Interview with Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin Live!)
Robert Plant*
We got to sit down with Robert Plant (Jeffery James) of “Hearbreaker,” a Led Zeppelin tribute band at Giovane’s Italian Restaurant. Here’s what he had to say.
Why “Heartbreaker?”
We decided Heartbreaker because it’s a Led Zeppelin song off their second album and has good kick to it, good name, good 80s name, it’s just a great name for an 80’s band.
Were you always Heartbreaker? Or did you have other names?
Originally we had, the band was called “Song Remains the Same,” but it was too long, so Heartbreaker, then when we did Heartbreaker we had to change it, because people were like, “Is it a Pat Benetar tribute?” Its kind of a theatrical show, Led Zeppelin Live – Featuring Heartbreaker.
How long have you all known each other?
I know Stew, we’ve all known each other about 20 years, except our drummer, we have been with him for about 5 years, but we’ve all known each other for about 20, maybe longer. We were all kids in different bands together.
Jimmy Page*
When did you start playing?
This band formed in 99’, ten years ago, then we got a drummer in 03’, and ever since…
What inspired you to form your band?
We did the top 40 thing, and we didn’t wanna do “Brick House,” “Brown Eyed Girl,”… we wanted to be challenged, and do the most challenging band, so I started finding the members, Stu is our third guitarist, Marcus is the 2nd bassist… the other (our first) members couldn’t hack it.
Where are some of your favorite places to perform?
We’ve played Lake Tahoe, Esqua Valley, that was great, The Civic Center in Thousand Oaks, The Caribbean, The Hard Rock Café in Santa Domingo, Trinidad, The Caribbeans is a fun place, Road Island, and our next shows in Tennessee, and Memphis this September… Alaska… everywhere!
What songs do you play most?
There’s a group of songs that people EXPECT to hear… Stairway to Heaven, Rock and Roll, Kashmir… etc.
What shows do you have coming up that you really want people to know about?
We are going to be in Memphis for Delta Music Festival, that should be fun.
How have you progressed since you first started?
We’ve gotten a lot better, it took 2-3 years to really learn to sing this stuff, I learned to sing the high notes without blowing my voice out, it took 3-4 years to really get it right. We added the higher songs like “Misty Mountain,” “Black Dog,” I sing all high notes, I don’t cheat, haha. It took time to learn how to do that, I definitely didn’t learn overnight.
Where can your fans listen to your music?
ZeppelinTribute.com, we have live videos and everything.
Are you local to the area?
Were from San Francisco, but basically all around the Bay Area. (Central California Coast)
Any last words? 
Were all live, no sequencing. Keyboards, vocal harmonies, we take all the high notes, we don’t cheat, we don’t screw up any parts, we play like the record, from the keyboard solo, to Stairway to Heaven, everything is done as close as possible, as true as we possibly can, between the live and album version.
We’re not here to be famous, I don’t even use my real name, it’s about the people, I don’t want people to know it’s not Led Zeppelin, I don’t want to ruin the illusion, it’s not about people knowing who I am, I want people to see Robert Plant, not Jeff Larson.
* – Or is it?