Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant has recalled a moment when he nearly refused to hire drummer John Bonham – because the 20 miles between their homes was too far.
The pair got together in Band Of Joy in 1967, before forming Led Zep with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. But Plant says it almost didn't happen.
He tells Sound Opinions: “I was playing once at a ballroom once and he came up and said, ‘You’re alright, but you’d be a lot better if I was your drummer.’ I said, ‘So you already understand that I’m in charge?’
“I said, ‘Where do you live?’ He said, ‘Well, I live in Redditch.’ I said, ‘That’s 20 miles from where I live – that’s too far. You’re not good enough.’
“But we stole a little bit, nicked stuff from people when we weren’t looking, put the gas in the vehicles and off we went.’”
He adds of their early days: “In the Band Of Joy when we were penniless, stealing milk from doorsteps and syphoning gasoline out of cars in the middle of the night, he set his drums up at the front of the stage so there was nowhere for me to stand. He was desperate to get the hell out of any life with me. His wife Pat used to say, ‘You’re not going out with Planty any more – we’re starving!’”
While we're talking Zep history, here are 20 Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Early Led Zeppelin.
-Spencer