Jimmy Page: The Rolling Stone Interview
James Patrick Page was born on January 9th, 1944. An only child, he grew up in Epsom, a town southwest of London, and swiftly became a prodigy on guitar. In his midteens, he was touring with a prominent band, Neil Christian and the Crusaders. Page was soon one of the youngest and busiest session musicians in London, playing on records by the Who, the Kinks, Them and Donovan, before giving that up in late ’66 to join, then replace, his boyhood friend Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds. Two years later, on the day after Christmas 1968, Led Zeppelin played their first U.S. show, in Denver.
Dressed in shades of gray and black, with his snow-white hair pulled back in a short ponytail, Page is lively, engaged and cheerful when he talks about his youth, sessions, the Yardbirds and Zeppelin’s rapid ascent. He talks at length about his recent book — a lavish photo history, Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page — and his website, where he shares rare audio and video clips from his entire career, and where you can now purchase an independently released LP of his legendary unissued soundtrack to the film Lucifer Rising. Page is fully engaged in current music; he enthuses about recent London shows he’s seen by Muse and a young American blues-rock combo, Rival Sons. He makes no promises about future solo efforts but insists he is an active musician, playing at home, planning projects: “I’m still playing the guitar. I’m just not seen playing the guitar. That’s the essence of it.”
Page, who has three children with his second wife, Jimena, and two more by previous relationships, does not dodge questions about his personal life or darker matter, such as substance abuse or his well-known interest in the occult philosopher Aleister Crowley. At times, Page’s response is simple and decisive: “I’m not telling you.” More often, he challenges the query, denouncing gossip and lurid Zeppelin biographies — then replies after a long pause, during which he seems to be deciding exactly what and how much he cares to divulge.
Even in this interview, one of the most revealing he has ever given, Page guards his life, dreams and intentions the way he looks after the records and reputation of Led Zeppelin: with care, no apologies and an iron belief that the answer to everything, ultimately, is in the music.
After the O2 concert, fans expected a reunion tour. They didn’t get it. What happened?
Some of us thought we would be continuing, that there were going to be more concerts in the not-too-distant future. Because there was a lot of work being put into one show. I know that Jason, who was playing with Foreigner, resigned from that band.
But Robert was busy. He was doing his Alison Krauss project. I wasn’t fully aware that it was going to be launched at the same time. So what do you do in a situation like that? I’d been working with the other two guys for the percentage of the rehearsals for the O2. We were connecting well. The weakness was that none of us sang.
So we concentrated on our strengths. We came up with some really good material. We were on a roll. Maybe we should have taken that material straight into the studio.
