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Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page Reveals Why He Refused To Play Guitar On His Most Recent Project

Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press

Interviewed at East London’s Libreria bookshop on February 11, Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page revealed why he didn’t play guitar on partner Scarlett Sabet’s 2019 spoken-word album Catalyst.

The album, the guitarist’s most recent musical project, was produced by Page at his London Tower House residence in May last year.

Yet much to the disappointment of the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist’s fans the finished product was largely non-musical, instead emphasizing the power of the spoken word.

During the interview, conducted by Sabet, Page shared that he intentionally avoided using loops or guitar parts.

It’s very simple,” he explained, “if people knew we were doing a project then they would automatically be disappointed. ‘Oh, I thought they’d do this.’ Or ‘I thought he’d do that.’

Well I’ll tell you what,” he continued, “the best way to deal with something like that is, from my point of view as a producer, is to think of how to do this in such a way that no-one’s ever done it before.

Page was at pains to keep the exact nature of the album secret until the day of its release.

“There were five people who had heard this project when it came out,” he added.

The Page also shared that more collaborations with Sabet were likely to arrive in the future.

I’d really like to think that the way we approached this and the feedback that we’ve had about it,” he enthused, “because it’s so unique, it’s definitely been the right way to step forward… It’s hard to say what will come in the future. I mean, there’s always possibilities, let’s put it that way. But the most important thing was to get this established and hey we’re here now talking about it, so that’s cool.”

Page has not released an album of his own material since 1988’s Outrider.

Talking with Rolling Stone in 2012 Page elaborated on the scarcity of his solo releases in recent years.

I’m still playing the guitar,” he stated, “I’m just not seen playing the guitar. That’s the essence of it.”

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