Well, as I completed yet one more lap around the block this past Friday and found myself receiving tons of pleasantries and well wishes from all corners of the world – except the usual Antarctica and North Pole, if you live there hit me up! – I was especially positively surprised when my pal Troy that runs The Bigfoot Diaries congratulated me and informed me that I share birthday with none other than Tortelvis from Dread Zeppelin! Now that, sir, is what we call awesome.
If you somehow should be unaware of this band – really? – I can inform you that they are probably the most unique damn outfit there ever was. In short they do reggae cover versions of Led Zeppelin. With an Elvis impersonator handling the vocal duties. Yeah, everybody goes “WTF!?” when I explain that. Still, if you’re gonna do something like covers – something I usually loathe – you should do what these guys are doing; A completely unique and original take on the material.
Growing as a phenomenon and cult band since the 1990s they have Robert Plant himself among their fans – check it out here for yourself if you don’t wanna take my word for it - I recommend you at least checking out some of their videos on YouTube, and speaking of Troy you can read his interview with Tortle here.
Listening to the track I now envision a music video with the Norliss members dressed up as a run-down, over-the-hill wedding band – we’re talking 70s fashion and maybe horrible faux comb overs – with Bruce himself starring as the cheesy, crooning lead vocalist (or maybe Elvis from Bubba Ho-Tep) that pretty much owns the stage while alternating between saying the only “lyrics” of the song into the mike and trying to hit up on the female members of the audience. And maybe throw in a couple of nice dance moves as well. A man can dream right?
