{"id":395048,"date":"2026-01-08T11:27:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T11:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/395048\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T11:27:18","slug":"the-bassist-who-almost-made-it-into-led-zeppelin-before-john-paul-jones-still-played-a-critical-role-in-bands-debut-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/395048\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bassist Who Almost Made It Into Led Zeppelin Before John Paul Jones Still Played a Critical Role in Band\u2019s Debut Album"},"content":{"rendered":"

No matter how perfect a musical collaboration may seem on paper, sometimes, two players become ships passing in the night, unable to synchronize their schedules and endeavors, despite their best efforts. Such was the case for Chris Dreja, the rock-solid rhythm guitarist-turned-bassist who could have had a shot at being in one of the greatest rock \u2018n\u2019 roll bands of all time, Led Zeppelin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dreja had an easy \u201cin\u201d to the band, having played with Led Zeppelin founding member Jimmy Page already in The Yardbirds. In fact, although The Yardbirds are often tied to the careers of Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck, Dreja predated all three as an original member of the group. One iteration of the band saw Dreja on rhythm, Jimmy Page on bass, and Jeff Beck on lead guitar. After an illness hospitalized Beck in the mid-1960s, Page took over lead guitar, and Dreja picked up the bass.<\/p>\n

Being a part of the rhythm section was always Dreja\u2019s bread and butter. Speaking to Gary James of ClassicBands.com<\/a>, Dreja said of his rhythm playing, \u201cThe personalities of [rhythm guitarists and bassists] are very much that we can work between everybody in the band. We\u2019re not up front. We don\u2019t appear into the black, but we kind of keep it all sticking together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Dreja Had the Chance to \u201cKeep It All Sticking Together\u201d for Led Zeppelin, Too<\/p>\n

By the late 1960s, The Yardbirds were beginning to fracture. As each member became increasingly interested in artistic endeavors outside of the band\u2019s scope, their momentum sputtered out until, finally, the band broke up in the summer of 1968. Several bands formed from the dissolution, including Led Zeppelin, which was established by Jimmy Page. The guitarist extended an invitation to his Yardbirds bandmate, Chris Dreja, to play bass. But Dreja had his own creative goals to pursue, and joining a heavy rock band wasn\u2019t at the top of his list.<\/p>\n

Instead, Dreja wished to dive into his love of photography. And in the end, that would provide him an opportunity to work with Led Zeppelin, even if he wasn\u2019t the bassist. Speaking to New Musical Express in 2015<\/a>, Dreja recalled how he landed the gig as the photographer for Led Zeppelin\u2019s debut album\u2019s back cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Led Zeppelin playing Madison Square Garden [in 1970] and realized how big they\u2019d become and how quickly,\u201d Dreja said. \u201cThey asked me to do [the album] shoot after that show.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a back album cover might seem unimportant when compared to, say, the actual music on the record, the fact that Dreja worked on Led Zeppelin\u2019s debut<\/a> is rather touching, if you think about it. Starting out as a new band can be somewhat awkward, especially when it comes to non-musical things, like photoshoots. Using Dreja as their debut album photographer allowed the musicians to be as comfortable as possible in front of the camera.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it was a way for Page and Dreja to remain connected in the years that followed their tenure as fellow Yardbirds. John Paul Jones, meanwhile, certainly held his own as Led Zeppelin\u2019s rightful bassist.<\/p>\n

(Photo by Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No matter how perfect a musical collaboration may seem on paper, sometimes, two players become ships passing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[191177,88,19812,19810,216,2156],"class_list":["post-395048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-chris-dreja","tag-entertainment","tag-john-paul-jones","tag-led-zeppelin","tag-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}