Date sent: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 14:21:33 -0600 From: Demolition Man Subject: Def Leppard Lacking Euphoria http://wallofsound.go.com/news/stories/defleppard013100.html ---------------------------- Def Leppard Lacking Euphoria After Def Leppard's tour bus was broken into by an overenthusiastic fan several weeks ago in Kelowna, British Columbia, singer Joe Elliott was left feeling bitter and violated. Guitarist Phil Collen was the primary victim, losing his (since returned) computer, lyric book, and drum machine, and a video containing footage of his children, but the act left the whole band slightly shaken. "It's put a bit of a sour taste in our mouths about having anyone backstage now, because we're totally suspicious of anyone," Elliott tells Wall of Sound. "It's like when people have their houses broken into. Someone could have just taken the bag off the kitchen counter, but they were still in the house. The whole thing was pretty grim, and it all came down to having lax security." On the road sporadically since the release of Euphoria last summer, Def Lep in December launched its current tour leg with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, which continues through mid-February and sees the band playing many secondary markets that most bands choose to ignore. But Elliott and bandmates Collen, Rick Allen (drums), Rick Savage (bass), and Vivian Campbell (guitar), subscribe to the KISS theory that no town is too small to rock. "I can't help but giggle when I hear these people bitch and moan about their grueling six-week tours. It's not just about New York and L.A.," Elliott says. "People are people. Just because you live in Casper, Wyoming, or El Paso, Texas, you're not allowed to see a rock band? I can't see the point of slaving over a hot amplifier for a year and then going out for a month." As most rock fans know, Def Leppard struggled to retain its credibility when the Nirvana brigade arrived in the early '90s. After hitting its commercial nadir with 1996's electronically enhanced Slang, the band returned to what it does best -- big choruses, layered hooks, and fist-pumping anthems. That Euphoria made a strong impact on the radio with the singles "Promises" and "Paper Sun" is a testament to the fact that rock still has a pulse. "In the mid-'90s, bands like ours were as hip as hemorrhoids, but we came to terms that we shouldn't be ashamed to be Def Leppard," Elliott, 40, says. "The whole scene was changing in the late '90s anyway, and we were getting sick to death of watching bands who move less on stage than we do in soundcheck. All of a sudden you had -- Marilyn Manson and Kid Rock -- these characters and we figured if it was okay for a guy to prance around like Aladdin, maybe there was room for us." One thing the longhairs in the band did to distance themselves from what Elliott refers to as "the Warrants, Wingers, and Slaughters," was to shear their frilly manes. That he now bears a striking resemblance to Duran Duran singer Simon LeBon isn't lost on Elliott, who chuckles at the comparison. "I'd rather look like Simon LeBon than [Motorhead's] Lemmy," he says. "But you know, when people start judging you on your looks rather than your music, you know they really weren't listening in the first place." Def Leppard plans to return to the road for a major market tour this summer and to begin work on a new album next spring. -- Lisa Taylor