He speaks softly, coughs again and again, because he is suffering from a nasty cold. Which is not really good if you are on a tour for several months and have a lot of press dates. Robert Plant was about to cancel it. But because eclipsed travelled to his hotel in Birmingham especially for him, he turns good mines into evil games. At first he tries very hard, but seems more and more annoyed, the more the conversation shifts towards Led Zeppelin. However, the 66-year-old is not allowed to complain about this: After all, he continues to play the Seventies legend's pieces live, shoots at Page/Jones on stage and is the one who blocks the reunion tour in public perception. Time for clarifying words.
eclipsed: Robert, you've been working with new bands since the late nineties. At the moment it is the Sensational Space Shifters, most of whose members have been with Strange Sensation since 2002..
Robert Plant: I'll say. I've spent the last six or seven years in America working on different projects that have really taken me forward. I have learned to sing with other artists and to use my abilities to the full. Which includes just shutting up. (laughs) But at the same time I missed the wild stuff I've done with Justin [Adams; guitar], Skin [Liam "Skin" Tyson; guitar], Johnny Baggott [keyboards] and Billy [fuller; bass]. And when I was briefly in England to visit my family, I met Justin, who had a band called JuJu, which also included Billy from Strange Sensation. I immediately fell in love with this troupe and thought: "What can I contribute? Are they available?" When they had finished their tour, they actually said: "Let's pick up where we left off with Strange Sensation and put some good English lyrics between the rhythms"
eclipsed: What fascinates you about ambient music, the trademark of the Space Shifters?
Plant: It has an emotional quality that appeals to many different senses in my head. And I like trance - whether from the computer or from Moroccan Gnawa musicians. This sound, which is constantly repeated, has an interesting effect on me.