DEF LEPPARD TAKES OFF THE TRAINING WHEELS:

INTERVIEW SEGMENT WITH DEF LEPPARD’S STEVE CLARK
Circus magazine | 30th September 1981 – Article by John Swenson

Steve Clark explains what went on during the delay to commencing work on High ‘n’ Dry as he and his bandmates waited for producer Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange to finish work with Foreigner and how the gamble of waiting turned out to be worthwhile in the end.

It was a tense time and there was some feeling in the band that the delay could really hurt them, but instead of panicking, Leppard retreated to their Sheffield, England base to concentrate harder on the task at hand. “We met regularly and kept writing,” said [Steve] Clark, who combines with [Pete] Wills for a great two-guitar sound, “until we had almost forty songs. We always believed our songs would be good enough to get us by. Even when we were on the bus during our first American tour, there were always two people picking up guitars and jamming, working out new ideas together. We did so much of that while we were waiting to make this record that we probably have enough material for our next album already.”

As it turned out, the gamble of waiting for [producer Mutt] Lange to finish up with Foreigner paid off

handsomely. Clark explained, “He listened to the demo tapes we made and heard us play several songs, then started to make suggestions. Little things, subtle changes in the arrangements, suggesting that we combine parts of different songs into one song. The results have been amazing – Lady Strange, You Got Me Runnin’, Another Hit And Run – we sound better than ever now.”