MM:Rick, you guys have always been fashion trendsetters. What types of dress did you notice on this tour?
RA:Well, out of 10,000 kids there is a helluva cross section, you know what I mean? It's kind of difficult to pinpoint. Some people come along in the most outrageous things, especially the girls.
MM:Oh really? Like what?
RA:Just these skimpy little tops that don't really fit. It's like ten pounds of potatoes in a five pound bag!
MM:How do you feel about invasion of your privacy?
RA:It's one thing when people come to see the shows and come back and all, but don't come and camp out on my back lawn (lawn). I am entitled to a little bit of privacy.
MM:Just a little, right?
RA:Yeah. I'm the most easy-going person. If I meet anybody on the street and they recognize me. it's really nice. But, some people can be a tiny bit pushy.
MM:Do you find this happening even more now?
RA:Well, I can't really say, "no, I'm not Rick Allen."
MM:I remember when you could barely look out your hotel window without being mobbed. Was it that way in Europe as well?
RA:It was never really like that in Europe. Just this last tour sort of developed into that. It's actually getting quite good for us in England right now.
MM:Speaking of England, what ever happened to your Union Jack shorts?
RA:Well, I bent over one day and they've got this huge hole (laughs). No, I go for the Hawaiian look now. All I need is to walk onstage with a cocktail with a big umbrella sticking in the top, you know? I go for really bright colors, like luminous type colors because we're using a lot of ultra-violet lights now because of the way the stage is. They light the stage up plus anybody else who has white or luminous colors on. So, it actually looks really cool.
MM:What do you look forward to with every show?
RA:It's conquering a new barrier if you like. Playing bigger places in America again...well, we played a few of them on the Pyromania tour. But, it's nice to have a second chance. Maybe next summer we'll be playing in the Giants Stadium, you know?
MM:Hopefully!
RA:There's definitely a possiblity. If we get this album out soon enough and we ride off the back of Hysteria, maybe we could pull it off!
MM:Have you started writing yet?
RA:We already have one song down on tape. Yeah, we're not going to spend another four years, we can't do that. It would destroy us. That's not what being in a band is all about.
MM:What is being in a band like this all about-what keeps you going?
RA:Just the success and the enjoyment of playing live. And making money (giggles).
MM:And your key to this success is obviously your great songs.
RA:Well, Joe is forever gathering words-I mean literally, it's down to good sounding words. The first thing that comes along to do with a song are normally a series of guitar phrases. The the next thing normally is the hookline of the song. Then you sort of work backwards from that. You come up with good sounding words that have some kind of meaning because it's really down to the way the hookline comes out. That has to get the point of the song across.
MM:Everybody pitches in?
RA:Pretty much. Phil and Steve tend to write together quite a lot. What happens once you get the basic structure of a song down in demo form, then what you try to do is thrash it out during soundchecks, which we've been doing with one recently that we came up with in Japan. When it gets to this stage it gets shelved until you get time to sit down in pre-production, before you start making a record. Then we just improve it as much as we can and try to be objective about it.
MM:How many songs do you have shelved?
RA:Probably about 20 or 30 songs I suppose. We've always been a band that believes the album should be more than just two or three songs deep, so we're very particular about what songs go on the record. I think we'll retain that, especially now that people are making longer albums. If people are going to write longer albums and still write boring songs, it's going to get pretty shitty.
MM:How do you decide which songs go on the record?
RA:There has to be a good running order. Every song has to fit well together. If you listen to Pyromania or Hysteria, the running order is about as good as we can get it, we think. You have to have a certain type of song to fit each space on the album. That's what we try to strive for. We don't want to put too much of one thing or one theme.
MM:Yes, your songs are versatile.
RA:They're obvious statements. Things that everybody knows about.
MM:What do you see yourself doing in 15, 20, 25 years?
RA:Oooh, dear me. I'm sure it'll be something to do with music, but in what shape or form, I don't know. Hopefully Def Leppard will keep going for as long as we want it to. It's like I said, if things keep progressing the way they are, um, we'll have the incentive to keep going. As soon as things start going downhill you sort of start thinking the other way. That's the only time it's not so good. If and when it happens to us, I'm sure we'll be realistic enough to call it a day. Nobody sees an ending in sight. It's kind of unusual in this day and age for bands to stay together as long as we have. It's been 10 years already. I'm only 24 and the oldest guy is 30, so there's a lot of years to go.
MM:So you're forging ahead?
RA:Yeah, everything is straightforward. The way things are looking, there are no real complications or anything to stop the band.
MM:Well, that's good new for Lep fans. What about time off? Where's your favorite place to go?
RA:I've been to so many places over the last five years that you end up liking everywhere. It really does become a small world. As for the work, it really never stops.
MM:It looks like Leppard won't either!