You “better get the led out,” as the popular saying goes, if you plan on attending Saturday’s performance at Springfield Symphony Hall by one of America’s top Led Zeppelin tribute bands, who just happen to be called Get the Led Out: A Celebration of “The Mighty Zep.”
It was the band’s drummer back then who came up with the inspired name.
“We were throwing out names and going back and forth. One day he called me and just said, ‘Get the Led Out,’ and I thought that was pretty cool because back in the day it was always The Beatles, The Doors, The Rolling Stones. And at a time when all these names were beginning with ‘the,’ Get the Led Out felt unique and different,” said Paul Sinclair, the band’s lead vocalist, in an interview with The Republican.
“At the time already, there were classic rock stations around the country who at night would play a block of songs by Led Zeppelin which they referred to on air as time to Get the Led Out. So, it was very identifiable with Led Zeppelin and we liked it and ran with it and it stuck,” he added.
Considered as the progenitor of hard rock and heavy metal, Led Zeppelin was an English rock band formed in 1968 as an offshoot of another British band called The Yardbirds. With eight consecutive UK number one albums to their name, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 after disbanding in 1980. Among their most popular songs included “Stairway to Heaven,” “Whole Lotta Love, “Immigrant Song, “Kashmir” and numerous others.
Get the Led Out isn’t your ordinary “tribute band.”
Their mission is to bring the studio recordings of Led Zeppelin to life in concert. In the studio, Led Zeppelin layered many guitars, vocals, keyboards and various other instruments in a process known as overdubbing. It was physically impossible for only four people to recreate those technically perfect recordings in a live performance, something the Zeps never attempted to do, which would have required them to bring in additional musicians. But as Sinclair goes on to explain, Get the Led Out is all about that.
It was back in 2003 that Sinclair received a phone call to meet with several musicians who wanted to put together a Led Zeppelin show, and they needed a lead singer.
“These guys haven’t been a part of the band for quite some time now. Originally, we had a difference of opinion on how to approach the show. I never wanted to be in a tribute band, because back in the day for most it meant impersonating and dressing like the original band members. I wanted nothing to do with that, but I liked the idea of a Zeppelin tribute band,” Sinclair said.
Eventually, those early members came around to Sinclair’s idea of making the music great and sounding as close as possible to the Led Zeppelin recordings.
“There were a number of bands already doing this, like the very popular Fab Faux, who were faithfully recreating The Beatles’ catalog of songs just as if you were listening to one of their records. And it took more than four of them to do it. They inspired me to do just that. And I never knew of any other Led Zeppelin tribute bands trying to achieve what we went on to do,” Sinclair said.
In addition to Sinclair, the band includes Paul Hammond, electric and acoustic guitars and mandolin; Tommy Zamp, electric and acoustic guitars and vocals; Seth Chrisman, bass guitar and vocals; Derek Smith, drums and percussion; and Eddie Kurek, keyboards, electric and acoustic guitars, vocals and percussion.
Showtime is 8 p.m.
Tickets, ranging in price from $29.50 to $69.50, are available at symphonyhallspringfield.com
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