Page 56 - Classic Rock (January 2020)
P. 56
“THE BAND IS ON FIRE.
THERE’S NO
STOPPING US”
He turned 60 this year, but Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott is showing no signs of slowing down
– certainly not when he’s talking. And with the year he’s had there’s plenty to talk about.
Interview: Paul Elliott Photos: Kevin Nixon
n 2019, Def Leppard were inducted into the the Hall Of Fame – and we weren’t one of them. Brian May inducting us, my speech went down
Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, headlined the They wanted R.E.M. and Lou Reed and U2 and really well, our performance went down great,
Download festival, played a residency in Springsteen; they didn’t want us and Mötley Crüe and we had a proper all-star jam at the end. We
Las Vegas and enjoyed the company of and Bon Jovi. They just didn’t. couldn’t imagine doing that with some of the other
I Brian May and Miley Cyrus. And to finish inductees – you know, [The Cure’s] Robert Smith
what frontman Joe Elliott describes as “a very good But in recent years the Hall Of Fame also and half of Radiohead. But we got Brian May and
year”, there was the release of a new album from introduced a Fan Vote, open to the public, which Ian Hunter up to do All The Young Dudes, which
his other band, Down ‘N’ Outz, featuring three is how Bon Jovi got inducted in 2018, and then was the perfect full-circle – doing that song, my
members of The Quireboys – guitarists Paul Leppard this year. favourite song, with Ian, who made it famous, and
Guerin and Guy Griffin and keyboard player Out of nowhere we were nominated. And we Brian who had just inducted us. And once that
Keith Weir – plus ex-Vixen bassist Share Ross and won with the highest ever fan vote. I thought, was happening, Susannah Hoffs from The Bangles
Wayward Sons drummer Phil Martini. This Is How okay, we’re about to get in now. And now it means wanted in, Phil Manzanera from Roxy Music
We Roll is the first Down ‘N’ Outz album something, because it’s the fans that have voted wanted in, Stevie Van Zandt from Springsteen’s
comprised of original material. “It’s a good record,” us in, not some committee that was reluctantly band, and we’d got the guys from Argent doing
Elliott says. As for Def Leppard, he says simply: accepting us. So all of a sudden we’re in. And when backing vocals. It was great.
“The band is on fire. There’s no stopping us. It’s we actually got in that room, we could feel the love,
fucking nuts.” because they sold tickets to punters, and there were What did you make of the rest of the event?
a lot of Leppard fans in that night. [One Direction’s] Harry Styles inducted Stevie
How will you remember 2019? Nicks and did a fantastic job. So much better than
The amazing thing is, I didn’t think it could get It felt like a victory? David Byrne, who inducted Radiohead and was
much better than 2018, when we had one of the Yeah. It was a fantastic evening. I didn’t think it embarrassing, really. I don’t have that in-built
top rock tours of the year, we sold a million tickets was going to be as much fun as it was. We had hatred of pop, so I watched Harry Styles and
in America, and we did the Teenage Cancer thought: good for him. It was brilliant
Trust gig at the Albert Hall, where we got watching Stevie Nicks perform. And
a beautiful introduction from Roger Daltrey watching Roxy Music was phenomenal.
and the reaction from the audience was The Americans didn’t really get into Roxy
incredible. We really felt on top of the world Music until [1982 album] Avalon, which
last year, but in some ways this year has to us [Britain] was the lounge version of
been just as great, if not better. Roxy. But there they were, in front of an
American audience, ten thousand people,
In March, Def Leppard were inducted into and they opened with a song from ’73 – In
the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. What did Every Dream Home A Heartache, this mad
that mean to you? song about a blow-up doll, which is so very
I didn’t think it was going to be as big a deal English and European. All these people
as it turned out to be. For years I’d been in tuxedos in the posh seats were going:
saying I don’t give a fuck about the Hall “What the fuck is this?” And I was going:
Of Fame. “Oh yeah!”
Why is that? In June, Leppard headlined the Download
Because of the voting system they had. festival at Donington Park, the scene of one
We were always under the impression of the band’s greatest moments: playing
that it was this invisible committee that at Monsters Of Rock in 1986 – the big
would pick and choose who goes in, and comeback show after drummer Rick Allen
they were very stuck in their ways about lost his left arm in a car crash. Is it an
the kind of artists that they wanted in emotional experience for you to play there?
Let's get rocked: Joe Elliott
with Leppard during their Las
Vegas residency in 2019.
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