Conversation with a rock prince Jason Bonham

By now, those of you who regularly read my blog have come to know that a big part of my work (and life) involves frequent interactions with established rock artists -- one way or another. I confess I run the risk of getting jaded about these encounters. I attended the Foreigner concert in Saratoga a couple of nights ago (comps with backstage passes). I hadn't really done my homework regarding the current line-up, though I knew that lead singer Lou Gramm would not be the front man owing to health problems that have sidelined him. Turns out I was in for a real treat.

In addition to Mick Jones, founder & guitarist (the sole original band member), the band line-up included Kelly Hansen (former front man of the 80s band Hurricane & a dead ringer for Steven Tyler, who more than carried his own & impressed on lead vocals), and none other than Jason Bonham on drums (son of Led Zeppelin's late drummer John Bonham, who recently achieved a certain notoriety by participating on a VH-1 Supergroup mini-series along with the likes of rockers Sebastian Bach & Ted Nugent).

I had the unfortunate luck of sitting squarely in front of Jason Bonham's biggest fan, a woman who proceeded to demonstrate the power of her lungs throughout most of the show (I kid you not, she rarely let up -- screaming "we love you Jason" for the duration). Once I finally moved a couple of seats over in my row, I enjoyed the rest of the show a whole lot more. Frankly, it was a wonderful high energy show with the audience singing along on many songs; really engaged the audience and we all had a blast.

After the show, I proceeded backstage to meet the band members -- had good, reasonably brief encounters with both Mick and Kelly, and then had the good fortune of spending ten minutes or so chatting with Jason. Turns out he's a really down-to-earth guy with an open demeanor. We talked about his recent experiences on the VH-1 series (and he shared how his mother was riveted to it as it's now being shown in the UK). We touched on my recent encounter with Robert Plant, and his experience of Robert's kudos after attending a recent Foreigner show. I told him about my desire to work on a book of interviews featuring offspring of famous musicians who themselves are artists, and of course he was on the list of those I would approach -- along with some of his pals including Julian Lennon and Zak Starkey among many others.

I don't know how trusting Jason is in general, but he must have sensed a good connection between us because from that point he was quite open in sharing some treasured "snapshots" of his upbringing with me. Things like how his dad wanted him to have a normal upbringing so did not take the kids on the road with him. And that his dad spent good quality time with them, in a more normal family context than most would imagine could be their reality. He also demonstrated real humanity in sharing how much he missed his dad. All this & more in our brief initial chat backstage. I've no doubt Jason will turn out to be one of the best interviews for this project.