Def Leppard Atomic Mess News

I want to focus on your new band at the very beginning of this interview. I get a ton of emails from a ton of bands I have never heard of asking us for coverage. I got a message about a band called Man-Raze. I had never heard of this band and I didn't even know they existed. At first I started to delete it. But for some reason I clicked on the link and I saw your name. I checked out the MP3s and I loved them. I usually know what is going on in the classic rock scene but I didn't even know this was happening. You must have kept this pretty secret.

We kind of did. We just got together and we just started recording. It was great - especially the rehearsing part. It just worked. Now we are ready. We have 12 songs that are in different stages of mixing.

Where did the name of the band come from?

At first we were going to call it Fay Raze - you know the girl from the King Kong movies. Simon wasn't into it and he was right as it was a bit limp. We kept the raze and called it Man-Raze. Man Ray was a photographer from New York. He died and was buried in France. It fit us really well. He was very surrealist.

Full text of article…

Def Leppard will appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 27. They will be performing with Bryan Adams from the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City

New Canadian dates for the Rock Of Ages tour have been announced. These shows feature The Tea Party opening for Def Leppard.

Most people don't stay in a job for 25 years. Or stay married to the same person. Or, in many cases, maintain friendships that long.

Musicians, especially, are a notoriously fickle group — look at the backbiting that continues to this day in the Van Halen camp or the coy comments made by any lead singer who pursues a solo project but still "will never leave the band." Yeah, Justin. How's that next'N Sync album coming?

That makes Def Leppard a bit of an anomaly. Yes, the band had an early lineup change when guitarist Pete Willis was fired because of his alcoholism and Phil Collen took his place. And, in a sad twist, guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991 at the age of 30 from alcohol abuse and was replaced by Vivian Campbell.

Full text of article…

This new two-disc set does a good job of showing both sides of Def Leppard: Ultimate party band and heavy-metal standard-bearers.

Disc 1 focuses on the pop metal sound the band patented with "Hysteria" in 1987. All of 1995's compilation "Vault" is here plus the breezy "Heaven Is" and the instrumental "Switch 625," back in its rightful place following "Bringin' on the Heartbreak."

Full text of article…

Added most of the songs from OddTodd's Def Leppard Cover Song Contest to the Audio section.

More dates for the 2005 Rock Of Ages tour have been announced. These shows feature Tesla opening for Def Leppard.

New dates for the 2005 Rock Of Ages ballpark tour with Bryan Adams have been announced.

In this final interview, Joe Elliott responds to some of the points that Andrew McNiece brought up with his original talk with this same interviewer. Joe Elliott had previously spoken to the interviewer as well before seeing Andrew McNiece's responses.

• I was not aware of this review he did on X at the time. Like I've said, the reviews he does from Tasmanian rarely make it over to our shores so how could I possibly know this. That's beside the point. I didn't even know of this website until recently. I have yet to see this review of X, maybe I'm missing it but I don't have time to look for it.
• First of all, I don't know who sent him the track listing but apparently this is someone within the Leppard camp, otherwise, how would he get it? Secondly, anyone who logs onto a computer can go to the website and get the link to it.
• He is just trying to get to the bottom of this whole mess and although he might have an idea of who it might be, he's not going to flat out accuse them without proof, which is why he asked for details.

Full text of article…

This interview with Joe Elliott looks at his take on the review by Andrew McNieceMelodicRock.com of a unreleased rough cut of the covers album Yeah!. I previously posted a parallel interview with Andrew McNiece.

• Some love the idea and some hate the idea and would like to hear an album of new material from you guys. Any comments on that Joe?
• Do you think Andrew stole it, whether directly or indirectly Joe?
• Do you feel this could alienate some of your fans by the way you handled things when you wrote that letter?
• Do you have any idea who's behind sending Andrew the CD?

Full text of article…

The final part of the Andrew McNiece Interview. Part 1 is also available.

• Why did it bother you so much to get a false track listing from the band? Why not just let it go as being a good prank and leave it at that?
• If you had not been given a false track listing by the band, would you have still listened to it and given it your opinion on Melodic Rock?
• On your website, it was clearly stated that someone in the Leppard camp had sent that CD to you and felt you'd been black balled basically when you were sent the false track listing. Is this person closer to the band or closer to you? In the sense of friendship.

Full text of article…

Editor's note: The following set of interviews were conducted by an online reporter after a prerelease version (or demo) of the upcoming Def Leppard cover songs album Yeah! was reviewed by Andrew McNiece of Melodic Rock. This caused a hubub over at DefLeppard.com because the review was very critical in some aspects. Joe Elliott then responded with what some described as unnecessarily harsh words towards Andrew McNiece. These interivews of both Andrew McNiece and Joe Elliott are archived here as part of the record. Unfortunately, I can't find a copy of the original Yeah! review by Andrew McNiece. If you have a copy of this review, please contact me.

Here are some of the questions that were asked to Andrew McNiece:

• "Being a music critic is sure to have it's advantages, so what are some of them besides getting to review some of the best selling albums out there?"
• Do you ever get positive or negative feedback from the bands you review? Aside from the obvious I mean.
• From what I can gather, you were sent a false track listing from the band themselves and it turns out to be false. This apparantly started some controversy between you and the band.

Full text of article…

Added two new MIDI song samples for Foolin' and Bringin' On The Heartbreak to the Audio Section.

Well many readers over the years have asked me, "How can you be such a serious young man?" Well I have the impression that many people think I only read, watch, and listen to Libertarian philosophy and economic money supply issues. This past month I was skimming through the usual collection of music industry magazines and a feeling of disgust came over me, a feeling of such utter contempt that I almost threw my NAD receiver out the window of my home. I'm a simple man who enjoys Single Malt Scotch, cigars, and pin stripe suits to be honest. My beautiful family really keeps me happy, and of course a massive music collection exists. Something in the order of 1000 albums on the vinyl format and 1000 albums on the CD format.

It began in 1977 when a couple of high school students decided to form a band, after all if the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and the Clash could get record deals and become stars without knowing how to play instruments, then anyone could be a star right?

Sheffield England (known as the heart of the black country because of the steel mines) gives its youth 3 choices:

Full text of article…

No tour dates have been announced in support of the upcoming Best Of album. Expect them soon, however.