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 Henry 'The Horse' Smith admits that he sometimes gets annoyed with people asking Led Zeppelin questions. After all, the good natured 64-year-old roadie/road manager has a lot more on his decades-old resume than the consensus 'greatest rock band on the planet'. Let's face it, Aerosmith and The Yardbirds are not chopped liver ...
Henry 'The Horse' Smith admits that he sometimes gets annoyed with people asking Led Zeppelin questions. After all, the good natured 64 year old roadie/road manager has a lot more on his decades-old resume than the consensus 'greatest rock band on the planet'. Let's face it, Aerosmith and The Yardbirds are not chopped liver. But, more often than not, Smith is candid and forthcoming when asked about his 1968-73 tenure with Zeppelin and his front row seat on the three ring circus that was the band's rise to the upper reaches of heavy rock royalty. Smith knows where the bodies are buried and could easily write a Zep tell-all that would rival what many consider the definitive Zeppelin book, Hammer Of The Gods. But he won't.
"I would never write a book about Zeppelin," Smith tells Back Page Magazine. "The things I did and saw with Zeppelin were in the spirit of friendship. To write a book about Led Zeppelin would be to give up that friendship and I value that friendship too highly to stab them in the back."
ROCK CELLAR MAGAZINE: You've worked with some of the biggest bands over the years, including Led Zeppelin. Why do people keep hiring you?
Henry Smith: That's actually a very good question. I don't know why. (laughs) A lot of it has been luck and timing. I've made friends with a lot of musicians and that always helps in getting gigs. I'm somebody who can be trusted. I'm a diplomatic sort of guy. I'm not a yeller and a screamer. I know the psychology involved with dealing with musicians and life on the road. That's why I'm still working and that's why people call me up.
 RCM: You worked with Led Zeppelin from?
HS: From the day the group formed in 1968 until 1973. I started out with them when they were still going by the name of The New Yardbirds.
RCM: So the first incarnation of The Yardbirds was in decline and Jimmy Page comes up to you and says what?
HS: The Yardbirds were nearing the end of the road and Keith Relf and Jim McCarty from that band asked me if I would work with a new band of theirs called Renaissance. A few days later, Jimmy comes up to me and asks me if I would work with him on a new band that he had not completely formed yet. I liked the idea that Jimmy was going more into a rock thing as opposed to what Renaissance was going to do and so I said yes to Jimmy.
RCM: So in essence you were going from an already established band with The Yardbirds to a band that was, at the time, Jimmy Page and nobody else. Did you feel that you were making a wise decision?
HS: No. (laughs) But I was 21 and stupid. It sounded like a good gig. Jimmy was always very kind to me and I knew (manager) Peter Grant's reputation so I said 'sure, I'm in.'
RCM: So you were on board before there was even a band?
HS: It was Jimmy's band. You could probably make a case for Led Zeppelin being the first ever boy band. Jimmy put the band together. He went out and handpicked everybody else. Robert and Bonzo (John Bonham) were in Band Of Joy but were still primarily unknown, and John Paul Jones was at the top of his game as a session musician but not known outside of that circle.
RCM: The rest of the band seemed to go along with the idea that Jimmy would be boss?
HS: The rest of the guys readily accepted the fact that it was Jimmy's band. And it was with good reason. They were going to go places they had never dreamed of going in everything they had done to that point. Band Of Joy was a good band but they were never going to be Led Zeppelin and they were never going to tour the states.
RCM: How quickly did those privy to the formation of Led Zeppelin realize how huge this band could be?
HS: We knew after the first rehearsal. That was such a tearful moment. There was this immediate chemistry between the four of them. From a roadie's perspective it was scary to think we were on the verge of being part of something that had never been seen before.
RCM: What's the story behind Led Zeppelin making their debut as The New Yardbirds?
HS: The Yardbirds were running out the string on some contracted shows. A series of shows in Scandinavia had been booked but the band decided they did not want to do those shows. So Peter Grant made the offer of having Led Zeppelin do those shows under the name The New Yardbirds.
RCM: A stroke of good luck for Led Zeppelin?
HS: More like good planning on Peter's part. He knew how hard it was to book a band that nobody had ever heard of and he felt that it was easier to jump in as The New Yardbirds and get Led Zeppelin in front of an audience.
RCM: What was the reaction to the band from the audience during those first shows?
HS: They knew Jimmy but they really didn't know any of the other guys. But when the band started playing, it was killer. A good third of the sets of those shows were the songs that would end up on Zeppelin's first album and they went down real well. You didn't hear 'Oh shit! That's not the Yardbirds.' From that first show, everybody knew that the band had something special.
RCM: Led Zeppelin received only 150 pounds for one of those early shows. That's not much. Were they leading a hand-to-mouth existence in the beginning?
HS: It wasn't as bad as four guys sleeping in a bunk. It may have been what many would consider hand to mouth but it didn't last very long. Peter Grant had a reputation for taking care of the bands and the people that worked for them.
RCM: Grant also had the reputation of being a rough and tumble kind of guy. It sounds like he was the perfect manager for Led Zeppelin.
HS: Let me put it this way: with Peter around the band really didn't need security. Peter was not much of a fighter but he knew how to use words. He was a pretty intimidating guy so just his presence in the middle of a situation was usually enough to stop most things.
RCM: Anybody who has read the book Hammer Of The Gods is familiar with how crazy the band could get on the road. Was it pretty much sex, drugs and rock and roll with Led Zeppelin even in the early days?
HS: Sure. Without a doubt. Everybody was getting everything, including the roadies. Let me put it to you this way; some of the things we did that were accepted in the 60s would not be accepted today.
 RCM: So it was women, drugs 24/7?
HS: Not designer drugs at that point. In those days, all anybody was doing was smoking pot. I'd have to say that in the beginning it wasn't all that outrageous. Bonham was a big drinker. But basically the band was taking everything that was thrown at them and why not? That was what rock and roll was all about.
RCM: And the roadies got 'sloppy seconds'?
HS: Looking back, I'd say that sometimes it was the band that got 'sloppy seconds.' (laughs) I know that there were times when the roadies got more action than the band. Sometimes in the morning a band member would be kicking two women out at the same time a roadie would be kicking two women out.
RCM: So the early days of Zeppelin must have been like a three-ring circus.
HS: Definitely. It was kind of like a moment caught in time. The girls everybody got. The drugs everybody took. It just doesn't happen that way anymore. Today you would be arrested if you did what we were doing back then.
RCM: Were those antics particular to Zeppelin at the time or was it pretty much what all the bands did?
HS: The English bands in general were notorious for putting themselves above the law, especially when they were touring the states. The feeling was that, even if they got into trouble, the case would get thrown out. And it usually did. Again, a lot of the things they did back then would probably get them thrown in jail today.
RCM: The first Led Zeppelin album came out and it wasn't long before the band was doing their first US tour. Did the band and crew sense this was going to be a quick ride to the top?
HS: Everybody felt the change, almost immediately. The amount of kids who would be at a show was beginning to escalate in '68 and '69. In 1968, Zeppelin was basically an opening act for bands like Vanilla Fudge. But the audience reaction was such that everybody knew the band would not be an opening act for long. Peter (Grant) had warned us that Led Zeppelin was going to have a quick and fast ride to the top.
RCM: Did it go too fast?
HS: I don't think it went as fast as we think it did. The press never pushed Zeppelin much in the beginning. They got more press when they broke up then they ever did when they were together.
RCM: Would you have gone back to Led Zeppelin if the opportunity had arisen?
HS: I actually did have the opportunity to go back at one point but, by that time, Aerosmith was so big that it was like I was on the same ride all over again. So I stayed with them.
RCM: But you continued to stay in contact with the band members?
HS: Jimmy and I continue to be close.
RCM: Was it tough to be that close to Jimmy when he was going through heroin addiction around the time of the Presence album?
HS: Sure it was tough. He was always such a private person about things - I had no idea it was going on until I started reading about it. It was something Jimmy never talked to me about.
RCM: Even though you were away from the band since 1973, did you, in a sense, feel you were still part of them?
HS: I've always been proud to be a part of a band that did what they did. Anybody that had been a part of that band in any capacity for any length of time felt the same way.
RCM: When did you hear about John Bonham's death?
HS: I heard the news when I was on tour with Aerosmith. I had the chance to fly to London for the funeral but I decided not to go. It just would have been too rough.
RCM: So many years around so many great musicians. Have you ever had the urge to play an instrument?
HS: Absolutely not. (laughs) Way back when, when I was with The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck tried to teach me how to play guitar. After about an hour, he just gave up. I guess he could see that I was already doing what I was meant to do.
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