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Jason Bonham talks about the Zep reunion that wasn't, and his plans for the Led Zeppelin 'Experience' (© Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis)

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For Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, the term 'supergroup' seems to follow him around like a lost puppy looking for a home. "I don't mind," the 43-year-old sticksman says. "If the word gets people's attention, that's fine. Believe me, there's worse things you could call a group than 'super.'"

Bonham is a member of one outfit that has recently had the the supergroup tag bestowed upon them: Black Country Communion, which also includes blues-rock guitarist and singer Joe Bonamassa, former Deep Purple bassist and vocalist Glenn Hughes and ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian. After a series of legal wranglings concerning their name (another musician claimed ownership of the Black Country moniker, resulting in a last-minute Communion addendum), the band will issue their debut album in September.

Still, that most super of supergroups continues to occupy Bonham's time: Led Zeppelin. Following the triumphant December 2007 Zeppelin reunion concert to honor Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, rumors quickly spread that the behemoth band would mount a full-scale - and no doubt, record-shattering - world tour.

Singer Robert Plant, then enjoying what would be a Grammy Award-winning collaboration with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, seemed ambivalent about hitting the road with Zep again. When pressed by Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones for a commitment, Plant begged off, and the search was on for a replacement singer.

Bonham confirms that, throughout much of 2008, he, Page, Jones and various vocalists wrote and jammed for what they hoped would be the return of Led Zeppelin. "It got real close," he says. "It got as close as you can possibly get."

For reasons that Bonham doesn't fully explain (although he alludes to a disagreement between Page and Jones), the eagerly anticipated tour imploded. But that's not stopping the drummer from celebrating the music of Zeppelin and, in the process, paying tribute to his late father. In October, he'll embark on what he's tentatively calling Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, a multimedia event that will tell the story of the famed band from his perspective.

In the following interview, Jason Bonham details his plans for the upcoming tour, and talks about the reunion that wasn't.

I know you've tinkered with the name of this tour a bit. So can we finally call it Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience?

"Yes, that's the working title. The name works on a few levels, because it basically tells people what it is, that it's about Led Zeppelin, the band. But it's also about my life, as well. It's going to be quite a multimedia spectacle, with film clips and photographs, great lights and sound."

I understand you've been approached to do something along these lines before.

"You know, since we did the Zeppelin performance at the O2 in 2007, a lot of people have asked me if I'd go out and do something in this way. To be honest, and this might sound surprising, but it's something I've kind of shied away from.

"But then I thought, I'll do something really spectacular and different. I'll take this somewhere else artistically. Plus, it'll be 30 years since my father passed away, so I said, 'Right, I'll do 30 shows, have some fun, play some great Led Zeppelin music. I'll surround myself with a bunch of great players, a terrific singer - it'll be fantastic.'"

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