Jimmy Page - Interview With Mick Wall 1988 (Sky Trax) 1080p HD
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00:00Well, I think we've kept you waiting just about long enough, right?
00:08Is he here? Is he here?
00:11He's here, he's here. Who am I talking about?
00:14Well, a man, really, seriously, who needs no introduction whatsoever.
00:18If you don't know who this guy is, I don't know where you've been the last 10 or 15 years, alright?
00:23Because me, I've been at home listening to me rock records.
00:26There is no better rock guitarist than the man I've got coming on right now!
00:28And if you don't believe me, settle back, because he'll be on in a second.
00:31Check this out, though. This is just a little reminder of who we're talking about.
00:34This is Mr. Jimmy Page, in a bit of dazed and confused.
00:40Hello, Jimmy Page, how are you?
00:42Alright.
00:43OK, OK. Listen, I love that clip. We don't see it very often on this show, but
00:46it always looks like you're about to curse the audience.
00:49Yeah, maybe it looks like that, but it's not.
00:52I'm usually cursing the guitar.
00:56So, Jimmy, as I'm sure most everybody knows right now, you've got your first solo album.
01:00That's right, yeah.
01:01Just released, called Outrider.
01:03I can't believe it's your first solo album. Seems like a hell of a time to...
01:07Yeah, maybe it took a bit of time to pluck up courage for it.
01:10Really?
01:11Yeah, yeah.
01:12But is it a move you feel comfortable with now?
01:14Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I should have done it before, really.
01:17Really? What, before The Firm, or...?
01:19Well, I don't know, somewhere back down the line, but, you know, time permitting,
01:22this is the time that's right, anyway.
01:24Right, right.
01:25A lot of people I know that have heard the album, the first thing they've said is
01:29they say it's a return to form for you.
01:32I think probably what they're saying is that perhaps the second Firm album
01:34they were a little disappointed with.
01:36Possibly, possibly.
01:38Do you feel...?
01:39I thought the second Firm album was as good as the first one,
01:42within the framework of who was in it and everything.
01:45Right.
01:46I mean, I suppose this one, I suppose as far as being back to form or whatever,
01:51it's certainly just guitar.
01:53From my end of it, it's just vocalists, bass drums and various guitars
01:59in different shapes and forms.
02:01So I suppose if they're wanting to hear a guitar album, they should do it.
02:04Absolutely, absolutely.
02:05I tell you what, we're going to talk a little bit more about your new stuff
02:07and lots of other things in a minute.
02:08OK.
02:09First, let's have a bit of vintage Jimmy Page.
02:11This is a band he used to play in a long time ago called Led Zeppelin.
02:13You might have heard of them, and this is a track called Black Doll.
02:17Bit of Led Zeppelin there, rockers, a bit of Black Doll.
02:20Jimmy, that's probably the most famous rock riff in the whole world.
02:24Yeah, maybe.
02:25It's got to be.
02:26I tell you what, I was in America just a couple of weeks ago,
02:29and I was working late through the night and had the radio on just quite softly.
02:32It got to about 4.30 in the morning.
02:34I wasn't listening to anything that came on.
02:36It was just the old coming in here and going out there.
02:38And suddenly I heard, hey, my arm is hurting.
02:40And suddenly you could hear radios being turned up all over.
02:44It's such an arresting start, isn't it, as well, the vocals, yeah.
02:47Can you still actually remember sitting there and writing that?
02:51Well, I remember writing part of it,
02:53because Jonesy was part of the writing of that riff as well, actually.
02:56But, yeah, I remember doing it.
03:00Now, of course, after Zeppelin, of course,
03:02there was a period where you didn't do anything for a long time,
03:05and then you re-emerged with The Fur,
03:08which I must admit I thought was going to be one of those bands
03:11that did stay around for a lot longer than they did.
03:14Encapsulate the whole story of The Fur for me now in a nutshell.
03:17What happened there?
03:18Was it supposed to be a band that stayed together for much longer?
03:20No, no.
03:21Initially, the idea was to combine talents of myself and Paul Rogers
03:27and do an album and mainly get out on the road and do some touring,
03:32just really one massive tour sort of thing,
03:35just to prove we were around and still kicking, you know.
03:38But, in fact, that spread to a second album
03:41and then another tour as well,
03:43and neither of us really wanted to get locked into a band tour situation.
03:49Right.
03:50Because, first of all, we had a solo career beforehand,
03:52and I was keen to start, you know,
03:54trying some of my own ideas out in a solo capacity.
03:57While you were with The Fur, did you consciously,
04:00while you were actually on the road and touring
04:02and getting involved in the business of being in a new band,
04:04were you, obviously, a lot of people were making comparisons in their mind
04:07between then and Zeppelin days.
04:08Were you doing that yourself?
04:09Did you find yourself saying,
04:10well, this is better than it was in the old days
04:13or this is not as good as it was in the old days?
04:15Well, I guess the fact being that my, you know,
04:18guitar was such a predominant input to Zeppelin
04:21that, nevertheless, there's bound to be, you know,
04:23there was bound to be comparisons.
04:26I know that whatever riffs I wrote,
04:27I consciously tried to make them on Zeppelin,
04:30but it's very difficult, you know.
04:32It's something that I could say,
04:33well, that's a bit like what we did before.
04:34Right.
04:35But then again, I've done the same since then anyway,
04:37but, I mean, I still come up with riffs
04:39because, basically, I'm a riff guitarist, so.
04:41All right, riff guitarist, that's what we want in this show.
04:45Yeah, that's it.
04:46All right, let's have a few more riffs now.
04:48This is The Firm and their very first ever single,
04:50and this is Radioactive.
04:54The Firm featuring my friend here today,
04:55Mr. Jimmy Page and Radioactive.
04:57All right.
04:58Now, of course, The Firm ended not so long ago,
05:01and it seems to me you more or less immediately said,
05:03right, that's it, no more bands.
05:04I want to do a solo album.
05:05That's right, that's right.
05:07Solo album, and then, you know,
05:08each album as it comes along after that
05:10will be a different project altogether.
05:12So different musicians, et cetera, you know.
05:14Right, because on the album you've got
05:15three different vocalists.
05:17You've got John Miles.
05:19Yeah, I'll tell you why, because I don't sing.
05:21I'm saving everyone, you know, pain worse than death,
05:24if I'm not singing.
05:26You've got John Miles, of course,
05:27who we all know from the Alan Parsons Project
05:29and the Tina Turner's band.
05:30He's singing with you.
05:31Yeah.
05:32You've also got Chris Farlow singing with you.
05:33Yeah.
05:34And you've also got a new unknown young man called,
05:36what's his name?
05:37Yeah, he passed the audition, Robert Plant.
05:39Robert Plant, yeah, he sings on one track.
05:40Yeah.
05:41But you only give it him one track, though, eh?
05:43Yeah.
05:44What was that like working with Robert in the studio?
05:46Oh, really good, really good.
05:48You know, we've been working together
05:49anywhere in a few things, like
05:51the Honey Drippers in the past,
05:52and I've done a couple of tracks on his album.
05:54I noticed.
05:55And he came down and did one on mine, you know.
05:58Is it very different these days
06:00when you and Robert actually stand there
06:02in the recording studio together
06:03and actually working?
06:04Is it reminiscent of Zeppelin days
06:06or is it a completely different thing now?
06:07Well, obviously, we've got a friendship
06:08which goes way, way back, you know,
06:10and we've got an affinity together, which does.
06:12But obviously, in the past,
06:14the numbers that we did,
06:15we worked from the beginning, you know,
06:18the initial creation of the ideas, you know.
06:21So it's not quite like that now.
06:23You mean you don't fight as much?
06:25It's more polite.
06:26No, we never used to fight that much.
06:27You can tell.
06:28I just used to be as assertive as necessary.
06:32No, it's all right.
06:34What a diplomat.
06:35What a nice man and a diplomat.
06:37We do fight now.
06:38We didn't used to fight then.
06:40Give me all the dirt while we play the video.
06:42I'll tell you later.
06:43Here's a video you're going to enjoy,
06:44seeing our man here in action.
06:46This is again The Firm
06:47and this is Satisfaction Guaranteed.
06:50Welcome back, rockers,
06:51to the third and the last part of the last show.
06:54But it's all good.
06:55We're happy.
06:56We don't care, do we, Jimmy?
06:57No.
06:59I tell you what,
07:00we're going to bring things bang up to date in a minute
07:02and play your brand new single and video and everything.
07:06But first of all,
07:07we should tell everybody who's actually in this video
07:09and who's in the band
07:10because this is your permanent touring band now, isn't it?
07:12Yeah.
07:13Well, this is the mainstay of the band anyway, yeah.
07:15Right.
07:16John Miles on vocals.
07:18Right.
07:19Durban Laverde on bass
07:21and Young Jason Bonham on drums.
07:23Young Jason Bonham,
07:24that is a name to conjure with.
07:25Yeah.
07:26I've listened to the album myself.
07:27Is it fair of me to say
07:29his playing is very reminiscent of his father's style?
07:33Well, his approach is very similar.
07:35Yeah.
07:36I mean, his father taught him to play the drums.
07:38Right.
07:39So consequently, you know,
07:40he's got a pretty good start there, you know.
07:41Right.
07:42Yeah.
07:43All right, listen,
07:44we're going to talk about this a little bit more
07:45but you've probably had enough of us talking.
07:46You want to see what we're talking about, don't you?
07:48Settle down.
07:49Here we go.
07:50This is Jimmy Page's brand new single
07:51featuring all those wonderful people he just told us about.
07:53This is Wasting My Time.
07:56Yeah!
07:57All right!
07:58Jimmy Page.
07:59Well done, Jimmy.
08:00It's absolutely brilliant.
08:01Yeah.
08:02It's nice to see a performance video as well, I think,
08:04as opposed to this sort of running down corridors
08:06with the wind in your hair type of video.
08:08Yeah, I know.
08:09Yeah, but all the storyboard stuff.
08:10Yeah, yeah.
08:11Yeah, yeah.
08:12Well, hopefully the music carries it
08:13without a few short skirts and all the rest of it.
08:16Also, you know, funnily enough,
08:17I think it's good for people to see the band perform
08:20because you've got such a reputation through the years.
08:23I think people are still probably surprised
08:25that you can even get up and walk around.
08:27You've got such a sort of...
08:28Yeah, I know.
08:29There's been some surprising rumours going around, actually.
08:31I've just come back from the States and, you know,
08:33you walk in the room and people are amazed
08:35that you don't come in in a wheelchair or something.
08:37Yeah, I know.
08:38It's incredible, isn't it?
08:39For the stories I hear, yeah.
08:40Well, I was out with your record company
08:41in Los Angeles a few weeks ago
08:42and they weren't calling you Jimmy or Mr Page.
08:45They kept using the word God.
08:47I'll leave that.
08:48Honestly, I'll tell you this.
08:49You know, Jimmy is God around here.
08:52I was going, well, you know.
08:54The top they are over there.
08:56Does it make you feel nervous when you walk in a room
08:59and there's probably people in there
09:01perhaps you don't know or strangers
09:03and immediately you walk in there
09:04you can see them switch into Oh My God mode?
09:08Yeah, we do.
09:09It's best to relax them if it's like that, you know.
09:11Right.
09:12Happens when I walk in a room, you know.
09:14It's the same thing.
09:15You have to make sure everybody's relaxed in case...
09:17I just walk in the room and go, Oh God, anyway.
09:21All right, now listen.
09:22You are going to be touring.
09:23Yeah.
09:24When does the tour actually start?
09:25Well, it starts in America.
09:27Then it starts in August.
09:29Right.
09:30And goes through to November.
09:31Right.
09:32And then hopefully we'll do some dates over here.
09:34Decemberish.
09:35Yeah.
09:36Christmas time, eh?
09:37Well, yeah.
09:38Early part of December.
09:39All right.
09:40We're going to talk some more in a minute.
09:41This is a video that Jimmy has in fact picked for us.
09:44Yeah.
09:45It's an Aerosmith video.
09:46Yeah, this is done by the guy who did our video.
09:48And apart from that, I really like Aerosmith
09:51which is what it is by.
09:52Yeah.
09:53Because I think out of all the bands that come from earlier on,
09:56say in the 70s,
09:57I think they've come through with their really strong identity
09:59without sort of, well, just as Aerosmith,
10:02without ribbing off other bands, you know.
10:04I'll drink to that.
10:05This is Jimmy Page's choice of video.
10:07This is Aerosmith and dude looks like a lady.
10:11Yeah, a bit of Aerosmith there.
10:12And John Collard now looks like a lady.
10:14Doesn't he?
10:15Yeah, he looks like something or other, yeah.
10:17Really ugly, though, doesn't he?
10:18All right, John, calm down, calm down.
10:21Jimmy, you picked that Aerosmith video.
10:23There's a very famous 70s band that split up at the end of the decade
10:26and then four or five years later, they came back.
10:30Now, the next obvious question is,
10:32you were in a very famous 70s band,
10:34the most famous 70s rock band.
10:36Is there any chance of you boys ever doing the unmentionable?
10:40Well, there's no plans to do it at the moment.
10:43I mean, the two things that we did live,
10:45it was a really good reason to be doing, you know,
10:50working together with those numbers.
10:52And, of course, the I think Madison Square Garden,
10:56that came up right out of the blue.
10:58The Atlantic Records 40th anniversary.
11:00Yeah, that's right, that's right.
11:01And so we did that.
11:03And, of course, it gave Jason a great opportunity
11:06to show just how well he can play, you know.
11:09Actually, I saw Jason just a couple of days after he got back from New York
11:12and he was still, like, really high on the whole thing, you know.
11:15Did you enjoy yourself while you were out in New York?
11:19Yeah, I got pretty nervous, actually, on that particular thing.
11:22Because usually I just get used to pacing myself towards the gig.
11:27You know, we were supposed to go on at 12 and we went on at 1.30
11:30and I was like that by then, you know.
11:32I think it tells if you've heard it.
11:35But it was fun.
11:36All right.
11:37Now, listen, we have, of course, got a fantastic competition.
11:41Just by chance.
11:42Just purely by chance.
11:43Funny you should be here.
11:44We've actually got one of these to give away.
11:46Can you see that?
11:47That says Jimmy Page Outrider.
11:49And that, my friend, is a lunchbox.
11:51In fact, hang ten there.
11:53Hang ten there, Jeremy.
11:54Weird Jeremy's on the camera.
11:56Sandwiched inside.
11:57Sandwiched inside.
11:58We have, yes, we're all going wrong,
12:00we have a Jimmy Page interview CD
12:03with a very, very famous rock journalist.
12:05Can't remember his name.
12:07Jimmy Page Outrider cassette.
12:10Bit of Jimmy Page bumf.
12:12Words, words you can read.
12:14Can't you rock? Of course you can.
12:15And a Jimmy Page Outrider interview videocassette.
12:20Also done with probably the most famous rock journalist in the world.
12:23What is his name, that guy? I don't know.
12:25Anyway, we've got one of these to give away.
12:27We've also got two brand new Jimmy Page albums, Outrider.
12:31And all you have to do, if you want to win them,
12:34is answer me this incredibly difficult question,
12:36as it's the last choke.
12:38What's the name of the guitar that Mr. Page here is most famously associated with?
12:42What's the name of the guitar?
12:43And if you think that's not difficult, how's this?
12:45What year was it made?
12:47Name the year and the make of Jimmy's guitar,
12:51which everybody knows, right?
12:52Anybody that's worth talking about.
12:54And you can win one of these.
12:55If you want the address, we're running it right over this next video,
12:58so we're going to relax, me and Jimmy, while you do a bit of that.
13:01And this is Deep Purple, their new video.
13:03Hush!
13:07Deep Purple.
13:08Were you ever a Deep Purple fanatic, Jimmy?
13:10I like some of the stuff they did, yeah.
13:12The earlier stuff, you mean.
13:13Yeah.
13:16What's that?
13:17Sorry, Michael, your time's up.
13:21It's a wrap.
13:23Is that a friend of yours?
13:25I don't know, we'll find out later.
13:28I think he means it's the end of the show, Jimmy.
13:31Seems like it.
13:32The end of the last show.
13:36We're not sad, though, are we?
13:38We don't care.
13:39Do we?
13:40Just a little bit.
13:41I mean, I won't be able to get my share of metal anymore.
13:43I know, and we haven't told anybody yet that this is your favourite rock show, have we?
13:47Sure is, though.
13:48Yeah.
13:49He's serious when he says that.
13:50I am.
13:51Yeah, I'm serious too.
13:52It is all over, it's been very nice of you to come on, Jimmy.
13:55It's been my pleasure.
13:56I tell you what, seeing as it's the last show, would you like one of these?
13:59I'd love one.
14:00Well, look, this one's specially for you.
14:03It's very heavy, very heavy indeed, but I know you're a strong man.
14:06I'll probably take one of these myself.
14:08In fact, I might take two because Guy, the floor manager, he loves headstones, so I'll take one for him.
14:13There you go, Guy.
14:14Specially for you, my old doughnut.
14:16Right, rockers, me and Jimmy, we're off to play with the stones.
14:20Right.
14:21And we'll see you later.
14:22We'll meet again.