From: "Mike N. Reinemann" Date sent: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 15:35:59 -0400 Subject: Steel city rock http://www.irishnews.com/current/metro2.html ====================== The Irish News founded in 1891 Fri Oct 22 Steel city rock Metro interview By Tim Brannigan -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ LOVE BITES BACK... Def Leppard are aiming to bring back the Euphoria to their live gigs by going back to their roots - melody, production and a big, big sound Def Leppard were once the biggest selling rock group on the planet, now they are back on the road with their new album Euphoria. Tim Brannigan speaks to Rick Savage about the band's return to its hard roots... Rock giants Def Leppard are set to rock the Ulster Hall with songs from their new album, Euphoria. Whether the band or the fans will actually feel euphoric about the band's 'triumphant' return or the new songs remains to be seen. The Sheffield-based bands' publicity people have been giving it the hard sell. The press release features various excited quotes from the band members. "Nobody has made a record like this for a long time," says singer Joe Elliot, rather more ambiguously than perhaps he meant. Elliot, even more alarmingly, admits that the band 'wanted to write anthems that make you want to punch the air when you hear them'. The sad truth for many rock and metal bands is that many people actually feel like punching the band members when they hear the songs. It is, of course, easy to sneer at rock music. The hair, the perms the rock cliche stage performances and the tight spandex jeans have for far too long been the stock-in-trade of bands whose average mental age is five. It is perhaps foolish to expect rock music, especially from the likes of Def Leppard, a band who revel in the excesses of the rock lifestyle, to come up with much in the way of profound music. "We're more self aware, self-mocking if you like, we're a group of guys having a laugh," says Elliot in a line he surely borrowed from Spinal Tap. Speaking to Metro band member Rick Savage acknowledged that Def Leppard, who were in the late 80s the biggest selling band on the planet, have probably passed the high point of their careers. The new album, Savage admits, is a return to what the band do best. Their last album, Slang, was ironically, praised by the music press as the best thing they had ever done. As tends to be the way however, the fans didn't warm to it and sales were relatively poor. Savage acknowledged that perhaps the more stripped down approach to Slang was something the band weren't used to. They liked, he said, the band's traditional sound. "Our earlier music was very multi-layered, built like tapestries, lots of vocal harmonies and multi-tracking. The sound could be very unreal on some of our early albums. "The fans were a little bit shocked to be honest. They said this is not the Def Leppard that we know. Conversely the critics thought it was the best album that we ever done. "This new album is a return to our roots. The time was right and we thought that it was right to make an album that had its roots in melody, production and bigger sound." Rick, in fairness to him, admits that the band didn't want to try anything 'groundbreaking or cutting edge'. In that respect they have succeeded admirably in their objectives. Despite being around for so long the band have been amazed by the amount of new fans who have come to see them in concert. "We were surprised that people who were young enough to be our sons and daughters were there. We do have a great core of fans too who have been with us for years. "The whole music industry has been won over to the dance scene. But if you take the dance music kids away and take away the Britney Spears and teenie bands then there are still a lot of people who just want to hear rock music." The Def Leppard story has been told one million times before. They formed in 1977 and practised and rehearsed for months before playing their first gig. for the first record the band was Joe elliot, Rick Savage, Pete Willis and drummer Tony Kenning. There have been changes in personnel along the way and in 1992 Vivian Campbell from Lisburn, who had previously played with Dio and Whitesnake, joined the band. Campbell was a replacement for Steve Clark of the band who died when he mixed alcohol with painkillers prescribed to him after breaking three ribs in 1991. The band's career peaked with the 1987 album Hysteria which spawned no less than seven singles including Woman, Animal, Hysteria, Love Bites and Pour Some Sugar On Me. The album sold 15 million albums world-wide including 12 million albums in the US. The band released their long-awaited follow up to Hysteria in 1992. it was called Adrenalize. This album sold six million copies in the US and in many other countries became the band's biggest selling album. l Def Leppard will play the Ulster Hall next Tuesday October 26. © Copyright : the Irish News Ltd. the Irish News Ltd. 113-117 Donegall Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland Tel: +44 (0) 1232 322226 Fax: +44 (0) 1232 337505 Email: Internet@irishnews.com