The Biography.
A Brief History Of Steve Clark & His Band.
Part two
Steve had threatened a few times to quit Def Leppard if they didn't
get out and play live, and at a UFO gig in Sheffield he made it perfectly clear to Joe that he
was sick of rehearsing and would quit the band if things didn't change. In June of 1978 Steve
repeated the threat again; this time the whole band were issued the ultimatum that they play
live or he'd leave.
Joe remembered: "Steve left the band about eight times
during rehearsals... but this time I panicked, because I knew if Steve left, it would be the end
of the band."
Luckily for Joe and rest of the Lepps, before Steve had threatened to quit Joe had met a local
guy nicknamed Bootleg
Bill, who showed an interest in the fledgling band and offered to help them out.
With things
getting desperate, Joe asked him
if he could secure them a gig as soon as possible. Bill delivered, booking the Lepp's first ever
show. Naturally, Joe jumped
at the chance knowing full well that the band would lose Steve if they didn't get a live show
soon.
The band's public debut performance was to be at Westfield School in Sheffield on July 18th 1978... leaving the band only 3 days
to rehearse.
July 18th came around and Def Leppard played to approximately 150 schoolkids, and things
didn't exactly go to plan. There was a false start to their opener, World Beyond The Sky
(courtesy of one of guys helping out the Lepps leaving Steve's amp on standby) and
Joe forgot the lyrics halfway through a song, singing the first thing that came into his head!
Despite those two setbacks everything else went exceptionally well. Def Leppard played a fifty
minute set, including only one cover version - Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy - which they played as
an encore was demanded. The gig wasn't a paying one, but a teacher later paid the Lepps £5 out
of his own pocket.
Thing were slow for a little while - Def Leppard didn't play another gig for five weeks - but
Steve was happy, having played his first gig with the band. Their second gig would be as part of
the line up for an outdoor festival in Pitsmoor, Sheffield, also booked by Bootleg Bill. Their
third gig however, was the result of their own perseverance; begging George Webster, who ran
the Limit Club in central Sheffield, to add them to the line up of one of the two-day festivals
he was setting up in the city. Human League were the headliners the day Def Leppard played.
Def Leppard would get the name for their own record
label from a review of that festival appearance; the
show was reviewed in Record Mirror, and favourably too... with the exception of Def Lepp's set:
"Deaf Leopard (sic)," wrote an arrogant Chris Westwood, "were HM as HM always was and always
will be. Crosses, macho poses, bludgeon riffola that even the Sabs abandoned years ago..."
Thankfully, not all reviewers were as closed-minded as Chris Westwood, and the Lepps would
receive more favourable reviews from
the gigs they would be regularly getting in the future.
Keith Strong, who worked for the Sheffield Star, wrote a piece about the Lepps after being
contacted by Sav's dad, Ken. Keith met up with Def Leppard in The Sheldon pub before going back
to their rehearsal room, and was clearly impressed with what he heard.
The article was headlined Leppard's Big Chance To Make The Music Stick and appeared in the Star
on October 5th.
"For such tender years the five-piece are revealing a rare maturity in their writing and playing
as they punch out heavy rock originals with more than a nod to melody." Keith wrote.
After a year together - and just eight gigs - Deaf Leopard changed their name to Def Leppard and
decided they were going to put out their own E.P instead of waiting to be snapped up by a
record company.
A week before Def Leppard were due to go into the studio to record the E.P however, they decided
that drummer Tony Kenning had to go; there was nothing wrong with his druming but he was becoming
less reliable. He was being nagged by his girlfriend at the time that he was spending too much time
with the band anyway.
With recording time looming Frank Noon of The Next Band agreed to sit in as drummer on the E.P
with less than a week's notice.
By now Def Leppard had a large choice of original tracks to
choose from and decided on Ride Into The Sun, The Overture and Getcha Rocks Off. Not wanting to use his Ibanez Les Paul copy, Steve borrowed a Gibson from John Lockton who was the guitarist for the Next Band.
The E.P was recorded up at Fairview Studios in Hull on the 25th
and 26th of November and cost a total of £148.50 to record and mix.
The recording of the E.P went exceptionally well and Def
Leppard were really pleased with their first steps into the world of recording.
Joe had borrowed the money from his
parents to cover the cost of recording and mixing, but it would cost a further £515 to press the 1000 copies that the
band wanted, including picture sleeves.
The rest of the money was borrowed from Janie Taylor who charged an
extortionate 25% interest rate. An amateur artist, Dave Jeffrey, who worked at the
same office as her designed the sleeve for the E.P. (see above).
Everything was moving along at a brisk pace for the Leppards but they were still in search of a
drummer as Frank Noon had declined the position...
