Tuesday, 5th April 2016
Screenshot by dltouristory
Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott was interviewed on 1st April by Toronto radio and mentioned his vocal recovery and the new album.
Joe talked about his motivation to keep playing live/making music, David Bowie, Ian Hunter, seeing his favourite artists live, The Struts, his voice issues, the new Def Leppard studio album, their recent touring schedules, Down 'n' Outz/side bands, how long the band will go on for and who is the prankster in the band.
Joe says he "hopes" his voice will be back to normal for the upcoming tour dates which start on 2nd May in Pensacola, FL. This differs slightly from recent interview comments where he had said it was all good again after the tour break. But as you can hear he is still as positive about it as he has been.
The interview was conducted on 1st April to promote the 16th July Toronto, ON show.
Listen to the full 15 minute interview below.
Maie Pauts/Boom 97.3 - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes
Vocal Issues/You Voice Is Better Than It Ever Has Been
"Well it was on the last tour until I got pneumonia!. That kind of messed me up a bit. And then we had to blow some shows out at the beginning of this year because I had a haemorrhaged vocal cord. But that's nothing to do with singing. That's just an injury. You know that's alike a footballer getting kicked really hard and then needing time to recuperate."
"Mine came through coughing. It was nothing - I got sick over Christmas and New Year and it destroyed me. Hopefully everything's gonna be all back to normal now. But yeah it was a case of - we were out at it for so long that you just sing yourself into a certain sound you know. And the more you do something. You should in theory get better at it unless you're wearing yourself out. You know if you do everything in moderation and don't do ten gigs in a row for two hours a night. You know in your 35th year of touring, you should still be able to do it."
Getting Sick Is Something That Just Happens
"Yeah well that's it you know. Singers can't change strings or pick up a new stick. We have that kind of situation that we have to deal with. But we chose - nobody made me do this. I chose to so I have to live with the consequences."
The Current Def Leppard Album
"We were. I think that's why the album has such a beautiful natural sound to it. It doesn't sound forced you know. I think it's the first time that we've done an album. Obviously there has to become a first time that you don't reference a previous work. You have to be distanced from it. But you know when you've had a hit like Hysteria or Pyromania. But the same for Springsteen with Born To Run or you know any artist that you wanna name. You're always gonna have in the band of your mind is it too much like that record?. Or is it not enough like that record?. You're referencing this thing."
"But what we did with this new record - we didn't know we were making it. And that's why it turned out so naturally you know. We were gonna make just an EP and do three songs. But we wrote 12 and when it came to choosing which three. Phil I think was the one that said why do we have to do that. Why don't we put them all out. Then we wrote two more. We ended up with 14 and again without once thinking about the Hysteria album or any previous work."
"You know there are certain songs on that album that are classic Def Leppard sounding songs. And you know essentially as well we wanted that. But there's also other stuff that we've gone well if this sounds a bit like another band. Where there's one song that sounds very like Queen. Some other stuff sounds like Bowie. We just let it slide through because maybe 10/15 years ago we'd have said well you can't do that. These are our heroes. These are our musical chops. These are our reasons to be in a band. So of course they're gonna leak into our music. And I don't think it does any harm really."
Still Working Hard/Management Change
"Yeah we are working hard. We've since 2005 we really kind of - we had a change of management and it just kicked us into another orbit. We've never stopped working. the only year we didn't work was the year 2010. Only year we ever had off."
Joe Acting In A Movie
"I'm a bit one dimensional when it comes to the arts. I mean I'm supposedly gonna act in this movie that's gonna be made soon. And that to me is just an extension of what singers do anyway."
Tell me something abut that
"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to do. Well if you've been keeping up with the Internet you can find stuff or whatever."
Note - This is a reference to the ongoing The Bridge The Movie project that still has no firm release date. Joe is playing the part of a rock star called Ziggy. They stopped promoting the film on social media last January but did add a film poster online in December 2015 via Facebook.
Related News - Vivian Campbell On Def Leppard 2017 Album Recording Plans
Related News - Phil Collen On The Origins Of New Def Leppard Song Wings Of An Angel
Related News - Joe Elliott Says His Voice Seems To Be Coming Back OK
Related News - Joe Elliott Getting Mentally Prepared For Def Leppard's U.S. Tour
Related News - Joe Elliott Explains His Preparation For The Def Leppard Summer Tour
Related News - Joe Elliott Working With Vocal Coach During His Recovery
Related News - Joe Elliott Says His Haemorrhaged Vocal Cord Was Due To Coughing
Related News - Joe Elliott Says His Voice Is Now Coming Back After Tour Break
Related News - Joe Elliott On Down 'n' Outz Live Album/DVD/2016 Tour
Related News - Phil Collen Says Def Leppard May Add More Shows To 2016 Tour
- Interview Source - soundcloud.com
- Def Leppard - Maie Pauts 2016 Show Page
- Def Leppard - Radio 2016
- Def Leppard - 2016 Tour News
- Previous News - 12th March 2016