By Patrick Prince

Lez Zeppelin are four female musicians (bassist Megan Thomas, drummer Leesa Squyres, singer Shannon Conley and guitarist Steph Paynes) who recreate the Led Zeppelin musical experience. In fact, the band’s latest album is a recreation of the classic album, Led Zeppelin I in painstaking detail.

“The band employed all of the same vintage equipment used by Led in 1968,” reads their bio, “from the ’50s era Les Paul and Telecaster, to the Supro amp, 60’s era compressor, Hammond organ and Fuzzbender stomp box — working fastidiously to recreate the incredibly complex layers of the album with a dedication that has never before been demonstrated by any band of this type in the history of the rock world.”

Lez Zeppelin’s first album was actually released in 2007. The legendary producer Eddie Kramer was behind the helm. It was a combination of Zep tunes and originals (Kramer had a songwriting credit on Lez original “On the Rocks”). However, since then there have been a few lineup changes. But the one constant remains to be founding member, guitarist Steph Paynes. Paynes feels that this current lineup represents Lez the best. And the Lez continue to impress icons from Joe Perry to the actual members of Zeppelin.

This year, to support the recreation of Led Zeppelin I, the ladies have undertaken a full-year tour of both America and Europe. Seeing Lez live is just another way to expand the Zeppelin experience.

Why recreate the album Led Zeppelin I? Do you think this is the album that best represents Led Zeppelin?
Steph Paynes: Led Zeppelin’s first album might very well be the band’s greatest. But, even if one were to argue that this record is not wholly representative of all the musical landscapes that would later become Zeppelin’s legacy, then at the very least, Led Zeppelin I serves as the perfect introduction to their unique alchemy of light and shade. For this reason, the logical place to start for anyone who is serious about tracing the musical steps of Led would be to explore Led Zeppelin I. In order to capture the feel of it, though, we learned quickly that the music basically needs to be recorded live in the studio and requires deep immersion into the blues, British Celtic/folk music and some of the psychedelic rock of the period. We took great pains to retain authenticity of the sound and structure of the vinyl, and yet allow for that which happens between musicians in the moment. Spontaneous combustion is really what this album is all about.

Was it a lot to take on trying to recreate Led Zeppelin I to almost every last detail?
Paynes: Let’s just say that the longer you look at a rainbow, the more colors you see. It was an amazing experience for both the producers and the band to try and deconstruct the sounds and textures — as well as the licks that aren’t so apparent until you really arrive on the front line of Page’s guitar army. Also, so many of these sounds and techniques are old school, and that, in itself, presented us with certain challenges. For example, you realize just how little distortion was used on all those guitar sounds. In other words, the guitar does not do you the favor of playing itself thanks to all that modern, permissive overdrive. Instead, all sorts of serious technique is required. Don’t even ask about the pedal steel… I have seen the face of the devil, and he looks just like the pedal steel guitar!

Will there be more Zep album recreations?
Paynes: It might be hard to resist Led Zeppelin II simply because of the possibilities for the album cover.

Will there ever be an album of originals under Lez Zeppelin?
Paynes: People and industry folk are asking us that all the time now. We might have to oblige one of these days.

All the band members who recorded the debut album are now gone — why did they leave? How hard was it to replace them? Was it a smooth transition?
Paynes: The last big line-up change was actually not the first. The group has gone through several incarnations since the band was hatched in 2004. Although each ensemble ran its natural course and had its myriad qualities, I have to say that it has consistently evolved. The present members, without doubt, come closest to my original vision for the project, both musically and charismatically. There is now a communication and depth of musicianship onstage that takes this thing to a whole other level.

What was it like to work with Eddie Kramer — and also have him involved in some of the band’s songwriting (“On the Rocks)?
Paynes: Eddie was very enthusiastic about our first record and was all for letting the band’s sound and personality come through to create something fresh. He was very excited about the two originals we brought to the table and had some excellent arrangement ideas for “On the Rocks.” Of course, he had a few Zep stories and pics he took of them at Headley Grange, which were amazing to see. It was also pretty special to go into Studio A at Electric Lady and record all our basic tracks there. A bit dreamlike all around.

Do you play originals live? If not, why?
Paynes: Yes, we actually play “Winter Sun” from our first album quite a bit as part of our acoustic set and it always goes over extremely well.

Do you like the tag ‘tribute band’?
Paynes: We never have and never will use that “tag” to describe Lez Zeppelin. Unlike most “tribute bands,” we do not impersonate or try to convince anyone that they are actually seeing/hearing Led Zeppelin. Instead, our aim is to reinterpret the classical music of our time. Just as an orchestra would play Beethoven, we bring ourselves to this music in order to resurrect the full concert experience. It’s hard to find a word to describe exactly what we do, but you might call it a “She-incarnation.”

Do you think there are too many tribute bands out there nowadays?
Paynes: It has definitely become much more crowded out there since we landed on the scene. Not so much with female bands per say, but there are many, many more groups in all sorts of genres. Some are more serious in their attention to the music than others, obviously.

How do you compare your band to other Zeppelin tribute bands?
Paynes: We don’t.

What did you think of Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin tribute tour?
Paynes: It was very touching to see Jason pay homage to his father. I was most impressed with his performance and his spoken interactions with the audience. They struck me as sincere and clearly this project provided him with a creative way to share his memories and admiration for his dad.

What about a farcical tribute like Dread Zeppelin?
Paynes: Hilarious! And, creatively done.

Have any members of Zeppelin given feedback on the band?
Paynes: We have received communications from Page over the last few years through a close mutual friend and he is very supportive of the group. He was also helpful with and very much appreciated LEZ ZEPPELIN I. Plant would be hard-pressed not to know who we are, especially after the 2008 Bonnaroo Festival, when we were both on the bill and everyone was speculating publicly as to whether Plant would get on stage with us and do a few numbers! But, we have also gotten his best wishes from members of his touring crew that we know. I actually met John Paul Jones at Zeppelin’s 2007 Reunion in London. He expressed what can only be described as delight when I was introduced to him as a member of Lez Zeppelin, and told me he’d heard only great things and was very anxious to hear us play. Needless to say, this kinda’ blew my mind.

What was it like to get such a rave review from an icon like Joe Perry of Aerosmith?
Paynes: It was “priceless,” as they say! What was even more amazing was the way he was able to so succinctly express what we are doing in terms of re-interpreting this “classical” music and looking to follow in the footsteps of our classic rock heroes — such as Aerosmith and their colleagues — who were inspired by the blues and early British invasion bands, etc. Playing this particular kind of music requires a lot of work and determination, and Joe really seems to understand and appreciate this on a very personal level.

What are the immediate plans of the band?
Paynes: You might say the band is built for festivals, so we are very excited to be back on a major festival stage. We have some US touring planned for the summer and are looking to possibly visit Australia and return to Europe and hopefully Japan once things settle down there later in the year. We are also the subject of a full-length documentary, which should be finished soon and hopefully will go to some of the film festivals next year. And, we have a few other crazy things up our sleeves, including some more recording.

And, finally, do you think Led Zeppelin should ever get back together and do a world tour? (And could you imagine opening up for that tour?)
Paynes: Well, since I did have the honor of attending the 02 reunion in London, I can vouch for the fact that if the remaining members of Led wished to go out there again, there is no doubt in my mind that they could deliver an amazing concert experience. I witnessed it. However, it appears clear that they are not all on board with such an endeavor. People seem very upset about this, but you have to remember that when Bonham died in 1980, the group decided then to disband. I think that decision portrayed incredible integrity. Whether or not they agree at some point to do more shows, their legacy remains intact and I can see from our own shows, that it continues to inspire and turn-on new generations. But, I admit that I would love to see Jimmy come back into the bustle of things. Whether he produces, writes a symphony or just plays his guitar by the fire and puts it on YouTube, he is missed. Of course, he is ever and always invited to come and play his music with us. You know, there are plenty of guitar parts to go around…

For related items that you may enjoy in our Goldmine store:

• Download Goldmine’s Guide to Led Zeppelin

Robert Plant’s Blue Note on DVD August 23

Robert Plant’s journey through the territories that have most acutely informed and inspired his music is perhaps one of the most multi-faceted of any artist from his generation. In a remarkable career that has spanned five decades, Plant has traveled from gold-maned god of hard rock to balladeering country troubadour, a process of reinvention guided by an ever-expanding musical palette and tireless searches through global song. His fantastic voyage has essayed the plantations of Mississippi, the deserts and townships of Africa and the settlements of the Appalachians.

This film follows Robert’s incredible and on-going tour of musical styles and acts as travelogue in its unique approach to documenting and reviewing a career that has been built on endless fascination, consistent experimentation and a unique talent that makes the incorporation of his discoveries into a popular contemporary form seem almost effortless.

Featuring rare footage, performance archive, recorded interviews, contributions from his closest collaborators, expert critique from the finest music writers, plus location film, news reports seldom seen photographs and a host of other features.

To pre-order click here.

Independent program supplier United Stations Radio Networks (“USRN”) and Denny Somach Productions (“DSP”) announced that the Memorial Day Weekend episode of Carol Miller’s Get the Led Out will feature a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s late drummer, John Bonham. Bonham, who died in 1980, would have turned 63 on May 31st had he survived, and this special edition of the program will air as part of the weekly radio series during the week of May 23-29. Additionally, prospective affiliates who reach out to United Stations can have a chance to use this special edition of the series for free over the holiday weekend, and this announcement comes jointly from USRN’s EVP/Programming, Andy Denemark along with Denny Somach.

This special episode of Carol Miller’s Get the Led Out will include interviews with Simon Kirke of Bad Company, Glenn Hughes of Black Country Communion, Alan White of Yes and the late drummer’s son, Jason Bonham. The show will also spotlight the original US and UK newscasts announcing the untimely death of the legendary rocker. The news reports are from the archives of Producer Denny Somach who broke the original story on NBC’s “Rock Report” in September of 1980. Kirke and Bad Company were Swan Song label-mates with Led Zeppelin and they also shared Peter Grant as their manager. Glenn Hughes was a confidant of John Bonham and currently fronts Black Country Communion, which also features Jason Bonham. Yes’s Alan White was a long-time Bonham friend and label-mate at Atlantic Records.

Carol Miller’s Get the Led Out is a programming package of long and short-form features hosted by New York Radio legend, Carol Miller. Affiliates are provided with a 1-hour weekly program and 5 weekly short features which can double as podcasts, all of which examine the career of the band that is generally acknowledged as the greatest hard rock band of all time, Led Zeppelin. The program series is now in its third year of national distribution. The series and its staff also maintain the show’s sister website, www.ledzeponline.com . Denny Somach Productions maintains one of the largest archives of classic rock content and has a long history of creating some of the most memorable programs in rock radio. DSP produced feature programming for NBC’s The Source, NBC Radio Entertainment, ABC Radio, CBS, MTV and the highly acclaimed award winning Beatles program, Ticket to Ride.

Carol Miller is one of the longest-running New York radio personalities, from years at WPLJ and WNEW and currently Clear Channel’s WAXQ-FM. She began her career as a rock jock at WMMR, Philadelphia. She has hosted numerous nationally and internationally distributed radio specials and TV like Entertainment Tonight, VH-1 and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Carol is an acknowledged expert on Led Zeppelin, and has interviewed the members numerous times over the years.

United Stations Radio Networks, Inc. is the leading independently owned and operated radio network in the U.S. The company maintains offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington and Nashville and services programming to over 5,000 rated radio stations across the country in every major format. The New York-based company was founded in 1994 by radio pioneers Dick Clark and Nick Verbitsky.

Goldmine’s Guide to Led Zeppelin (Digital Download)

By Martin Popoff

Over-rated Zeppelin is, for how can a band not be — a mere band — when rated so stratospherically? Who cares what I think, but still, as much as I gripe about the slack work ethic to almost all their records, they are ginormously one of my favorite bands, and more often than not, I cite “Physical Graffiti” as the greatest album of all time, by anybody. No seriously, it’s the first to come to mind, and I’ve scribed this as well, that the album is the aircraft carrier of rock, a massive, proud, nationalistic, jingoistic construct worth billions and going to war. In fact, it’s probably 50 percent of the reason Zep, to me, are gods, ‘cos much of the rest is pretty mortal, frankly, a couple of “classics” that are just a little bit lucky to be deemed so.

So yeah, “Physical Graffiti” is the bechested military complex of unassailable that stopped all snide critics in their paths, or at least made them look absurd if they complained. Sure, Zep III and IV were way more than sweet nectar of the gods, but after the first long wait, “Houses Of The Holy” was a little lazy.

There’s a whole debate whether double albums are spotted an unfair advantage, but Jimmy, Robert, John Paul and Bonzo write so deliciously, so touched by an army of muses, that you would have to say they aggressively disqualify any attempt at disqualification, by knocking it out of the park, by menacingly jerking the album from, even for a moment, being considered to lean on the crutch of being a double.

Nay, “Physical Graffiti” is all killer, no filler.

Side one is, of course, the greatest half slab of Zep ever (oh, allow me to indulge), “Custard Pie” being a shove and a push of sexual funkiness, and moderately heavy. And if you want heavy Zep, both “The Rover” and “In My Time of Dying” comply, two-fisting the idea that despite being a double, “Physical Graffiti” is heavy enough for the angry metalheads patronizing the franchise. “The Rover” is huge, riffy and dangerous of vocal, but “In My Time of Dying,” well, it’s the most amazing and epic song of the catalog, making “Stairway To Heaven’s” succession of boring parts look like Grand Funk or BTO trying to look profound. Sure, there’s stealing from blues artists, but it’s like the collective IQ applied to the rocket fuel transformation has jumped a few dozen Mensas since the debut and II. And at 11 minutes, it’s immediately thrust into comparison to Sabbath’s “Megalomania.”

Collapsing into side two, “Houses Of The Holy” was joyous and quite heavy, “Trampled Under Foot,” a tough-as-nails early version of the (under-appreciated) Jones’ mindset as demonstrated on the band’s swan song. And then there’s “Kashmir,” a song ­— a stairway to heaven in song, if you will — cited by many as the band’s pièce de résistance and who could argue? Sabbath’s Bill Ward talks of the challenges of playing slow, and Bonham shows us how, as Page constructs the perfect crypto-Egypto melody from afar that would invent Rainbow and today’s power metal.

Photo by Richard Kwasniewski/Frank White Agency

Proceed to side three and it’s the valley of the unknown, a trip sorta like the vibe of the “Houses Of The Holy” album or the dark, unvisited side of Nazareth’s “Hair Of The Dog” album of the same geometric and pivotal year. Side three (especially “In the Light” and “Down by the Seaside”) feels like a languid Jones’ trip, but the band’s secret weapon doesn’t figure prominently in the credits. In any event, side three is the joint-smoker, atmospheric, cavernous.

Swing ‘round to the close, and Led Zeppelin mischievously set up the fireworks unsafely, irreverently offering five short and snappy songs. First is the feel-good “Night Flight,” followed by one of the band’s heaviest, most explosive rockers, “The Wanton Song,” relived by Rainbow come their “Lady Of The Lake.” I must add that by this point, four-fifths the way through the fantasia, Robert Plant has turned in a performance of bravado, dimension, grit, pathos. Proceed we must, and “Boogie with Stu” is a bit of a toss-off, as is “Black Country Woman,” basically efficient versions of things we’ve heard on Zep IV (you match them up), the word efficient including a silver lining within the more overt and implied denigration. And finally there’s “Sick Again,” where Zep rock (like a Viking ship), heavy, heavy metal even, turning in a grinding, combative double-helix of a song, again, appeasing of the metalhead, much to Percy’s chagrin at encouraging the downers and wine set, as Sabbath’s crowd was dismissively labeled.

And there it was, like I say, an aircraft carrier stormtrooping through the surf of all rock that was mere disappearing foam beneath it, “Physical Graffiti” silencing, converting, shutting th’ hell up those who would have — actually previously and rationally — doubted the divine placement of the mighty Zep upon the simpering, flagging rock landscape of the mid-’70s.