Yahoo Lifestyle Late Led Zeppelin Drummer John Bonham Recalls Feeling 'Quite Strange' at Band's First-Ever Rehearsal in New Doc
'Becoming Led Zeppelin', the first documentary the surviving members of the band have ever participated in, is now playing in IMAX
Sony Pictures
From left: Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, John Bonham and Jimmy Page.Led Zeppelin fans are treated to newly unearthed interviews with the late John Bonham in a new documentary about the band's formation.
In Becoming Led Zeppelin, in theaters now, the drummer — whose sudden death at 32 in 1980 caused the group to disband — is heard through archival audio recordings from the rare interviews he gave during his lifetime.
The film covers everything from the childhoods of Bonham and his bandmates Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones to the formation of Led Zeppelin in 1968 through the band's performance at London's Royal Albert Hall in January 1970. It also includes Bonham's own recollections on meeting Page, now 81, and Jones, now 79, for the first time for what became Led Zeppelin's first rehearsal.
"It was quite strange, really, meeting John Paul and Jimmy," Bonham, who had already befriended and performed with Plant, now 76, says in the documentary. Plant persuaded Page to invite Bonham to play with the band, which Page originally founded as "the New Yardbirds" following the breakup of Page's previous group the Yardbirds.
"Coming from where I come from, I sort of thought it was a bit of joke getting this sort of telegram," Bonham says of the invitation. "There's a chance of becoming one of the Yardbirds? It's like a gift from heaven, wasn't it?"
Mike Randolph/Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty
From left: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones performing on Jan. 9, 1970.Plant, Page and Jones are shown listening to Bonham's interview audio and archival photographs and footage throughout the documentary, which was directed by Bernard MacMahon and cowritten and produced by Allison McGourty. While all three surviving members recall feeling inspired by the moment when they first gathered in London basement rehearsal studio in 1968, Bonham says in old interview audio that he felt "pretty shy" as the band got to know each other musically by playing "Train Kept a Rollin'," a song first recorded in the 1950s by Tiny Bradshaw.
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"You know, the best thing to do when you're in a situation like that is not to say much and just sorta soldier along and suss it all out, sort of thing," Bonham says in the film; he is also quoted as saying, "The first time we played together, you could tell it was going to be a good groove, not being so flashy about it [laughs], though I am."
Sony Pictures
The 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' poster.Filmmakers MacMahon and McGourty tell PEOPLE that Bonham's wife Pat and his sister Deborah provided archival footage and materials for the film to use. The surviving members contributed a significant number of personal possessions and archival material.
"There was definitely a sense they came in where — firstly, they turned up and you can tell a vibe when someone's really ready to tell their story," MacMahon says of the band, adding that Plant in particular brought "never heard before recordings" he and Bonham had made together.
Becoming Led Zeppelin is playing in theaters now.
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