In the mythology of rock, Jimmy Page is the great guitar wizard, hurling Led
Zeppelin’s thunder and fire down from the mountaintop. It’s an image that the
band cultivated, of course, but it wouldn’t have stuck if it weren’t for Mr.
Page’s skill, finesse and imagination, which made him one of the most
influential guitarists in history.
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ArtsBeat
Mr. Page, now 66, was never much of a talker, and when he gave interviews he
mostly preferred talking about his music instead of about himself. He’s still
that way. On Sept. 27 Genesis Publications, a British company that specializes
in lushly designed rock photo books, will publish “Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page,” a
500-page collection of images that Mr. Page selected to represent his career.
Instead of a straight autobiography, it’s a career record in pictures, and
while there are some candid shots at diners and customs checkpoints on the
road, for the most part the book portrays Mr. Page in six-string-Adonis glory
onstage. Catherine Roylance, a co-publisher, said Mr. Page immersed himself in
the book’s design, down to the blue-black hue of the cover. The book, printed
and hand-bound in Milan, is limited to 2,500 copies and available only through
Genesis (genesis-publications.com), for £445 (about $685).
Mr. Page spoke recently by phone from London with Ben Sisario about the book,
Led Zeppelin and how even in his days as a choirboy he was itching to play
guitar. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Q. Why did you decide to do this book, as opposed to a more traditional
autobiography?
A. I’ve been approached to do an autobiography, but I thought that was the
least attractive way of doing a book. So I thought it would be quite
interesting to do a photographic autobiography. It’s the story of a kid who’s
involved with music, but really the music involved itself with him. It’s this
conjoining of music and a teenager, and off it goes.
I thought that a career in pictures was really the best way to do it at this
stage, but I wouldn’t discount the idea of an autobiography. This is usually my
defense: When publishing people say, “How about writing a book?,” I say, “Yes,
I’ve thought about it, but I’d like a book that came out posthumously.” That’s
probably as good as it’s going to get: this visual documentary, and then
possibly, if I ever get around to it, doing a book that comes out posthumously.
Q. Was your aim here to correct the record, to present your own version of the
story of Led Zeppelin?
A. No, I didn’t think that was necessary. Everyone wants to know what happened
here and there, and you’ve got so many people that come forward with
explanations — people who give authoritative accounts who were never anywhere
near the place. But there’s only one thing as far as I’m concerned that remains
constant and true, and that’s the music. So if you want to use your
imagination, please apply it to the music rather than things that maybe
surrounded it.
As far as a pictorial record, you can certainly see a little bit behind the
music, and you can make your own mind up. I’m not really coloring it too much
with what annotations I’ve made. I didn’t want to laden it with controversies.
I just wanted the pictures to speak in a way that the music does.
Q. The photos here are almost entirely focused on your career, instead of
pictures of your family or your private life.
A. It’s purely about the music, and nothing else. It would have been
incongruous to have family photos or pictures on the beach. Admittedly I’ve got
some passport stamps from when I went traveling, but it wasn’t a travel photo
book. No, no. I did take photographs when I went on holiday, but they’re not of
the sort of quality that you would like them to be.
Q. The tour itineraries make clear how hard the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin
worked. And the photos show that you looked very good doing it. Your wardrobe
really plays a starring role.
A. I was very keen to show what the workload was with these bands. With the
Yardbirds, our tour itineraries were pretty dense. But I particularly wanted to
show what Led Zeppelin was doing in 1969, just how much work we were doing. We
were recording “Led Zeppelin II” during that tour of America, at studios in the
states, and I wanted to show the way it was approached as a work-in-progress
album while we were on the road.
Q. What was your relationship with photographers like in those days? Was it
collaborative? Antagonistic?
A. I didn’t really come from a generation where photographs were taken all the
time. It was quite a ritual to have photographs taken, even family ones. I
guess that sort of stuck with me. I’ve never been the one jumping in front of
the camera, whereas with other people it’s second nature to do that.
Of course, for musicians today, that’s one of most important aspects of how
you’re projecting yourself. Your playing might be good, but you have to look
damn good as well, to follow it up. I never really bothered.
I may have been interested in dressing, and how I looked to fit the bill, but I
wasn’t really making a point of making myself get photographed all over the
place. I sort of paid the price for that when doing this book.
Q. The first picture in the book shows you as a 12-year-old choirboy, and it’s
credited to one Mr. Coffin, the choirmaster. Does Mr. Coffin know what became
of you?
A. He’s no longer alive, Mr. Coffin, but I guess he was an amateur
photographer. I remember we took a little while setting it up, with various
angles. And it’s a damn good photograph.
The curious thing is, we got in touch with his son-in-law, and he remembers me
taking my guitar with me and practicing beforehand, waiting for everyone to
turn up for the choir practice. So there we are. There are clues right at that
first shot. I was right in the early in stages of picking up the guitar and
getting it tuned and stuff, right around that time.
Q. The caption on that picture is, “It might get loud.” Has that become your
motto since being in the documentary of that title two years ago, or was that
just a convenient phrase?
A. It’s so goofy, to have a photograph of yourself as a choirboy. [Laughs.] But
it’s what it is. That’s my first point of music — it’s the portal, the way in.
You’re playing music, you’re singing — thankfully I stopped singing along the
way somewhere. But I thought it was really important to have that. People might
think that’s humorous, that the choirmaster’s name was Mr. Coffin. Dennis
Coffin was his name. It’s a humorous shot, but it fits in the context of the
book, and it’s honest.
But what do you put as a caption? Well, “It might get loud.” ’Cause it might.
And it did.
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