The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience: James Dylan

It all starts with the love of a girl. Actually, the love of two girls:

When I was 6 I had a crush on a girl named Susan O’Connell who loved David Cassidy… I figured the best way to her heart was through music.

Thus begins the musical journey of James Dylan, lead singer in Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience.

In 2007 there would be another girl, “a goddess named Averelle,” now his fiancé. He recorded Hey, Hey, What Can I Do for her, and posted it on YouTube. It was the beginning of two beautiful relationships: James and Averelle; the musician and YouTube.

The YouTube clips grew and he contacted Japanese guitarist and YouTube contributor, Jun626, about a collaboration. Virtual Zeppelin, a project whereby five musicians, scattered around Japan, USA and Canada record their parts separately onto video, was born. The resulting videos are, of course, distributed on YouTube.

When James began recording with Virtual Zeppelin in 2008, how could he know that anybody other than his family would even watch the videos? But they did, by the thousands. Included among those who watched was Jason Bonham:

Jason had seen videos of me singing with “Virtual Zeppelin” on YouTube and… called me the next day and we had a good long chat about music.

Later Bonham would call him again. He was doing a project, and would he like to sing in it?

Born on Halloween 1966, Dylan grew up in Stoughton, Wisconsin. His family moved to the east coast, where he discovered he could sing like Robert Plant in high school:

I played guitar and my band used to play a lot of Led Zeppelin… none of the singers we had could ever sing like Robert Plant. At one of our rehearsals I was trying to show our singer, Joe, the correct way to phrase one of the lines in a Led Zeppelin song. The guys were like WTF?

The singer/guitarist, who also plays bass, mandolin and drums, has played in bands ever since.

He would later move to Virginia, and settled down with a wife and two children. He performed as a professional musician for many years, twice taking bands out on the road, but gave it up when his children, now young adults, were little: “I didn’t want to be on the road while they were growing up,” he says. He worked for a political consultant, a job which he still has.

Dylan is very excited about his new project, Principle of Alchemy. As well, he still performs with Virtual Zeppelin and other YouTube band JFJ.

James and Averelle have four children between them: besides James’ two Averelle has two young girls from a previous marriage.

So James, what's your plans for after the tour?

"I look forward to spending time with my family. I miss them all very much and will be glad to be home."





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Update: Oct 26: Edited for accuracy.