Jason Bonham: Jimmy Page gave me cocaine when I was 16

Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham in 2012 (Image credit: Kevin Mazur - Getty)

Drummer Jason Bonham says he was given cocaine when he was just 16 years old by guitarist Jimmy Page.

The son of late Led Zeppelin great John Bonham recalled the hotel room incident that occurred while the band were on tour.

Bonham told Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show (via UCR): “Jimmy was the first one to ever give it to me. We got called to his room. I was 16 at this point, and there was a woman on the floor with a collar on, meowing.

“He had this grinder thing. He turned it over and he went, ‘Here you go,’ and I went, ‘Thanks.’ 

“He’s like, ‘You’ve done this before, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, of course I have.’

“He handed it over and I just did all of it, and he went, ‘Just like your father. That was supposed to be for all of us!’”

Bonham, who has been sober for 17 years and also famously played with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at the London reunion show in 2007, also revealed another occasion involving Page.

He said: “I would be doing blow and they found out. So Jimmy cut his guitar solo short. I was halfway into the dressing room and I suddenly hear I’m supposed to come in now.

“So we ran back and Jimmy’s just standing there. He was angry because we didn’t offer him any.”

The Circle, featuring Bonham, along with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Vic Johnson, will release their new studio album Space Between on May 10 via BMG.

Their US tour will get under way later this month.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.