Def Leppard News - DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT On Sin City Residency/Sheffield (Audio)

Sunday, 20th October 2019

DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT On Sin City Residency/Sheffield (Audio)

By Chele Drappel

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott appeared on BBC Radio 2 show Sounds Of The 70s earlier today and the full audio is available.

Joe was the special guest on the Sunday 20th October edition of the 'Sounds Of The 70s' show with host Johnnie Walker.

Broadcast on BBC Radio 2 from 3 to 5pm with Joe's interview played during the second hour.

The full show is available to listen back to on the BBC iPlayer (a specific clip of the interview only will be added as a link soon).

Joe talked about Def Leppard Being Busy/Popularity, Growing Up In Sheffield, Musical Influences/Parents/Friends, Paper Rounds/Buying Records, Rod Stewart, Down 'n' Outz/Band History, This Is How We Roll Album, School Days/Music, David Bowie's Influence/TOTP's Appearance, Parents Favourite Music, Sin City Residency, Rock And Roll Lifestyle and Band Longevity.

He mentioned the recent Las Vegas Residency as well as his early days in Sheffield.

Songs by Rod Stewart, Mott The Hoople and David Bowie were played during the chat which lasted for 27 minutes and started at 1 hour and 18 minutes into the show.

The appearance is part of the current promotion for the Down 'n' Outz. album This Is How We Roll due out on 11th October.

Joe was also a guest of Johnnie's in December 2018 on The Radio 2 Rock Show.

Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Joe Elliott - BBC Radio 2 Interview

Station - BBC Radio 2
Show - Sounds Of The 70s with Johnnie Walker
Date - Sunday, 20th October 2019
Show Time - 3-5pm
Date - Tuesday, 22nd October 2019 (Repeat)
Show Time - 3-5am
Audio - Listen Again @ bbc.co.uk (Full Show)

Sounds Of The 70s - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes

Def Leppard Being Busy/Popularity

"Yes we are it's crazy. I think it's safe to say we used to do a lot more gigs back in the 80s. You know there was a 227 date tour and a 241 date tour. We don't do that kind of thing any more."

"But it still takes up as much time because we just go to so many different places. It's structured differently than it was in the 80s these days. But it's insane how busy we are because the popularity of the band has just revved back up."

Why do you think that is?

"There's a million theories. Without being big headed I mean we are a good band and I think people are starting to really recognise that."

"We did go through a bit of a comical period where people said Oh have you guys reformed?. Actually we never split up we just kind of went under the radar. I think a lot of it is down to the fact that the natural way things. You know where every ten years a new movement comes along. It kind of just fizzled out after this supposed Grunge thing in the 90s."

"The 70s kicked the backside of the 60s and the 80s kicked the backside of the 70s. And when you get to the end of the 90s nothing really shot out to take over as a meaningful movement if you like. And I think what you've ended up with is a situation where bands that got burnt into your retina on MTV and stuff like that. All various different kinds of bands. Like say us and Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi. And then in the pop vein if you like Spandau and Duran Duran and those kind of bands can still perform because people, they've never really forgot about you."

"There's a lot of bands in the 90s they didn't really last very long. So there's nothing there to remember."

Growing Up In Sheffield

"I wouldn't have wanted to grow up anywhere else because of the natural fact of where I8 am now might not have happened had I not grown up in Sheffield."

Paper Rounds/Buying Records/Rod Stewart

"Yeah I had four. I had four I used to run them. Two in the morning before school and two afterwards. So my income was two pounds a week and if I swept the backyard I got 50p off me Dad. So basically I could afford to buy an album a week or a couple of singles."

This Is How We Roll Album

"And this third album is all self written you know it was time to move on. But it's written in the spirit of the 70s. You'd really get it because I'd be very disappointed if you heard anything that sounded like it came after 1975."

Sin City Residency

"It's totally changed. It's like everything else like Sheffield as I mentioned earlier used to be all these tumble weed factory type places. And now they've all been blown up, knocked down, rebuilt and it's all this IT stuff. It's a totally different city. It's not a Steel factory town any more. It's everything but you know. It's totally changed as every other city round Great Britain probably has too."

"Las Vegas is no different. It used to be what they call the Elephant's graveyard. You know you'd go there to die. And it was all Wayne Newton and Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Dean Martin. Which again you know when you look back you're thinking what's really wrong with that?."

"But it's become so rock and roll now. It's totally changed. You've got people like Chris Angel whose this illusionist who looks like he should be in Motley Crue. And you've got residencies by KISS, us, Motley, Aerosmith, The Who. Prince did one."

In the hotels?

"Well they are hotels but when you get into the theatres they're like bigger than Hammersmith. The one we just played Zappos Theater which is inside Planet Hollywood. It's almost as big as an arena. It only seats maybe 6,000. They don't cram you in. It's not like budget airlines. But the stage was enormous. We put the biggest production we've ever had into that thing."

"We brought everything in. Massive screens, huge lights. The stage was almost as big as a football pitch. It's a very modern place now and it's all rock and roll. It's all Pirates Of The Caribbean and all this kind of stuff. It's all very digital and electronic. You know you see these shots of Tokyo where it all looks like it's just neon forever. Well Vegas has turned into that. For rock and roll it's the most great place. And you get to sleep in the same bed for a month."

But I thought rock and rollers liked to be on the road?

"Well we do but you know what being on the road for 42 years. It's nice to just do something different. We've done different in many different ways. the residency's our second residency that we've ever done. We've done TV shows with Taylor Swift just because we knew that it would knock a few noses out of joint. Going what the hell are they doing?. Well we're doing something different you know."

"You've got the tour/album, tour/album, tour/album and then sooner or later you just go isn't there another thing we can do to just like get out of the rut. And the residency thing just changes your whole way of thinking because you change your set out every night. When you're treading the same boards night after night you have to change the songs out for your own sanity. It's great fun it really is."

Buy 'This Is How We Roll' Online