Saturday, 8th May 2021
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DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT A Life On The Road Episode On SKY ARTS TV Tonight

Def Leppard 2021. Screenshot

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott'a 2017 appearance on Brian Johnson's A Life On The Road will air in the UK on Sky Arts TV tonight.

Joe spoke to AC/DC's Brian Johnson in Dublin during March 2017 for the show which originally aired in May 2017 and again in December 2020.

Joe talked about the early days of Def Leppard, the first concert, musical inspiration, The Def Leppard E.P., opening for Sammy Hagar and AC/DC, High 'n' Dry/Mutt Lange, Early Success/Pete Willis, Pyromania, Rick Allen's Car Accident/Comeback, 1986 Dnington Show, Hysteria Album, Hysteria Tour/On The Round Stage, Laundry Baskets To The Stage, Steve Clark's Death, Vivian Campbell/Adrenalize/90s Period, 3 Continents In One Day World Record, Staying Together As A Band For 40 Years, VIVA! Hysteria Residency, Hysteria Cruise/Vocal Issues and Playing Hit Songs Live.

The 43 minute show started with Brian meeting Joe in the Temple Bar area of the city where he filmed the video for Down 'n' Outz 'One Of The Boys'. They are seen entering The Porterhouse bar where the entire chat takes place.

The lengthy chat covers the basic history of the band from day one up to 2017.

SKY ARTS TV is now available on Freeview in the UK (Channel 11).

Read the full transcript of the show again below along with a photo gallery as posted in 2019.


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

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).


Def Leppard 2017.

Brian Johnson's A Life On The Road On SKY ARTS TV

  • Sunday, 9th May 2021 - SKY ARTS @ 12:20am-1:15am

"Brian Johnson heads to Dublin to meet Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott, who reflects on the Pyromania and Hysteria tours and the tragedies that befell them along the way."


Brian Johnson's Life On The Road - Show Description

"Premiering later this month on Sky Arts, "Brian Johnson's Life On The Road" is a six-part series featuring the legendary AC/DC frontman in conversation with some of the biggest names in rock and roll history as they explore the realities of life on a global rock tour."

Meeting Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Roger Daltrey of The Who, Academy Award nominee Sting, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott, Johnson lifts the lid on the stark realities of life on tour, from the wearying hard graft and sleepless nights to the electrifying thrill of performing on stage at iconic venues in front of sell-out crowds around the world."

Brian Johnson's A Life On The Road - Fan Photos

Brian Johnson's A Life On The Road - Full Transcript - (Transcribed by dltourhistory)

Brian Johnson Introduction

"Hi I'm Brian Johnson and I've spent a fair bit of my life on stage and on the road. And I thought it would be fun to some of me friends who've done the same ans survived. Some I'm meeting young Roger Daltrey from The Who. Petrol head Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. Chatting to Robert Plant about Led Zeppelin and beyond. To Sting about the early days of The Police. As well as Joe Elliott from Def Leppard and Metallica's Lars Ulrich. So let's hit the road."

Intro

Nrian - "Hi I'm here in Dublin and I'm here to meet a man who was born in Sheffield but he's lived here for over 30 years. I'm talking about a man and his band that have rocked stadiums all over the world and recorded multi platinum albums such as Pyromania and Hysteria. And I'm talking about none other than Def Leppard's frontman Mr. Joe Elliott."

"Def Leppard took the world by storm in the early 1980s and in their 40 years career have sold over 100 million records. Their life on the road has had more drama and tragedy than almost any other rock group. But they've always stuck together through thick and thin like a band of brothers."

"Joe wanted to show me his favourite Dublin pub and get me to sample his very own beer."

Early Days

Brian - "Do you know through the series here we're talking about A Life On The Road and you've certainly had a chequered history. Right through ups and downs and everything but it's all gotta start somewhere."

Joe - "I was obviously just one of these kids that was just obsessed with music. I was just born with that gene. My parents used to say to me that from the second I could crawl I crawled to the radio. I wrote my first song when I was 8 years old. About a girl leaving me. I didn't even know what a girl was, but all the songs I'd been listening to that's pretty much what was going on. And when I was at school I was obsessed with music. I didn't care about history then. 1066 and the Battle Of Hastings meant nothing to me but Keith Richards and, you know. The Beatles and The Tremolos and all these pop bands that were around. And I was like in on all this stuff."

Def Leppard 2019. Screenshot

First Def Leppard Concert 1978

Brian - "Didn't you do one of your first gigs in a school?."

Joe - "Yeah first gig we ever did just on the outskirts of Sheffield a place called Westfield School. We got together August '77. We were all 17, 18 year old kids and we rehearsed in this Spoon Factory just a stones throw from Bramall Lane for five quid a week. So it cost us all a pound each and we rehearsed nearly every day for like 9 months."

Early Def Leppard Shows/Westfield School/Playing Live

Brian - "Joe's musical heroes were Mott The Hoople, Queen, T. Rex and that was the kind of sound Def Leppard were looking for. But it was the balls-iness of Punk Rock that gave the band the belief that they could play live."

Joe - "We saw all these Punk bands bringing such energy to music which had long since kind of dissipated. And they couldn't play but it didn't matter and we were like well we can play a bit better than them. So we looked to bands like the Pistols and The Clash and The Damned and all that kind of stuff and we said if they can we can. So we arranged this gig through a friend of ours and it was Westfield School. And we just turned up. We were so nervous we took the bass drum out of the case. Filled it full of beer. Snuck the beers in and we were just getting hammered because we dare not go on you know. So we did this gig and the kids didn't like it. We were playing all this original stuff and they were all sat around the edges like what's this?."

Joe - "We got this fake encore from our friends that came. And we did Jailbreak by Lizzy. And then they all came down the front and went nuts and that was like a wake up call for us. It was like we need to write more songs like this."

Brian - "When you first started on stage people wanted copies didn't they and it was dangerous to play your own stuff."

Joe - "It was."

The Def Leppard E.P.

Brian - "Def Leppard self financed their first record and released it in January 1979. But it was hard to find somewhere to play the music live."

Joe - "You've got to remember this was '79. All the places where you could play were all shut. All the rock clubs had turned into discos and they were all only just starting after Punk to start opening up. You know Punk bands would come and then they'd ban them. It was bands like us and Saxon and Iron Maiden. The so-called New Wave Of British Heavy Metal were starting to play these clubs and the audiences were less violent and they didn't spit and so these owners would let them back in and then all of a sudden you could do a forty date tour around Britain in clubs. Which is what we did before we made our first album."

First Recording Contract 1979

Brian - "Seen as part of this New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Def Leppard were snapped up by Phonogram in the summer of 1979."

Joe - "When we signed our record deal which was the day after we saw Zeppelin at Knebworth. We saw them on the 4th of August 1979 on a Saturday. We'd played Newcastle Mayfair on the Friday night. We drove straight to Knebworth after the gig. Slept in the van till they opened the doors. We drove home that night and on Sunday the 5th of August in Rick Allen's parents' kitchen we signed our record deal. And his parents had to sign for him 'cause he was only 15. And for us to like progress it's like you've got this deal, you have this momentum your drummer's 15. He technically still has to go to school. And he went ah bollocks I'm not doing this any more. And he just left school."


Actually Joe that was the first gig after signing on the 10th August...


Def Leppard 2019. Screenshot

Sammy Hagar/AC/DC Tours

Brian - "Once they had a record deal Def Leppard quickly found themselves supporting rock heavy weights like Sammy Hagar."

Joe - "We did four shows with Sammy. We hadn't made an album yet but we had a single out. But these opportunities were arising and funnily enough we got to do the Highway To Hell tour with AC/DC."

Brian - "That's with Bon singing. Of course yeah."

Joe - "I still owe him a tenner 'cause he came into the bar and he says you know do you boys want a drink?. And I'm going we ain't got any money and he threw a tenner down and says you can give it me back and we never did."

Brian - "No that's great 'cause you just brought a lovely fuzzy memory back to me. I remember when it was my first time in America with AC/DC and I was a little nervous and it was the Grammercy Park Hotel in New York City. Cockroaches and peeling paint and I went downstairs and there were you on the pavement and I remember saying to you I said I'm really nervous about this' cause I was shell shocked, you know, you'd done America before but It was my very first time. And it was funny because here were you you were a baby. What were you 19?."

Joe - "That was my 21st birthday."

Brian - "21 and I was 32 or 33 at the time and I think it was you that calmed me down which quite strange I was meant to be the father figure."

Joe - "As you were 'cause you've gotta remember we saw you on Top Of The Pops on Geordie so we were like well aware of who you were. When you got that gig we were like going good for him."

First American Tour/On Through The Night Album

Brian - "Def Leppard had set their sights on America and announced it with the next single. In 1980 Def Leppard released their debut album On Through The Night."

Brian - "You guys were growing up so fast it was meteoric."

Joe - "It was and it wasn't. We took off in England. First album went Top 20 and it made a bit of a crackle in the States. I think it got to 51 on the Billboard charts. We opened up for bands like Pat Travers, Judas Priest. And then we got accused as sell outs by the British press."

Brian - "Still do that if you're too successful."

Joe - "Yeah. And when you write a song called Hello America you are painting a target on your chest. But I used to work in this factory in Sheffield called Osborn-Mushet with an E not an I. I used to work in the basement and I was the buyer. I used to have to have to buy everything. Swarfega, grinding wheels, nuts and bolts. And it was a little room I had 8 foot by 5 feet. And absolutely no natural light 'cause the window just looked into the stores. And my job I could do in two hours even though I was there for 8. So I spent six hours writing lyrics for our first album and listening to Alice Cooper and stuff like that. So I'm in this thing of I've gotta get out of here! So Hello America was like me trying to climb that ladder out of the basement basically."

America

Joe - "You know we'd been watching Kojack. We'd been watching Starsky And Hutch. We'd seen the Pam Trees that line the streets of Sunset Boulevard. It was a lot sexier than the back end of Hackney in The Sweeney. We were just kids that were just dreaming."

High 'n' Dry/Mutt Lange

Brian - "For their second album High 'n' Dry in 1981 Def Leppard worked with the legendary producer Mutt Lange wfo'd recently worked with my band AC/DC on Back In Black."

Joe - "We did the High 'n' Dry album in '81 which did OK but it started to do really OK when MTV kicked in. We'd shot some of those promo videos like you guys did. You know when you're on stage and it's just a camera out front and bad lighting and you're just doing your thing, your covered in sweat and it looks real. A lot of people like that rather than a concept video. And we did one for a song called Bringin' On The Heartbreak and it started getting played on MTV 'cause they only had about 15 videos. So it got in high rotation from day one you know."

Joe - "And we were getting telexes, you remember those. Big as that thing there. These machines pumping out toilet paper with writing on them. The album's gone back in the charts. From an album that was dead at quarter of a million copies it had gone Gold in about six weeks. which is 500,000 and it went on to sell three million."

Early Success/Pete Willis/Phil Collen

Brian - "Success came quickly but not everyone could cope with the pressure."

Joe - "We were kind of loose canons. We were just kids having fun. But, you know, when Pete got messy with the drink something had to change. We kept giving him chance after chance and sooner or later it's like look we just can't do this any more which is when Phil joined the band. That really did cement the thing because Phil was a better fit from a writer, looks. Everything about it was more the direction we wanted to go in. Which was the kind of Glam-tastic rock and roll as opposed to the full on metal."

Pyromania

Brian - "In 1983 the band released Pyromania and headed off on a year long tour."

Joe - "So Pyromania comes out. We make a very glossy video with David Mallet for Photograph. Union Jack shirt. Slow motion leap off the drum riser. All this kind of stuff. For 1983 it was bang and MTV just went nuts and radio blew up and that album just flew. Only Thriller that kept it off the Top. Still on 40 quid a week. You know you're selling out Jack Murphy Stadium for 55,00 people and you're on 40 quid a week because we had a debt of four years with a label to pay off before we saw anything you know."

Def Leppard 2019. Screenshot

Rick Allen's Car Accident/Comeback

Brian - "In December 1984 when the band was working on the follow-up to Pyromania tragedy struck and threatened the very existence of Def Leppard."

Joe - "That was the first time that we actually got to put into practice what we were preaching. That we're a band and we're a band of brothers. Let's prove it to ourselves. We always said we were the cowards in that decision because it's like if he's not gonna be in this band any more it's his decision. So we can step back and not make one. But we were never gonna kick him out. He was gonna have to leave."

Brian - "Yeah that was a wonderful thing you did because it was a traumatic thing that happened. You know and the poor kid."

Joe - "He was 21 years old."

Brian - "21 years old and you've lost an arm, your drummer."

Joe - "Yeah and you're a drummer. Think of it."

Brian - "just the mental trauma that he went through but can you imagine what it would feel liek if your band guys came in. Your band mates and just said we're gonna wait for you to get better. We'll figure something out. I mean that probably helped his healing process because he was out after a month instead of the six months he was supposed to be in there."

Joe - "Absolutely right. We didn't know what was gonna happen. He was supposed to be in hospital for six months. He was in for six weeks. He went home. He got bored and he came out to the studio four months when we were expecting may be in a year. And he set himself up with this electronic kit you know."

1986 Donington Show

Brian - "It wasn't until August 1986 a year and a half after the crash that Rick Allen made his first appearance on stage with Def Leppard."

Brian - "You went to do Donington. It was Rick's first gig."

Joe - "It's gone into folklore. We were getting cabin fever in the studio. We were actually going loony. But you know we were gonna be third on the bill which was fine. We didn't mean anything in England. And because of Rick's accident there was a lot of good will towards us from the audience. We'd got in the huddle and said look you know we're not looking for the sympathy vote so we're not gonna mention Rick. We're just gonna let them watch and see what they think. But the more the show went on the more obvious it was that that totally had to go out the window. And I turned around to Phil and said I've got to do it and he went yeah you do. And I said ladies and gentleman can you please make some noise for Mr. Rick Allen. Well I swear to god there's 70,000 thousand kids out there. It was like a hairdryer."

Brian - "Come on tell us there wasn't tears."

Joe - "Ohh his skis were starting to bubble because he was blubbing on his skins. It was insane. That's when we kind of got a feel that I think they're starting to like us out there."

Hysteria Album/Tour

Brian - "In 1987 Def Leppard released the biggest album to date Hysteria."

Brian - "My god it just went crazy didn't it from then."

Joe - "Well it did I mean initially in Europe and in England it was huge. Straight in at Number One. We sold a million albums. It was great, but in America, unlike Pyromania, it was really slow out the blocks. And by Christmas of '87 it had only shifted about three million. Which is fantastic but the last one had done six. So it was half as big you know. And then we toured and toured and toured. And then we went off to Europe to do about six weeks worth of shows in Europe. And while we were away. We've always said, we need to go away more often. While we were away Pour Some Sugar On Me just set fire to the whole country. And we came back in July to an album that was selling a million copies a week."

Hysteria Tour/On The Round Stage

Brian - "Def Leppard's Hysteria tour was a landmark in Rock history. It was the first time that a major band had performed Im The Round."

Brian - "Something's always fascinated me. On the Hysteria tour you did In The Round. And I always wondered what that was like to play. Did you always feel like you had your back to some of the audience some of the time. Did you have to run around you know just doing this?."

Joe - "All the above. All the above. Our backs were to the audience 50 percent of the time. We never choreographed it but we fell into a routine where two of us would be on one side. Two of us on the other and then halfway through the third verse, second verse we'd swap. During a gap when nobody's singing. Rick's kit would move every two or three songs so he'd face all four sides. It gave us a great opportunity for audience participation. The cacophony of noise was immense but it was exhausting. The first gig we ever did I remember coming off after the third song and I was vomiting into a bucket because I was hyperventilating. I'm thinking how am I gonna get through this gig. Fifth show in I made a decision I stopped drinking for that entire tour."

Brian - "Ya did?."

Joe - "I stopped drinking at gig 5 because I knew that if I did I wouldn't get through this. What do I want do I wanna be famous or do I wanna drink beer?. I said I wanna be famous. I'll drink beer when the tour's finished. Which his exactly what I did, lots of it."

Laundry Baskets To The Stage

Brian - "What I wanna know is how the heck did you get through the crowd to the stage?."

Joe - "We had local crew constantly pushing laundry baskets back and forth, nothing in them. So that the kid would just get used to seeing these people going mind your backs, mind your backs. And then eventually we'd get in them right. And I shared with Steve because he was claustrophobic and I was the only guy that could calm him down. And Sav shared with Phil. Rick Allen would put on a fake arm, under his jacket. A flat cap or a baseball cap. And put towels under his fake arm and walk out there like a roadie and he never got spotted. Until the night that we stuck an I'm Rick Allen on the back of his jacket. "

Joe - "We also had curtains. the album cover times four blocking us off tied up to the lighting rig. And we did 227 shows and only twice did we get the Spinal Tap moment when the curtains was supposed to drop and it didn't drop. And we're playing away and there's a curtain around us and we're like Oh god. But that whole In The Round thing was challenging but it was unique. But we did it again in '92 on the ADrenalize tour and by halfway through it we were done."

Def Leppard 2019. Screenshot

Steve Clark's Death

Brian - "But when Def Leppard had the world at their feet tragedy struck again. Guitarist Steve Clark had always struggled to cope with life off the road."

Brian - "I hate to talk about casualties again you know but you know it's just one of them things. But we had another casualty and you tried you very very damnedest to stop it."

Joe - "With Steve if you only had to beers he was normal. Then he would get out of control. You and I have a cut off point. We know when it's like time to stop you know. Steve's problem was he wanted the party to go on forever. When Steve was really ill it was always when we weren't on the road. It was while we were in studio mode and he'd be getting writer's block so he'd have to drink. Scared that he wasn't playing the guitar well enough so he'd drink. And it's like well but that's counter productive you know. And then one day we get a phone call from a friend of ours saying we've just found him in a gutter in Minneapolis or somewhere. And you're like what the hell's he doing there?."

Joe - "He was such a lovable guy you'd want him to win this battle. This is why he was always in the band until he died. We did give him a six month leave of absence. But we didn't ever fire him. We said to him go home. I get it. Take your clothes out of a wardrobe instead of a suitcase. Sleep in your own bed but get well. And it was during that six month leave of absence that he passed away. And everybody says he died or drink and drugs. He didn't. Technically yes but he was on prescription drugs for a cracked rib which he'd got falling down the stairs drunk. But he was washing the meds down with vodka."

Brian - "Not good."

Joe - "Then he fell asleep and never woke up. So it's a really sad tale. Tragically it's not like unique."

Vivian Campbell/Adrenalize/90s Period

Brian - "Vivian Campbell replaced Steve Clark in 1991. But the musical landscape was changing and the 1990s became a difficult period for Def Leppard. the rise of grunge made their style of rock unfashionable. But as always Def Leppard rode the storm and found new ways to grab attention."

3 Continents In One Day World Record

Brian - "Joe of all the things you've done with Def Leppard there's one thing I've always wanted to ask you. There was a time when you did three gigs on three continents in one day. WHat the f**k was that about?. You know are you nuts?."

Joe - "Right well let's explain it. We had a Greatest Hits album coming out. So what can we do that's completely bonkers that the press will go Oh I've gotta see this. Why don't you play three gigs in three continents in one day. I was like how's that even possible?. They said well technically it's not but with time zones it is. I can't remember where the first gig was. This is how mad it was. It was in a cave in Turkey or something I don't know. At midnight and then you fly to London. You play London at noon. And then play North America..."

Brian - "At 7 in the evening."

Joe - "Yeah. So we ended up playing this cave and then we came and we did the Shepherd's Bush Empire. That's the one gig I don't remember doing. I saw the reviews where it said Joe Elliott sat on a stool completely talking bollocks. I mean it was nuts but all the journos were on the plane with us. So you know the ones that had stamina came all the way to Vancouver. And the ones that didn't got off in London. But it was bonkers. But it's what we did to promote a Greatest Hits record."

Brian - "Geez...boy you guys."

Joe - "Again it was one of those never again moments!."

Staying Together As A Band For 40 Years

Brian - "It may have been madness but it got Def Leppard into the Guinness Book Of World Records for playing live on three continents in one day. As Def Leppard entered the new Millennium they were rock and roll survivors. Now after 40 years in the business they're legends."

Joe - "Well you've got to remember in 78/79 there was no such thing as a forty year band. So you kind of thought maybe you've got five, six years at doing this and then it's al gone you know. We didn't realise it was gonna turn into what it did ;cause there was no blueprint. We worked very hard since the naughty 90s which were very difficult for Def Leppard. But we didn't ever split up and we said this is a cloud, we're in turbulence. We're gonna come out on the other side there's gonna be nice blue sunshine and it's gonna be great if we hang in and do what we've always preached to ourselves. Be the gang, hang in there you know. I mean we lost Steve. We got Vivian. He's gone through his battles with cancer you know. So we've had all sorts of things going on. It strengthens us you know. And this line-ups been together for 24, 25 years this year. Quarter of a century the five of us have been together and we still enjoy doing what we do."

VIVA! Hysteria Residency

Brian - "In 2013 Def Leppard took up residency in Las Vegas. They played 11 shows at the Hard Rock Hotel."

Brian - "You know one of the things that I love about you guys is that you're always tend to do things out the box. Crazy, nad things that nobody would expect. Vegas!."

Joe - "We played the Hard Rock Hotel. Which is about a 4,000 seater. Great venue. You see people make suggestions to us all the time and half the time we're like going No!. But some of them we go oh that would be such a laugh because it will put noses out of joint. And because you've been around for a while and things just progress. Vegas used to be where you went to die. Elvis goes to Vegas. Dean Martin. It was always you know The Rat pack. That thing. If we went to Vegas we were just the transient one gig in for the rock fans and out again. Come, you know, the 21st century things are changing. Vegas becomes this cool place to go. You've got people like Prince, The Who, Motley Crue doing residencies in Vegas. You get to stay in the same bed for 30 nights.And the crowd come to you not the other way around. What's not to like you know."

Joe - "They said look do the whole show around the Hysteria album. We want you to play it in sequence start to finish. So we went OK we can do that. We'd been playing six of them live ever since 1987 anyway 'cause you know that's the way it is. can't get out the building alive if you don't play Sugar."

Ded Flatbird

Brian - "We all changed our names. The dressing room wall was covered in Rolling Stone covers. So I said alright my birthday's August 1st. So I'll take the 1st and the 8th one, the two biggest words on those front covers were Booty Ruben. We all changed our names. Phil was Fleetwood Beck, we had all sorts. Rick was Camp Out and we had such fun with it. We had one celebrity guest come to the show and one of his friends came backstage afterwards and he says dude you really wanna have a word with that support singer he was trashing you on stage."

Hysteria Cruise/Vocal Issues

Joe - "Another interesting thing that we did."

Brian - "What do you mean another. How many can you have I mean bloomin' hell."

Joe - "Well I say interesting because it wasn't enjoyable, was the cruise. We got invited to do a rock...they've become kind of the thing to do these rock cruises. KISS do one. Even, I loved it, Motley Cruise. Very clever. Ours was a disaster from the second we walked on board. Not the boat that rocked it was the boat that sucked. I got sick. I'd had and I did know I had it and it definitely just destroyed my throat and I couldn't sing. So we had to cancel, we didn't cancel the performance. I introduced the band on stage. It was the weirdest thing ever. Ladies and gentleman please welcome Def Leppard. I'm like and then I walked off and went what's that all about? you knoe. So now Sav is the only guy in the band who's played every single gig that this band's ever played."

Joe - "But you know that aside it was horrible because just before we went on to play they found Jimmy Bain dead in his cabin. ."

Brian - "Oh no."

Joe - "You know Jimmy Bain was there to play with Last In Line. Vivian's side band who were one of the other bands. So you know Jimmy dies. I lose my voice. We couldn't dock in all the Islands that we were going to because the weather was so bad so we were having to anchor out. It was just like get me off this thing and psychologically when you're on a boat and you can't get off."

Brian - "That's the trouble aye."

Joe - "So we won't do it again."

Brian - "But you didn't sink. Thank Christ for that. It's the only thing that didn't happen."

Joe - "No we didn't sink. The food was OK. But it was a traumatic time for me 'cause we got back on land and I saw all the doctors and my throat was just a disaster."

Brian - "That's right you had a bad time."

Joe - "We did the one gig in Fort Lauderdale. It's tragically probably on YouTube where I just couldn't hit a note. Couldn't do a thing. So I saw a doctor again the next day and he says you need to take at least a month out. So we had to cancel."

Brian - "There's nothing you can do as a vocalist. It's your tool. It's your instrument. You can't change a string. You can't say give me another guitar."

Joe - "We had to blow out that tour. We took a full four months and I've constantly to this day still have to do vocal therapy just to keep myself. I mean I always warm up but now I'm going a little bit deeper than that. And that's fine. Till I get to the point where I go I just can't do this any more. ."

Brian - "But Joe you're still doing it. You're still up there."

Def Leppard 2019. Screenshot

Playing Hit Songs Live

Joe - "When you've been around for as long as us I have no problem playing the hits on stage. When I go and see The Stones or McCartney I'm not really bothered about hearing Flowers In The Dirt. I wanna hear Eleanor Rigby. It's like if you didn't play anything off Back In Black there would be a riot."

Joe - "If we don't play things off Hysteria we're pleasing the one percent that criticise it. I've always said and I'll say it a million more times before I die no doubt. If you can't handle the responsibility of writing a hit, don't write it."

Brian - "You've gotta understand what people paid for. Is to hear those."

Joe - "Exactly. It's not an education centre when you come to see a big band. It's a place, I don't wanna sound pretentious when I say a place of worship. But you're coming to celebrate what you know. .And part of going to see AC/DC, Def Leppard, U2, Duran Duran, Iron Maiden doesn't matter who it is. Is to hear all the stuff that you saw on MTV. Or you heard as a kid. Yeah they'll indulge you every half an hour three minutes of a new song. And that's how we play it. We open with a new one. We play one half an hour in. We play one 55 minutes in and then we go into what we call the home straight. And that's what every artist that's savvy will do. When you join a band it's because you wanna play onstage. Nobody ever went ohh I can't wait to spend five years in the studio."

Brian - "No."

Joe - "Nobody ever said that. Why we do it I have no idea. Narcissistic. I don't know what we are but it's just our thing. But if it wasn't for the fact that MvcCartney and Jagger and Richards did this and Ray Davies. Dave Davies. All these people that made fantastic music that came before us gave us that goal and if they're narcissistic I wanna be that narcissistic."

Brian - "Yeah I think I said ti to you once before you're one of the few in the world that I really respect and I'm proud to be your pal. I really am mate."

Joe - "Thank you Brian."

Brian - "It's just...learn. The lot of ya. Learn by what this man says."

Joe - "Right back at ya as they say."

Brian - "I know I might have missed something but I just had to say that the 'cause it was f**king fabulous what you finished with there. Do you hear what I'm telling you there?. It's f**king textbook shit that. Ya know it's textbook shit that should be written down."

Joe - "Thank you pal."


Def Leppard 2020.

Def Leppard / Latest Release


Def Leppard / Latest Tour

Def Leppard World Tour 2021


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