"They did okay without me." Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith looks back on his unsuccessful 1991 audition for one of the biggest bands in the world

Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith has spoken about his 1991 try out for Def Leppard, as the Sheffield band sought to move following the tragic loss of guitarist Steve Clark.

During a time-out from the band to deal with his alcohol addiction after the completion of the Hysteria world tour, Clark died at home in London on January 8, 1991, due to mixing prescription drugs and alcohol. And Smith was one of five guitarists invited to try out for the band as they searched for a replacement.

Speaking about his invitation, Smith told the Metal Journal podcast, "Phil [Collen, Def Leppard guitarist] phoned me up - him and [photographer] Ross Halfin phoned me up - and said, 'Would you be interested in coming over?' I said, Yeah. So I went to L.A. I played with him for a couple of days, I sat down with Phil and we we went through some songs.

"It sounded good," Smith recalls. "And they're a great bunch of guys. But it didn't work out, so... Plus my Psycho Hotel album was just about to come out, so I was kinda [indicates '50:50' thoughts on the idea]. But who knows? It was worth pursuing.

"They did okay without me," Smith concludes with a smile.

Watch the full interview below.

Entrevista Adrian Smith (Smith/Kotzen) - YouTube

Watch On

In 2023, Phil Collen discussed Smith's try-out with the band, while speaking with eonmusic, and revealed why former Dio and Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell emerged as the band's number one choice to replace Clark.

"We invited five people we knew, five friends," Collen said. "And Vivian just fit in straight away; it was just like [it was] meant to be. [But] Adrian is great - he's a great singer. That was one of the other things [we were looking for], if you can sing. And there was some other people. We played with John Sykes - also an amazing player, amazing singer. [But] Vivian's voice [was] unbelievable. And more than that, he just fit in the style of what we're doing."

Def Leppard begin a residency in Las Vegas on February 3. Joe Elliott recently said that the band were "planning something completely different to anything that we’ve done in the past" for the shows.