Elliott made the revelation in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter (via Billboard). "We just came out of a writing session in February with 12 new songs. We've got this tour, then we'll finish the album after that. We've never been this busy really."

He was also revealed that the band will be producing the new album themselves. "Def Leppard is producing the album, because when it comes down to it, every producer that we ever think of and talk about falls at least number two behind Mutt Lange. We're not gonna get Mutt, but we worked with him for 11 years in a studio, so we know how it works. Queen made their own records. For the state of the music industry and the place that we hold in it, if we're even in it, cause I've always thought we were in our own little universe, there's no need. If we have a hit, it won't matter who produced it� It'll be down to the song. And we were determined to write all these songs on our own and what we've got going so far sounds incredible. "

As for the band's upcoming coheadlining tour with KISS, Joe was asked if Def Leppard would be sticking their hits on the tour. He responded, "We're not in competition with Kiss, but we're not stupid. They're gonna play their top tunes; we'd be f**king stupid not to. We don't want to come across as, 'Well, you just handed it to them by playing B-sides that came out in Holland and Japan to an American audience.' I don't care what the critics think. If you can't handle the responsibility of a hit record, don't write one."