Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott wouldn’t be surprised if the band’s ending, when it comes, is less than pleasant.
He doesn’t believe it’s going to happen any time soon – but experience tells him it’s likely to happen eventually.
Elliott tells the Grand Forks Herald: “When you’ve been together for 35 years, we could split up in 20 minutes. That could have happened in our last 20 years, but it didn’t.
“We’re realistic to realise that it all comes to a sticky end one day. Nothing ever ends well – when did you ever hear of a band having massive success then saying goodbye to each other with a smile on their face?”
He recalls how the band came close to splitting when drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car crash in 1984, then again when guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991.
“We all just went, ‘What’s the point?’ for about five seconds,” he says. “But then we said we were all musicians and we all enjoyed each others’ company, and we like what we do.
“We’re really lucky – four members of this five-man group have been together for 32 years and the current lineup has been together for 23.”
Elliott adds: “Right now we’re loving being out on the road. We’re loving this new record that’s about to come out.
“The future is whatever it is. I can’t really predict it. But I’m not staring at some ugliness in the face, and we never really have.”
Def Lep continue their US tour with Tesla and Styx. They release their self-titled 11th album in October and return to the UK in December with Whitesnake and Black Star Riders.
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