Dreja once reflected that the band felt like a close-knit family, with no real pressures hanging over them. They were all young, he said, and given the freedom to do something incredibly unique.

”When we were recording, we were a very democratic outfit. If anyone came up with an idea, we would take it. We were very eclectic. The Yardbirds were a pop band, a slightly heavy metal band, a blues band, with also a bit of punk thrown in. There were lots of things going on,” Dreja once explained.

Looking back, it’s clear they weren’t just playing songs — they were rewriting what rock could be. Many music historians say their fingerprints are all over the sounds that came later, from punk’s raw edge to prog’s complexity to the birth of heavy metal. They were truly ahead of their time, setting the stage for generations that followed.

Originally on rhythm guitar, the English musician moved to bass when Jimmy Page joined in 1966. When Page later formed Led Zeppelin, Dreja declined an invitation to join, choosing instead to pursue photography — a passion that led him to shoot the back cover photo of Led Zeppelin’s debut album.