Bernard MacMahon is the mind behind American Epic, a documentary media franchise including ten albums, four films and a book on the subject of recordings of American roots music. These days his film on Led Zeppelin‘s origin story is released in theaters. It features the surviving band members, and is thus as close to an authorized film on the band as we get. A task many believed to be impossible, due to Zeppelin notoriously turning offers down. We had the opportunity to sit down with MacMahon to learn how he brought this project to life with Zeppelin and to explore his vision for it.
– I wanted the audience to experience the people as I got to know them, when they were relaxed, MacMahon tells us about Becoming Led Zeppelin.
With his long hair and signature hat, MacMahon himself has the look of a rock star. He is enthusiastic and visibly proud of the film and the work he has put into it, and as we are about to find out he’s a skilled storyteller.
– This story has never been told before. And the band members have never shared their full story on film or in a book. I wanted the story to feel deeply personal—like being their nephew at a family gathering, asking: «Uncle Robert, tell me about the band you were in.»
As the film’s title suggests, it’s looking at the group’s formative years and the start of the band. We tell MacMahon that it kind of feels like a narrative story, as in a biopic, as much as a documentary.
– You’re absolutely right! We approached it like a biopic, using archival footage, and I wanted it to feel as if I had filmed all those moments myself. And part of the device are these older characters gently telling you where we are, and what we´re doing. Creating a film like this is incredibly challenging because documentaries, in many ways, are like writing a novel without a pen or a typewriter. You have to cut every word out of newspapers and stick them together. What we wanted was to make this finished thing look like a printed book, and it´s a lot of work doing that, to get that look.
The film barely touches anything after 1969. Was that always the plan to maintain the biopic-like approach?
–Yeah! The reason the film goes up to the point, where they become the biggest band in the world and they knocked The Beatles off the top spot: this would be like in a movie, telling the story of the space race, and ending when Neil Armstrong lands on the moon. And then they get back safely. You would probably end the story there and not carry on and to the subsequent lunar missions.
MacMahon’s mother was an antique dealer, and at age twelve, he discovered the first book ever published on Led Zeppelin in a box of old books. This would have to be Ritchie Yorke’s The Definitive Biography from 1976. The book told their story up until 1974.
–I lost interest after 1970, because then there was album, tour, album tour, album, tour… But the part up to 1969, and the release of their second album… I loved that! I read it twice, you know? The thing about origin stories of things, where the protagonist achieves the goal, that is always the place where the story is unique. And this story is uniquely to Led Zeppelin, with four equal characters, which are very rare in groups. If you take any of these people out, it’s like a watch that stops working. With John Paul Jones you got his extraordinary bass player and arranger, that isn’t familiar with rock music. He is bringing his interest in jazz, soul and classical music to this thing. You got John Bonham. Again, not a rocker, he’s interested in soul music and jazz. The rhythm section is deeply rooted in soul, while the front end leans into rock, with Jimmy and Robert — who also has a strong affinity for the blues.
And in line with that feeling of a narrative story, as in biopics, there’s certainly a feeling that there’s some themes in Becoming Led Zeppelin?
–The theme is dreams, how to achieve dreams from childhood. Any dream! Your parents tell you to get a steady job as an accountant — so how do you pursue your dream instead? And this film is about that. So, all the songs in it are driving the story forward, and you’re hearing full songs like in a musical. So, when the band is initially playing to European audiences and the audience doesn’t get the band … What are they playing? “Communication breakdown”. When they are trying to get a record deal in America, and they’re flying over there, what are they playing? “Your Time Will Come”.
MacMahon points to inspiration from old musicals and the music of Irving Berlin. A composer and songwriter said to have written the «story of this country (USA), capturing the best of ho we are and the dreams that shapes our lives» according to broadcast journalist Water Cronkite. Berlin’s work secured him Academy, Grammy and Tony Awards, as well as a huge portion of The Great American Songbook.
– Like these old 40s movies, where the Irving Berlin songs built a story together, all those hit songs. I wanted to make a film that, when I was thirteen, I would want to see two or three times a year, in a late-night screening at my local cinema. I wanted to make that kind of movie, where you could see it over and over again. The reason why I would call it a musical over a documentary, is that this is a very expensive film in terms of what we give the audience. Because a music documentary film is always defined by budget. Not by artistry, because putting music in films is expensive, and talk is cheap. So, the more music it has, and this has a lot of music, the more expensive it is.
But how do you approach a group like Led Zeppelin to do a project like this? They aren’t exactly known for showing the press or media the thumbs up. Neither in their former years, nor after the band called it a day in 1980.
– This is a group that has avoided the media their whole career. Their career is built on not doing media, not being on TV! When I scripted it with my partner Allison McCourty, before we ever talked with the group, all my colleges said: You’re mad! They’ve turned down every film offer in fifty-five years. They were almost certain to say no. But we did all this work, and I believe if you do your homework and really research your subject, fortune will smile on you.
He smiles as he says this and takes a moment to reflect.
– It was almost as the film mirrored Zeppelins story, which was years of apprenticeship and working on their craft. Working in all those groups and going into all those pitfalls, but when the moment’s there: let’s grab it! And they’re virtual strangers when they are in that room under the first rehearsal. So, we did all the preparation work and reached out, and amazingly they agreed to meet us. And when we met them, we discovered that they were fans of our American Epic film!
American Epic´s (also written and produced with McCourty) subject was the early recordings of roots music in USA, from the 20s. Folk, blues, country, spiritual stuff and so on. And thus, basically all of the foundations of Led Zeppelin’s own music.
– There was a series of albums, nine albums I think, and a book, and they had that stuff!
MacMahon worked with several musicians while doing American Epic, known and lesser known names. How was it to interview and talk to the media shy subjects on his new film?
– I sat down with them to walk through the storyboards, it was about 100 pages long with exactly what we wanted the film to be. And my first meeting with Jimmy Page was seven hours long, going through the storyboards. He was very, very nice, but he would occasionally ask questions, to make sure how well you knew the subject. I could say: So this was the first time you went to see Robert Plant in the band he was in, and he would ask: What band was he in? and I was like: Hobstweedle! Okay, carry on.
The filmmakers would waste their time if they feared a situation where the band would insist on final say in what ended up on the screen.
– They are one of the three most successful bands, with The Beatles and Pink Floyd. But when they agreed to do it, they also agreed that it could be a completely independent film they didn’t have editorial control of. That they couldn’t change a frame of the movie. Which is unheard of! And on top of that they did these incredible candid interviews.
According to MacMahoon most documentaries have other people talking in addition to the main subjects: Record companies, roadies etc. This film is told exclusively through Plant, Page and Jones, as well as Bonham through rarely heard interviews from 1973. Yet, the information and feeling of authenticity pulled from a broader source. For example: We learn that teenagers Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones did a lot of session work in the years leading up to the formation of Zeppelin. They were among the session musicians at Abbey Road Studios, while Shirley Bassey’s James Bond song “Goldfinger” was recorded.
– What they allowed me to do, was to background check everything. Robert gave me phone numbers of people he grew up with, and I was allowed to talk to everyone that knew him. The same with Jimmy Page, he gave me the number to Rod Wire, the guy who taught him the first chord on a guitar. I of course believed them, but I tracked down Vic Flick, who did the classic James Bond guitar riff. And he confirmed that they were there. So, what you see on screen is a very intimate story from them, and I had the possibility to authenticate everything they told. They are some of the most accurate interviews I’ve ever done. I mean, extremely good memories. I can’t recall any major mistakes, where they got dates or major things wrong. I don’t have nearly as good memory as that…
Back to the interview of John Bonham. The words spoken by the drummer in the film, blends seamlessly into what the others are saying. The flow seems very natural, in addition to being recordings few have heard.
– He was the most press-shy of the band. In interviews he was often paired with Robert Plant, Robert doing all the talking. But I very luckily found three interviews with him, interviews essentially haven’t been heard before. Luckily these were radio interviews. One of them with Australian radio, introducing Led Zeppelin to Australia before their first tour. So he was asking Robert Plant and John Bonham very specific questions about who they were? Where they’d grown up. A dream interview, because the journalist did assume his audience knew nothing about these guys! He pushed for Bonham’s answers: How did you learn to play drums? And if Robert talked, he said: We’ve heard enough from you, Robert (laughs)! So, we were able through a lot of work, to track down that interview tape. It was in thousands of unmarked reels in archives.