Joe Elliott said they’re not using backing tracks during live shows.
During a new chat with the Life In The Stocks podcast, the singer talked about the band’s live performances:
“Yeah, the beginning bit of ‘Love Bites’, Sav [Def Leppard bassist Rick Savage] just plays it on a keyboard, the way [Rush’s] Geddy Lee plays bass pedals. Rick [Allen, Def Leppard drummer] uses a drum loop on ‘Rocket’. I mean, Christ, a two-armed drummer couldn’t play that. But every word is sung. Every guitar chord is played. We don’t cheat. There’s not one word on tape. There’s nothing. We’ve got some keyboard sounds, but they’re just keyboards that Sav plays with his foot.”
Def Leppard Tries To Do Their Best
He continued, detailing how they play some songs from their catalog:
“If we’re doing ‘Excitable’, we use the ‘Are you excitable?’ thing, ’cause it’s an intro tape. If we’re doing — well, the beginning of the show, ‘Take What You Want’. We play the beginning bit off the record and come in, because it’s an intro tape intro, so, of course, we’re gonna do that. But we’ve worked really to be able to sing live as well as we can. It’s not perfect. It’s not supposed to be. If we’re running at 90 percent, we’re doing good.”
Then Elliott gave some situations during which they might sound bad:
“Long may they keep accusing us [of using backing tracks]. I really don’t care. Maybe everybody else’s standards are less than ours. I don’t know. Listen, when I’ve got a sore throat, I sound like sh*t. If somebody cuts their finger open slicing an orange, they’re gonna play a bit bad if it’s that hand that they’ve cut. It happens.”
In an April interview with Stereogum, the rocker again reflected on Chuck Billy and Chris Holmes’ claims that the band uses backing tracks. He said:
“I don’t normally comment on this kind of stuff, but a friend of mine just sent me some link to something on YouTube, a recent posting by, forgive me, I don’t know his name, Chuck something from Testament. I think it is, and Chris Holmes accusing us of using backing tracks.”
But Elliott isn’t mad. He’s happy that people think Def Leppard might use backing tracks. He sees it as a compliment because it means their live performance sounds so good that it’s hard to believe it’s real. Previously last year, Billy and Holmes claimed that Def Leppard used backing tracks as they think the band needed it to create their sound.
You can listen to his interview below.