Page 48 - Classic Rock - The Complete Story of Def Leppard 2019

RICHARD SAVAGE

well. It probably sounded shocking but to
me it was a very cool thing indeed.

How come you found it so easy? Do you
have long fingers?
Not really. I have very thin fingers. In

fact, I have fingers that don’t really suit a
bass guitar, which is what I’ve been
playing for the last 40 years. I talk to
other bass players and they could play a
stand-up bass, no problem. I have a stand-
up double bass, but I can’t play it to save

my life. I can hardly get my hand around
the neck! But, no, I don’t think I was
genetically engineered to play a bass
guitar; it was more a mental thing. And

having an attitude. Looking at bass
playing from a guitar player’s point of
view. I think that’s kind of what I do.

Did you ever see yourself as a singer,

though? Isn’t that where most kids
start when they fantasise about being
a rock’n’roll star?
I have always, always loved melody.

Don’t get me wrong. And harmony.
One of my earliest memories as a kid
was listening to the Beach Boys and just
marvelling at how their voices sounded,
and how the melodies moved. But the

passion – the real passion – was hearing
guitars. That was the thing. It was more
when Marc Bolan came on the scene. It
was the image and the guitar. Same with Don’t shoot
shotgun: Sav
Slade: it was all kind of guitar-driven, and and Joe Elliott’s
that was what really motivated me more camaraderie MAIN: GETTY
remains strong.
than individual frontmen. It was more
the guitar side of things. on [Bolan]. He was just part of a whole perm our hair [that the Bolan comparison
bag of artists that just looked cool. There came up]. Joe had always got a plan to do

Thinking of Marc Bolan with his was a certain femininity to them without it anyway, purely because his biggest idol
corkscrew hair and low-slung guitar… being over-the-top effeminate. They were was Ian Hunter – and he had that look:
I can see how you related to that. Were guys, and they played like guys, but there the shades and the long, wavy hair. There
you rocking that same look later on? was a certain femininity to them. Whether was a short time where we all had Pete
Yeah. I mean, back in the day it was it was the makeup, or the fact that they Willis-like very straight hair. Then, within

mentioned that there was a certain did have long hair. That was all part of the a space of about 10 days, we’d all been to
similarity. But that was purely attraction. But it was only when Steve the hairdressers and come out with tiny,
coincidental. I never modelled myself Clark decided that we should all go in and tight curls. More like Shirley Temple than
Ian Hunter!
WE WANTED TO INCORPORATE

Your first band, Atomic Mass, which
EVERYTHING. A BIT OF PUNK you were in with Joe Elliott and original
Leppard guitarist Pete Willis, was where
ATTITUDE BUT ALLYING THE SEX you first picked up bass. The story goes

it was because Pete was a better
PISTOLS AND THE CLASH WITH guitarist than you – true?
Pete definitely was [a better guitarist],

BOSTON AND QUEEN. no question. I’m trying to think back,
though, to whether Pete was ever actually

46 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM