At a time when members of Slade, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin and Cream could all be found drinking in the same council estate pubs, one in particular took one of the most crucial roles in British music history.
The Three Men In A Boat, in Beechdale, Walsall was arguably the most important local music venue of the time. Early incarnations of the Midlands’ best new bands all played, and Bonham was proud to call it his local.
Owned by the uncle of a young John Bonham, and a meeting place for local bands, the pub worked almost as a trading post. It connected outsiders, artists from London and Manchester to the local acts, and secured Bonham’s place in one of the most influential English rock bands of all time.
Upon returning from gigs in Scandinavia as The Yardbirds, the band where on the lookout for new members. Bonham; a recommendation as Band Of Joy drummer was picked to fill half of the rhythm section. Simple enough it seemed, but Bonham was nowhere to be found. Over the space of a few months, their manager Peter Grant sent around 40 telegrams to the pub, which had no answering machine. The only means of communication, it seemed, there was a risk Bonham would never even be given them. The message was simply, turn up and try out.
After months, a telegram was finally delivered and received, and Bonham made the journey to London’s Gerrard Street for the band’s first rehearsal. John Paul Jones recalled afterwards “As soon as I heard Bonham play, I knew this was going to be great…” “We locked together as a team immediately”.
The rest is history, as everyone knows; but where would the band have been should Bonham have not been reached? ‘The Boat is long gone (now a community housing association) but the story says the telegrams are still out there, and its mythical status in the history of Midlands music remains.
Birmingham and the Black Country are often overlooked as musical hot-spots of the UK, but where would we be without them?
The Three Men In A Boat, in Beechdale, Walsall was arguably the most important local music venue of the time. Early incarnations of the Midlands’ best new bands all played, and Bonham was proud to call it his local.
Owned by the uncle of a young John Bonham, and a meeting place for local bands, the pub worked almost as a trading post. It connected outsiders, artists from London and Manchester to the local acts, and secured Bonham’s place in one of the most influential English rock bands of all time.
Upon returning from gigs in Scandinavia as The Yardbirds, the band where on the lookout for new members. Bonham; a recommendation as Band Of Joy drummer was picked to fill half of the rhythm section. Simple enough it seemed, but Bonham was nowhere to be found. Over the space of a few months, their manager Peter Grant sent around 40 telegrams to the pub, which had no answering machine. The only means of communication, it seemed, there was a risk Bonham would never even be given them. The message was simply, turn up and try out.
After months, a telegram was finally delivered and received, and Bonham made the journey to London’s Gerrard Street for the band’s first rehearsal. John Paul Jones recalled afterwards “As soon as I heard Bonham play, I knew this was going to be great…” “We locked together as a team immediately”.
The rest is history, as everyone knows; but where would the band have been should Bonham have not been reached? ‘The Boat is long gone (now a community housing association) but the story says the telegrams are still out there, and its mythical status in the history of Midlands music remains.
Birmingham and the Black Country are often overlooked as musical hot-spots of the UK, but where would we be without them?