Black Country Communion have now released their new album: 2.
MER caught up with drummer, Jason Bonham, for a chat about BCC and his other endeavors …
MER:
You’ve just finished recording your new album with Black Country Communion, which is called 2. Are you pleased with how it turned out?
JB:
I’m exceedingly happy with how it turned out. When we did the first album, which felt more like a project when I look back, there wasn’t much time to think about it. I only had four days to do my thing. We had a beautiful 10 day period to work on this second album and there was a definite feeling that we were more of a band.
MER:
This is your second album in a little over 6 months. That’s pretty incredible in this day and age where the likes of Def Leppard would barely have tuned their guitars in that space of time. You must be in a very productive vein of form at the moment …
JB:
When we went into the studio there were still some ideas floating around that we didn’t do or attempt to do on the first run through. We all naturally felt that it was more of a band now and we went into the studio with a whole different vibe. I got over any kind of issues that I had about being exploited by Kevin Shirley, our Producer. It was really great. We got everything off our chests and went in there with a fresh attitude and I felt absolutely 100% a part of this band. When you hear the album you’ll hear a really fresh, vibrant band.
MER:
Are the songs left over from the writing sessions for the 1st album or have these all been written after the first album was released?
JB:
There might have been the odd idea lying around from the last time. The riff for “Save Me” had been around for a while and was something I’d been working on with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. We talked about it on the first album, but we never had the time to finish it. I was so pleased to finish that one off from the intro that Kevin came up with to the bridge that Joe developed and the chorus and chords that Derek worked up. Everyone played a part in it and I’m so pleased with it. There are parts of the album where I got to play like my heroes, Chad Smith and Phil Collins. I was able to go back to my childhood again and I actually changed my drum set up for the album and went back to the original way I set my drums up. I’ve gone back to three rack toms and 2 floors, so I went back to an old school way of playing and I had to adapt my style so I wasn’t relying on my old man’s drum set up.
MER:
When you released your debut album you were at that point a studio band, but since its release you’ve played a handful of shows together. Have you found that your experience of playing live together has had an influence on your writing?
JB:
Definitely!! Some of the songs weren’t even complete when we entered the studio, so we jammed them out and worked things out by playing together. The more this band plays together the better it will be. We’re a band that will grow as we play together. By the time we do our third album we’ll be so much better again.
MER:
Derek Sherinan’s contribution seems more upfront this time, especially on something like “Outsider” where he’s trading licks with Joe. He seemed to have more of a background role last time. Was it a conscious move for him to be more involved?
JB:
When we play live and I’m going with Joe and there’s different bits going on, all those moments were captured as we did them. In “Outsider”, when Derek and I are going off together, that’s how it happened in the studio. It was done in one take. I just played how I always played with keyboard players and guitarists. When they go for it, I go for it and that’s the way Jimmy Page and my Dad used to play and I was so inspired by that. Derek seems more involved because that’s just how the songs turned out after playing together.
MER:
This album rocks harder, grooves deeper, has more light, shade, and more Progressive elements than your debut. How do you see the progression in the band musically since then?
JB:
This time I felt like I was part of a band whereas in the first one I just felt like a session drummer and we had no expectations as to what was going to happen. This time it really felt like a proper band and I never stopped talking and really tried to put my influence on the album. One of the things that I hoped people would hear is exactly what you have just said, so I’m glad that’s what you heard.
MER:
Musically the album is very diverse. “Save Me” is a real Eastern-tinged epic while “Cold” is a beautifully classy Blues number, and “I Can See Your Spirit” is a driving rocker. Is this diversity a result of your collective influences?
JB:
It is a very diverse record and I played the album out of context the other day to a friend of mine and he commented on what different spectrums the album goes through. I don’t think we intentionally set out to do an album like that, instead it’s just the way it came out.
MER:
“The Battle For Hadrian’s Wall” is an acoustic-based number sung by Joe. Hadrian’s Wall is up in a beautiful part of Northumberland. Was that song inspired by a visit to the area or did it just seem to be a good idea for a song?
JB:
Well, that’s one of Joe’s so you’d have to ask him. Joe is very much into his storytelling. He likes to tell a story in a song rather than the “I woke up one morning” type of song. His words to that song are absolutely beautiful.
MER:
Is having Joe as a second lead singer in the band a strength in your view?
JB:
Very much so. Having Glenn and Joe singing gives us something really special. Having Glenn as a singer is great and having Joe as well is just amazing. It works so well and I’m so pleased with how it’s turned out.
MER:
Kevin Shirley again produced the album. How does he compare with the likes of Bob Ezrin who you’ve worked with in the past?
JB:
Bob sits in a room with you and kind of directs and Kevin is very much like that more so now than on the first album where he stayed more in the control room. Now he’s in the room with us more and sort of conducts us. He was a real part of this album and helped to make it work so well.
MER:
Glenn has a real Funk edge running through him … how do you, as a drummer, feel about playing with him?
JB:
I find it kind of easy in a way. I never really imagined it to be a challenge as Dad’s actual playing had much more of a Funk edge than people realized, so my general feeling in the way that I play is a lot more Funky. When I read the reviews of the O2 show that I did with Zeppelin, they were saying that they hadn’t realized what a Funky edge Zeppelin had. That’s one thing that I tried really hard to keep in. John Paul Jones said to me to understand John Bonham, you have to understand Funk.
MER:
When you play you don’t tend to do a straight 4/4 AC/DC-style beat … you seem to have a more driving groove. Do you get the effect by playing just behind the beat?
JB:
Yes, that’s right. Sometimes you feel that you are so far behind the beat that you are going to end up catching up with yourself. You’re like the anchor of the band; it’s like driving with the hand brake on. It’s very effective. It’s funny as sometimes during playback I struggle to listen if someone’s ahead of me so I have to try to drag them back. It really works in the live setting and if anyone’s going to be the anchor then I’m your man.
MER:
In July, you’ll be heading over to the UK to play some shows. You’ve only played live a few times at the back end of last year. Are you looking forward to getting out on the road to play?
JB:
I am very much looking forward to it. Black Country Communion is a live band and we just want to get out there and show people what we can do.
MER:
Will you be playing songs purely from the two Black Country Communion albums or will you cherry pick a couple of songs from your collective past?
JB:
We now have two albums to choose from material-wise to really put a show together and we will showcase what is a really good band. First and foremost we’ll play material that’s on the two albums. In the past we’ve done “No Quarter” by Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple’s “Burn”. We’ll never shy away from our past and previous stuff, but what we’d like to do is move forward to show people this is what we do.
MER:
You’ve just added Michael Schenker Group as special guests, which is great news for fans. Seeing Joe Bonamassa and Michael Schenker on the same night will be something special.
JB:
I’m a huge fan of Michael’s and obviously I spent some time in UFO, so there’ll be a couple of elements in the show where I’ll be itching to get up and play with him.
MER:
As well as BCC, you’ve been pretty busy with other projects too. Over the last week or so, you’ve been touring with Paul Rodgers. How did you end up playing with Paul on this tour?
JB :
I first worked with Paul back in 1993 on his Muddy Waters Blues album, so I’ve known him for a long-time and I toured England with him then with Steve Lukather from Toto on the guitar. The current tour came about when I played with Paul at a radio station in L.A with Joe Perry on guitar and he said to me, “Wow, I’d forgotten how good you were” and I replied “Thank you very much, I’ve always known how good you are.” He asked me what I was doing in April and asked if I’d tour the UK with him. The timing was perfect as a couple of days after the tour was scheduled to finish I went into production rehearsals for my own shows with the Led Zeppelin Experience. I’ll do 20 shows with that and when I finish that I’ve 5 days off and I start work again with Black Country Communion, so it’s a busy year.
MER:
What happens during the Led Zeppelin Experience shows?
JB:
It’s a concert with a live band. If you check out the clips on YouTube there’s quite an extensive collection of material up there now, so you can see what it’s like. In between certain songs I give an insight into what it was like growing up in the household and I show home footage with Dad. It’s a very special night and it’s been received so well. I’m looking forward to bringing it to England in December.
MER:
Do you get to play with your Dad at any point on a video screen?
JB:
Yes I do. I play along with him during “Moby Dick”. That’s such a special moment for me as during an interview he once said he would love for me to play drums with him at The Royal Albert Hall and the footage of him on the video screen is from The Royal Albert Hall, so I’m with him on that. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’m actually fulfilling one of his dreams.
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