http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/living/home/gardening/5651491.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted on Thu, Apr. 17, 2003 Def Leppard singer: Band is blessed Through 2 tragedies, hard-rock outfit has persevered JAMIE SHEATS-JOHNSON Staff Writer Like the fictional Spinal Tap, the real-life Def Leppard is known as one of the most enduring bands in rock. Case in point: After drummer Rick Allen lost an arm in 1985 as a result of a car crash, he developed a specialized drum kit and managed to keep on playing. Tragedy visited the band again in 1991 with the death of guitarist Steve Clark after a long bout with drug and alcohol addiction. Yet, despite adversity, Def Leppard, whose current tour hits Verizon Amphitheater on Saturday, has continued to perform, produce albums such as 2002's "X" and maintain a loyal fan base. The band's story is the stuff of VH1's "Behind the Music" -- and indeed, the Def Leppard "BTM" was one of the channel's more successful episodes and even spawned a VH1 made-for-TV movie. Still, with more than 45 million albums sold worldwide and the momentum of his band's current tour, lead singer Joe Elliot argues that Leppard has been blessed, not cursed. He spoke by phone from Philadelphia about what keeps this rock of ages rolling. Q. You guys must really enjoy touring? Otherwise, you would have driven each other crazy by now. Well, there's that, but I think we are blessed in that respect. There's been the obvious cheap shots at this band about us b eing cursed, but I actually think it's the other way around. We've got five people here, three of which have been together since '78. That's 25 years by the end of this year, and we still aren't sick of each other's compa ny. You can advertise in the back of your weekly music magazines and all this lot for, "Bass player wanted. Must like blah blah blah." You can't advertise for the chemistry. You've either got it, or you haven't. The chemistry of this band has never been as strong as it is right now. We share the glory and all the pain together. Things that we laugh at, other bands split up over. Q. You have definitely had your share of setbacks over the years. Would you say the chemistry is what has kept you going? In 25 years we've had two major things in the negative column. That's not a lot. You could take any random five people off the street and say what's happened to you over the last 25 years, and I think you'd probably find that they've had more negative things than we have, plus the fact that they probably wouldn't have had the ups that we've had. What's kept us going is the fact that we enjoy what we do for a living. Why should we stop doing it? There's still a great amount of people out there, judging on what's been out there the last several months, who still wa nt us around. We don't want to be the ones to let them down. Q. How's the tour going so far? It's been very consistent. It's been an absolute blast this last six or seven months. We've been out and about since last July, though the tour started properly in Japan in November. We've rehearsed at least one song off every album for this tour, so it's not just a greatest hits package with the new album stuff thrown in. We're doing more of a retrospective career thing. I read a bunch of articles about what the (Rolling) Stones were doing, which I think is fantastic. They were basically doing a different set depending on whether they were playing the club, the arena or the stadium. We decided it would be cool if we had a pool of songs like they've done, and you just literally chose a different set every night. It keeps it fresh for the band. We never look bored. Def Leppard The band that never stopped rocking survived the '80s and returns to Charlotte. WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday. WHERE: Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre TICKETS: $30-$50 DETAILS: (704) 522-6500; www.ticketmaster.com.