![]() ![]() I think about Steve a lot, but it doesn’t pain me. My dad died in 2012 and he’s always there too. Hardly a day goes by when his name doesn’t come up or you see him in a photo to approve legacy artwork. Does it pain you to relive the loss of Steve Clark? Looking through all of the photos and memorabilia and old tour posters in the "DEFinitely" book is a reminder that the band has weathered so much tragedy. (Laughs) They’re of a certain age these days where they’re happy to just sort of wonder. ![]() You’re going to disappoint a lot of strip club fans with this version. It was Sav who said, why don’t we just do Emm’s version? And you got that stunned silence when you can hear the cogs going around and about six seconds later it was, yeah, that’s a good idea. She did a covers album in 2001 with “Crazy Train” from Ozzy (Osbourne) and “Song 2” from Blur and she had her version of “Sugar” on there. Who is singing with you?Įmm Gryner, a Canadian solo artist I met in 1999 who backed up (David) Bowie and has about 28 albums out. There is a very different version of “Pour Some Sugar on Me” on the album. We weren’t going to just do the hits to the detriment of the song because it looks good on the (album) sleeve. The reason “Rock of Ages,” “Let’s Get Rocked” and “Photograph” aren’t on this record is because they sounded hideous. We’d get early arrangements from (string arranger) Eric Gorfain, who was scoring them on a keyboard that sounded like an orchestra and he’d send us MP3s for a yay or nay. Some of the songs – “Hysteria” and “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak,” in particular – seem like obvious choices to get the orchestral treatment. It was like watching David Attenborough filming the penguins! But it was his song and he probably thought he’d never see the Royal Philharmonic in Abbey Road doing his song. When they did “Kings of the World,” I’ve never seen (Rick) Sav (age) get his phone out for anything other than answering a call and he filmed the whole thing. But these musicians were wearing Def Leppard T-shirts, sweatpants and runners. Whenever you see an orchestra, they’re usually wearing tuxes. We spent two days on a balcony overlooking these guys. Were you there for any of the Philharmonic’s recordings? We wanted to strip these songs down and bring the base of them back up. We’re by far not the first band to do (an orchestral album), but we didn’t want to just be buttering a piece of toast and slapping the orchestra on top of a record. But we’re well aware of walking a well-trodden path. Question: Even with all that Def Leppard has accomplished in 40-plus years, how surreal was it to have the Royal Philharmonic playing your songs?Īnswer: It was very surreal. 5 in Syracuse, New York.Īmiable frontman Elliott chatted with USA TODAY from his home in Dublin about which Def Leppard hits sounded “hideous” with an orchestra, why the band is compelled to still be better and how he's still holding on to rock star mystique. for six stadium dates with Motley Crue and Alice Cooper, commencing Aug. If that isn’t enough Lep in your life, after an early summer gallop through Europe, Def Leppard returns to the U.S. Part memoir, part photo essay, the hardcover is a treasure of 1,500 elements of band history, including recollections from singer Joe Elliott, guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, bassist Rick Savage, drummer Rick Allen and archival interviews with original guitarists Steve Clark and Pete Willis. Then, on June 13, “DEFinitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard” lands. On May 19, Def Leppard will release “ Drastic Symphonies,” a creative collaboration with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra that recasts hits (“Love Bites,” “Hysteria”) and album cuts (“Paper Sun,” “Goodbye for Good This Time”) with a symphonic bent. We don’t understand what it means either, but they told us so 36 years ago in “Animal.”Īnd here we are, a year after the rock behemoths released their 12 th studio album, “Diamond Star Halos,” and co-headlined a massive stadium tour with Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts for a haul of $176 million. Like the restless rust, Def Leppard never sleeps.
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