Jimmy Page is sharing more of his plans to create new music and go on the road in 2015 with a lineup of musicians to perform material from his extensive catalog.
"The music I've been writing, it's got various moods to it, various textures," Page tells Classic Rock in the magazine’s latest cover story. “That isn't going to change. So there will be real surprises within it, you know? But there would have to be. I wouldn't really be happy about it unless there was. But I have got material. It's sort of there. And in a way I'm really pleased that I haven't recorded it yet. Because it will still be good. If something's good, it is good, isn't it? Riffs and things — they're either good or they're not good."
"I'm not doing a modern Led Zeppelin album,” he added. “I'm doing the music that will be a summing up of where I am at this point in time.”
"New music is new music,” Page continued. “But it still has to be good. It has to be vital. It has to connect with people. It doesn't want to be limp and halfhearted. It really needs to connect on one level or another, whether it's got that intensity to it, or it's something that is more rhythmic or voodoo-like, or something that is more sensitive or caressing. And that is what you're doing — you're a musician. You're not thinking about whether it's paling in the shade of Led Zeppelin. What sort of nonsense is that? [laughs] But you know what I'm saying."
The guitarist hopes to return to the stage in 2015 "because you need to be seen to be playing. That's why I've put so much effort into stockpiling all of this new material. I know the importance of the Led Zeppelin legacy, if you like. So that's why I've been stockpiling over a couple of years. I think it's important. That's the way to look at it and that's the way to do it."
Led Zeppelin will release expanded versions of “Led Zeppelin IV” and “Houses Of The Holy” this fall as they contine their extensive reissues program.
Due October 28, both albums have been newly remastered by Page and are accompanied by a second disc of companion audio comprised entirely of unreleased music related to that album.
Led Zeppelin kicked off their reissue series in June with the release of expanded editions of the band’s first three albums – “Led Zeppelin I”, “Led Zeppelin II” and “Led Zeppelin III.”
See also:
VIDEO: Watch Robert Plant’s complete Brooklyn concert
Robert Plant announces last-minute New York show
Chris Cornell to host An Evening with Jimmy Page in Los Angeles
Robert Plant to appear on The Colbert Report
Search Led Zeppelin at hennemusic
