In a recent interview with eonmusic, Def Leppard’s Rick Allen confirmed the scenario that Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith was going to replace Steve Clarke in 1991.
“I actually really loved the idea”, says Allen. “There was a kid called Huwey Lucas that was a contender; there was John Sykes; there were all these people kind of lined up. I loved the idea. It’s interesting, you put somebody in a slightly different situation and new things are revealed about them, and it was cool. It was a complement that he was so into it” he continued.
Also, in an interview last year Smith said that he wanted to play with Def Leppard. When he was asked if he intended to play for the Sheffield band he replied: “Yeah I was. I’m not sure… I want to write more books; that might be in my next one! There’s whole story about that, there’s a whole story about that.”
Finally, Leppard’s drummer expressed his relief about finding the right guitarist: “I think ultimately, I think Vivian was the absolutely perfect choice”.
