Def Leppard News - RICK ALLEN Pre-DEF LEPPARD Johnny Kalendar Band E.P. (Audio)

Thursday, 14th June 2018

RICK ALLEN Pre-DEF LEPPARD Johnny Kalendar Band E.P. (Audio)

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Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen's first ever studio recording with the Johnny Kalendar Band has been posted online.

One of Rick's pre-Def Leppard bands recorded a three track E.P. in 1978 and the audio has surfaced online for the very first time.

The ultra rare 'Johnny Kalendar Band E.P.' contains three covers and was released in 1979 after Rick had left to join Def Leppard.

The seven inch featured covers of songs by Styx on the A-Side and Doris Day and Argent on the B-Side.

Rick was only 14 at the time of the recording and it was his first time in a professional recording studio.

The studio it was recorded in is unknown. The band featured Johnny Kalendar (Lead Vocals), Howard Jones (keyboards), Alan Keith (Saxophone), Barry Ainsley (Guitars) and Peter Pointer (Bass).

He would go on to audition for and join Def Leppard in November 1978. The day after they had recorded their own E.P. in Hull with stand in drummer Frank Noon on The Next Band.

Someone has uploaded the E.P. audio to YouTube which also features the cover art.

Actually watching the video reveals some rare in studio photos from the recording sessions and the above photo of Rick is included at 10:23 mins in. These photos were featured on the records inner sleeve.

Listen to the full 12:14 minute E.P. below as posted by BobbittyBob.

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Rick Allen 1979.

Johnny Kalendar Band E.P. - Tracklisting

A1 - Fooling Yourself (Styx Cover) - (5:16)
B1 - Secret Love (Doris Day Cover) - (4:20)
B2 - Celebration - (Argent Cover) (2:30)
Producer/Engineer - Ken Patten
Release Date - 1979

Animal Instinct 1987 - Official Biography Quotes

Johnny Kalendar Band

Rick was already a fixture on the pub and workingmen's club circuit with the Johnny Kalendar Band, a middle-aged sextet peddling the latest Top Forty hits. The repertoire was predictable and Rick's parents were not too keen on him hanging out in the local boozers with older musicians of dubious character. But the experience, Rick insists, was invaluable. And so was the money.

"For all I might knock it now, I was there on stage. And the money was a little better. I was getting 10 a night and I was still in school."