ideate touring with one of the biggest rock bands of all time — taking notes , grading interview with the band , getting never - before - seen photos , etc . Now imagine losing it all .
That ’s exactly what happened to rock’n’roll source and journalist Stephen Davis back in 1975 . He was invited to cover Led Zeppelin ’s 1975 tour for The Atlantic Monthly as the ring promotedPhysical Graffiti . Some of this cloth found its room into Davis ’s best - selling seminal oeuvre on Led Zep : Hammer of the Gods . But because he fall back so many of his notebook , most of the tour was n’t covered . tight forward 30 eld and the notebooks rick up in a friend ’s basement , of all place .
As a result , Gotham has just published LZ-‘75 ! And you’re able to mark a copy in our competition after the follow interview with Davis :
Q : How did you follow to write this book?Stephen Davis : LZ-’75 develop in some notebook computer I kept whilst cover Led Zeppelin ’s 1975 American go . When it was over , I file the notebook off , and then lost them – for 30 yr . In 2005 I found the notebooks and realized a compelling story could be tell apart about Led Zepp in its absolute prime – the big band in the earth , then … and now .
Q : What is your best-loved story from the road that you revisited in LZ-’75?SD : My favorite parts of LZ-’75 are the encounters with the people in Zeppelin ’s entourage : roadies , groupies , coach , technicians , cocktail waitresses , flight attendee on Starship 1 , the dance band ’s private jet . The fabled writer William S. Burroughs play a persona , as well as Iggy Pop and other notable of the eld .
Q : Can you hint at any not bad revelations that are in LZ-’75 that will arouse gruelling - heart Zeppelin fans?SD : LZ-’75 hopes to bring out the world behind the great touring bands of the Classic Rock epoch , a world that combined glamor and raptus with grueling travel , dislocation , homesickness , and the pressure sensation of being in the second , and utterly splendid , every night . At the end of the Good Book , the reader might feel some of the worked up enfeeblement of drop a year with Led Zeppelin under difficult and sometimes painful circumstances .
Q : How is this different thanHammer of the Gods ? Why do people need this book?SD : LZ-’75 is a much different book than Hammer Of The Gods , the latest edition of which comprehend five 10 , from 1965 to the present . LZ-’75 describes Led Zeppelin ’s adventures in 1975 alone , the apogee of its flight , the prospering record industry ’s full-grown human activity , and the hottest banding on the planet . The focus of the book is very dissimilar , with much new reporting , photographs , and audience – all new . Q : How did you get the assignment to go on the tour?SD : As a newsperson and diarist , I was invited to cover Led Zepp ’s 1975 tour by a ally of mine who influence for the band . I enlist photographer Peter Simon to shoot the stripe in California , and some of his images have become iconic . For LZ-’75 , he go back to his archive and make forty Modern , oculus - pop photograph of Led Zeppelin , published here for the first time .
Q : What do you need proofreader to get out of LZ-’75?SD : The whole point in time of LZ-’75 is to draw the reader into the daytime - to - day working of Led Zeppelin on the road . LZ-’75 follow the ring from its rehearsals in London to the former show in Europe before embarking on an American tour that used theatrical display – laser lights , fog , extra effect – for the first time in the band ’s history . Readers will sense the band freezing in Chicago , snow under in New York , buffeted by fierce winds as they fly around the state , soaked by downpours in California , threatened by deranged fan , guarded by F.B.I. agents , and valorized by the millions who attended their concerts . The chronicle then follows Led Zeppelin as they return to England for the biggest shows of the band ’s life history , and then to the Hellenic island of Rhodes , where Jimmy Page and Robert Plant took their families on holiday . A terrible car chance event almost killed Robert Plant and the band ’s future tense is at bet . But Led Zeppelin redeems itself by making some of the hottest music of its calling . All this is detailed with novel reportage and insights , as LZ-’75 chronicles Led Zeppelin during the tumultuous , epochal year of 1975 .
