‘We took them back to the good times: when it started’ – the inside story of Becoming Led Zeppelin

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and John Bonham.

I've departed the building, making way for numerous impersonators who will imitate their actions, but will never emulate their charisma.

We wanted to demystify that 'Viking' image of Led Zeppelin as these marauders laying waste to villages," MacMahon says. "Forget all the myths – the private jets, the drugs, the sort of thing that bands like Mötley Crüe and Warrant thought Led Zeppelin was all about. This is the start – the least-known bit of the Led Zeppelin story, one that's shrouded in mystery.

which documented blues trailblazers like Charley Patton and Blind Willie Johnson, who held a special place in Zeppelin's affections.

The resulting film uncovers Zeppelin's beginnings and presents personal profiles of these highly respected artists. We meet John Paul Jones as a teenage church organist, under the influence of someone he describes as "a very cool priest", before he picks up the bass guitar. His showman father dismisses it as a "novelty instrument", suggesting he play the saxophone instead. The young Bonham is a sociable family man, whose parents are supportive as long as he provides for his wife and children – although his wife Pat often cautions him, “Don’t you dare play with that Planty!” The group’s initial frontman, meanwhile, is “this sensitive guy whose parents wanted him to become a chartered accountant, and to their dismay, he left home when he wouldn't comply,” says the British-Irish MacMahon, who grew up in south London. After watching Little Richard on TV, Plant falls for rock'n'roll. “The syringe was in the arm forever,” he says in the film. “I was prepared to be a mod, a rocker, a beatnik – whatever, as long as I could sing.”

Maureen knew that Jimmy was aware of what was about to happen next.

Yes. The beat groups and the psychedelic era had already made the pop industry look outdated, in which Page had established himself. Now, with the help of latest advancements in multitrack recording and amplification technology that would allow groups to fill arenas and even stadiums with their sound, Page was ready to take his music to new heights. “Zeppelin dealt in dynamics, that was their language,” says MacMahon. “Jimmy envisioned they’d be playing huge spaces one day.”

UK record labels did not accept his vision, however. So, the group's formidable manager, Peter Grant – who Page described as "a Mafia Don" and whose future behaviour earned him a dubious reputation – travelled to the US and secured a contract with Atlantic Records, which offered the guitarist complete artistic control. Page then gathered the band at Pangbourne, his luxurious boat house on the Thames, where – armed with a guitar painted with psychedelic filigree, a gift from his former Yardbirds bandmate Jeff Beck – he composed the music for their debut album.

Gets into top gear. Alongside revealing interviews with Page, Plant and Jones, and unseen archival footage featuring Bonham, MacMahon and McGourty present a treasure trove of vintage Zeppelin films. This wasn't easy to do. "They never really gave interviews back then," says MacMahon, "and they hardly did any television. Other big music acts of the time did loads of TV appearances, loads of photo shoots. There's so little of that sort of thing of Zeppelin."

'It was some top-notch "detective work", and that too visiting tiny English villages where folks somehow had been hiding footage of Zeppelin's '69 Bath festival in their attic', McGourty adds. It was a treasure trove of valuable material, especially a complete performance of "Dazed and Confused" that gave a bird's eye view of all of Page's guitar fireworks. "We picked the songs like you're scoring a musical to tell the story," he explains. "So, for the early shows in Europe when the audience are crying out for music and the kids have their fingers in their ears, we had 'Communication Breakdown'. When Jimmy goes to the US to sign with Atlantic, we use 'Your Time Is Gonna Come'. Later on, when they're touring America, we use 'Ramble On'.

It's on those 1969 US tours that Led Zeppelin truly came into their own. Early shows supporting New York psychedelic rockers Vanilla Fudge are poorly attended, but Page, the group's experienced touring musician, tells his band to play as if they're in a small club and blow the audience away who have shown up. By the time they reach San Francisco's famous hippie hotspot The Fillmore, however, they're absolutely on track. The group's memories of these tours are radiant, if somewhat lacking in detail. "We were 20 years old, there were drugs and lots of girls," grins Robert Plant in the film.

The US achieved success, and Zeppelin returned to the UK for a triumphant homecoming tour, culminating in a sold-out show at the Royal Albert Hall, with many family members in attendance. “Jonesy’s father was there,” says MacMahon, “and he acknowledged the validity of what his son was doing. John Paul became overwhelmed with joy, remembering that.” A month later, the group received those gold discs, the same day the Apollo 11 astronauts – the first men to land on the moon – landed safely back on Earth. The world was changing at a dazzling speed – the rise of Zeppelin was just one thrilling example of how.

On a wheelchair, his 5-year-old son, Karac, unexpectedly died of a stomach virus the following year. Additionally, in October 1980, during a rehearsal prior to an upcoming tour, after consuming around 40 shots of vodka, John Bonham choked on his own vomit and died.

MacMahon and McGourty admit to having no desire to revisit the latter chapters of the saga. “The Led Zeppelin story ends in tragedy,” states McGourty, “and it is difficult for Robert to discuss this. He lost John, his closest friend – so why would he want to relive that? However, we took the band back to the happier times, to the early days: when it began, when it was a pleasure to be a part of.”

“Walking back into the Royal Albert Hall is like Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, or Edmund Hillary planting the flag on Everest,” MacMahon says. “There have been other trips to the moon and climbs up the mountain, but none of them are as exciting. It's the same story being repeated over and over. And with Zeppelin, it's just a cycle of one album, another tour, and then some darker forces pulling them down. Once you become the biggest band in the world, your experiences start to get more and more familiar, and a bit dull, like many other bands.'Our film tells the story of these individuals, how they achieved what they did, and the unique way they got to be where they are. This story has never been told before, until now.”

“Becoming Led Zeppelin” is now showing in cinemas

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