Interview :: 23rd August 2005.
Def Leppard enjoys rock of (middle) ages ::
One of the loudest bands in rock history is enjoying a bit of a quiet comeback lately, though in truth Def Leppard was never far out of earshot.
The band that once refunded ticket money in Salem, Ore., because it was forced to play too softly is set to blast Rexall Place tonight, a change of venue from its last two visits here, both booked at the Shaw.
Asked to explain the renewed interest among fans who apparently still want to rock till they drop, lead singer Joe Elliott has a few sound ideas.
"I don't think the '80s are a dirty word anymore," he says by telephone while on a tour stop in Sudbury, Ont. "I think any band that's gone through that cloud that was the '90s and come out the other side ... sooner or later it's the reverse of the emperor's-new-clothes factor. People sit around in bars, one of your videos comes on, and it takes one person to go, 'You know what? They weren't so bad after all.' Which is the first step back up from 'This f---ing sucks, give me Alice in Chains any day.' "
Now roaming North America to promote a double greatest hits CD called Rock of Ages, Elliott and his mates are also enjoying some renewed interest on the corporate side of things, after a few years in the wilderness.
Though the band has sold more than 60 million albums since 1979, the singer says Universal Records had lost interest in Def Leppard by the late 1990s.
"The guys in charge really couldn't have cared less about us," says Elliott, who comes from Sheffield, England, and sounds much like that slightly portly chap from the movie The Full Monty (Mark Addy).
"I think it's really sad that a label like Universal wouldn't think of looking after a U2, a Bon Jovi or a Def Leppard ... if they weren't necessarily their biggest-selling acts right now."
But all that changed in 2004, Elliott says.
"New regime comes in, big fans (who asked) 'How can we revitalize the world's opinion of this band?' Between them and us, we came up with a plan. We came up with a covers album, they came up with a best-of, and their enthusiasm was such that we found it infectious."
The release of the covers album, titled Yeah!, has been postponed until spring, Elliott says, to allow the band to concentrate on the current tour. The cover songs all pre-date August 1979, when Def Leppard signed its first record deal.
The music, he says, "is what made us want to pick up a guitar or a drum stick, or sing into a vacuum cleaner handle."
Elliott and his mates -- Phil Collen (guitar), Viv Campbell (guitar), Rick Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums) play tribute to the songs that influenced them, by bands such as T.Rex, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Sweet, Free and Thin Lizzy. Blondie's Hanging On The Telephone is the most "modern" tune on the list.
"For me, and for everybody in the band, it's like the final way of explaining to anybody that wants to listen where we truly came from," Elliott says of the project. "We didn't come from Zeppelin and (Black) Sabbath and Uriah Heep. We may have some of their albums, we may LIKE them, but they weren't the heart and soul when we went, 'Mom and dad, I want a guitar for Christmas.' It was T.Rex and Bowie and Sweet."
The current tour includes the big stops -- Atlanta, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver, but like always many smaller ones as well, in Grande Prairie, Alta., Eastlake, Ohio, and Billings, Mont., to name a few.
"You want to do L.A., you want to do New York," Elliott says. "But there's a certain element of ..." -- you can almost hear him acting it out here -- "arms folded. 'Impress me, I could have been anywhere tonight.' When you go to Ottawa, or you go to Sudbury, we might be the only gig that's been through in six weeks. It's just common sense that they're going to be a little more excited."
Though the band has a loyal and longtime fan base, Elliott knows Def Leppard will always have detractors and will never be a critical favourite.
"There is a guilty-pleasure factor about Def Leppard, and that's fine. We've never been press darlings. But I'll take 50-million album sales and two-star reviews -- because it's not cool to admit liking us -- over five-star reviews that don't sell.
"I'd rather be me than Loudon Wainwright.".
Rick McConnell © Edmonton Journal 2005 :: (Link expired).
