Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti once covered Led Zeppelin with help from AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson.
Tremonti makes the revelation during a new interview with Metal Hammer, saying that the two musicians crossed paths at the wedding of former baseball player Johnny Damon in Florida in 2004.
“Johnny’s a famous baseball player in the States: he lives in my neighbourhood and he’s a friend of mine,” the guitarist tells us. “He invited us to his wedding, and Brian Johnson was there. Somebody’s like, ‘You should go up to Brian and see if he wants to get onstage and jam with you. Go barge in on the wedding band’s gear!’”
Tremonti was quick to seize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“He was getting a drink,” he continues, “and I walked up behind him like, ‘Hi, Brian; I’m Mark, I’m a guitar player. Do you want to go onstage and jam some songs?’ He grabbed his junk and went, ‘Fuck yeah, mate!’ Immediately. No second thought about it!”
The two proceeded to play three songs together, though Tremonti only remembers the first one they did: Rock And Roll, from Led Zeppelin’s landmark 1971 album, Led Zeppelin IV.
“We didn’t play a single AC/DC song,” the guitarist adds. “And then it just went on, with other people getting onstage, and I think I played two [more] songs. I can’t remember what the second or third songs were, but it got to the point where people were like, ‘Oh, I’ll sing!’”
2004 was a year of great upheaval for Tremonti. His multi-Platinum-selling hard rockers Creed broke up at the start of the year, and he launched Alter Bridge with singer Myles Kennedy and fellow ex-Creed members Brian Marshall (bass) and Scott Phillips (drums) in June. Alter Bridge’s debut single, Open Your Eyes, came out on June 11: exactly one week after Creed publicly confirmed their split.
Creed have reunited twice, first from 2009 to 2012 and again in 2023. All the while, Tremonti has continued with Alter Bridge, releasing seven studio albums starting with 2004’s One Day Remains. Their eighth, a self-titled effort, will come out on January 23 via Napalm.
On Monday (November 3), AC/DC announced tour dates for 2026, with legs in South America and North America scheduled to take place from February to September. The first show will be at Estádio do MorumBIS in São Paulo, Brazil on February 24.
