Bergen Rocks: Meet Headliners Black Dog!

Bergen Rocks: Rock and Raise, a special fundraiser at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28, at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood. The show will benefit the scholarship program at bergenPac’s Performing Arts School while shining the spotlight on the best local bands.

Tickets for Bergen Rocks are just $25 per person and going fast. Visit www.bergenpac.org to learn more and get your tickets before they sell out!

Meet Black Dog, the definitive Led Zeppelin Tribute Band and Headliner of Bergen Rocks!

www.blackdogzeppelin.com

https://www.facebook.com/BlackDogZeppelin/

Even when Black Dog improvises, they sound like Led Zeppelin.

"We've been playing their music together so long that when we jam we feed off each other in their style," said Teaneck native Rob Malave, singer for the Led Zeppelin tribute band.

Black Dog has been together for nearly 20 years, making them one of the longest running homegrown North Jersey Zeppelin-only cover acts.

"It's so much fun trying to re-create music that you were weaned on," Malave said of playing in a band devoted to the iconic British hard rock group. "You're talking about the gods of rock; the group that we all think is the greatest band that ever lived."

Zeppelin released eight albums between 1969 and 1979. The massively influential band broke up after drummer John Bonham died in 1980.

In addition to Malave taking on the role of Robert Plant, Black Dog includes River Vale resident Jeff Mott on bass, keyboards and mandolin (John Paul Jones), Ridgewood resident/Teaneck native Ted Gori on drums (John Bonham) and Cranford resident Dan Toto on guitar (Jimmy Page).

Led Zeppelin's musical virtuosity, stage presence, and breadth and depth of material are some of the challenges of doing Zeppelin justice, Malave and Mott said.

Plant is known for his sexually charged vocals and audience command, while Page, the essence of cool, presides over an arsenal of heavy riffs and sublime acoustic patterns. Bonham is regularly cited as the best rock drummer who ever lived, and Jones is a bass and keyboard wizard renowned for his nuanced parts.

Mott said he was mesmerized as a preteen by the band's ability to stretch musical boundaries. "On one album you'll hear six different genres," he said. For instance, "Led Zeppelin III" (1970) includes driving hard rock ("Immigrant Song," "Out on the Tiles") acoustic numbers ("That's the Way," "Tangerine") and traditional blues ("Since I've Been Loving You").

Toto's first Zep album was "Led Zeppelin IV," which he bought at a garage sale because he liked the album cover. "Ironically the first Zeppelin song I ever listened to was 'Black Dog,' Toto said. Yet when one of the most popular songs of all time, "Stairway to Heaven," came on, Toto lifted the needle. "The first few notes started and I thought it was too soft," he said with a laugh.

Black Dog performs about 80 percent of Zeppelin's catalog, from legendary tracks like "Rock and Roll" and "Heartbreaker" to more obscure nuggets such as "Hots on for Nowhere" and "For Your Life."

There are several pros and cons to performing in a Zeppelin tribute act, Mott said. "You have a pre-established fan base," he said. "If we go into an area where we never played before people will come out to see if we can do it justice.

"The single biggest pitfall is there's a lot of competition," he added. "You have bands that tour nationally and do the theaters. A lot of times a Zeppelin act will book a room and it becomes their territory. They'll tell the venue they won't play there if other [Zeppelin tribute bands] are allowed to."

Each member of Black Dog said you can never truly master Led Zeppelin. "Every time you listen there are always little subtleties that you may not have heard before," said Gori.

Unlike some Zeppelin tribute acts, Black Dog band mates bear no physical resemblance to Led Zeppelin, and looks are not the only way that the band differs from their icons. They don't share Zeppelin's myth-like status for wild partying.

"Some people want to hang out with us after the show," Malave said. "They ask where the party is, where the girls are. Meanwhile, we're heading home to our families. It's kind of comical."