DEF LEPPARD Singer: 'We've Never Really Written What I Would Call A S**t Song'

Paul Byrne of Herald.ie recently conducted an interview with DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Herald.ie: For the reissues of 1983's "Pyromania" and 1992's "Adrenalize" was it a walk in the park, or did you tread carefully?

Joe Elliott: It's not a case of treading carefully, it's just like looking back over some old photobook, but an audio one. It's a case of opening it up, and giggling at yourself. I mean, sometimes we'd laugh at the trousers, and sometimes we'd laugh at the demos, but I've got to say, I've been blessed working with the people that I've worked with in this band. We've never really written what I would call a shit song.

Herald.ie: Going back to these early albums, are you completely happy with them?

Joe Elliott: I'm enormously happy with those albums — why wouldn't I be? They both sold over six million copies. There are lots of things on every single album that we've ever made — including "Hysteria", which has sold over 20 million copies — that I would go back and redo. There are songs that I would leave off, but, that's a personal thing. There are other guys in the band who would disagree with me.

Herald.ie: Do you ever get bored with playing those monster hits live?

Joe Elliott: I get bored s**tless doing "Sugar" and "Photograph" in rehearsals, I absolutely do, but not in front of an audience. When you hear a cheer at the beginning of a song, your mind can go into reverse mode, all the way back to the day when someone walked into the room and said: "I've got this idea for a song." And you see the song getting recorded, and being released, and becoming a hit.

Herald.ie: You've left yourself six days off the current tour for your 50th birthday on August 1. Is that going to be a big deal for you?

Joe Elliott: Yeah, it is. That's why, you've noticed, we're not doing any gigs around it. I said a year ago: 'I'm not going to spend my 50th in a hotel room in Boise, Idaho, so, don't put me in one. I'm going to be at home and I'm going to have a nice, big, stupid party, and invite all my really close friends — plumbers, plasterers, some guys on the dole. Some of them are in the music business but most of the people will just be really close friends. We'll have a good time, and if it doesn't rain, we'll have a barbecue, and we'll drink till the sun goes down. And we'll play music, and there'll be some dancing, and there'll be some shenanigans.

Read the entire interview from Herald.ie.