Un interview qui nous vient du fameux site :

TIGHT BUT LOOSE

C'est un interview assez intéressant de Robert Plant qui répond là en quelque sorte à celui donné par Jimmy Page en début d'année, et largement diffusé sur le web. Son point de vue au sujet du Zeppelin est très respectable et se défend tout à fait. Translation of Plant's Norwegian interview With Norwegian web-magazine Dagsavisen , published on the 27th of April: Robert Plant interviewed by Frank Johnsen:
Translation Into English For TBL/Web By Per R Olsen <Pero@Ziehl-ebm.no>

I am in Paradise:
-It is like Paradise to me touring with a technical staff of only two people. At last I can sing without pressure from the outside, says rock legend Robert Plant. Tonight the former Led Zeppelin vocalist enters the stage in Bergen during the Ole Blues festival. Late in the evening yesterday, one of Rock History's prime vocalists landed in Bergen, to enter as one of the main performers during the Ole Blues festival, officially named Bergen Music Fest .
The twelve years during which Plant was the leader of Led Zeppelin, made him a Superstar. The renommé of the band has by no way faded during the twenty years that heve passed since the tragic death of John Bonham in 1980. The last few years he has toured and recorded together with his Zeppelin colleague Jimmy Page, but presently his time is occupied by the project Priory of Brion.
-During the last tour with Jimmy Page we played in exiting cities like Bucharest, Prague, Zagreb and Itanbul. But Bergen has, after what I am told, always been supportive to the good musical traditions. Besides, I have for a long time been a friend with the boys of Big Time Playboys, who come from my hometown Birmingham. They have been a lot to Bergen and have boasted of Ole Blues , says Plant on the telephone from Birmingham.

Johnsen: -Reviews in the British Music press suggest that your voice seldom has been better than now?
Plant: -I have never been in bad shape, but it has always been a little Catch 22 . If one sings the same songs over a long periode of time, maybe several years, the inspiration will eventually disappear, no matter how good response one gets from the audience. With Priory of Brion I take a giant leap over my past, and I sing the songs on which I am humming while driving my car.

Johnsen: So that is why you are omitting the Led Zeppelin songs?
Plant: Yes. I can tour with Jimmy at any time, and then it feels natural to sing our old classics. But this is a totally different project, in which I am presently strong involved. We are colorful, dynamic and rough in the edges.

The history of Priory of Brion goes way back in time, when he played with the band's guitarist, Kevyn Gammond, in Band of Joy in the 60's. John Bonham also played in that band. Band of Joy were a kind of underground band. In that time, British radio in general was totallylost. They had neither space for Sonny Boy Williamson or Jefferson Airplane. Cliff Richard and The New Seekers were the ones dominating the radio, and that tells a lot of British pop in the 60's, according to Plant. He felt the exiting movements coming from USA.

The Hell of Intoxication
In USA people were more social conscious. The uprising against the Vietnam War on the psychedelic age. Tides that spread out ofer Europe, but missed England. Our contribution to pop music became more and more like brain dead. We had good bands like Small Faces and The Yardbirds, but they did not have any message. The music and the guitar heroes were all that mattered.

Johnsen: And Band of Joy tried to do something with that?
Plant: Yes. Without much success. Jimmy and I landed in USA 23. September 1969 (with The New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin's first name). At this point of time, Summer of Love had developed to a turbulent Hell of Intoxication, but I was hooked on the American music culture. Even if Led Zeppelin were very naiv in the beginning, we tried to support the positive elements in a society which was gradually broken up by Nixon and his likes.
TBL Note: The Date and the Location are obviously wrong...!!

Johnsen: Is this what Priory of Brion try to follow up?
Plant: Well, we try to reflect the ideas of from the songs of that period. I see this as a fantastic opportunity. At last I can do this without pressure from the outside, without having a record to promote. We also have a good time together.

Buddy Guy
He loves the intimate of playing at small clubs.
Plant: You feel quite distant by playing at huge stadions year after year, where you only can see a great darkness in front of you. Now I need to communicate with an audience.

Johnsen: In contradiction to Jimmy Page, who is going to tour large stadions together with Black Crowes this summer and play Led Zeppelin classics?
Plant: Jimmy is a sparkling guitarist with whom everybody wants to play. He likes that role. My challenge is to interprete songs that changed my life. To give those songs new life. That's why Jimmy and I do just what we want presently.

Johnsen: You play old favourites?
Plant: Yes. But we interprete the songs to match with present times. I am not playing them the safe way.

(The interviewer asks at the chances of Plant appearing on stage together with Buddy Guy, who also plays at another event, and Plant does not dismiss the idea)

At the end of the interview there is some talk about football, and Plant confirmes that he supports Wolverhampton. He says he is gonna watch the first period of Bolton-Wolverhampton on 3rd of May, he then has to rush back on his motorbike to Manchester, where he is entering stage that evening.