http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2008/07/11/leppards-do-change-spots-100252-21327993/

Leppards DO change spots

Jul 11 2008 Jade Wright 

Joe Elliot and Phil Collen saunter into a hotel room bigger than my entire 
house, looking every bit the conquering heroes.

The eternal rockers have just played the Islington Academy and their new album, 
Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, has gone into the charts at No. 5. They’re 
clearly on top of the world.

"Looks like we’ve still got it," chuckles singer Joe. He's 48 this year, his 
hair still golden-blond, lush and long.

He is dressed immaculately in freshly pressed jeans and a tailored black shirt 
with a diamante skull and crossbones on the back, every inch the rock star.

"What a gig!" he bellows to the cavernous room. "We were so nervous before we 
went out but that was awesome. I could do it all over again."

I’ve taken up the challenge of a lifetime. I’m on tour with Def Leppard, 
Sheffield’s finest heavy rockers.

Their success makes today’s rock acts look like minnows in comparison. They’ve 
sold more than 65m albums in the course of their three-decade career. In sales 
alone, that puts them ahead of acts like Stevie Wonder, The Spice Girls, Oasis, 
Nirvana, Bob Dylan ...

And after a six-year break they’re back. I caught up with them in London, 
playing their most intimate gig for 25 years in the 800-capacity north London 
club.

And what a show it was. In among the media throng were the uber-fans, the 
die-hards who were prepared to queue up and support their boys all the way.

Over the years the band rocked with the best of them and lived harder than most.

After the drinking years, and the drug-fuelled years, the death of guitarist 
Steve Clark and drummer Rick Allen’s horrific car accident that cost him his 
arm, it's incredible they're still here, let alone preparing for another tour.

A tour that takes in the ECHO Arena next week.

"I’m excited about that," grins Joe. "I love Liverpool. I love The Beatles, and 
The Zutons. People think that because I write the sort of music I do that I 
can’t appreciate other things. That’s just rubbish. I listen to all sorts, and 
it’s The Beatles I always come back to. Legends."

Joe currently lives in Dublin, with his wife Kristine, whom he met while she 
was working in wardrobe for Def Leppard.

Joe makes himself comfortable on an enormous white sofa while lead guitarist 
Phil makes a beeline for a large silver platter and lifts off the domed lid. I 
dread to think what can be inside. But I needn’t have feared.

Underneath lies a feast of the poshest toast I’ve ever seen – there’s four 
different types of butter.

"What did you expect?" laughs Phil, raising an eyebrow. "Steak? Drugs? A 
thousand brown M&Ms in a brandy glass?

"I hope you’re not disappointed in me," he gives a cheeky grin. "But you can’t 
beat a nice bit of toast.

"I shouldn’t have it really – I try to keep off wheat – but this is my treat. 
Help yourself."

He offers the toast around and carefully butters and devours slice after slice. 
He’s entitled to his one vice. The clean-living rocker has already eschewed 
alcohol, drugs and meat. He’s a keen kick-boxer and works out every day – so 
much so that he’s been dubbed "the shirtless one", so fond he is of showing off 
his toned torso.

"I’m the oldest in the band," he laughs. "I’m 50. But I look the youngest, 
because I look after myself. I’m a strict vegetarian, I try to eat as much raw 
food as I can. I look after myself. I live in California; it’s nothing unusual 
there.

"But I come back to England and people expect the cliche," he says, with a 
world-weary sigh. "They think I’m going to be drinking, smoking, snorting coke 
out of some blonde’s belly button.

"I’ve had people come up to me and ask why I’m with my partner. She’s black, 
and people have asked why am I not with some blonde half my age. I try to 
explain that I don’t live my life to be a cliche. That I’m an ordinary bloke 
who does an extraordinary job, and away from work I do my own thing."

He pauses for a second, and corrects himself.

"But then I realise how lucky I am to be able to do this, to be here," he waves 
his arm to indicate the hotel suite.

"I started out as a dispatch rider in London. I worked for a living, weaving in 
and out of the traffic every day, so I know how lucky I am now to be able to 
live like this. I’d never have set foot in a place like this if it hadn’t been 
for this band."

Phil joined the band in 1982 following the departure of Pete Willis, making him 
a relative newcomer.

The doubly misspelt hard rock act ("Don’t call us heavy metal, we’re not heavy 
metal," insists Joe) were born in 1977. Originally called Atomic Mass, Joe 
thought up the new name while writing reviews for imaginary rock bands in his 
English class at school.

They went on to become one of the hardest living bands of the 80s, so I must 
admit I’d expected life on tour with them to be a bit rougher round the edges. 
A bit, well, less civilised.

Aside from the plush hotel suites, the band have three full-sized tour buses 
for the five of them. Somewhat excessive perhaps?

"No, we have to do it that way," explains Phil. "Viv (guitarist Vivian 
Campbell) and I have one. It’s all vegetarian and we keep it nice and clean.

"Then Joe and Sav (bass player Rick ‘Sav’ Savage – so called to avoid confusion 
with drummer Rick Allen) have another – that’s the dirty bus.

"And then Rick has his own bus which he fills with flowers and incense. He 
burns joss sticks on it and it gets in everyone else’s throats, so he’s on his 
own in there."

Rick Allen, the band’s famous one-armed drummer, is a haven of peace and calm. 
As well as the incense on the tour bus, he attaches joss sticks and sunflowers 
to his drum-kit onstage to harness positive energy.

The story goes that he lost his arm after losing control of his car on his way 
to a New Year's eve party at his family's home in Sheffield. Aged just 21, he 
was thrown from the car resulting in the severing of his left arm due to the 
seatbelt not being properly fastened.

He’s got a lovely, sunny disposition. He's a firm believer in karma, and says 
that, after plenty of tough times he's never been happier.

He and Phil meditate backstage before the shows, and they believe a lot of 
their success has come from their positive energy.

And it seems to be working.

"We’re happier than we’ve been in years," explains Joe. "I get out of bed every 
day and I can’t wait to see what it brings. Maybe that’s the wisdom age brings. 
Or maybe you just realise that every day is precious.

"Either way, we certainly enjoy ourselves more than we used to. We love every 
day."

* Def Leppard play the ECHO arena alongside Whitesnake and Thunder as part of 
the Summer Pops on July 15. For tickets call the ECHO arena on 0844 800 0400 go 
online to www.accliverpool.com or call in at the 08 Place or arena.

Copyright and Trade Mark Notice © 2008 owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror 
North West & North Wales Limited