DEF LEPPARD Frontman: 'The Emphasis Has Always Been On The Music'
June 1, 2006Chris Strauss of People magazine recently conducted a short interview with DEF LEPPARD frontman Joe Elliott. An excerpt follows:
People: A recent Entertainment Weekly feature shows a picture of you guys from 1984 in matching Union Jack tank tops and short shorts. Do you look back at photos like that and laugh?
Elliott: "You look at them the way you look at wedding photos: You giggle and cringe at some. It doesn't embarrass me because it's what we were then. There are photographs out there of us with long hair, short hair, ripped jeans, leather trousers — it's just the time period. It's part of the capsule.
People: What can expect to see backstage these days at a DEF LEPPARD show?
Elliott: "Everyone in the band is married but we're certainly not all sober. (Guitarist) Phil Collen hasn't had a drink in 23 years. I haven't had a drink in 23 minutes. (Drummer) Rick Allen doesn't drink. The rest of us are what you call 'polite drinkers.' We're certainly not dead drunk like we used to get."
People: It's not the wild party days of 25 years ago?
Elliott: "We do have our moments. We have pajama parties on the bus where we insist that our road crew wear nightgowns and ladies' attire. We don't join in but we'll take photos and laugh at them. The emphasis has always been on the music. We were always pacing ourselves very well. It's like the old cliché about the tortoise and the hare — we're definitely the old tortoise. That's why we're still going."
Read the entire interview at People.aol.com.
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