Robert Plant – “We Can Kick Arse And Turn Things Upside Down!”

Robert Plant – “We Can Kick Arse And Turn Things Upside Down!”

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Despite being the frontman for one of the best-selling rock bands of all time, the global nature of Robert Plant’s fame really hit home a few years ago. The Led Zeppelin vocalist laughs when recalling a trek with his son Logan in a deserted area of north-west China where few international travellers venture.

“I was with my son on the silk route from Zh-Xi’an in China through Dunhuang and Turpan to Kashgar and we’d seen no Europeans for a couple of weeks,” Plant says. “We were in the middle of nowhere in an area of the Taklamakan Desert between Russia, China and out the back of Mount Everest. There were two Japanese tourists who appeared out of nowhere, made a beeline for me and pronounced I was ‘Lobert Plant’! I looked at Logan and said, ‘This can’t be right! Who’s doing the [Candid Camera] video around here?’.”

After 50 years touring the world, inimitable rock elder Plant prefers to collect knowledge, understanding and musical ideas over cheap trinkets when he travels. Brushed with Americana, North African and ‘60s R&B touches, new album Carry Fire finds Plant eagerly searching for fresh inspiration on his first release since the Celtic and bluegrass sounds of 2014’s Lullaby And The… Ceaseless Roar.

As the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, Plant’s vocals carried some of rock’s most celebrated songs. While the formidable English group began as a post-Yardbirds project for guitarist Jimmy Page in 1968, it’s hard to imagine Led Zeppelin classics such as "Immigrant Song", "Rock And Roll" and "Stairway To Heaven" without the power, agility and subtleties of Plant’s vocal prowess.

While Plant shows deference to the formidable group by regularly performing half a dozen Zep classics in live sets, he refuses to be beholden to the past. Speaking from his property in rural Wales, Plant says his restless interest in exploring new terrain and cultivating knowledge stems from a childhood spent close to his current location.

“My parents would take me to ruined castles in the Welsh mountains,” the 69-year-old recalls. “I would look at the world in the 1950s when I was seven or whatever it is, and it was like, ‘What on Earth am I doing here? What’s all this stuff around me? What’s going on?’. I was quite driven by history and it’s gone through all my singing and stories, such as The Battle Of Evermore in the ‘70s and Ramble On and all that stuff.”

The videos for Carry Fire single "Bones Of Saints" plays on Plant’s childhood love of pouring over illustrated history books and learning about ancient civilisations, knights and fantastical voyages.

“When I was a kid there was a book called Looking At History by RJ Unstead,” Plant says. “There were three volumes of that, beautiful history books, and it was like a potted vision of what had happened in these isles since the beginning of the Iron Age. I was just intrigued, and I had parents who had their eyes wide open. It seemed appropriate to use that visual pictorial to make the point of Bones Of Saints’ lyrics, without it being some sort of current newsreel depicting the ridiculousness of our species.”

First playing to Australian audiences with Led Zeppelin in 1972, Robert Plant has recently been announced as a Bluesfest 2018 headliner. So do Carry Fire’s songs have natural companions in his back catalogue that will play a part in creating a setlist that intertwines eras?

“Well that’s a very profound and very well weighted question – and absolutely is the answer! It’s very simple - we can kick arse and turn things upside down to suit. We can have different moods and themes and make the whole set shimmer in different directions. We are rehearsing right now and I go back in on Monday. It’s all up and running and sounding great.”

The work of a passionate and powerful master craftsman, Carry Fire’s lyrics suggests Plant is resigned to the cyclical nature of power, passion and politics. Opening track "The May Queen", which features a subtle nod to Led Zeppelin’s "Stairway To Heaven" in its title, finds Plant singing “I’m seeking love and glory, just like I always do”. Plant laughs when asked which of the two has been easier for him to find.

“Well that’s a great question. They’ve both been in short shrift from time to time. Right now I’m doing better with the former than the latter, but that’s the best way.”

In terms of pursuits of the heart, Plant lets slip that the reasoning behind a recent trip to Morocco was “to play chess with a beautiful woman”, but after relationships with musicians Patty Griffin, Alannah Myles and Najma Akhtar, it seems music remains his most tempting mistress. Indeed, many of his trips to far-flung places have resulted in music bearing rich cultural imprints. After following his muse in Timbuktu, Mumbai and Marrakech, is there anywhere on the globe Plant still needs to make a pilgrimage to? 

“I didn’t go to Morocco to do anything musical when I first went there all those years ago, I just wanted to see what it was like. It’s not Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves you know, I found a fantastic country filled with remarkable people with great senses of humour. The Moroccans in Morocco and the Berber in the south of Morocco, I guess you have to take them as you find them, but I’ve never known anything but hospitality and great kindness and charm – and a great sense of humour. As for where else I’d go? Anywhere – I’m happy just to get off the bus at the wrong stop!”

Oh come on, surely it’s been years since Robert “I am a golden god!” Plant caught a public bus?

“Well I caught the London Underground a couple of weeks ago, yeah. And it’s remarkable seeing the people who get on and off that thing. Right now I’m in the Welsh mountains just preparing for a journey to London and I’m surrounded by all the beautiful colours of autumn, which is really beautiful. To go into a city to me is like being a stowaway on a galleon and coming to shore and not really knowing what on Earth is going on. The world is definitely changing and London is definitely changing all the time, so it’s fascinating seeing all the people. Maybe the only journey I have to make [to find new musical inspiration] is the five hours to London.”

Even so, as the vocalist behind the wonders of Houses Of The Holy, Led Zeppelin IV and more recently the Grammy-winning Raising Sand, surely it must be hard for Plant to take the Tube without being hounded by people wanting photographs?

“I don’t think there’s many of that generation around to be honest!” Plant jokes. “No, I just wear a funny hat and take my teeth out…”

Carry Fire is available on CD, LP and download now. The 29th Annual Byron Bay Bluesfest takes place from March 29 through to April 2. Details here.

TOUR DATES

Pre-sale for all show starts Wednesday 18 October 10am AEDT

General on sale: Friday 20 October 10am AEDT

ROBERT PLANT AND THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS PRESENTED BY THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

Mon 26th & Tue 27th March - Sydney Opera House

Tickets & info here. 

BLUESFEST TOURING PRESENTS ROBERT PLANT AND THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS

Sun 1st & Mon 2nd April - Palais Theatre, Melbourne

Tickets & info here or call (136 100)

Optus Perks exclusive presale starts now for The Palais in Melbourne and ends 9am Wed 18th October. Head to optusperks.com.au or ‘Perks’ in the My Optus app.

BLUESFEST TOURING PRESENTS ROBERT PLANT AND THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS

Sun 8th April - Riverside Theatre, PCEC

Tickets & info here or call (13 28 49)

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters will also appear at Bluesfest Byron Bay 2018 on Friday 30 March, get tickets here.

- Scott McLennan

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