The Casino File
It would pretty much be impossible to calculate the number of “tribute” acts performing around the world today. But what is easy to ascertain is the name of the band that, by any measurement, sits at the pinnacle of the tribute-act universe.
That would be Get the Led Out, whose clone-like recreations of Led Zeppelin’s recorded output has put them in the same league as many of the original artists working today. This month alone, the sextet has 13 concerts booked in six states, including one at the famed, 9,500-seat Red Rocks amphitheater outside Denver, Colo. and, much closer to home, a Sept. 12 show at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City’s Sound Waves theater. And reportedly, the band’s fees match—and often exceed—those which many traditional headliners receive.
Not bad for a group whose beginnings trace back 22 years to a local hangout in Bridgeport, Pa. in Philadelphia’s western suburbs.
According to group co-founder/lead guitarist Paul Hammond, GTLO grew out of a regular gig he and his fellow charter member, vocalist Paul Sinclair, had at the turn of the 21st century.
“Paul and I had been gigging with some friends playing Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith songs at Bridgeport Rib House. Every first Sunday of the month, we would do that set,” recalled Hammond during a recent phone call. “It was packed like every night because people wanted to hear us do Zeppelin and Aerosmith; Paul can sing Steven Tyler as well as [Zeppelin front man] Robert Plant.
“Paul was approached by some other local musicians who wanted to do a Zeppelin tribute band; they wanted to do a lookalike band with Paul dressing like [Plant] and dying his hair blonde.
“But Paul Sinclair is not about that at all. He never wanted to be an impersonator. So, the only way he agreed to do a Zeppelin show is to do it faithfully to [their songs’] studio versions.”
While Hammond and Sinclair originally split their repertoire between Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, the choice to focus on the former was a relatively easy one.
“Zeppelin was no longer touring,” reasoned Hammond. “They didn’t even have a reunion concert scheduled. So, there was more of a demand. Plus, their catalog speaks for itself. It basically appeals to everybody because their music is so diverse. You have Delta blues, you have Celtic folk, you have funk, you have Chicago blues, heavy metal. It’s really across the board.” He added that Aerosmith’s 1980s reinvention as a pop act “wasn’t quite [Sinclair’s] cup of tea.”
Ironically, Hammond, who in addition to being the lead guitarist, also handles a good deal of the group’s offstage business, initially wanted no part of the plan. “I actually didn’t want to do it,” he admitted. “I was like, nah, I really don’t have any interest in the Zeppelin cover thing, because we were doing recording work and I had a lot of work being a [musical] tech. So, I was alright with my life.
“But I begrudgingly agreed to do it and went to the rehearsals. We ended up doing some shows, and the fans loved the concept, so it actually took off fairly quickly. We didn’t really have to pay dues as far as slogging it out in bars or clubs.”
Not that there weren’t—and aren’t still—other Led Zep tribute bands on the boards. But from the jump, GTLO has staked out an exclusive piece of sonic turf.
“We were the only band—and are still the only Led Zeppelin band—that plays what’s on the record and does all the overdubs and does all the parts authentically. And that’s what has always set us apart,” he said.”
It should be noted that the dedication to painstakingly reproducing Led Zep’s recorded output is also the reason Get The Led Out has six members (including a second guitarist and full-time keyboardist) rather than just four, as did the group’s legendary subject.
It’s not unheard of for top-tier tribute bands to have made connections with the artists whom they emulate. For instance, various members of Genesis have endorsed and performed with The Musical Box, and Brit Floyd has been joined onstage by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Roger Waters. While there has yet to be personal contact with any of the three remaining Led Zeppelin members, GTLO is clearly on the musicians’ radar.
“They know about us,” declared Hammond. “Years ago, we were playing in Portsmouth, N.H. and standing in the green room. The promoter was standing there talking on the phone. She gets off the phone and says to me, ‘Who do you think I was talking to?’ I said, ‘I have no idea.’ She says, ‘That was Robert Plant. He’s gonna be here next week. And he asked who’s the band playing tonight.’ And she told him Get the Led Out. And he said, ‘Get The Led Out? That’s a great band!’
“And then [Plant] supposedly came and saw us in Nashville. He sent a message through our sound man from his guy he was working with in the studio. He sent like ‘thumbs-up on the show’ or something like that to our sound man. “And [Zep guitarist] Jimmy Page follows us.”
And why not? As Hammond suggested with a chuckle, GTLO may very well be an asset to the remaining Led Zeppeliners. “We are probably selling more records for them at this point,” he offered, “than they would be otherwise.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
