DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT Talks To ROCK N' LOAD About DOWN 'N' OUTZ

Rock N' Load online webzine recently spoke to DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott about DOWN 'N' OUTZ's brand new album, "The Further Adventures Of…", which is the third instalment of the project fronted by Elliott and featuring tracks connected to MOTT THE HOOPLE. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Rock N' Load: The DOWN 'N' OUTZ were formed to get the music of MOTT THE HOOPLE out to a wider audience. Are you happy with the response so far?

Joe: This project has taken on a very organic life of its own because we were never going to really make records. When we got together, we were supposed to only play a 45-minute gig supporting MOTT THE HOOPLE at Hammersmith in 2009. I was asked to get involved as a thank you for the 30-odd years that I've been telling the world what a great band they are! The first album, "My Re-Generation", was just an afterthought when we were, pretty much, hounded by a ton of kids afterwards in the bar asking us to record the songs we'd just performed on stage. So the second album is now a case of being able to go back and play HOOPLE songs. The first is all MOTT, BRITISH LIONS and Ian Hunter's solo stuff because, opening for HOOPLE, we weren't going to play their own songs. For me, it's just a case of them being my favourite band and I don't think they get the kind of credit they deserve. There's more to MOTT THE HOOPLE than "All The Young Dudes". Let's hear a "Marionette" or a "Crash Street Kidds" on the radio as opposed to "Stairway To Heaven" or "Smoke On The Water".

Rock N' Load: Have you chosen the songs on the new album because they are favorites of yours, Joe?

Joe: They're all favorites of mine! That's the weird thing, no matter how much you love a band, you're always going to have a pecking order. You'll always have a favorite ZEPPELIN or BEATLES song, and the rest are all great. If you compiled a top ten favorite tracks by an artist, there'll always be a number eleven. It doesn't mean you don't like it, it just means that you like the others a bit more. So basically, these songs are a playlist of the songs I would choose for my Ipod. I avoided recording any of their hits because I just don't see the point. I wanted to go deeper. I recorded "All The Young Dudes" with CYBERNAUTS and "The Golden Age Of Rock 'N' Roll" with DEF LEPPARD. It was more fun to take risks. I can guarantee that 90% of LEPPARD fans listening to this record won't have heard any of these songs before.

Rock N' Load: Yourself and the other guys in the band, (Paul Guerin, Keith Weir and Guy Griffin from THE QUIREBOYS, plus Phil Martin on drums) seem to really enjoy working together.

Joe: I love working with them! I couldn't possibly have done this without them. We do a lot of the backing tracks when we're not even in the same room, but towards the end of the album, I had the guys over to Dublin and we worked, and drank, and bonded, and finished off the album in three days, and it was exciting, because we did it quick and we did it well. Some of the stuff we achieved in that time put the gloss on what we've been working on and off for over two years. To watch Paul play the guitar solo on "The Journey" was a jaw-dropping moment. He not only did it in one take, it was the first take! It was outstanding, and a monumental moment in my career.

Read the entire interview at Rock N' Load.