Ian Paice’s opinion on John Bonham

When asked who the greatest drummer of all time is, most rock fans mention two names: Led Zeppelin‘s John Bonham and Rush’s Neil Peart. They are the most frequently cited, but there are many outstanding drummers who don’t always receive the same level of recognition. One of them is Deep Purple co-founder Ian Paice, an essential part of the band’s sound and the only member to have played on every studio album the group has released.

Paice also had the opportunity see many of his contemporaries on the British rock scene, including Bonham. He had the chance to hang out with the late musician and already gave his opinion on his playing.

What is Ian Paice’s opinion on John Bonham

Ian Paice had the chance to spend time with John and is still a big fan of his playing. He said that nobody sounded like him and to this day no one does. “John and I never actually got to be close friends because we were always working all the time. So when we did meet up with each other, it was generally a very nice liquid night (laughs). We’ve enjoyed each other’s company quite a lot. I think the last time I saw John, we used to go to a club in London called Speakeasy. I’ve driven there in my car and I realized it was going to be a really good night. So I drove the car home again, got a taxi. Anyway, the pub shut 3 o’clock in the morning and John was still (drinking) and (wanted to keep it going).”

“So he said: ‘Come on, we’re going to see some friends who are rehearsing in the country’. So he go outside and he has his lovely Aston Martin car. He said ‘Don’t worry about it, we will be fine’. Coming out of London there’s a little motorway where the speed limit is 60 km/h, we were doing 200. Like typical with John, we didn’t see one police car, we didn’t have problems. But the road which was three lanes wide, was only wide enough for John (he was going from one side to the other). God bless him, that was the last time I saw him.”

He continued:

“But when he said he lived his life to the full, he really meant to. But the most important thing about what John did was what we still listen to today. He had a way of simplifying everything that was needed in the piece of music. (John) was playing to get the maximum effect of the drums he was playing. He did that with an amazing sound. Nobody’s drums sounded like John’s drums and nobody’s drums sound like that today,” Ian Paice said back in 2017 during a conversation with fans (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Back in 2015, he was part of the event “Celebrating John Bonham”, which took place in Croatia to mark the 35th anniversary of the musician’s death. Alongside a backing band, Paice performed several Led Zeppelin songs, including “Stairway to Heaven”, “Kashmir” and “Trampled Under Foot”. It wasn’t the first time the Deep Purple drummer had paid tribute to Bonzo.

Five years earlier, he had performed “Rock and Roll” with the band Odessa in Italy. He was also part of the “Tribute to John Bonham” in 1992, which featured many other drummers, including John’s son Jason, Tommy Aldridge, Frankie Banali and Bobby Rock. He performed “The Rover” before returning for the grand finale, which featured eight drummers playing “Communication Breakdown” at the same time.

Led Zeppelin was an inspiration to Deep Purple

Although Ian Paice and John Bonham had their own styles, Led Zeppelin was an important inspiration for Deep Purple. After their first three records, Paice’s band had reached a crossroads. He was unsure whether they should continue with that style of music, which was more orchestral and Progressive.

By that time, Led Zeppelin was shaking the Rock scene with their groundbreaking debut album, which would become one of the most important records in the evolution of Hard Rock. The result was “Deep Purple In Rock” (1970), an album that represented a turning point in the band’s career and led them to record other classic albums like “Machine Head” (1972).

In Paice’s opinion, modern drummers lack something that musicians of his generation, like Bonham, had: a distinctive personality in their sound. “The problem is, with few exceptions, you really can’t tell who’s playing now. And I think the magic of my generation of players was you could generally work out within one or two guys you knew who you were listening to: if it was Ginger, you knew it was Ginger.”

“If it was Bonzo you knew it was Bonzo. If it was Mitch Mitchell, you knew…and if it was me sometimes, well maybe you knew that too. And if it was Keith Moon you definitely knew. So there was a personality involved with it. Um, I don’t know whether that’s quite so doable now,” Ian Paice said in an interview with Stuff in 2009.