PSA: 50th Anniv Bird at Willie's

[westen44]

I happened to catch the last part of Joe Elliott's and Rick Savage's interview on Tavis Smiley recently.  Def Leppard was one of those bands that I listened to in the 80s, but didn't listen to much after that. 

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/def-leppards-joe-elliott-rick-savage-guest-on-pbs-tavis-smiley-talk-show-video/

[gearHed289]

Pete Willis was a hot shot Schenker disciple. Too bad about the booze. I remember digging "Rock Brigade" and "Wasted" when the first album came out. After that, not so much. I DID pick up their greatest hits a couple of years ago. I think I listened to it once. 

[uwe]

I thought Pyromania a damn fine early 80ies AOR album with still some grit - along with Rick Springfield's Living in Oz, Balance's In for the Count, Hughes Thrall, Journey's Escape and Frontiers, Loverboy's Get Lucky and Keep it Up, and Billy Squier's Don't Say No.

With Hysteria, they just spent too much time on it. It was lifeless - as if it had been programmed note for note; it made Kraftwerk sound like the Grateful Dead.  Mutt Lange had stifled them by this point. Those songs sounded so much better when they played them live on stage on the following tour.

[OldManC]

With Hysteria, they just spent too much time on it. It was lifeless - as if it had been programmed note for note; it made Kraftwerk sound like the Grateful Dead.  Mutt Lange had stifled them by this point. Those songs sounded so much better when they played them live on stage on the following tour.

Yep.

[4stringer77]

Speaking of Rock Brigade, dig the flying V bass. Don't see those every day.

[uwe]

That's cute. You can hear the Mott the Hoople influence. Elliott is a Mott nerd. And they sure gave Schenker era UFO a good listen too.

[wellREDman]

          my biggest gig was doing video for the Lepps on their 2005 us tour, they are so much better live than on their overproduced recorded output. I agree on the steve clarke/Phil collen comparison, but steve's replacement Vivian Campbell is pretty amazing. the rest of the band never soundchecked, but every day Viv would give us crew an amazing half hour solo blues improvisation show, the highlight of which was often an awesome half speed ballad version of Lizzy's "Don't believe a word"  you never really got to see his talent in the show though as he was required to play steve's parts note for note, the only time he was let off the leash was for the last 8 bars of "Love bites" which I would look forward to as he would do something different every night.
   and Joe is not just  a Mott nerd, he's a full on 70's rock geek, when you get into conversation with him about bands he likes he sounds like a rabid fan not a rock star, I remember him jumping up and down with glee like a little boy when he heard they'd got Cheap Trick in to do support for a few shows.

[mc2NY]

GREAT band, the Def Leps. Lotsa Hamers too. I think there are some early videos where the entire band is playing Hamers.

I actually have three of  Rick Savage's personal custom Hamer 5-strings with his name on the headstocks. Great basses.

I also have a really cool early shot of the original band where two of them are wearing t-shirts of the two radio stations I was a DJ at back during those days from when they stopped by to do interviews.

[Highlander]

Marquee Club, spotty oiks, pre first LP... they did a fair amount of support work (Hagar one time I remember) that I saw them play... they were a Northern NWOBHM band so didn't see them that much... got the first single on its second run and had most of their releases up to Hysteria... lost interest... never seen again...
This was still the era of NWOBHM where that drummer bloke from that metal (ica) band also lurked around, I think... he was certainly around the Marquee a lot...
Try and listen to the original single version of Hello America (first official release) and not the LP version (which is OTT production-wise) and this is more like they sounded in those days...



Saw Girl a few times (Marquee again, plus supports) when Phil Coleen was with them... they were a good live act...

[uwe]

Pete Willis was a hot shot Schenker disciple. Too bad about the booze.

Well, his emulation was then obviously not just restricted to the musical traits of my countryman.