It's not surprising Dread Zeppelin's origin can be traced to Elvis Presley.
"It was Elvis who said he liked Led Zeppelin," said Dread Zeppelin's lead singer Greg "Tortelvis" Tortell from his home, "Graceland West," in Temple City, Calif. "Elvis also said he like the `new reggae,' as he called it. So we put those together and came up with Dread Zeppelin."Dread Zeppelin, featuring Tortelvis, will play the Zephyr, 301 S. West Temple, Tuesday, July 9. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the music begins with special guest Geggy Tah.
"We first got together in 1989," Tortevlis said without his take on the famous Memphis drawl. "In the beginning, we were just goofing around singing Led Zeppelin songs to a reggae beat."
The lyrics seemed to fit perfectly.
"It was almost natural," said Tortelvis. "(Jimmy) Page (Led Zep's lead guitarist) once said a lot of his songs were originally written for reggae, but John (Bonham, the band's drummer ) couldn't or didn't want to do it."
But for Dread Zeppelin, the gimmick worked.
"One night I went on stage and messed around," he remembered. "And as years went on, the messing became my living."
Tortelvis said he was into the real King of Rock 'n' Roll as a child.
"Like most teenagers, we all wanted to be rock stars," said Tortelvis. "I always liked Elvis and I remember the day he died and all that, but I wasn't into him as much as I am now."
To show his devotion, Tortelvis created Graceland West, which is an exact replica (on the outside) as the original estate in Memphis.
"I'm not really an impersonator," Tortelvis said. "I just look, act and sing like him. Who knows what would have happened if he kept living. He might have done the reggae thing, because he really chose goofy songs to do later in his career. And if that happened, I'd probably still be delivering milk."