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Watch: Drummer Jason Bonham on growing up with a dad in legendary rock band Led Zeppelin

June 2, 2018

Seven Sharp’s Mike Thorpe spoke with Bonham who’s in New Zealand with the Bonham Legacy.

When English drummer Jason Bonham was growing up, he had no idea that his father was part of the greatest rock band of all time, Led Zeppelin.

Bonham didn't realise he had been brought up in rock royalty "until it was too late".

"I remember when I was 11 years old and we went to Tampa, the final Zep tour in America, and Tampa - they broke the record."

"Eighty-thousand people, no opening act, and I remember going, 'Dad, who else is playing?' and he went, 'No one, it's just us' and I went 'Yeah, right'. It was just like, 'Really?'"

He said he was more focused on motocross than drumming, but everything changed when his father, John, was found dead in 1980, aged 32, when Bonham was 14.

Now a drummer himself, Bonham said his father's lessons are still as vivid at 52.

"He always used to say to me, 'Oh, don't do all that flashy stuff, never put yourself at a disadvantage, don't put your cymbals where you have to stretch for them. You'll have way more energy at the end."

Mr Bonham is now touring around the world, carrying on his father's - and his band's - legacy.

"It really was started as a therapeutic [thing] with some friends. 'Let's play some Zeppelin music.'"

Jason Bonham will be performing at Auckland’s Logan Campbell Centre Saturday night.


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