment for me because at first I thought, “That’s it, I’ll be parentless.” And that was tough. That was really tough. But I’m glad to say she’s doing great, and she’s gonna pull through, and she’s got plenty more fight now.

RRX: Yeah, I read that and I wanted to say something but I was hesitant. My mom just got out of the hospital, um, about a month ago for pulmonary embolism.

JB: My mom had an aneurysm in the brain. And yeah, it’s tough. It’s real tough. For my mom, it’s a long recovery. I know. I’m trying to get her out of bed every day. My mom is, you know – literally from 10 weeks ago they said it’s, you know, it’s done – to them telling me she’s making an amazing recovery. But she’s still not walking on her own yet. She’s got a frame. And that’s just the craziest thing because two months ago, my daughter was with her, and my mom’s a very young 75. So she was really active and still, you know, doing ten transatlantic flights a year and was traveling, doing everything and, and like, to see her suddenly now, she looks like a grandma. You know, now it’s like with the walker and that. But, uh, she’s a fighter. She got really emotional when I left yesterday and said, “Will I ever be normal again?” And I went, “Mum, that’s a tall order. You were never fucking normal before.”

RRX:  Yeah, my mom, all she does all day is tell jokes. It’s tough because I’m trying to do serious stuff. Like she’s not eating as much, she’s not drinking as much. And I’m trying to say, “Mom, you need to eat, you need to do this, you need to do that. You need that.” She’s, like, just sitting there telling me jokes.

JB:  Yeah, that’s … yeah, I know. I feel like I’m trying to be sensible and going, “You know, Mum, you’ve gotta make sure that you let the carers in to get you dressed in the morning and to take you to the shower, because you can’t do any of this,” and she goes, “Listen, people have been bathing in rivers before we had things like this, you know, I’ll be fine, you know,” and I’m like, “Yeah, but Mom honestly, you need to put the heat on, you know.” It’s just stupid stuff, you know. She’s “No, we don’t need to waste any money on the heat. We got a fire in here,” and I can keep saying stuff until I’m blue in the face.

RRX: I know what that’s like. I know what it’s like to have someone in recovery so close to you.

RRX: Your drumming is high energy, high focus, high octane. And I say octane because you’re passionate about racing too. More high energy, super high focus stuff. Would you consider yourself an adrenaline junkie?

JB: Oh, I don’t know if I’m an adrenaline junkie. Yeah, cause I’m fearful of some things. But the things I love – I loved racing dirt bikes from a very young age. After I got my first dirt bike, it wasn’t enough just to go around the field. I wanted to go race. And then we did the racing, and I got very good at it in a short time in England. So from the very young age of 11, I was one of the top junior racers in the UK, sponsored (in the end) by Kawasaki. And then when my dad passed away, I carried on for another, I think, year, two years, and I suddenly made a decision. I went, “You know what, I’m gonna choose another path. I’m gonna follow my father’s footsteps.” And I suddenly wanted to go into drumming and started that. But I always had the bikes in the background and would always ride for fun. I still kept racing every now and again, whenever I wasn’t touring, and I raced an average of, say, 40 times a year, right up until 2005. When I moved to the States, I was still actively racing every weekend. Then, when I got here, and it was only because we were so busy with Foreigner, that I had a gap and I didn’t ride for a while. Then I started riding again, and literally before I knew it, I was now in my mid-forties and riding in Florida in the heat. I don’t ride as much anymore, but I still love it. I’m actually just about to get another dirt bike again because my blood is a Triumph. I’m gonna get me the new 450. I love car stuff. I went to a track event in 2018 for the first time and became hooked. So I love doing track events and, literally to the point where I take a trailer, put the car on the trailer with the flicks on it. And yeah, I give it the best chance that I can to get a good lap.

JB: The things I love to do in life I’m passionate about. So that’s what I try to do, you know? I’m passionate about my dirt bikes, my cars, my drumming, you know? I’m a grandpa now; I’m passionate about my granddaughter. I’m passionate about my son’s music; Jager Henry, who’s on tour right now, he’s gonna be joining me for some shows. He’s doing amazingly well. So, you know, everyone who supports me, go and check out my son’s new EP if you have an open mind; it’s for the younger audience. A little heavy. But it’s very, very cool.

RRX: Nice. Awesome! So that is the last question I had. Thank you so much. I mean, it’s made my day.

Photograph by Rachael Skinner.

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