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via ET Canada

It’s been 40 years since Def Leppard released their first album and the band show no signs of stopping according to lead singer Joe Elliott.

Now, as the band prepare to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on March 29, Elliott is sitting down for an exclusive interview with ET Canada’s Carlos Bustamante in New York City, reflecting on the ups and downs of the British rock band.

“We’re working hard and it is hard work but when it’s your vocation, when it’s your hobby, when it’s your calling, or whatever you want to call it, it doesn’t quite seem as hard,” he says, adding after all this time with the band, he doesn’t get tired of playing the hits like “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Animal”.

“I don’t have a problem playing the hits because that’s what put us where we are. They can get tedious in rehearsals but never in front of an audience,” Elliott says, calling touring the “best part” of being in the band.

It’s a good thing Elliott and bandmates Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell aren’t sick of playing their biggest songs. In addition to their Hall of Fame honour, Def Leppard are about to embark on a Canadian tour and a Las Vegas residency in 2019.

Elliott, 59, is prepared to give it his all, giving the fans exactly what they want when they come to a Def Leppard show.

“You want people to leave the building going, ‘Wow they’ve still got it,’” he tells Carlos. “That doesn’t come by accident. That’s a lot of work. That’s warm-ups, that’s just taking care of yourself. Don’t go to nightclubs until six in the morning shouting your orders for a drink and expect to sing like a bird the next night. Ain’t going to happen.”

Getting injured is a serious issue for Elliott, who has worked his way back from severe vocal issues.

“I hurt my voice. I lost my voice three years ago to the point where I thought maybe I would never sing again,” he explains. “But with insane willpower on my part and fantastic belief in my vocal coach we built my voice back up and it’s better than it’s ever been. So yeah, you’re constantly worried about stuff like that. It can end like that!”

Over the years, Elliott and the band have learned to manage through life’s ups and downs.

“Well, we’re a fantastic example of ‘mind over matter,’ if you like,” he explains. “I mean, we have a drummer with one arm, we lost a guitar player to alcoholism, we lost 2 to alcoholism, one of them died.”

“You can either split up and back down or you can ride it out and give it the middle finger and say, ‘We’ll come back stronger, we just need a bit of time to re-evaluate where we are’. We just had a lot of self-belief,” he adds.

That self-belief means Def Leppard have no plans of hanging up their instruments any time soon.

“As long as I can still stand up straight and hit a note. If I can physically do it and I want to do it then I will,” a determined Elliott says. “I think we all know when it’s time to step away, and you hope — the only thing that you can ever really hope — is that it’s your choice. You know, not after some tragic stroke or heart attack or something like that.”

“You want to be able to walk away and go do something else. Fishing or mountaineering, whatever you fancy,” he concludes. “I just hope that when the time does come that it’s my choice.”

Def Leppard’s Las Vegas residency is set to begin August 14 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Their Canadian tour kicks off in Halifax on July 12. See the list of Canadian dates below.

7/12/19 Halifax, NS – Scotiabank Centre
7/13/19 Moncton, NB – Avenir Centre
7/15/19 Quebec City, QC – Centre Videotron
7/17/19 Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
7/19/19 Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
7/20/19 Hamilton, ON – FirstOntario Centre
7/22/19 London, ON – Budweiser Gardens
7/25/19 Winnipeg, MB – Bell MTS Place
7/27/19 Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre
7/29/19 Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
7/31/19 Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome

Follow along as Def Leppard takes you behind the scenes for their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Like and follow our Facebook for a special livestream from the red carpet on Friday, March 29 at 5:30pm EST. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will air April 27 on HBO.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE LATEST VIDEOS

Def Leppard performs ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ live on ‘GMA’

Catching up with Def Leppard live on ‘GMA’

Facebook Livestream Interview

Frontman Joe Elliott tells Howard how influential David Bowie was to him and the band before covering the iconic rocker’s hit song “Ziggy Stardust.”

Rock band remembers taking the stage with David Bowie at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert to perform Mott the Hoople’s hit “All the Young Dudes”

Via The Howard Stern Show: Def Leppard rocked the Stern Show studio once again on Tuesday morning, sitting down with Howard just a few days before the band’s long-awaited induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Frontman Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, drummer Rick Allen, and guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell tackled an array of subjects during their visit, including drawing inspiration from David Bowie and Queen, making their multi-platinum albums “Hysteria” and “Pyromania,” and how Allen persevered after a horrible 1984 car accident took his left arm.

The band also performed two live songs for Howard: a cover a Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” and a stripped-down rendition of one of their many chart-topping originals, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” (above).

Check out all of the highlights from Def Leppard’s Stern Show visit (below).

Def Leppard listed quite a few musical inspirations during their conversation with Howard, like Queen, Marc Bolan of T. Rex fame, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, and even punk acts like the Clash, but few entertainers shaped their trajectory quite so much as David Bowie.

“We were lucky we grew up in an era … we saw black-and-white turn into color,” lead singer Joe Elliott told Howard. “So, we saw Gerry and the Pacemakers or Herman’s Hermits and Tom Jones in black-and-white, and then we saw Bowie and Slade and T. Rex in color with all this glittery stuff. And it was mind-blowing – it was an absolute, you know, sensory overload on your eyes,” he continued.

Joe eventually performed alongside Bowie during a 1992 tribute to recently departed Queen singer Freddie Mercury. They—along with Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, and the surviving members of Queen—delivered an epic rendition of “All the Young Dudes,” which Joe said also happens to be his favorite song and one of three tunes he wants played at his funeral.

But Joe and Bowie’s relationship actually stretches back a few years further. He told Howard his first run-in with the rock icon actually occurred at Bono’s house in 1990 after the U2 singer invited him to a barbecue at his home in Ireland. “He says, ‘Come with me, I want to introduce you to somebody,’” Joe recounted. “And he walks me up into this room where the snooker table is, and Bowie sat on the snooker table, and Bono says, ‘I thought you might just want five minutes.’”

“They set it up … it’s like a date,” Howard said.

“It was,” Joe laughed. “I thought I was being punked.”

“It got even better,” he continued, recalling Bowie then whisked them away in a Mini Cooper to surprise the Edge, Bono’s U2 bandmate, while he was out to dinner on his birthday. “We run into the restaurant, we sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the Edge, and everybody’s giggling and laughing … Bowie’s totally instigating this, like a kid.”

The Howard Stern Show studios aren’t Def Leppard’s only stop while the British band visits New York City. On Friday, Queen guitarist Brian May will introduce them at the 34^th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center where they will join the ranks of so many of their idols.

It’s a long time coming for Def Leppard, which has sold over 100 million albums and toured the world many times over since forming in 1977 but somehow hadn’t yet been inducted. Howard wondered if they even cared about being recognized by the Rock Hall after being snubbed for so long despite possibly being the biggest band in the world at one time.

“Yes, we do now,” Joe laughed. “Now that we’ve been nominated and inducted and chosen, yes, we care.”

“It’s the same as the Grammys,” Phil Collen added. “When we had two diamond albums—two 10-times platinum albums—there was no category for us.”

“It’s crazy.” Howard said.

The band believes its fans are one of the reasons for its 2019 induction. “In fairness, before the fan vote, I think it was a very elitist thing, which is why we kind of shied away … if you weren’t Lou Reed or R.E.M. or Loudon Wainwright III … no, no, they didn’t want us.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of fame wants them now, of course, and the guys feels honored to be introduced by May, one of the many artists who inspired them. “Queen is the blueprint for Def Leppard, really … so that’s what we wanted, it was just whether he could do or not,” Phil said.

Howard wondered if May’s guitar skills and innovations are underrated. “I’m only a bass player, but in my opinion absolutely, he’s one of the reasons I wanted to be in a band,” Rick Savage told him.

Via The Eagle: Rick Allen has been a member of Def Leppard from his teens.

He has ridden a roller coaster of a career with the band.

From losing his arm to returning behind the kit to play again like nobody had done before.

Rick spoke to me about his art, the band’s Rock Hall induction, their second Vegas residency and a lot more.

Listen to the interview below.

JOE ELLOTT’S SONGS FROM THE VAULT ON SIRIUS XM’S DEEP VINYL

Tune into Joe’s new monthly radio show on Sirius to hear artists like Bad Company, Supertramp, Stone Temple Pilots, UFO and more!