Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott opened up about the band’s future plans during an interview with Download festival host Kylie Olsson, as well as the expectations of the ‘legacy audience’ has when it comes to seeing their favorite bands live just like he did with the Rolling Stones in 1989 in order to watch them perform before a member passes away.
As many of you know, the coronavirus pandemic gave musicians the perfect time to focus on new materials since at the beginning of the outbreak the whole world was stuck in their homes for months which was a great time to lean on the creation side for artists. Ultimately, that’s exactly what happened and most bands and musicians released brand new albums or about to release new music sometime soon.
Apparently, Def Leppard members did the exact same thing and used their time during the coronavirus pandemic in order to work on new material as Joe Elliott revealed during a recent interview. While the new songs were written for the purpose of an exercise since their last self-titled studio album was released on 30 October 2015, they all turned out great and despite not knowing how they will end up, their work for the past year will definitely be used, according to Elliott.
Here is what Def Leppard frontman said:
“We have written some songs. I can’t deny that we have written some songs remotely as an exercise to see if we could, and I can announce it was very successful. What are we gonna do with those songs? That’s to be seen. We’ve gotta wait and see, because, obviously, everybody’s in different continents, in different cities and all that kind of stuff. So there’s a lot of work to be done before we get to a finished product. But we have not let the year go to waste.”
In addition to revealing the good news of new material from the band, Def Leppard singer also opened up about the reason why the band refused to release an album for the past six years, and apparently, it’s because the records are important any more, at least not as much as they used to.
The main attraction is, however, touring and meeting with fans, especially for ‘legacy bands’ such as the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Iron Maiden, or Def Leppard itself. Furthermore, Joe Elliott revealed that he found touring more important as a fan when he went to a concert of the Rolling Stones back in 1989 before a member of the band dies. He added that fortunately they haven’t had any deaths in the band since the 1960s.
Here is what Elliott said:
“The industry being what it is, we’re all aware of the fact that there’s an element of the media that can’t let go of the fact that records aren’t that important anymore. And I know that’s a sad thing to say, but it’s a fact of life. Touring is massively important — way more than it was when you went out promoting records when they were important. Especially for legacy bands or whatever you wanna call ’em. Listen, I went to see the Rolling Stones in 1989 in case one of them died. That’s 1989. They haven’t had a death since the 1960s.
I’m aware of the fact that when you’ve got a history whether it be the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac or any of the bands from the ’80s, like us and Iron Maiden and whoever else, we’ve got this legacy audience as well that wanna see us continue the journey if you like. And that’s become way more important.”
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