DAY 1 WITH DEF LEPPARD

Hello everyone …

It’s 10:40 pm in England, I’m still a little jet-lagged but wanted you to know about and share in this day with me.

I will preface today’s account - which neither romanticizes nor idolizes, but more simply tells the truth - by saying that Def Leppard were, to a 12 yr old girl growing up in the middle of the country in Ontario, a lifeline. Incredible rock songs wrapped up in incredible production. Vocals, harmonies, key changes, guitar solos. They all served to distract from an isolating childhood. It was a creative and fun childhood, but there were many parts of it where I quite literally wandered the gullies and ravines near Lake Huron, lost and misunderstood.

Music was a life preserver. And Joe’s voice (even in 1986) was solid…it was rich and thick, and Rick in his new state as a one-armed drummer kept the beat….when my heart didn’t always beat in time.

Today was different from the times I’ve guested with wonderful other musicians like Bowie or The Cardigans, Danny Michel or Lawrence Gowan. I realize these many years wandering from show to show as a guest, seeing Joe in Montreal, London, Toronto, Las Vegas…and catching moments with the guys…created a sort of family feeling. I stepped into the rehearsal room in London today feeling comfortable…hugs all around and just glad to see everyone looking so well. So healthy.

Joe arrives tomorrow. I can guess to save his voice.

Eric Gorfain (the arranger of these new orchestral pieces and the conductor of the BBC orchestra) and I took a black van to the rehearsal studios. I had been to the rehearsal studios before but my memory failed me. I remember doing something at this white-walled set of rooms tucked away behind gates in London. We spoke about his past arranging for people like Conor Oberst….Conor, who got me through the early 2000s with his Fevers and Mirrors album.

When we arrived I saw Rick first, then Vivian…Rick Savage and then Phil. I knew some of the crew too - their long-time engineer Ronan, for example. I thanked SAV for bringing me into this experience. He was the one who suggested to the band we use my cover of Sugar as a template for this new version.

We started practise with “Life On Mars” which I have rigorously been performing with Sean Leahy in the past few months. Sean’s beautiful voice has suited it well and all the “trial-by-fires” of live performance certainly helped to get me to this place where I can effortlessly play it. Joe’s voice and the strings were on track so I played to that while everyone played live. We never did “Life On Mars” as a band when I played with Bowie. Mike Garson and David would open the set with it. So for a long time it was a soundtrack to “waiting in the wings”, an unusually blissful place to be.

After we ran that for a while and got more “together” with it, we moved on to “Hysteria”. One of the guys, maybe Vivian started playing the arpeggiated famous lick and this feeling shot through my ribcage …. panic, excitement, disbelief. Now, I’m with Def Leppard, I said to myself. Eric and I looked at each other (he’s a fan too) and agreed we were feeling the same thing.

I play chords in Hysteria, just kind of holding it together but Phil also asked me to sing backups. He schooled me on how to “fall off” the end of a line DL style and I practised it quietly going up and down the stairs at rehearsal.

Nuances - that’s what makes music interesting. Bowie did that too - little small things dropped into arrangements that help a song stand the test of time, or not grow tiring to the ears.

The smile stayed on my face the whole time while we played “Hysteria”.

After a few breaks we tried “Sugar” and it was reminiscent of me leading one of my own rehearsals. Strings and Joe were on tape (we get an hour and a half with the strings before the BBC performance) and there isn’t going to be a click….so I tried to stay mindful that actual Def Leppard members were playing along with me, so I couldn’t speed up, like I have in so many live shows, whenever I pleased. Vivian tried acoustic on it for a bit, and Phil was doing some atmospheric stuff. Tomorrow it will be unreal to sing with Joe in real life! But today was certainly monumental. It was like all of those 20+ years of playing this song were for this magical moment. Playing a cover of a band’s big hit, with the band themselves.

Close to 7 we all parted ways. Some of us are jet-lagged…but I wanted to stay up to share this with you. Like I said in my Instagram where you can see photos (Facebook too), this experience is yours too. For all of those years hearing me, accepting me, being excited for me….I take you with me on this day of a life time….and there are more days to come.

I love you all.