Def Leppard Know the pressure is on. After only three albums, this British quintet have rocketed into the position of being the most successful act in the hard rock realm with their last album, Pyromania, selling and incredible 6 million copies. Now, as they busily complete work on their next LP, guitarists Steve Clark and Phil Collen, vocalist Joe Elliott, drummer Rick Allen and bassist Rick Savage know that the attention of the rock word will be focused upon them looking to see if their success was a fluke, or the beginning of a long reign as the kings of melodic metal.

Steve Clark: Quite honestly, we never considered it until the press began to ask us about it. We’re musicians, and we enjoy making music, so it’s hard for us to understand what kind of pressure is involved with making records. It’s the thing in life we do best, so we don’t feel any pressure at all.

Rick Savage: Making successful albums isn’t pressure to us. Playing in clubs where you didn’t know if you were going to make enough money to get home that night is pressure. We’re very confident about the music we make, and we’ve enjoyed the success we’ve had. It’s not our style to sit around biting our fingernails and moaning, "What happens if the next album doesn’t do as well as this one." That’s just a drain of your energy. It doesn’t get anything accomplished.

Steve Clark: It’s incredible, that’s for sure (laughs). When we were first starting out, we just wanted to be successful enough to make a record and get a tour of Britain. We were all in our teens, and the thought that playing music would turn into a successful career was nothing more than a dream. I still have difficulty believing it when a fan comes up to me and asks for an autograph. It’s okay to ask Jimmy Page or Ritchie Blackmore for an autograph, but me? That’s taken a bit of getting used to.

Joe Elliott: Our lived have changed a bit out of necessity, but we’ve tried to remain the same people as before. We have a lot more responsibility now, and it’s a little harder to go wander out in the streets by yourself, because people recognize you. But we all still enjoy getting together, going down to the neighborhood pub and lifting a few pints. That’s our main hobby when we’re on the road; we have a drinking club. We never get too drunk, but we do enjoy ourselves.

Rick Savage: I don’t see any way something that that can happen. We’re just beginning to hit our stride as a band. If people think the things we’ve done in the past are good, wait until they hear what we have planned for the future. Sometimes I get excited just thinking about the potential this group has. Everyone can write extremely well, and nobody’s scared to voice and opinion. Probably the biggest problem a band can have is complacency – and that’s something that will never be a problem for us. Music is the most important thing in our lives, so we’re not about to take anything connected with it for granted.

Steve Clark: There’s so much left for us to accomplish. Sales aren’t the only thing that matters. I’m not saying we don’t enjoy selling millions of records, but there’s also a lot of room for musical growth. That’s something which happened on each of our albums, and I have no doubt it will continue in the future. I could say we’d like a number one album and single, but it’s more important to keep improving with each record we do. If we can do that, the sales will take care of themselves.

Joe Elliott: Mine have been very supportive. All our parents came to the last gig or our tour when we played Hammersmith Odeon in London. We had a big party and they all came and enjoyed the fun. It was our way of saying, "Hey, we’ve been away a long time, but we missed you." Part of the fun of our success has been seeing our parents’ reaction. We all went through periods when our parents said a career in music wasn’t going to work out; that we should go back and learn how to be artists or doctors.

Steve Clark: My parents always supported my music. They got me my first guitar, and they encouraged me to practice and join bands. I think their enthusiasm may have been more to keep me off the streets than to give me a profession, but I’ll always be thankful that they stood behind me and reassured me, even when things weren’t going as well as they are now.

Joe Elliott: I can understand their feelings to a certain point, but we’re just much more popular in America than we are back home. That’s the truth, and it’s time British fans realize that. Pyromania disappeared from the charts in about a month there, while it stayed in the Top 100 for more than a year in the States. Also, you can tour the entire British Isles in about two weeks, while it takes six months to tour America properly. Look, we’re all very proud to be British – that’s why I wear a Union Jack T-shirt. But right now our best market is America.