Last month, I filed a concert report from Philadelphia, the second stop on Def Leppard's U.S. tour, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. I spent the afternoon talking to band members Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rick Allen, and Vivian Campbell (Rick Savage was out doing a radio interview) on the way to the gig and backstage at the Spectrum in the hours before the show, in various combinations and on a wide variety of subject.

Waiting for the band's van in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel, Rick A. enthused about the concert Def Leppard played in New York with Bryan Adams and Richard Marx to benefit Stop the Violence four days earlier ("It was a good warmup, for a good cause") and their recent tour of Australia, their first since 1984. "It was really cool. We did seven shows there, then finished up in New Zealand. On the way back, me, Phil, and Vivian went to South Korea and Japan" for promo. "Hopefully, we'll go back to play." Rick's most memorable moments? Whale watching Down Under in Adelaide and Perth, and a rainy night in a leaky tent in New Zealand: "We were hoping the roof didn't give way." He looked forward to a lengthy tour, now slated to run through February at least. "We've been away long enough," he said, noting that a New Year's Eve show was scheduled for L.A., following a Christmas break.

Rick and Joe appreciatively accepted some hand-made t-shirts from a fan as they climbed into the van, plus one she made for Steve Clark but never had the chance to give him. "Last night was 2 1/2 hours. We've never played that long before," rasped Joe, the effects of that audible in his voice. "It's not like two hours or 2 1/2 makes the difference, it's just that we'd had a 10 day break, and your throat closes up." He'd spent that break at home in Dublin and playing golf in the south of Ireland, but was glad to be back in America, despite the fact that he's been fighting a cold he'd caught in New Zealand. "What can you do?," he sighed. "Take aspirin. I drink tea anyway. I'll sit in a steam room on a day off if I can find one. I do sleep well, I must admit-I get about eight hours a night. I used to sleep 11. Now I've got three hours a day I never had before. But I have to rest-we're doing 2 1/2 hours, and it may end up being three hours soon. We're all nackered when we come off." "Severe headbanger's neck," Vivian chimed in.

Joe planned an extra-long vocal warmup session that day. "I can't even talk, let alone sing," he said, hoping the next day off, two days away, would help him recover. He was grateful to be traveling by plane, which reduces the wear and tear on the road-weary bodies. "I can't believe we used to do 12 hour drives," muses Joe. Of course, in those days, "We'd do a 45 minute set opening for Bob Seger or Ozzy. But I couldn't do a 12 hour drive and three hours on stage." While waiting for their own, Def Leppard was borrowing Metallica's plane while the latter waited for James Hetfield to recover from his burn accident sufficiently to resume touring. Did James' accident worry Joe? "No, we don't use pyro. We did in '83, and I nearly got my head blown off a few times," he noted.

Joe was gratified by the audience response to the previous night's tour kick-off show in Norfolk, VA, where songs from Adrenalize went over as well as Lep classics. "They're getting off on the whole spectacle of this," he said. While Vivian especially loves the second half, "When we do all the hits like 'Sugar,''Armageddon It,''Let's Get Rocked,'" Joe can't single out a favorite moment. "25 minutes into it, I don't go, 'Jeez, we have two hours to go.' It's all great. Every song we do is a favorite of at least someone in the band. I enjoy getting the audience involved.

They're doing two nights in some cities, and tickets are selling well, but Def Leppard isn't taking anything for granted. "There's a recession, you've got to work your ass off," Joe said. "We can't come back after four years with the attitude, 'Oh, it's gonna sell out, we're Def Leppard.' It's the very early days, the record has only been out four months. Our last album sold 10 million copies in America, but 10 million people didn't go out and buy it the first day. We've sold three million so far-there's another seven million and say, 'Remember us? You should have this one, too."

As the van pulled into the Spectrum's loading dock, Joe remarked, "Now I've got to work my nuts off to sound like a rock god." "You are a rock god, Joe," I reminded him. "Not at this time of day!," he replied. "I'm a mere mortal until 8:15," he said as we made out way past road case-resting roadies ("You guys are working hard," he quipped) to Def Leppard's dressing room, where a few minutes later, Vivian settled into a couch with some tea and cigarettes. He, too, felt the aftereffects of the first long show after a vacation. "On the last few songs, I felt really breathless," he admitted. On the break, he's "gone back to L.A. and was staying up late, smoking a lot, shooting pool with my friends. I threw a really colossal party. I'm really tired today."

To get back in shape vocally and physically, "We do a lot of vocal exercises, singly and in pairs. Phil and I can do it together 'cause we have similar voices. Sav and Joe do theirs alone," Vivian said, noting that they all "go through phases" workout-wise, with Phil remaining the most diligent exerciser. Rick A. goes swimming if there's an accessible pool.

Rick, who loves playing "Rocket" in the set, "can do without" his riser's hydraulic ascension during that song. "It can be unnerving," conceded the drummer, noting that a power failure at one of the Australian gigs stopped the mechanism, but fortunately before it had risen. They didn't get that mishap on tape, but did shoot some footage on their European club tour, "So we have a massive stockpile of celluloid to throw into videos or a compilation video at the end of the tour," said Vivian.

After a career of ultimately unsatisfying associations (Dio, Whitesnake), Vivian feels like he has found his home. "I'm very comfortable. This is way better than any other band I've been with, perhaps with the exception of the Riverdogs-we only did a handful of club dates, but I felt comfortable with those guys. This is a real band, a real organization. No petty bullshit. None of that, 'My champagne is not perfectly chilled, cancel the tour.' No eggshells to be walking on. I'm through with all that shit. Life's too short for it. I've been in this dressing room with three different bands, and I'm in a much better frame of mind now."

Vivian figured that in the past 10 years, he'd played "every major city and every secondary city in every state except Vermont. I've seen more of this country than Ireland," laughed the Belfast native. He's got a stockpile of song ideas and demos, and "there's at least one that Joe is interested in bastardizing, but right now we're just not in that frame of mind. Once we get settled in, I'll really get started on working on songs. The last three or four months of a tour is when things get monotonous and you seek a diversion."

Although he's not an American citizen and is ineligible to vote, Vivian had definite opinions about the Presidential election. "Albert Gore has a good environmental record. At least he's concerned about the planet. He's young and dynamic, and so is Clinton. He reminds me of a used car salesman, but I'd rather see him in than George Bush. I don't know how anyone could vote Republican. It's so obvious that their only interest is keeping the rich rich. Gore is cool. Just because his wife's a bit anal, that isn't the basic problem. If he's Vice President he'll have a lot more on his mind than censoring rock music. It's the least of my worries, and come to think of it, labeling isn't so bad. It makes poeple want to buy more." Vivian stressed that his opinions are his own and not that of Def Leppard. "This is not a socio-political band. We're not on a soapbox-we're here to entertain. Def Leppard's lyrics have never been socially or politically motivated and probably never will be," he said.

Asked how he'd advise a young musician, Vivian replied, "It depends on what your motivations are. If it's purely music, don't bother doing it professionally because that's when it gets corrupted. When I first saw Marc Bolan I was like nine years old, I said, 'That's what I want to do.' The long hair, the makeup, having girls around was cool. When I was older I thought, 'These rock stars make lots of bucks, I'd be able to get a Ferrari.' There were points of my life when it was the music, and to hell with the rest of it. Now it's a mixture of all of it. I want to be successful and I want to leave a mark in some way, be as good as I can be in writing songs or singing or playing. I get a thrill out of playing in front of people. I didn't for a long time-it was always an occupational hazard. With Dio, I was never really comfortable," he said, admitting that back then, he was also idealistic and naive. Now, "I put everything into perspective. What I do involves performance and creativity and endurance and talent, and doing interviews, photo shoots, making videos, and traveling a lot. Sometimes it's hard for young people to get a grasp on the overall picture," he noted with the wisdom of experience.

A sportscar fanatic, Vivian looks forward to the day he can own several Ferraris, "Cars like that, you fantasize about. I don't look at cars as means of transportation, I look at cars as sculptures on wheels, works of art. I get all the car magazines, American ones, European ones. If I wasn't in the music business I'd be racing, or designing cars." (He's been invited to participate in celebrity races, but has had to decline for lack of time.) He's thinking about moving back to Ireland, where the speed limit's higher, there's more open road, and the cops are more lenient before he gets that ferrari.

Joe returned, remembering the last time Def Leppard played the Spectrum. "We got ripped off. Our wallets were stolen. You do get deja vu-You usually remember the negative ones. But the point isn't the arena, it's just a shell. It's the people in it that's important." The veteran frontman doesn't suffer from pre-show nerves, but does get pissed off on occations like this, when there was no soundcheck (due to a transit delay for the equiptment) and his voice wasn't 100%. "I wish I could say, 'F,ck it, man, who cares?' But I do care. There's so many bands out these days. The buyer has such a great choice. But I like the idea of competition-it keeps you on your toes."

Reflecting on the multitude of band breakups, member changes, and misfortunes befalling other groups of late, "For once it's not happening to us," Joe muses wryly. "I think we've had our share. And it's definitely made us stronger, no doubt about it. We've never been this strong."

That doesn't mean they're immune to mishaps however. "Save fell off stage. Hurt his arm," said Joe. "Last night, me and Sav had a near-miss (collision)." Rick A.'s foot got caught in a pedal at one of the Australian shows, "and ripped a toenail off," noted Phil, who has nearly collided with bandmates on several occasions. He'll never forget "falling on my ass at the Meadowlands when I first met Jacki," he said, referring to his wife. "It's stupid things like that that you remember." Phil finds himself moving more defensively in the round than on a standard stage: "You're more aware." He admitted that playing in the round "takes a little bit of getting ysed to, but once you do, it's way more fun."

For Phil, the highlights of the concert are "Let's Get Rocked" and "Rocket," and he's proud that they've been able to pull off this special effects-laden number in concert. But presenting such a complicated show in terms of lights, laser, and sound cues and various drum and guitar presets means sacrificing some spontaneity-the band can't change the song order without warning the crew way in advance, "and they still hate us for it," Phil laughed. Nevertheless, they planned to keep adding to the set as new singles are released.

Phil foresees touring well into '93, possibly playing stadiums at some point. "If we're still popular, then yeah, I'd love to play outdoors-if it ain't raining!," he laughed. "We'd love to play in the round in a stadium. We've never done that. We'll see what happens," he said, picking up a bright blue Jackson to practice on as Joe headed for the shower room with a tape deck to vocalize in preparation for the 2 1/2 hour onslaught that lay ahead. At this point, the show was several hours away (it got off to a late start because of the aforementioned delayed equiptment arrival), but it was well worth the wait. It was an audiovisual feast that was fulfilling for the eyes and ears, and an adrenaline rush from start to finish. In a word, Def Leppard is dynamite, and definitely should not be missed.