THEY'D SAY, "WHO'S PLAYNG BASS?" "I AM! LOOK AT MY FEET!"

JOHN PAUL JONES, ON A MUSICAL BANQUET WITH SIDE ORDERS OF EXHAUSTION... AND DISQUIET. "IT WAS A CRI DE COEUR," THE BASSIST / KEYSMAN TELLS MARK BLAKE.

Does it surprise you that Led Zeppelin still mean so much to people 50 years on?

It’s very gratifying that people still remember us. But I always presumed I’d still be playing music 50 years on, because it’s all I ever wanted to do.

In the new photo book’s epilogue, you write “It was all about the music, all of the time.”

It always was. Everything else was just incidental.

You came from a musical family; were you always going to become a musician?

Six months after leaving school, my dad said he knew a friend who could get me a job in a shipping office, if I wanted it. I said, “No thanks, I’ll find a band.” My father was a pianist, my mother was a dancer and a singer – they were both in variety – and my granny used to play piano for silent movies.

You, Jimmy Page and Peter Grant bankrolled those early New Yardbirds/Zeppelin dates. Presumably, you knew you were onto a winner?

Yes. That first rehearsal was just so fantastic. Plus I knew Peter Grant, as he worked with [producer] Mickie Most and I’d been Mickie’s arranger. Peter was a force of nature and with him behind us I knew we could do really well.

From the outside it seemed as if Led Zeppelin were destined to be successful. Was there always a grand plan to conquer the world?

No. Jimmy had sussed out the lie of the land in America with The Yardbirds, but there was no formal plan. Maybe, a plan evolved later, after we realised touring America at the birth of FM radio was a great way to do it.

You and John Bonham seemed like polar opposites, and you were also a more experienced studio musician. Was that ever a problem?

There was never the slightest problem. John knew what he was doing and did it better than anyone I’d ever heard. John and I drifted apart when we weren’t on-stage, but that’s how it was in Zeppelin.

You’ve said the four of you weren’t close friends, but it was about coming together to play music.

Completely. Even if you’d been arguing earlier, it didn’t matter. That was left behind when we walked on stage. On-stage we were as one.

Is it true people sometimes thought Zeppelin had a hidden bass player when they saw you playing keyboards on-stage?

Yes. “Who’s playing bass?” “I am! Look at my feet!”

Peter Grant once claimed Zeppelin considered hiring a keyboard player in the early days.

No, no, no (emphatically). Unless they were talking behind my back…. I even played keyboards at those early rehearsals at [Jimmy Page’s house in] Pangbourne. Page had a Hohner Pianet, if I recall. I played it when we did the Band song Chest Fever. Their album [Music From Big Pink] had just come out and we were so excited by what we were doing we just wanted to keep playing.

But you did threaten to leave in 1974 as it was taking you away from your family too much?

Yes. That was a bit of a cri de coeur. I just wanted to know what we were doing, say, two months in advance, rather than be told, “This is happening tomorrow.” Then everybody else got children and it all fell into place.

Was family life a way of staying grounded amid all the madness of the road?

Very much. But even without my family on the road, I would arrive, check into my room and then go straight out the back door of the hotel and walk around the city. I remember The Beatles saying that on their first American tour they hardly left their hotel. I thought, “That’s not going to happen to me.”

Did you ever present an idea and have it rejected for not being, say, ‘Led Zeppelin’ enough?

No. If an idea was good it didn’t matter what the musical slant was. If it didn’t work, we’d all agree and move on. Obviously there are a couple of our songs I’m not that crazy about…

Which ones?

D’yer Mak’er (laughs). Down By The Seaside, but I like that country piano I played on it. Generally, we didn’t put out stuff anybody in the band hated.

Songs sometimes took on a life of their own in concert.

I’ve always improvised. When I was 14 and playing the organ in church, I improvised – because I was never that good at playing Bach. Some songs stayed as ‘songs’ and others, like No Quarter, we took it somewhere else on-stage. I remember doing the Atlantic 40th [birthday concert, New York, in 1988, where Zeppelin performed with Jason Bonham]. We were in an elevator with the guy from Tears For Fears. He said, “God, I wish we could do what you do. Everything we do is to a click track, it sounds exactly the same every night…” We just listened in horror.

You had more writing credits on the last Zeppelin album, In Through The Out Door, than any before. How do you view that record now?

I like all our albums. But that one was a matter of logistics. Robert and I got to rehearsals and nobody else was there. Eventually we said, “OK, let’s try this.” It was never, “OK, I’m taking over! This is my album.”

If John Bonham had lived, what would the next Zeppelin album have sounded like?

No idea. We had no idea from one album to the next. Nobody ever said (adopts slow, monotone voice) “Oh, let’s do another Stairway To Heaven, let’s do another Whole Lotta Love…”

Did you miss Zeppelin when it finished?

Yes. But I spent a lot of time with my family. I couldn’t get arrested in the ‘80s – a very weird time. It wasn’t until the end of the ‘90s when I made my first solo album [1999’s Zooma]. We toured the world, sold out shows, then promoters started insisting (sounds appalled) I get a bloody singer. It was instrumental music, but I’m not Jeff Beck. I remember a promoter saying, “We can’t grow it”. Oh well, fuck you all.

Would you make another solo album? No, no, no. I can’t be arsed (laughing).

You’ve produced and collaborated with an eclectic mix of artists since Zeppelin, though: Diamanda Galas, Wings, Them Crooked Vultures, R.E.M., Rokia Traoré…

If it sounds interesting, I do it. I’m writing a chamber opera for [mezzo-soprano] Dame Sarah Connolly.

Is it refreshing working with musicians who don’t necessarily like Led Zeppelin?

Yes, but I just discovered Dame Sarah is a huge fan and knows all the stuff.

Do you allow her to ask a couple of questions?

Yes, occasionally (laughing). The same with Them Crooked Vultures. Dave Grohl would go, “Hey, what was Zeppelin’s rider like?” Sometimes they’re disappointed by the answer because the myth has become so built up.

The myth is also a part of it. I suppose it is.

What’s your proudest musical achievement in Led Zeppelin?

Oh lord… (long pause) No Quarter would be one. I always liked Physical Graffiti because of the scope of it, but I also liked the hardness of the first album.

What about since Zeppelin?

Touring with Gillian Welch, that first Sara Watkins record [2009’s self-titled debut], and working with Diamanda Galas – I’m really proud of that. She’s my favourite pianist and singer. She’s part of our family now.

Would you have liked to play more Zeppelin shows after the 02?

Absolutely. Jimmy, Jason and I did rehearse and looked for a singer – not to replace Zeppelin, but because it sounded so good, we all thought, “Let’s do some more.” But it didn’t work out.

It’s never going to happen again, is it?

No, and if it’s not going to happen, I always move on. But I’m very happy doing what I’m doing now. All I ever wanted to do was play music. Any excuse – I don’t care.

"EVEN OF YOU'D BEEN ARGUING EARLIER, IT DIDNT MATTER. THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND WHEN WE WALKED ON STAGE". JOHN PAUL JONES