Inside Leppard's Latest
..........The three- year wait was worth it--Def Leppard's first album since Slang in '96 is a high-powered affair, a full-throttle all-systems-go jet of pure adrenaline. As lead singer Joe Elliott says, "Slang was something we had to do, to get it out of our system. But this is us coming back strong. There was a time when so many bands had stolen our sound that the market got saturated, but we always felt we had some unfinished business."
..........Consider Euphoria a return to former glory.
..........The glory starts in 1977 when Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, guitarist Pete Willis and drummer Tony Kenning mix in originals with hotshot barband covers of David Bowie and Thin Lizzy. Steve Clark joins in '78. Frank Noon replaces Kenning on The Def Leppard EP. Rick Allen--age 15--quickly replaces Noon. They sign their label deal in '79, quitting their day jobs. (Rick quits school.) The first tour has them opening for Sammy Hagar. The first single is "Wasted." Rick celebrates his 16th birthday backstage opening for AC/DC.
..........The '80s start with their full length debut, On Through The Night, produced by Tom Allom. Their first stateside tour has them on various opening legs supporting Pat Travers, Judas Priest and Ted Nugent. American audiences warm up to them quick, but British crowds, upon their return home, consider them sell-outs. They're booted off stage at the prestigious Reading Festival.
..........Follow-up High 'N' Dry. in '81, produced by Mutt Lange, is an international phenomenon. A Euro tour with Rainbow makes them stars. A U.S. Ozzy tour doesn't hurt either. Neither does the birth of MTV, which jumps on "Bringing on the Heartbreak."
..........As certified Grade-A international rock stars, they began their claim as one of the biggest bands by recording Pyromania with Mutt. Lange, by now, is the unoffical sixth member of the band. Ohi Collen, of the cult band Girl, replaces Pete Willis in July of '82. Pyromania winds up making them superduper-stars, going on to sell over seven million, and arguably becoming, in the process, one of the greatest rock albums of the '80s.
..........The good times get better. The wild rides gets wilder. The girls get better looking. It seems, for a time, that nothing can go wrong. Then, on New Year's Eve '85, Rick Allen loses his left arm in a violent car crash.
..........The thouring goes on. Drummer Jeff Rich is brought in but, amazingly enough, with the help of hydraulics, Rick bravely learns to drum one-handed. Jeff Rich goes home. On August 16, 1986, at the Monsters Of Rock festival, Def Lep steals the show with their one-armed drummer.
..........Hysteria comes out in the summer of '87, going on to sell 15 mill, and replacing Pyromania as the ultimante '80s rock album. It seems Def Leppard can do no wrong. Everything they touch turns to gold. The girls even get better looking. It seems, for a time, that nothing can go wrong. Then Steve Clark dies from a lethal booze/pain pill combo. He is not replaced. The touring continues.
..........April 1992. Viv Campbell--of Whitesnake and Dio fame--joins the band. They play the Freddie Murcury Tribute concert at England's Wembley Stadium, debuting tracks off the new Adrenalize. It outsells both Pyromania and Hysteria in some parts of the world.
..........August 1993. Retro Active, a look back at various B-sides and leftovers, closes out the Steve Clark era.
..........October 1995. Vault, a greatest hits collection, complete with two new tracks, hits stores.
..........May 1996. Slang is released.
..........June 1999. Euphoria, their ninth album, is released.
..........Just prior to the release, guitarist Phil Collen called from the rehearsal studio. He seemed refreshed and ready to rock...
..........Metal Edge: Congradulations on Euphoria! It sounds great. I love the good trebly highs and this thing is crystal-clear!
..........M: I just love to hear the ping of the snare drum or the high-hat. It's so well-produced. It really flows in a Mutt-like stream. But, I understand Mutt didn't do this?
..........M: Describe the new sound.
..........M: When can we see it live?
..........M: What was your last gig?
..........M: Why? Did you get burned out plaing live?
..........M: You guys are among the biggest selling rock bands of all time. You recently were awarded the newly-launched Diamond Award for sales in excess of 10 million for Hysteria. That album is up past 16 million now!
..........M: You couldn't have anticipated this. When the Beatles first did interviews, they said they were hoping to last for six months! What were your plans at the very begining?
..........M: What do you attribute that to?
..........M: The VH1 Behind The Music on you guys was awsome!
..........M: It certainly whet my appetite to hear Euphoria. The best Behind The Musics always have a certain percentage of tragedy in them. Def Leppard, in that reguard fits the bill. How did it feel to cary on after the death of Steve Clark?
..........M: Your first gig with Viv was at the Freddie Mucury Tribute. How did that feel?
..........M: That had to be one of the most dramatic chapters in Def Lep hisotry, you playing tribute to the great Freddie Murcury of Queen, rallying around eachother after the passing of Steve. What do you consider another dramatic Def Leppard chapter?
..........M: Give us a negative about being in Def Leppard.
..........M: It's a job that millions and millions of kids wish they had. C'mon, you're a f.ckin' rock star, fer krissakes! A very small percentage of the world actually gets to do what you do.
..........M: Was there ever a time you thought, "Shit, I have unlimited access to all the women and all the drugs I want." Most bands go through that phase upon initial success. Did you?
..........M: So what you're saying is not to believe your own preess releases.
..........M: Def Leppard has survived and even proliferated thought all kinds of different musical trends. When you think back to the late '70s when the band first started, punk was hip. You lasted though disco, heavy metal, grunge, country, hip-hop, alternative, but your music was never really affected by any of it.
..........M: Let's end this by saying a little bit more about the new album.
..........M: I noticed. It sounds like the London Philharmonic Joe Elliott Vocal Orchestra. Like sugar. They're frothy. So sweet.
..........---by Mike Greenblatt
..........Phil Collen: Thank you. The low thing is such a '90s thing. Everyone loves bass. And kind of music...Whether it's hip-hop, rock 'n' roll, pop music, it's almost weird t hear you say that.
..........P: He only did three songs, but we wanted that Mutt feel and got it. To be quite honest, there's only a few people in the world who we would've worked with who could've done that. And Pete Woodroffe is one of 'em. Initially, we threw only a couple of top producers names around, but knew deep down none of 'em would be able to do it. Pete's worked with Mutt. He's worked with us for nine years, and we knew Mutt couldn't do it--he's way too busy (working with his wife, country-pop superstar Shania Twain). The guy doesn't stop writing songs! But he did come over for four days when we were recording this thing (at the Dublin, Ireland home of frontman Elliott), plus he helped co-write stuff over the phone and the fax.
..........P: Like Hysteria, but with perhaps a bit of Slang thrown in there to give it that edge.
..........P: We'll warm up first because we haven't done any shows for a couple of years. But we're gonna do some major outdoor shows in the states this summer! In September, we'll work on our full scale production show in England. It's gonna be big! I wanna bring back some of the cool shit that people haven't seen in a few years! A real show! Moving lights The works. American audiences will have to wait until October to see it, though.
..........P: Puerto Rico in '97.
..........P: (pause) No, not really. It's just, well, we were always like, "If anybody wants us, we'll go." We did South America, and just ended up in Puerto Rico. We loved it. We wound up staying there a long time. It was really cool. Then we just took a well deserved break. We've been touring for SO long, ya know?
..........P: We were blown away. It really hit home when we actually went to the ceremony and were in the company of all these other great artists.
..........P: I always thought we'd be turning out the local cinema, that size veune, and maybe go no TV now and then. I certainly didn't see it going past the age of 20. I'm 41 now. I think the important thing is, if you got something to say, you have to get out and say it. If you haven't got anything to say, then you shouldn't be in a band. It's gone way past what we ever imagined.
..........P: I think anything hugely successful has to be a bit of a hybrid. I don't think you can be just totally extreme. You look at all the big albums, the big artists, they've all been hybrids. The Eagles, for example, cross rock with country. It was a mix appealing t the Top 40 audience, that was what we did. We're somewhere in between, something that everyone could have access to. It's like now, it could be TLC or it could be Shania. What sells is a mixture of elements that more people can enjoy. I think if your music is too far extreme, you only get a minority.
..........P: Wasn't it? I loved it. I thought it was really good. Whenever you do anything like that, you never know how you're gonna come across, whether you're gonna be quoted without context. They did a good job.
..........P: Well, to be frank with you, initially, I just didn't want to go on at t'all. I wanted to wind down. Call it a day. We couldn't do that obviously. That wouldn't have been cool for Steve, either. Obviously, we had to finish the album (Adrenalize), at least. But that's how I felt at first. I remember thinking, "Ah shit, this is not going to be fun anymore." It always was a gang, ya know? We were tight. That was the whole thing about Def Leppard. Hell, we just proved it still, recording (Euphoria) at Joe's house for a year, all living under the same roof, eating out of teh same fridge. We still get along great there's not alot of people who can do that after 20 years. That gang for family aspect is very important to us. After Steve died, though, I just didn't want to cary on. I didn't think it would be the same. We waited a year, finished the album, I did all the guitars. A year later we got Vivian and went on from there. Part Two.
..........P: I was petrified, actually, 'cause there was a billion people watching on TV and and we hadn't played a proper show for three years or so. I thought, "Oh my god. I'm gonna fall over and everyone's gonna see." Plus, it was cold. But it turned out great and it was for a good cause.
..........P: Well, obviously, Rick's accident was a real kick in the balls to everyone. That was weird 'cause when Steve and I got the call, we were in Paris, we thought he just had an accident and cut his arm. Then we learned the extent of it. We were like, "F.ck!" You just don't think something like that could happen. It was really strange. But he came back like a banshee! He was so determined not to let it affect his life. He really had time to prove, not just to himself, but to everyone around him, that he could overcome it. And, in the end, it turned out being a positive thing.
..........P: It's very hard with the personal life. This stuff takes so much for your time. I'd like to see my son a bit more. He's nine. I just dropped him off at school this morning. I've got to pick him up later, in fact, and hopefully I'm gonna take him on tour this summer. But between him and my girlfriend, it's very hard. I want to see them both all the time. And I can't. This is a very strange job that I have.
..........P: Well, we are normal people. We never let it affect us. We don't ride in limos, if we can help it. I think it's very important to be regular and down-to-earth because I've seen so many artists f.ck themselves up just getting the wrong impression of what you're supposed to do. The trick is to remain grounded. I don't think I'm any different than what I was before, really. I don't let anything affect me. I've never had that problem. We don't take security with us on tour, we just use local guys. I've seen bands have all these guys wearing shades, talking on radios, we never once had that. I think it's important. I mean, sure, if you're Madonna or Michael Jackson, you're always gonna get some loony taking a pop at you, and you do need extra tight security. For a regular rock band? I just don't think it's necessary.
..........P: Oh yeah, sure. Absolutely. Early 20s--"Wow, this is great." We thought, "Just like a big candy store, it;s unbelievable, really a bit like a movie." And it was. Like somebody handing us a script. I think we balanced it out, though. But think about it! We went from playing 800--my first gig with the band, at the Marquee Club in London--and at the end of the same tour, nine months later, we played Jack Murphy stadium in San Diego to 55,000 plus. We thought is was because we were so damn cool. And we started acting like it for a little while. But that really has nothing to do with you. It's a snowball effect all it's own, and we were quick to realize that. And we knew that as fast as it came, that's how fast it would go if we blow it. So we worked hard. Every successful artist goes through that. Someone's really hot for a minute and they are so uncool the next. It happened to us! We had to battle against Def Leppard being totally uncool! And if you don't realize all that stuff, you could wind up being a very sad individual with the wrong perspective.
..........P: (lauhgs) Exactly. We never did. Well, maybe some of 'em. (laughs) Hype is all very nice and flattering but you really have to take it with a pinch of salt.
..........P: Think about the essence of Top 40 and what it means. Top 40 is very consistant. All artists will last if they have good songs that people like. It really is as simple as that. If you go too far off the track and get real untrendy like we did in the mid-'90s, it could be a problem even if the songs are strong. Looking back, it was so uncool to be in Def leppard or any of ther rock band back then. But it all changed again.
..........P: It's good solid rock music, man. But with a twist. It's taking what we did on our other albums and turning it up to the enth degree, with state-of-the-art studio stuff. Ya know all those things people do on R&B records? Well, we've gone way out there on too on this one. In some respects, it's goning to be a familiar sound. But like when you hear Boys II Men, and you hear that tracking on the vocals. Well, we did that too this time. We sorta went overboard tracking the vocals.
..........P: That's the intention. Halfway through, instead of our usual eight tracks each on the vocals and background vocals, we went the whole 24! Then we did it again in harmony with another 24! Yet Pete still said, "It's not big enough!" So we doubled that! We literally went in there and put like 200 voices on some of this stuff! That's how you get that sound. It's not just singing. You have to get it tight. You really have to nail it. Hell, anyone could sing a bunch of shit. It's got to be done with the right attitude, very loud, really sung out and screamy almost. It's very hard to do that. Alot of bands wouldn't put the time in. We actually did, and I think it makes a difference. I think it's a new sound. You certianly haven't heard a rock band like this before! And it's got an aggression and energy that a band usually has on it's first album. We worked our balls off! On one snare drum track, we used five different samples! And guitar? It wasn't one guitar. It was 20! It makes the whole thing sound larger than life. Hopefully, the kids will go, "Wow, this is kinda cool."
