Page laughs off Keef's 'hollow' Led Zep comments

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By ( Louder ) published

Guitar icon says Stones man's tongue must have been firmly in his cheek

Jimmy Page has laughed of Keith Richards’ recent disparaging comments about Led Zep, putting it down to the fact the Rolling Stones man was promoting a new solo album.

In an exclusive interview with Classic Rock magazine, the Zeppelin guitar icon says Richards must have had his tongue in his cheek when he described Led Zep as “hollow” due to John Bonham’s thundering drum style.

Richards made the comments as he was promoting his solo album Crosseyed Heart, released in September.

Page says: “Keith can say what he wants. He’s Keith Richards. I think he’s done some amazing work. I respect his playing. And he has a solo album out. But if I was promoting a new album, would I be more caustic? The answer is… no.

“I’m not sure what he means by calling Led Zeppelin hollow. I think he’s got his tongue in his cheek. What we did was really cool.”

Page discusses his massive Zeppelin back catalogue remastering project – which won the Reissues Of The Year award at last month’s Classic Rock Roll Of Honour – in detail and also looks forward to the next stage of his career. While he hasn’t yet worked out which musicians he will collaborate with, he does reveal that future gigs will include work from throughout his career.

He says: “My plan would be to work on all of the music, so that by the time I get the musicians in, I’d be sure that the music is really substantial in all these areas, because some of it is going to be tricky. I want it to be pretty unusual.

“I want to surprise people. But I would definitely do something outlining my history – past, present and future. On my solo tour in 1988, I did stuff from The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and The Firm. I wouldn’t do anything too dissimilar now. I’d do things that I know people would want to hear. But I’ve got new music as well.”

Issue 218 of Classic Rock is out now and available in print, digital and via TeamRock+.

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.