A conversation: The American Zeppelin

“Paul [Sinclair, lead vocalist,] said he would do a Led Zeppelin cover band, but only if it was under our terms,” guitarist Paul Hammond said. “We’re not big fans of the whole look-alike scene.”

The group came together when bassist Paul Piccari asked Hammond and Sinclair to form a Zeppelin tribute band that focused on re-creating the Zeppelin studio recordings in a live concert situation.

Dubbed “The American Led Zeppelin,” Get the Led Out works to present a two-hour set that spans the career of the British rock group, with a strong focus on the early years.

Do you remember the first time you heard a Led Zeppelin song/album?

My father was really cool. He had “Led Zeppelin” [the band’s first album] on reel to reel, and he would play that when I was about 5. When I heard it, in all honesty, it scared me. He played the Beatles too, and I liked them, I could envision myself being friends with them, but Zep was dark, dazed and confused; it wasn’t friendly-sounding to me. Then I started playing guitar at age 8, my father taught me some old blues numbers, and I started taking serious lessons at age 12 or 13, and my teacher liked the Yardbirds, so I learned that at a real early age.

Are you constantly changing the set list to offer a different experience every time?

We change it up every time we go to each venue. There are some staples that are just so familiar that everyone knows them, standards like “Stairway to Heaven,” “Rock and Roll” and “Black Dog.” We do deeper cuts that other Zeppelin bands wouldn’t attempt, like “In the Light,” “No Quarter” and “Down By the Seaside,” or “Traveling Riverside Blues.” It’s a tall order, because Zep was fun, Jimmy Page was fond of alternate tuning, so we don’t cut corners — I’ll use all the multiple tunings throughout the show, helping us sound more authentic and more like the record.

Why are people still attracted to the music of Led Zeppelin?

This is our life. Everyone in the band, it’s all they do. If it’s not playing with Get the Led Out, it’s something else musically related. We’re constantly involved with music. The music itself has the appeal because — and this is clichŽ — but it’s timeless, it goes even deeper than timeless. There was the classical influence of John Paul Jones, then the Indian influences of Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page having the more Middle Eastern skills on tracks like “Kashmir,” and John Bonham had the swing influence. There’s something familiar in there for everybody.

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