Less than two years after releasing the band’s seminal fourth album, Led Zeppelin III (which featured the classic tracks Black Dog, Rock’n’Roll and the epic Stairway to Heaven), Led Zeppelin made its way to Australia for its one and only Australian tour. On February 20, 1972, Led Zeppelin took to the stage at the Kooyong Tennis Centre, tearing through a typically incendiary set in front of a crowd of excited, and possibly libidinous fans.
Ash Naylor, guitarist and songwriter with Even and self-confessed Led Zeppelin tragic, was barely out of nappies when Led Zeppelin hit Australian shores. “I did speak to a guy called Mick who I met at the Rainbow in about 2000, who saw Zeppelin on that tour,” Naylor says, “and he had fond memories of John Bonham drinking the long necks that were stored next to his drum kit while he was playing.”
Naylor had been introduced to Led Zeppelin originally in the early ‘80s via commercial radio. “I was really into Kiss as a little kid, and hearing Led Zeppelin was a bit like coming out of a cartoon world into the real world,” Naylor laughs. “At the time I didn’t know a lot about the mythology of the band – I learnt that retrospectively. I think I identified with the weight of the music – it was an escape from the boredom of suburbia,” Naylor says.
Indeed, the story of Led Zeppelin is inextricably intertwined with mythology: from tales of groupies (exemplified by the notorious Seattle shark story), excessive drug and alcohol consumption and Jimmy Page’s fascination with the occult.
“Led Zeppelin is the archetype of that era when stories were based on word of mouth,” Naylor says. “Everything that happened on the road became part of the story. There was no internet, no Instagram, so the stories were really important. And a lot of the myths will never be repeated – and a lot of them probably shouldn’t be,” he laughs.
On Friday January 31, Naylor will channel his inner Jimmy Page as part of a Led Zeppelin tribute show, conceived especially to celebrate Zeppelin’s 1972 Kooyong show. Joined by King North’s Danny Leo on drums, Stephen Hadley (Tex Perkins) on bass and Bruce Haymes on keyboard and a rotating cast of vocalists including Dave Larkin (Dallas Crane), Pat Carmody (My Dynamite) and Talei and Eliza Wolfgramm, the ensemble will play the original setlist from the Kooyong show plus a few well-chosen additional Led Zeppelin tracks.
Naylor, who admits to going through a period in the mid-‘80s when Led Zeppelin played second fiddle to guitar pop bands like The Smiths and REM, says the Led Zeppelin repertoire has a lot more musical complexity to it than most people would realise.
“Some of the songs we’ll be playing at the end of the set are quite challenging,” Naylor says. “We’re still going to have a crack at some of the more epic tracks. But none of them are simple – there are no jams, and there’s no cruising. You really have to have your wits about you when you’re playing the tracks.”
Naylor also hopes that fortune will shine his way and he’ll be given the chance to play a double-necked guitar, in the indulgent style of Jimmy Page himself. “There’s a massive chance I’ll do that,” Naylor promises. “I’m open to any offers from the public if anyone’s got one I can borrow for the night. When you play one of those guitars, you get a new width to you – but you’re also only one switch away from disaster. It’s a hard beast to tame!” he laughs.
BY PATRICK EMERY
