Thursday, 14th June 2012
Screenshot by DefDazz/Darren
Def Leppard members Joe Elliott and Rick Savage were interviewed by Riki Rachtman before their performance at the Rock Of Ages Premiere after party on 8th June.
The interview took place about 20 minutes before they took the stage to perform a short six song set on the outdoor stage set up behind the El Capitan Theatre (across the street from the premiere). A transcript is shown below taken from an audio recording of the four minute interview which was broadcast on the live stream.
Rock Of Ages After Party - Joe Elliott/Rick Savage Interview Quotes
Still get excited?
Joe Elliott - "Yeah, a total trip and now we're like 20 minutes from going on it's like it's all starting to get real again you know."
Rick Savage - "Sure absolutely yeah you know cause this is what we always wanted to do and it never changes from whatever gig you're doing. You're going on stage and performing in front of people and it's just a buzz."
Getting new fans with the movie
Joe Elliott - "Long may it last. As long as we keep hanging out with the older guys we'll be the younger guys."
Any bands of today that you'd like to cover?
Rick Savage - "Well, I love Muse I gotta say. I think Muse are a great band."
But would Def Leppard ever do a Muse song?
Rick Savage - "Well, we've tried haha! and failed miserably!."
Joe Elliott - "My Chemical Romance are a good band."
Do you think any of the bands today have the longevity possibilities of Def Leppard? I don't.
Joe Elliott - "I think the Foo Fighters do because they're about 17 years in there anyway and Dave Grohl's just too talented to fall off I think."
How much fun is it touring with Poison?
Rick Savage - "Three years ago we did a summer tour with them and it was just a blast from start to finish. You know nice guys everything works. They're just a great band to follow really, really good band."
What does it take to be a great band?
Joe Elliott - "A lot of patience, forgiveness, a little bit of talent helps. A lot of drive and a lot of good luck."
Where can we look forward to seeing Def Leppard real soon?
Rick Savage - "Well yeah I'll tell you we start on the 20th June in Salt Lake City then we're playing Irvine, Southern California on the 22nd, Vegas on the 23rd and to be quite honest after that it all..."
Joe Elliott - "I got the next one! I got the next one! we go to Denver on the 25th and then after that it fades - we have to look up on the website to see where we're playing."
So has it ever happened that you've walked out on stage and you're like 'Hello...'?
Joe Elliott - "We have a little bit of paper on the monitor that tells me where I am. In fairness it actually has happened to some bands that we've toured with where they've said the night before. You know we've been in Chicago on a Tuesday and on a Wednesday we've turned up in Detroit and they've gone Hello Chicago. Didn't go down well. We're very lucky in 35 years touch wood (touches Riki's head) haha, it has never happened to us."
Going back to the movie Rock Of Ages were you guys around during the filming of any of the movie?
Rick Savage - "Yeah we - about a year ago we were in Florida and Tom was actually shooting his scene of Pour Some Sugar On Me the song. And coincidence or whatever we were invited down and we actually saw the shot of him doing it so it was like that was pretty cool and we got to meet him and he was awesome, absolutely awesome."
Never in a billion years did you think you'd be watching Tom Cruise do a Def Leppard song?
Joe Elliott - "No, I mean you don't because it's just one of those things that just happens - a year ago you know but you don't form a band or you know watch Risky Business in 1983 and think he's gonna do one of our songs one day! because it's just insane to think that but the fact that when it becomes a reality you know it's like wow, this is pretty cool."
The News/Media Links section contains all the photo links and video from this event.
Def Leppard - Rock Of Ages Premiere Show Page
Def Leppard - Rock Of Ages Tour 2012
Def Leppard - 2012 Tour News
Previous News - 13th June 2012