CARMINE APPICE Explains Why He Is A Better Fit Than JASON BONHAM For LED ZEPPELIN Drummer Slot

Legendary drummer Carmine Appice (OZZY OSBOURNE, ROD STEWART, VANILLA FUDGE, JEFF BECK, GUITAR ZEUS, KING KOBRA) says that he would love to play with a reunited LED ZEPPELIN, claiming that he is a better fit to replace late ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham than is John's son Jason.

Asked by the "Totally Driven Radio" podcast if there is anyone left that he would like to share the stage with, Carmine said (hear audio below): "I would like to work with a LED ZEPPELIN configuration, whether it's just John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page and me and a singer. I've heard that they're talking, maybe, to Ann Wilson [HEART]… There's a rumor that Ann Wilson might go out with them. I would love to play drums on something like that."

When it was pointed out to Carmine that Jason Bonham would almost certainly land the drummer gig in a hypothetical ZEPPELIN reunion, Appice said: "Everybody in that band there is legendary… They're old school and legendary. Jason isn't legendary, and he's not old school. He's John Bonham's son, but he don't play like John Bonham. He plays more… He plays like him. He's not John. He's got that name, but he's not John Bonham. I'm not John Bonham either, but I think my style might be close, 'cause I came first, and John listened to stuff I did and did it his own way. And we took 'em on their first tour. It's very close-sounding stuff in feel."

He continued: "When John passed away, there was rumors that I was gonna join LED ZEPPELIN, but obviously I didn't get to do that. But, you know… whatever. I would like to do that. Whether they get Jason or not, I would still like to do that."

Asked earlier this year in an interview with Journey Of A Frontman what it means to him to know that he was one of John Bonham's favorite drummers, Carmine responded: "It's nice. But it's not like I strive on it or anything. It's nice that the timing worked out the way it did. He came out two to two and a half years after I did. He listed me as one of his idols. I helped him and took him under my wing. It went beyond that, actually, because we were friends. Back in those days, we were all friends. Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon, John Bonham… we all knew each other. The drummers today, they're all big, giant fans of John Bonham. I wasn't a fan; I was more of a friend."

Carmine Appice previously said that Bonham took the bass drum triplets from the VANILLA FUDGE song "Ticket To Ride", telling Classic Rock Revisited in a 2006 interview: "When I first heard John Bonham do that triplet thing on the bass drum, I went up to him and said, 'John, that is amazing. I have to admit that I took that from you.' He looked at me and said, 'What are you talking about? I took that from you!' I replied, 'I don't do that. You couldn't have taken it from me.' He proceeded to tell me where I did actually do that on the first VANILLA FUDGE record and he was right. I only did it for a moment on that album and he took it and made something bigger and better out of it."