John Bonham

by Mick Bonham

  ‘I awoke to see a silhouette of what I thought was Jesus.’

  Above

  Robert Plant

  Things still weren’t happening fast enough for John’s liking, so he changed bands yet again, this time to Way of Life who featured Reg Jones (vocals), Chrissie Jones (guitar) and Dave Pegg (bass). The latter has since gone on to enjoy a very long musical career with Fairport Convention and is still out there touring to this day. Yet while all this was going on another bunch of local lads were jamming together down at Birmingham’s Cedar Club. Ex-Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders guitarist Roy Wood, bassist Chris ‘Ace’ Kefford, drummer Bev Bevan and vocalist Carl Wayne and second guitarist Trevor Burton, had joined forces to form the aforementioned The Move. Other Brummies were also stamping their name onto the music scene. Ex-Diplomat Denny Laine had formed the Moody Blues with Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas, Graham Edge and Clint Warwick, and had topped the charts with ‘Go Now’ and The Spencer Davis Group featured one of the most talented vocalists in Steve Winwood. So John went into one of his ‘everyone’s making it big but me’ eras, but undeterred he tried harder and went from band to band in his search of success, playing with Danny King and the Mayfair Set, Pat Wayne and the Beachcombers and a couple of bands who only lasted a couple of nights, before he hooked up with the Nicky James Movement, a band who had seen the likes of Mike Pinder and Roy Wood pass through their ranks.

  One of the band’s problems was that their PA equipment was on hire purchase and was often being re-possessed through non-payments. Once, while they were travelling down the motorway, they were forced onto the hard shoulder and had the equipment removed. And on another occasion when they were playing The Station in Selly Oak, two men walked in, unplugged the equipment and took it away while they were mid-concert. It wouldn’t have happened to Spinal Tap.

  JOHN BONHAM PRE-ZEPPELIN BANDS

  The Blue Star Trio

  John Bonham played with the Blue Star Trio for a short period in 1963, replacing Bill Harvey on drums.

  Terry Beale – guitar and vocals.

  Mick(ey) Ellis – guitar and vocals.

  The Senators

  John played drums with The Senators several times in 1964, plus occasional backing vocals.

  The band released a track written by Terry Child called ‘She’s a Mod’ on an LP called ‘Brum Beat’ which was a successful compilation featuring Birmingham bands.

  The Senators had a residency at The Navigation Inn in Coventry.

  Band members included Bobby Child vocals and Terry Beale on guitar and vocals.

  The young John Bonham played with a number of local groups in 1964/65 including:

  Terry Webb and the Spiders

  John’s first real group, which he joined when he was 16 years old. Noted for their stage clothes, which included purple jackets with velvet lapels and a gold lame jacketed singer.

  Pat Wayne and the Beachcombers

  John sat in on several occasions. The regular line-up was:

  Pat Wayne – vocals

  Dario Capaldi – sax.

  Mal Edwards – bass

  Brian Finch – sax.

  Jeff Roberts – lead guitar

  Brian Sharpe – drums

  The Nicky James Movement

  In 1965 John played with The Nicky James Movement. At various times other group members included Roy Wood and Bev Bevan, who went on to form The Move, and Mike Pinder, later to become one of The Moody Blues.

  Nicky James also played with Denny Laine and the Diplomats.

  Above

  The Nicky James Movement John Bonham second left

  Steve Brett and the Mavericks

  The group underwent several changes of line-up, and at various times included the Wolverhampton born Dave Holland on bass, who went on to play with Miles Davis. Noddy (Neville) Holder, of Slade fame, featured on guitar and vocals in a later incarnation of the group.

  In 1964, around the time that John Bonham played, the members included:

  Steve Brett – vocals and guitar

  Rick Dene – bass

  Gary James – drums

  Robert Nelson – lead guitar

  Dave Holland – bass

  Danny King and the Mayfair Set

  With Danny King on vocals, this group included Trevor Burton on guitar until 1966, when he left to become a member of hit makers The Move.

  Way of Life

  In 1966, aged 17, John joined Way of life, staying for a total of 18 months. He took a break from the band and returned for a short time in 1967.

  John sang lead vocals on ‘Hey Joe’. See also, the interview with Reg Jones.

  Mike Hopkins – lead guitar

  Tony Clarkson – bass

  John Bonham – drums

  Reg Jones – vocals

  Chris Jones – guitar (the Jones brothers are uncles to Ace Kefford of The Move)

  Later line-ups included Danny King on bass and vocals and then Dave Pegg (of Fairport Convention fame) on bass. See also the interview with Dave Pegg.

  The band sometimes featured two drummers: Bonham and Bugsy Eastwood (later to join Dave Pegg and John Hill in The Exceptions).

  Way of Life once played support to The Kinks at The Plaza in Handsworth, Birmingham.

  The Crawling King Snakes

  In 1967 John played with Robert Plant in The Crawling King Snakes, gigging around the West Midlands between his two stints with A Way of Life.

  Ian ‘Inky’ Watts – lead guitar

  Bruce ‘Maverick’ Oakes – bass

  Johnny Pasternak – guitar

  Nigel Knowles – drums prior to Bonham

  Band of Joy

  The first Band of Joy was a semi-pro. band, formed in 1966 and notable for the band having painted faces, and a bass player who often dived off the stage into the audience.

  A regular early version of the band was Vernon Prarrera on guitar, Robert Plant on vocals, Pete ‘Plug’ Robinson on drums, Mick Reeves on bass and Chris Brown on organ. Pete Robinson was later to be a member of Bronco.

  At various times, Lyddon Laney and John Trickett also played in Band of Joy.

  Robert Plant regularly drove the band van to gigs.

  Due to musical differences (trad.) Robert Plant was ousted by the manager (actually the father of Chris Brown) and formed a new Band of Joy:

  Robert Plant – vocals

  Kevyn Gammond – guitar

  Paul Lockey – bass

  John Bonham – drums

  In 1967 when John Trickett left the original band, John Bonham took over the drum seat, and as a pro. band they had regular residencies at the Middle Earth and Marquee clubs in London.

  Robert Plant: “In came this fantastic guitarist Kevyn, and we hit it off well. We had a good bass player and John Bonham came in on drums.

  It was debatable whether he’d join because it was a long way to go and pick him up, and we didn’t know whether we would have the petrol money to get over to Redditch and back! We always laugh about that.”

  “It turned out to be a really good group. It was a combination of what we wrote ourselves, which wasn’t incredible, and re- arrangements of things like ‘She Has Funny Cars’ and ‘Plastic Fantastic Lover’.”

  A set of recordings were laid down at Regent Sound Studios in London in 1967. Robert Plant donated ‘Adriatic Sea View’ from this session, to a Kidderminster College fund-raising tape project in 1989, later to be released on CD.

  Songs recorded at the session were:

  Adriatic Sea View (later released on the MAS Records label);

  For What it’s Worth (now available on Sixty Six to Timbuktu);

  Hey Joe (now available on Sixty-Six to Timbuktu);

  Memory Lane.

  Above

  Band of Joy

  (Memory Lane was the first song written by Plant and Bonham and is about a street called Dagger Lane in West Bromwich.)

  The live set included:

  Hey Joe

  Sweet Mary

  For
What it’s Worth

  If I Were a Carpenter

  Hang on to a Dream

  Band of Joy averaged £60 – £70 per night for performances.

  Kevyn Gammond is currently the joint head of MAS (Mighty Atom Smasher) which is a music project and record label, launched from Kidderminster College in the West Midlands for students of music, with patronage and help from Robert Plant. Kevyn is also the manager of the music management course at the college, active in the local music scene, and renowned for his multi-fret prowess, still resonating from his performances with the Priory of Brion with his close friend Robert Plant.

  Paul Lockey is now a teacher and part-time musician.

  Robert Plant and John Bonham planned a re-union, a benefit gig for the family of Vernon Prarrera, which did not materialize due to Led Zeppelin commitments and family problems. Some charity gigs did take place in pubs in Kidderminster and Birmingham with Plant, Gammond and Lockey playing in honour of members of a band called Possessed who died in a road accident. Plans to record never came to fruition.

  In 1978 Polydor released an LP called ‘Band of Joy’ recorded in Worcester by a new, five piece lineup featuring Kevyn Gammond and Paul Lockey.

  In 1968 a gig supporting Tim Rose led to Bonham being approached by Tim Rose to join his touring band. He accepted.

  Band of Joy split up, and Robert Plant worked with, and recorded one track ‘Operator’ with blues godfather Alexis Korner and pianist Steve Miller.

  Kevyn Gammond was born and raised in Kidderminster in the West Midlands, and formed The Shakedown Sound with Jess Roden in 1965. He has known Robert Plant since they were both 17 years old.

  The Shakedown Sound were a local success, and supported The Rolling Stones, Walker Bothers and Lulu, sometimes playing up to four gigs a night locally.

  They also backed visiting US blues men T. Bone Walker, Buddy Guy, Memphis Slim and Little Walter.

  Following a move to London, a mod influence took over, leading to support at The Who and Small Faces concerts.

  After the Band of Joy split up, Gammond worked and recorded with Jimmy Cliff, and played on the same bill as Jimi Hendrix in Nottingham.

  A European tour with Jimmy Witherspoon, and jamming with the likes of Ben Webster and Art Farmer honed his skills as a guitarist with originality.

  Bronco was formed, with Robbie Blunt (later to play in Robert Plants’ band), Jess Roden, Pete Robinson, John Pasternak and Kevyn Gammond. Two albums with this line-up were released on the Island label, and a final release after the premature death of John Pasternack on Polydor in 1978.

  Tim Rose

  John toured in the UK with Tim Rose. He joined the band in June 1968. There are no recordings of Bonzo with Tim Rose.

  Tim Rose – Guitar and vocals

  Steve Dolan – bass

  John Bonham – drums

  REG JONES INTERVIEW – 30 OCTOBER 2001

  Friend of John Bonham and vocalist with Way of Life.

  Q: Well, how did you meet him and how did you get together?

  RG: First of all, with Way of Life which is the band that my brother Chris and I played in. We were holding auditions on a Sunday afternoon at The Cedar Club in Birmingham and we had about 20 drummers turn up for this audition, John came along and said, “What gigs we got then?” and I thought blimey he’s cocky, you know, what gigs we got, even before he’d had his audition! I said well you seem pretty confident, anyway he got the job and we did a gig on the same night at The Cedar Club.

  Q: You played that night?!

  RG: Yeah, we were already set up you see because we’d been booked to play there and he’d passed his audition of course. We were doing Motown and Progressive Rock which was popular at the time, quite a variation with some of our own original numbers as well. At the end of the night, about 2am in the morning, I had a disagreement with John because he wanted me to take some girls home for him in the van and I told him that I’m not running groupies around for you in the middle of the night and if you are going to be this cocky after the first gig, then it might as well be your last, so I sacked him on the first night. The next morning we were rehearsing, well it was about 12o’clock actually ‘cos musicians have trouble getting up in the morning. My brother Chris and Mike ‘Sprikey’ Hopkins, who I think went on to play with The Quartz, were both on lead guitar and Tony Clarkson was on bass, who was in the ‘World of Oz’. We were getting the gear out of the van ready to rehearse and who should be stood watching us, wearing what I used to call his ‘Harold Wilson’ pinstripe suit carrying a little suitcase, but John. I felt sorry for him, so I said look if you’re gonna be in my band, what I say goes, he said okay, he was back in the band and rehearsed with us that afternoon.

  Q: Was that the original line-up?

  RG: That was the original line-up, we wanted to spend time rehearsing before we started the gig. We hadn’t got much money and it was difficult for me to pick everyone up from all over Birmingham in the van each time. It was summer, so I came up with the idea of hiring a caravan in Great Yarmouth for a couple of weeks for us all to rehearse in. On the way to Great Yarmouth I soon realised that not one of us had got any money, not such a good idea after all, we barely rehearsed and I ended up paying for everything.

  Q: Was this before Dave Pegg joined?

  RG: Yes, Danny King played bass before Peggy joined us, this was after Tony and Sprikey had left. Danny was a great singer as well, we played a big venue in Loughborough and there was an eleven piece soul band on before us, they were all wearing red shirts which they ripped off on the last number, they were really giving it some! Then the four of us came on stage and the whole audience rushed to the front to watch our set, they had an eleven piece band on and it was though they hadn’t even noticed them. Chris, John and I were half way through our number when I spotted Danny King down in the audience, still playing his bass. I said, “What are you doing down there?” He said, “It’s such a powerful sound, I wanted to be on the receiving end of it!”

  It was soon after that, that we did a double gig, we played Parkinson Cowan on the evening and the Elbow Room later on that night, we had Danny King with us on the early gig and Dave Pegg at the Elbow Room. We had two separate bass players on the same night which was quite unheard of in those days. That’s when Dave first joined the band.

  Q: Any funny stories from those days?

  RG: Oh, yeah, John was always up to something, he and I were best mates for years, he actually lived at my mum’s house for a while. We used to go out drinking in Warstock and Kings Heath. I remember when he tried to grow a moustache. He was only young of course then. We played at Norwich Industrial Club and to look more mature, he had thickened his moustache up with mascara, he was standing at the bar chatting to some girls saying, “Looks pretty good doesn’t it?” and all of a sudden from the heat of the lights and sweat from playing, his moustache started to run down his face, he didn’t know it was, but the rest of the band had a good laugh about it.

  Q: This would be around 1966/67 wouldn’t it?

  RG: Yeah, we were set up to play a gig at The Ritz, Kings Heath and the World Cup was on television before the gig. Old man Reagan, the gaffer, said if anybody can come and do a commentary on the match, the winner would get a bottle. John volunteered himself and dragged me with him onto the stage, he stood at the microphone, went “Errrr…” And left it to me.

  Q: He left you to it?

  RG: Yeah and I won. Actually the prize was a bottle of whiskey, I remember because we went down to The Cedar Club after the gig and he drank it!

  Q: What do you think influenced John’s style?

  RG: I know where he got his influences from, because he told me. He used to cross Rock’n’Roll beats with soul rhythms, he liked the Isley Brothers drumming rhythms and he’d cross the two styles together to get his unique sound. Perhaps that’s how he got such a powerful sound, his triplets on the bass drum were just superb. He was so loud we never used to mike up his drum kit at gigs and still constantl
y got complaints about the volume.

  Q: I heard that John used to sing?

  RG: Yes, John used to sing the lead on ‘Hey Joe’ and we used to do the backing vocals.

  Q: Matthew was your roadie at this time wasn’t he, with a Commer van?

  RG: John had just started playing with the band. I had a yellow Commer and one night we were on our way to The Cedar Club and it broke down, so John phoned his mate, Matthew, and Matthew came to rescue us in his green Commer. From that day on he became the roadie. We weren’t a professional band in those days, but there were always plenty of gigs.

  RG: Can you remember what you were earning, like £10, £20?

  A: Yes, it wasn’t much, we used to blow it on a curry, it didn’t seem to matter then and anyway we were all single. I used to collect the wages and pay the band, but we always gave poor Matthew the excuse that we had been paid by cheque and couldn’t pay him. One night he collected the wages before I could, to stop us from taking it off him. After the gig, Big Al, the gaffer at the Rum Runner said, “You’d better have a look at your roadie.” And there he was pissed out of his brains lying on the floor, he’d spent all our wages on booze and drank the lot whilst we were on stage.

  Q: So you used to enjoy yourselves?

  RG: We were playing at The Plaza, Handsworth and we were going to have a party after the gig, so we decided to borrow some glasses from the club. Matthew filled John’s bass drum case full of empty beer glasses, but on his way out of the club he managed to drop the drum case from the top of the stairs, the gaffer, Alan Reagan, was stood at the boot and all of these glasses fell out at his feet. But he was a nice bloke and said, “Have a good party, you’re playing here on Monday, so bring as many back as you can.”