After being unearthed by the NFSA, a rare interview with the late John Bonham is the centrepiece of the new authorised documentary, Becoming Led Zeppelin.
Picture the scene: it’s early 1972 and Led Zeppelin have just released their fourth studio album, featuring the anthemic track 'Stairway to Heaven'. Zeppelin is arguably the biggest rock band in the world and they’re preparing for an upcoming tour of Australia, which means a host of publicity. Enter Australian broadcaster Graeme Berry, who finds himself sitting in the home of lead singer Robert Plant, there to interview Plant and legendary drummer John Bonham for Sydney radio station 2SM.
It’s a massive coup for Berry. Bonham – who died in 1980 – rarely gave interviews or spoke in public, and if he did, he wouldn't say much at all. But this time is different. ‘In the interview, he really opens up and engages with Berry … uncharacteristically, he seems very happy to talk’, NFSA curator Thorsten Kaeding explains.
‘They touch on many aspects of his career, as well as moments leading up to it … including how he started out in music, where his interests came from, and what he was doing before Led Zeppelin. For a documentary maker, it is absolute gold.’
Sadly, as gold as it may have been, the audio tape that interview was recorded on simply disappeared with the passing of time.
After hearing a bootleg copy of the interview on vinyl, Bernard MacMahon, director and producer of the band’s first authorised documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025), knew he had to find that missing recording. He spent a year searching and, recognising Berry’s Australian accent, contacted the NFSA in 2019.
At first, researchers were unable to find the interview in the collection. That’s when Sean Bridgeman, the NFSA's Access Services Manager, had a win. He reached out to the curatorial team, which was cataloguing around 8,000 tapes in the 2SM collection, many of which were unmarked or had no identifying information.
‘Curator Chris Arneil had coincidentally come across a tape marked Led Zeppelin: Robert Plant and John Bonham the week before', Sean Bridgeman says. ‘After digitising the tape and conducting research, we confirmed it was the hour-plus interview with John Bonham that Bernard MacMahon had been searching for.’
After the interview was rediscovered and digitised at the NFSA, it was loaned to the creators of Becoming Led Zeppelin and is now the centrepiece of the documentary about a band that was surely one of the most influential of all time.
Australian trailer for Becoming Led Zeppelin (Bernard MacMahon, 2025). Courtesy: Madman Entertainment
Thorsten Kaeding says the Bonham recording is a testament to Berry, and his brilliant interviewing skills. ‘It’s often forgotten how successful Australian DJs and music journalists have been internationally’, he says. ‘As with this interview, they were often able to get their subjects to open up in ways that others could not.’
The interview recording is also an important reminder of the work being undertaken to digitise content in the NFSA collection, as Sean Bridgeman explains.
‘There are many items in the collection that are "hidden" or undiscovered – in that we either don’t have enough catalogue information, or they have yet to be digitised. The interview was held only on the original ¼-inch magnetic audio tape, so it was essential we digitised the recording for preservation.
'Magnetic tape formats are at risk of further deterioration, preventing digital preservation, and this is why the NFSA is prioritising magnetic audiovisual formats for its Deadline 2025 project.’
Becoming Led Zeppelin is the band’s first authorised documentary and a work-in-progress version of the film premiered at the prestigious Venice Film Festival in September 2021 where it gained significant attention.
Becoming Led Zeppelin is released in Australian cinemas on 7 February 2025.
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Main image: Led Zeppelin on stage in 1969, from Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025). Courtesy: Madman Entertainment
This article was first published in 2021. The text was updated in 2025.
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