Def Leppard News - Ex-Managers Cliff Burnstein/Peter Mensch On How They Met Def Leppard

Ex-Managers Cliff Burnstein/Peter Mensch On How They Met Def Leppard

Monday, 21st November 2016

Def Leppard 1993.
1993 Screenshot by dltourhistory

Def Leppard's former co-manager's from Q-Prime have talked about how they first met the band in 1979 in a new interview.

Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, who currently manage Metallica, Muse and many others for their company Q-Prime, were interviewed by Hits Daily Double.

In the second part of a two part interview they discussed how they came to work with Def Leppard and recounted the story of seeing them live for the first time in Wolverhampton, England.

The show took place at the Lafayette Club on 7th September 1979 featuring the early line up of Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Pete Willis, Steve Clark and Rick Allen.

Read some reviews and memories of the Wolverhampton show as posted in September including a photo of Steve/Sav.

Cliff and Peter were also interviewed in March of this year by Billboard where they also recalled their time with Def Leppard in the early 1980s.

Hits Daily Double - Cliff Burnstein/Peter Mensch Interview Quotes

Introduction To Def Leppard

Cliff - "It’s the summer of ’79, and I’m becoming aware of the new wave of British heavy metal. Bands are putting out their own records, and one of them is “Getcha Rocks Off” by Def Leppard on Bludgeon-Riffola Records. I hadn’t heard this fuckin’ thing, but I just loved the name of it—I even loved the label name. The record had some nice write-ups; Sounds was championing it. Because we were part of PolyGram, I called up somebody at our English company and said I’d really like to hear this Def Leppard record."

"I called Peter, told him the story and said I was flying over to see them in Wolverhampton in September."

Meeting Def Leppard In Wolverhampton

Cliff - "I flew over, and we drove up from London to Wolverhampton with Rod MacSween, who was Def Leppard’s agent. We get there, and the oldest guy, Joe Elliott, is 21; there’s three guys who are 18 and then the drummer is 15. First song, Joe Elliott rips his pants, and he spends the rest of the show in a sideways crouch because he’s so fucking embarrassed. After the show, Peter and I go backstage and the guys are almost in tears because they think it’s the worst gig they ever played. I introduced myself and said, “Look, whatever you guys think of the show tonight doesn’t really fucking matter, because the music you’re making is great for America.” They had the guarantee that their record would come out in America, the American A&R guy liked them—that was me—and they met Peter. They had a pair of managers, local Sheffield guys, who were a disaster, so I hoped that by bringing Peter to the gig that the band would meet..."

Peter - "...a real manager."

Cliff - "A worldwide manager, who we did not mention had only been a manager for four months."

"So everybody in Def Leppard was terribly impressed, and Peter told them he’d get them some AC/DC dates when they played their December tour. Sure enough, by the end of the year, the managers were out and Peter was installed as the new manager of Def Leppard. They went in with Tom Allom to record On Through the Night."

Animal Instinct - 1987 Biography Quotes

"September 7 - Lafayette Club, Wolverhampton £125, plus fifty percent of the door (takings). Cliff Burnstein flew from America to see Def Leppard perform for the first time."

"Joe, practising splits in the dressing room, ripped his stage pants right up the back of his crotch before show time. He did the whole show facing the audience so they wouldn't see his bare ass. (Joe refused to wear underpants on stage)."

Read the full intrview at - hitsdailydouble.com
Read the full review - Wolverhampton 1979 Show Page
Def Leppard - Early Years Tour 1979
Def Leppard - 2016 Tour News
Previous News - 19th November 2016

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