DIVIDESWHO: Tasha Cowie (vocals),Colin Horn (guitar), David Len-non (guitar), Andy Cook(bass), Dave Maxwell (drums)WHERE: GlasgowFOR FANS OF: Twin Atlantic,Paramore, Biffy ClyroJIM SAYS: Scotland has arich heritage of rock music,and a thriving undergroundscene, so there are bands forall tastes out there.Some of the more leftfield

acts will never be householdnames, but I don’t supposethat is their intention. Dividesthough are born to play themajor stages. As soon as Iheard the debut single, Iknew it was special.Not All Those Who Wander

Are Lost is a hook-laden poprock masterpiece.Take away the heavy gui-

tars and it wouldn’t sound outof place on a Katy Perryalbum. It’s a perfect introduc-tion to a band that onlyplayed their first gig in April.Colin said: “We decided

that before we played anyshows it’d be best if we gotinto the studio, then get avideo out once we had asong that was 100 per centright. We thought this wouldgive more of a chance for peo-ple to hear us rather thancoming along to a gig notknowing what to expect.”It’s a strategy that’s paid

off, with Divides getting atten-tion some bands struggle foryears to achieve. They’vealready been picked up by

Radio 1, and been a constanton my own radio playlists.Colin added: “We think the

route we have gone downhas helped a lot. With somany radio stations such asXFM and online blogs sup-porting smaller bands andindependent music, it’s know-ing what your best optionsare before throwing yourmusic out there.“We were in bands before

where it was burning our ownCDs and printing covers. Withonline streaming and down-loads it’s completelychanged.”One spanner in the works

is that Andy leaves for theUnited States tomorrow, butthey have that covered.Andy explained “I’m away

to Michigan for three months,teaching guitar at summercamp. I’m happy for the guysto get a session player inwhile I’m away, but I’ve got acontract that says I’m guaran-teed to get back in as thebassist when I get back.“The guy we have lined up

is a great bassist and friend,so the band will do great.“We’ve got a massive UK

tour in September, so I canjump back in and hit theroad.”Colin joked: “We’re just

hoping he gets us booked onnext year’s US Vans WarpedTour when over in America!”MORE: facebook.com/dividesofficialQ Jim presents Drivetime onXFM Scotland, Monday to Fri-day 4-7pm. See xfm.co.ukand jimgellatly.com

NEW MUSICBy JIM GELLATLY

LIKE Jekyll and Hyde, there are twovery different sides to best-sellingauthor Jo Nesbo. The 54-year-oldNorwegian is best known for his vio-lent Harry Hole crime thrillers.

But he has also created the fun,crazy, lighthearted Doctor Proc-tor’s Fart Powder series, aimed atseven-year-olds. With the fourth inthe kids’ series, Doctor Proctor’sFart Powder: The End Of The World.Maybe, out now, Jo tells SFTW abouthis schizophrenic writing styles.Tell us about Doctor Proctor.He is an eccentric scientist who

dreams of becoming a famousinventor. His young friends,Nilly and Lisa, help him onvarious crazy adven-tures.What made youdecide to write forchildren?

My daughterSelma was con-stantly asking meto tell her stories.So one summer I

told her one about acrazy professorand his twofriends. I thought

it was a good idea and there was abook there, so that’s where it allstarted.These books are very different toyour usual style. Did you enjoy thedifferent writing process?Yes, definitely. In many ways it is

more enjoyable to write a children’sbook than the Harry Hole series.The Harry Hole series is a dark

place to be while Doctor Proctor isdefinitely more fun.Do you feel under pressure tomatch your previous success?No. I feel less pressure as I’m

already making a living writingbooks. You feel the pressure whenyou know a series needs to do wellcommercially because you are tryingto make it as a writer.You’ve done lots of different jobs– journalist, stockbroker, musician.What’s your favourite?Being a writer is my favourite. I’m

also in a band (Di Derre) so once I’vefinished writing for the day I enjoyplaying a gig with friends.So what’s next?I’m rewriting a story I did under the

pen-name Tom Johansen. It’s aseries of three — the first is BloodOn Snow. NATASHA HARDING

Editedby

NATASHAHARDING

By SIMON COSYNS

WILL he? Won’t he?These are questionsthat follow Robert Plantwherever he goes.Of course I’m talkingabout the mercurial singer’sdesire to take part in a LedZeppelin reunion . . . or lackof it.I believe he’s given me ananswer as definitive as he canand it won’t be any time soon.He says: “I can’t really go toofar into it without creating . . .(eyes roll heavenwards, leaving aword like ‘mischief’ unsaid), butI do say, ‘Have we got any newmaterial?’“If anyone (from Led Zeppelin)wanted to move on with me, Iwould hear from them.”The clue here is “move on”.When it comes to music, Plant’sa restless soul who can’t abidethe thought of his beloved LedZep simply trading in pastglories like so many revival acts.“What’s the point?” argues thesuccessful solo artist. “I’m mak-ing f***ing great records with myguys.“I’m singing in Fulani, WestAfrican s***, and I’ve got Welshpoets — these beautiful womensinging about Glyndwr and bring-ing back bodies of the dead shotin battle.”Plant, 65, has just put the fin-ishing touches to his tenth soloalbum, due out in September. Asone of the first to hear it, I canreport that it’s varied and daringwith some songs even packingpowerful Led Zep-strength riffs.But he sees the work of theband he formed with JimmyPage, John Bonham and JohnPaul Jones in 1968 as a preciousmoment in time, something“quite wonderful, an exercise inimagination and vigour, thework of young men.

‘Jimmy was bossin the beginning’

“We were very lucky. For aperiod of time, we were madefor each other.“Jimmy was obviously the bossin the beginning. He and Jonesybankrolled the whole thing whenwe started playing.“They were the luminaries asfar as it was concerned butBonzo (drummer John Bonham)and I carried a lot of excitementand raw crap from the Midlandswhich stayed with it all the waythrough.“We had a style in the middleof all our madness that was defi-nitely Zeppelin. You feel it andhear it. Self-expression wasnever prevented. There wasalways a free passage to take anidea to the extreme.”My illuminating chat withPlant forms the second part ofSFTW’s Zep spectacular to cele-brate the expanded reissues ofthe first three albums.I talked to Page in a discreetboutique hotel near London’sRoyal Albert Hall and less thantwo hours later, I found myselfin the upstairs room of a Prim-rose Hill pub (scrubbed pinetables) face-to-face with Plant.“You’ve done Jim Bob? Laugha minute?” he quips about hisold band mate. Their personal-ities are SO different yet so cru-cial to that elusive chemistry.Even the initial playback ofeight unheard Zep recordings toassembled European musicmedia drew very differentresponses from the pair.It was attended with due dili-gence by Page, who answered allsorts of questions but avidWolves fan Plant confesses: “Icouldn’t make it because we hadColchester at home!“I even used to skive off Zep-

pelin rehearsals to see them. I reallyneed diversions. I need to go intosomeone else’s glory.”Our focus, however, centres on thepower and the glory of a band thatconquered the world.I seek Plant’s thoughts on some-thing I’d already asked Page. Didthe newly released tracks from thevaults peel away a layer of Led Zepmystique?“No, I think they add to it,” hereplies. “Because it reminds me ofthe fact that I f***ed up a lot. Ilisten to this thing and go, ‘Goodjob we didn’t use that take’.“For me this project is all aboutthe vinyl. Do you really want tohear a compact disc playing Immi-grant Song when you can hear it onvinyl? I’m really pleased that thereare vinyl releases of these albums.”On stage, Page was all about gui-tar heroics, both searing and deli-cate, and Plant was marked out forcarrying off his leadsinger role with irresist-ible swagger.The golden mane, thebare chest, the tightjeans, the big buckle,the graceful movement,the voice that couldraise the dead. Theywere all part of pack-age.So how did Plant feelin 1968 as a 20-year-old member of thenewly-formed Led Zep-pelin?“From my angle, Iwas really aware thatmy dream had arrived,”he says. “I’d been inlots of bands and peo-ple had suggested thata career in accountancywasn’t over. ‘You canstill go back and haveanother pop at it,’ theysaid.“So when this chemi-cal and anatomical com-bination got together, itwas like, ‘Wow!’ This iswhat it was all comingto.”Plant smiles at hiscontribution to theParis show fromautumn 1969 which hassurfaced on the compan-ion disc to the debutLed Zeppelin album.“I over-sing every-where on the livething,” he admits. “I’mgibbering like an apeand there’s nothingwrong with a good ape.I never thought I’d everhear it again. So excit-ing for me.“The fluency betweenthe three other guys issomething I recogniseand it’s so endearing.Obviously I’ve got hun-dreds of bootlegs and Ihear the way it goesbecause it alwayschanged. I suppose thatinitial Olympia record-ing was really at thevery beginning of allthe expressive movesthat were coming.”Plant believes his white-knuckledelivery was partly inspired bySteve Marriott, the raw, soulfulsinger with the Small Faces and,later, Humble Pie.But he adds: “It also came fromHowlin’ Wolf, from Tarmac lane inthe Black Country. It came fromevery misty mountain and every sillycastle on the Welsh borders.“It came from me going, ‘I reallylove what I do and I’m going toover-cook it baby, come on!’“I’d play some crazy Little JohnnyTaylor track where he’s ‘baby, baby-ing’ like mad. There were so many‘baby, babies’ everywhere. There’snot one ‘baby baby’ on my newalbum. We cut them out.”Though superstardom beckoned,the early Led Zep days still held adegree of normality for Plant. ‘Iused to go home to Maureen. Wewere married then and we’re reallygood mates now.

“Her family used to sit round therecord player and go, ‘F***ing hell!That’s you!’ And I’d go, ‘Yeah, I’llmake the tea’. It was brilliant tocome back home with Bonzo livingnearby. We used to have so muchfun going.”The thing I always come back towith Led Zeppelin, something thatall four members were great at, wastheir willingness to embrace differ-ent styles — blues, rock, soul, folk —yet come up with a unique sound oftheir own.Like Page, Plant can’t praise thecontribution of his old mucker, thelate John Bonham, high enough: “Helistened to really great black drum-mers. Whereas a lot of drummers atthe time were right on top of thebeat, Bonzo was always a littlebehind it. It was a very sexy way ofplaying.“And he used to shout in the mid-dle of playing, ‘Cannons!’ And I’d

shout back, ‘F*** off!’And he would say, ‘Wellyou know you’re not avery good singer but justgo out and look good’.”Listen to the newlyheard early version ofWhole Lotta Love andyou’ll get a fascinatinginsight of Plant’s develop-ment into a very, verygood singer.But he says: “I thinkwe got the right takevocally. It’s of the timeand I was 21 years old.With today’s records,people say, ‘He’s only27.’ I had two kids andfive albums done bythen.Plant believes WholeLotta Love, with itsincendiary riff and weirdmiddle section, wascrucial to Led Zeppelin’sdevelopment.“The song’s rhythmwas the vehicle thatallowed this opening up,this flourishing. RambleOn, a combination ofstyles from acoustic toelectric, also had greatimportance, the begin-ning of something thatwould become StairwayTo Heaven or The RainSong.”Surprising at the timemaybe, but accepted as akey component of LedZeppelin, was the largeamount of acoustic-basedmaterial on Led ZeppelinIII.Plant says: “I don’tknow about the othertwo but Jimmy and Iwere into Bert Jansch,Davey Graham, TheIncredible String Bandand early Fairport Con-vention stuff when itwas quite trippy.”The band’s willingnessto incorporate variousinfluences didn’t godown so well on theother side of the Atlan-tic, however.“A lot of the Americanjournalists wanted us out

of the way,” he recalls. “We did pla-giarise every music form we couldget near. We were carrion-feedinggloriously and joyously and usingour own creative power as well.”I believe he makes a very fairpoint. Where would The Beatles andStones have been when they startedwithout rock ’n’ roll or Bob Dylanwithout Woody Guthrie or even theSex Pistols without the New YorkDolls?Ultimately, Led Zeppelin shouldbe remembered as one of Britain’smost brilliant and thrilling musicalexports, creators of a sound distinc-tively and emphatically theirs.I’ll leave the final word to theforward-thinking Robert Plant, aman also very much aware of hispast and the legacy of the inimitableZep.“I hate the term ‘chemistry’ but wehad it. We were a fantastic and for-tuitous accident.”

Listen to the band at:thescottishsun.co.uk

Friday, June 6, 2014 591S