DEF LEPPARD Singer: 'I Don't Necessarily Think We've Even Written Our Best Song Yet'

Brandy McDonnell of NewsOK.com recently conducted an interview with DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On whether DEF LEPPARD is planning on stopping anytime soon:

"Why would you? ... We're musicians, and our job is to play for people. And the more we play and the more people we play in front of, the happier we feel. We always wanted to be the biggest band in the world. For a little while, we were. Who's to say that we won't get it back? But even if we're not, you know, we're one of that elite few that can still play (for) 20,000 people."

On the band's renewed popularity:

"There's obviously a demand for what we're doing, because the ticket sales on the last tour alone were the best we've had since the 'Hysteria' tour (in 1987, the height of the band's heyday). It makes you feel wanted, and it makes you feel valid."

"I don't necessarily think we've even written our best song yet. ... If you think that you can never better 'Pour Some Sugar on Me', we might as well just pack in right now. But the fact (is) that we believe that we can add to our legacy and put something out there that shocks people not necessarily in its content but in the fact that they go 'My God, they can still do it.' That's the kind of thing that you drive yourself on to do."

"It's all well and good to be able to pay your bills, but if you haven't got a drive in life or a passion, I don't see the point in getting out of bed in the morning."

"I believe we're a better band now than we've ever been. We seem to just get better every tour we do. We're more consistent; we play better. We last longer. We're like the Energizer Bunny. We just seem to have this boundless enthusiasm that gets bigger the older we get. Maybe because we feel that there is an end of the road at some stage, so you have to suck all the energy you can and put it back to your crowd. Because you just never know when it's going to end.”

On the group's upcoming album:

"It's typical DEF LEPPARD in the sense that, like, it's very melodic. It's obviously hard-hitting. But it's not bog-standard in the sense of it's not exactly what everybody's going to expect. There's a lot of elements that people will embrace and be familiar with, but it's also got some stuff in it that's ... more adventurous than maybe what people think that we're capable of."

On the group's current tour setlist:

"We've come up with a whole new visual aspect to it, and we've totally revamped the set. We've dug real deep in the catalog, and we've pulled some nuggets that we've not played either ever or for a very, very long time. Obviously, there's certain songs that we have to play. Let's be honest, we actually want to play them. We like the reaction that we get when we play 'Sugar', 'Photograph', etc."