Def Leppard News - Joe Elliott Show Down 'n' Outz Special Transcript

Joe Elliott Show Down 'n' Outz Special Transcript

Sunday, 20th April 2014

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott hosted a special edition of his Planet Rock radio show last night which was a Down 'n' Outz special.

This weeks show featured seven Down 'n' Outz songs as part of a special dedicated to the second studio album called The Further Adventures Of... which is out on Monday.

Joe premiered five songs not previously aired on the radio including iTunes only bonus track 'Sea Diver'. He also answered many fan questions that were submitted via Audioboo. A transcript of these is available below.

The show is available until next Saturday using the On Demand feature. The show is also repeated on Tuesdays at 9pm.

The Joe Elliott Show - Down 'n' Outz Special

01 - Down 'n' Outz - Rock And Roll Queen
02 - Down 'n' Outz - Marionette - (Premiere)
03 - Down 'n' Outz - Stiff Upper Lip - (Premiere)
04 - Down 'n' Outz - Sea Diver - (Premiere)
05 - Down 'n' Outz - Whizz Kid - (Premiere)
06 - Down 'n' Outz - Broadside Outcasts - (Premiere)
07 - Down 'n' Outz - One Of The Boys (Radio Edit)

The Joe Elliott Show - 19th April 2014 Down 'n' Outz Special

Composed by Mick Ralphs almost 45 years ago. Good grief that is the brand new Down 'n' Outz first song to radio folks called Rock And Roll Queen. From the forthcoming The Further Adventures Of... which is out on Monday. Now I promised questions here they are.

Question 1 - Intention of the song versions/Which songs are you most proud of?

"The intention was to bring the songs to the public eye because I just thought they'd been criminally ignored for so many years and if my contribution just to the industry was to bring some of these great songs back and let people hear them then I thought you know I could die a happy man really if I can do that. So I didn't really wanna change too much but in fairness I did do a bit of a re work on a song called the Original Mixed-Up Kid. It was a song that meant a lot to me. As it was the first Mott The Hoople song I ever heard. It was on a compilation album called LP put out by Island Records back in like 1971 and it stood out to me amongst all the other stuff on that record. The lyrics always resonated and I did do that slightly differently to their version but mostly we stuck to the originals because I didn't really think there was anything wrong with them."

"The song I'm most proud of as a finished article on the record is probably Marionette. It actually turned out better than I thought it would which is something that you can't always say."

"The original version of that song features on Mott The Hoople's last ever studio album back in 1974 The Hoople. That song Marionette. I promised questions and answers here's question number two."

Question 2 - Do you ask Ian Hunter for approval to record the songs?

"Hello Jayney good to hear from you again. Her and her friend are always down the front for our gigs. God bless her. No I don't have to consult Ian at all because the beauty thing about songs that have got a publishing company involved with them is that they are fair game. And the artists in general whether that be on this particular album, the second Down 'n' Outz album, mostly Ian Hunter but some of it is Mick Ralphs and Overend Watts as well. They get paid the publishing depending on how many copies it sells."

"Featuring a lyric written in 1975 by Mr Pete Overend Watts that resonates today just as much as it did the year that he wrote it. And listening to Marionette and the lyrics that Ian wrote on that song you'd have think these guys could see into the future with the way that the music business is. That last track we just heard originally featured on the 1975 Mott album Drive On. A song called Stiff Upper Lip. Now question number three."

Question 3 - Any new marketed items like the Down 'n' Outz beer with this album?

"Yes we did do a beer for the first Down 'n' Outz album. It's actually a beer called Down 'n' Outz. I work pretty closely with a micro brewery in Ireland called Porterhouse and it was a limited edition run of about 12,000 bottles and it sold out pretty quick actually. I still have about a dozen at my house of which I bring one out a year and we kind of put as many straws in it as we need to just to share it. But we've gone on further now. I've started working with Oliver the guy that runs the microbrewery and we've brought out more of a generic beer called Louder. We're just in the embryonic stages now it is available in Dublin, Ireland on drought and you can get it in bottles. And it's 11 proof so it will blow your head off."

"A song that's not on the CD The Further Adventures Of... but it is available on the digital version. A song called Sea Diver originally written by Ian Hunter in 1971 as Ride On The Sun and it was re titled and re worked for the 1972 album All The Young Dudes. Now here we go question number four."

Question 4 - Would he ever record any Doctors Of Madness songs?

"Great question because Doctors of Madness unbeknown to most people are a very favourite band of mine and I loved them. I saw them open for Be Bop Deluxe in 1976 and I was hooked from the second I saw Kid Strangers blue hair and sequinned eyelids and I just thought this guy looks completely mad. When we were first putting the Down 'n' Outz together we sat and discussed how we were gonna take this project forward as a fun project. And one of the ideas was the second album would feature more Hoople songs. Well some Hoople songs cause there's none at all on the first album. And that the third album we would cover a multitude of other bands but we kind of scrapped the third album theory of covers and we've actually written the third album. So it's gonna be originals. And yes the Doctors Of Madness would have been on that list. I suggest anybody that's got a tenner to throw away is to go and find their first two albums from the cheap racks and give them a listen."

"A song that was played live by the Down 'n' Outz in the Spring of 2011 when we did a UK tour opening up for the fantastic Mr. Paul Rodgers. That's a song originally featured on Mott The Hoople's 1973 album Mott. A track called Whizz Kid. And whizzing in here comes the last listener question."

Question 5 - Working with Ian Hunter/Does he offer any advice?

"Well thank you very much compliments coming from all sides of the globe today. I've never had to ask Ian for his advice cause he's always been free to just throw it at me every time I see him. He's always got an opinion on what we should be doing and what we shouldn't be doing. And in fairness he always ends up by saying but what do I know. He says look at the success you've had. He once said to me. He said you don't learn anything from success you only learn stuff from failure. And I didn't know what he meant at the time because he said that to me while we were touring the Hysteria album and everything was going on an up and up and up. But it kind of resonated with me when we came to the 90s and we were going through what the world might call a sticky patch. But yeah we often have sat up till very, very late in the morning over a bottle of champagne or something like that and just talked about this and that and the other and he's never shy with his opinion. So yeah he gives me loads of advice. I don't always ask for it but he certainly gives it to me."

End Comments

"From the day I first heard that song back in 1976 I always knew that one day I would make my own recording of it and I'm just so glad I've finally been able to get round to doing it. Originally featured on Mott's second album Shouting And Pointing that is a song with one of the best spoonerisms that you will ever come across a track called Broadside Outcasts."

"Which brings us almost to the end of this Down 'n' Outz special. I would like to take the time to my producers Liz Barnes and James Green for encouraging me to put this show together and you the listeners for allowing me the opportunity to shine a brand new light on some of these songs that have been criminally ignored for the last 40 years or so. And finally to the band. To everybody that has passed through the ranks of Mott The Hoople and Mott. Thank you for all the music and the inspiration for all the years. And to the Down 'n' Outz to Paul Guerin, Guy Griffin, Keith Weir and Phil Martini and our co-producer and engineer Ronan McHugh. Thanks guys couldn't possibly have done it without you. Until next week I'll leave you with this one last track. Originally recorded by Mott The Hoople on their 1972 All The Young Dudes album and dedicated to all the listeners out there that like their rock and roll loud and proud. This is One Of The Boys. Until next week see ya!."