Page 10 - L&T John Bonham

Redditch Heritage John Bonham

A Natural Drummer

By early 1968, John had built up a strong reputation among musicians and bands in the
Redditch area for being one of the best drummers around. He had the combination of
power, stamina, technique and stage presence that made him stand out.
However, he also had an instinct to play thunderously loud and hard, breaking lots of
drum heads along the way. In many venues, they would have in place a volume limit
which would cut the power off once the sound went above its set threshold. Bonham
often exceeded these volume limits, cutting off the power which led to him being banned
from playing again in many venues.

Pre-Led Zeppelin Days

At 15 John Bonham joined the Blue Star Trio band in 1963, replacing drummer Bill
Harvey.
In this period he also sat in for and
jammed with many other local bands
around at the time. At 16 he joined his
first semi-pro band: Terry Webb & The
Spiders. They band purple jackets with
velvet lapels. The singer wore a gold
lame jacket.
Around this time, John made his first
recording in a studio with a pop song
'She's A Mod' by The Senators, the
track was released on a rare 1964

compilation album, Brum Beat.

After playing with Terry Webb for just over
a year, John joined A Way Of Life in 1966.
When the band were recording a demo at
Zella Studios, run by Johnny Haynes, Hay-
nes stated that John's drumming was "un-
recordable" as his kit was too loud for the
equipment. Once Led Zeppelin had taken
off, John sent his critic a gold Led Zeppelin
album from Atlanta records inscribed to
'John Henry Bonham' along with a note
reading "Thanks for the advice".

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