The encouragement Jimmy Page gave to Royal Blood
As far as iconic musicians go, Jimmy Page ranks at the top of the list due to his efforts and musical aptitude. One of the main driving forces behind Led Zeppelin, the English quartet would not be as lauded as they are today without him. He started the band with the vision to take rock in a much darker and heavier direction following the demise of his previous group, The Yardbirds.
Not only was he their lead guitarist, but also their creative director, and he produced all of their albums, with his rapid growth as a musician running concurrently with his skill behind the mixing desk. Alongside frontman Robert Plant, Page formed a formidable songwriting partnership, and it was the quality of this double act that allowed the band to rise almost overnight and fill the hole that The Beatles had left with their split in 1970.
From ‘Stairway to Heaven’ to ‘The Rain Song’, the duo were behind some of the band’s best-loved tracks, a testament to their individual skill and power as a collective force.
Duly, Jimmy Page and his bandmates are revered as some of the finest to have ever done it in the world of rock and roll. On the rare occasion when they give newer artists their blessing, it is rightly regarded as a life-affirming moment, as Worthing’s Royal Blood found out in 2014 when they were gearing up to release their eponymous debut album.
The duo were surprised when Jimmy Page turned up to their show at Grasslands in New York City, and he wasn’t just there to watch. He was kind enough to go to their dressing room and encourage them for their upcoming shows. Speaking to the NME that year, drummer Ben Thatcher opened up about the surreal moment.
“All these security guards came into our dressing room and scouted out the area, these big motherfuckers with earpieces,” he said. “There was a wall of security [but] there was no ego; our conversation was all about guitars and amps. He was really encouraging: ‘Go and smash LA.’ There’s this really nice, gentle guy beneath all the mystery he’s built up over so long”.
Page had such an impact on Royal Blood that Thatcher concluded: “When you leave people like Jimmy Page I think, ‘Fuck, we could be that to someone else and no-one could really know who Royal Blood are. We could be this mystery, this illusion'”.
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