Rock Magic: Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, and a Search For the Elusive Stairway to Heaven

[William Burroughs] I really, really enjoyed the concert. I think it has quite a lot, really, in common with Moroccan trance music [Jimmy Page] Yes, yes [Burroughs] I wondered if you consciously were using any of that… [Page] Well, yes, there is a little on that particular track, “Kashmir”–a lead bass on that–even though none of us have been to Kashmir. It’s just that we've all been very involved in that sort of music. I’m very involved in ethnic music from all over the world [Burroughs] Have you been to Morocco? [Page] No. I haven’t, and it’s a very sad admission to make. I’ve only been to, you know, India and Bangkok and places like that through the Southeast [Burroughs] Well, I've never been east of Athens [Page] Because during the period when everybody was going through trips over to, you know, Morocco, going down, way down, making their own journeys too Istanbul, I was at art college during that period and then I eventually went straight into music. So I really missed out on all that sort of traveling. But I know musicians that have gone there and actually sat in with the Arabs and played with them [Burroughs] Yeah, well they think of music entirely in magical terms [Page] Yes [Burroughs] And their music is definitely used for magical purposes. For example, the Gnaoua music is to drive out evil spirits and Joujouka music is invoking the God Pan. Musicians there are all magicians, quite consciously [Burroughs] I was thinking of the concentration of mass energy that you get in a pop concert, and if that were, say, channeled in some magical way…a stairway to heaven…it could become quite actual [Page] Yes, I know. One is so aware of the energies that you are going for, and you could so easily….I mean, for instance, the other night we played in the Philadelphia Spectrum, which really is a black hole as a concert hall….The security there is the most ugly of anywhere in the States. I saw this incident happen and I was almost physically sick. In fact, if I hadn't been playing the guitar I was playing it would've been over somebody’s head. It was a double-neck, which is irreplaceable, really, unless you wait another nine months for them to make another one at Gibson’s What had happened, somebody came to the front of the stage to take a picture or something and obviously somebody said, “Be off with you.” And he wouldn't go. And then one chap went over the barrier, and then another, and then another and then another, and they all piled on top of…you could see the fists coming out…on this one solitary person. And they dragged him by his hair and they were kicking him. It was just sickening. Now, what I’m saying is this….Our crowds, the people that come to see us are very orderly. It’s not the sort of Alice Cooper style, where you actually TRY to get them into a state where they've got to go like that, so that you can get reports of this, that and the other. And the wrong word said at that time could've just sparked off the whole thing [Burroughs] Yes, there’s sort of a balance to be maintained there [Page] Yeah, that’s right [Burroughs] The audience the other night was very well behaved [Burroughs] Have you used the lasers in all of the concerts? [Page] Over here, yes [Burroughs] Very effective [Page] I think we should have more of them, don’t you? About thirty of them! Do you know they bounced that one off the moon. But it’s been condensed….it’s the very one that they used for the moon. I was quite impressed by that [Burroughs] That isn't the kind of machine that would cause any damage… [Page] Uh, if you look straight into it, yes [Burroughs] Yes, but I mean…it doesn't burn a hole in… [Page] No….it’s been taken right down. I’m just waiting for the day when you can get the holograms…get three-dimensional. The other thing I wanted to do was the Van de Graaff Generator. You used to see them in the old horror films… [Burroughs] Oh yes…Frankenstein, and all that [Page] When we first came over here… when the draft was really hot and everything…if you stayed in the country for more than six months, you were eligible for it, they’d drag you straight into the draft [Burroughs] I didn't realize that [Page] Yeah [Burroughs] Oh, I thought you had to be an American citizen [Page] No. No no. We almost overstayed our welcome. I was producing and having to work in studios here, and the days coming up to the six month period were just about…it was just about neck and neck. And I still had a couple more days left and a couple more days to work on this LP [Burroughs] Were they right there with the papers? [Page] Well, not quite, I mean obviously it would have taken some time, but somebody would’ve been there…You know, they do keep an eye on people [Burroughs] Did you ever hear about something called infra-sound? [Page] Uh, carry on [Burroughs] Well, infra-sound is sound below the level of hearing. And it was developed by someone named Professor Gavreau in France as a military weapon. He had an infra-sound installation that he could turn on and kill everything within five miles. It can also knock down walls and break windows. But it kills by setting up vibrations within the body. Well, what I was wondering was, whether rhythmical music at sort of the borderline of infra-sound could be used to produce rhythms in the audience–because, of course, any music with volume will set up these vibrations. That is part of the way the effect is achieved [Page] Hmm [Burroughs] It’s apparently…it’s not complicated to build these infra-sound things [Page] I've heard of this, actually but not in such a detailed explanation. I’ve heard that certain frequencies can make you physically ill [Burroughs] Yes. Well, this can be fatal. That’s not what you’re looking for. But it could be used just to set up vibrations… [Page] Ah hah…A death ray machine! Of course, when radio first came out they were picketing all the radio stations, weren’t they, saying “We don’t want these poisonous rays” [laughter]….Yes, well…certain notes can break glasses. I mean, opera singers can break glasses with sound, this is true? [Burroughs] That was one of Caruso’s tricks [Page] But it is true? [Burroughs] Of course [Page] I've never seen it done [Burroughs] I've never seen it done, but I know that you can do it [Page] I want laser NOTES, that’s what I’m after! Cut right through [Burroughs] Apparently you can make one of these things out of parts you can buy in a junk yard. It’s not a complicated machine to make. And actually the patent…it’s patented in France, and according to French law, you can obtain a copy of the patent. For a very small fee [Page] Well, you see the thing is, it’s hard to know just exactly what is going on, from the stage to the audience…You can only…I mean I’ve never seen the group play, obviously. Because I’m part of it….I can only see it on celluloid, or hear it. But I know what I see. And this thing about rhythms within the audience. I would say yes. Yes, definitely. And it is…Music which involves riffs, anyway, will have a trance-like effect, and it’s really like a mantra….And we've been attacked for that [Burroughs] What a mantra does is set up certain vibrations within the body, and this, obviously does the same thing. Of course, it goes….it comes out too far. But I was wondering if on the borderline of infra-sound that possibly some interesting things could be done [Page] Ah [Page] Last year we were playing [sets] for three hours solid, and physically that was a real…I mean, when I came back from the last tour I didn't know where I was. I didn't even know where I was going. We ended up in New York and the only thing that I could relate to was the instrument onstage. I just couldn't….I was just totally and completely spaced out [Burroughs] How long was that you played recently? That was two hours and a half [Page] That was two and a half hours, yes. It used to go for three hours [Burroughs] I’d hate to give a three-hour reading…