What I didn't know is what I had yet to experience in a live Led Zeppelin show complete with "the look", albeit a cover band, but from a group that dresses the part and takes on the persona if you will, WHAT A THRILL! I think when you have the look, you can have the feel if your into what you're doing and if you do it well, then you get more into it. That's what Led Zepagain does, they really put on a show for you, not just a musical delight to the ears, but something cool to look at.
I had, for many seasons, seen a variety of cover bands on the tile billboard of the Santa Fe Springs Swap meet right off the 5 Freeway and Artesia Blvd for Van Halen, ACDC, The Rolling Stones and more, but this was one I could not miss. It's one thing to hear the sound, but when you "get into your work" as lead singer David Swan Montgomery does (rekindling the role of Robert Plant), it just makes it that much more enjoyable.
"The Immigrant Song"
Understand that I'm 37 and the first I heard of Led Zeppelin was rolling down the highways in my Mom's '67 Mustang California GT Special which was probably KLOS 95.5 and free wheeling music of the 70's, I just didn't know it. I most assuredly knew exactly what I was listening to when I first saw "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and my sister told me Led Zeppelin was a cool band that you should know. That moment was two of the main characters (Jennifer Jason Leigh & Brian Backer) out on a date in a sports car blasting "Kashmir", it's a classic and done on the advice of his "cool" friend Mike Damone (Robert Romanus). From then on I was hooked, but it was that fervor that this cover band brought that elicited that unique nostalgic feeling when you're feeling good again about something you remembered.
I've only seen old film footage in documentaries and a ton of outdoor concerts from the 70's in the haze of what was often a crushed California sun. Being that the Santa Fe Springs Swap meet is in an open courtyard that has a covering to dissipate the sun, but let's a lot of light in giving it a very intimate feeling & emitted those feelings.
I met up with a cool Colombian friend who was also into Classic Rock & Hard Rock. She went on to mention the affect in Latin America was huge and remember attending large concerts in parks and stadiums which you'll see in many a rock tour as some of the largest in the World. As the sociable person I am, I started talking about shows with a guy from Guatemala seen here to your right and come to find out he's followed this band for years and was also at the Jason Bonham show at The Greek Amphitheatre, but liked this version better. So we're all drinking Budweiser and my new friend bust out a leather covered flask full of tequilla and 2 shot glasses. We take two hits and no one is the wiser, nor do they care...the experience just got more vivid. People we're jazzed and after intermission, came back for more and this time in greater numbers.
Living Loving Maid (riff)
Now if you know me and Facebook I sure as hell checked in here and a musician friend of mine, Randy, I used to work with at OfficeMax (my 50th job I believe, lol) says we should meet up there, but for now to say hi to his buddy Eddie who works the soundboard with a cool cat named John. Eddie finds the posting through Randy and we start commenting on where we're at in relation to the stage. Randy is baffled and tells us, how the fuck do you two know each other, we don't asshole, we just met on Facebook! Isn't social media great, hahaha. Luckily I find John and get a primo view center stage of this wondrous group and enjoyed every minute. Can't wait for the Feb. 24th show at the House of Blues in Hollywood, RAMBLE ON!
Living Loving Maid (w/ lyrics)
Talking further I mentioned that I write for a new bilingual Latin American magazine and have always been heavily influenced by such profound music with deeper meanings that I only figured out later in my adulthood. I go on to mention that I also work on documentaries and it just so happens that to also be producing work, but more so on Led Zeppelin having interviewed Jason Bonham at the one off concert in London back in '07. Right after I mention how difficult and expensive it is to license music he offers to sit down with him and the guitarist Steve Zukowsky and do an interview for me on camera...couldn't ask for anything more. And I sincerely can't wait to see them perform live for a magazine article piece.
Bassist Jim Wooten, followed by guitarist Steve Zukowsky and Singer Swan Montgomery below:
Like what you're reading, up next I'll take on Jazz & Blues right here in the Heart of LA.
