| abstract | - It all started out as a project when a young bassist named Rick Savage and guitarist Pete Willis used to skip most of their classes and smoke when they hid in alleys and had nothing to do. They realized they were about to repeat their freshman year in high school for the SECOND TIME, so they set out on doing what they do best at--playing loud, cliche heavy rock music.. Savage also had hung out with Tony Kenning since both loved Lead Seplin and other great classics from the past.They had copyright issues to name the band Def Leppard and Deaf Leopard.So they combined the to names to avoid being sued. When Savage saw Kenning holding some drumsticks at lunch, he had asked him if he was a drummer, and he replied a yes. Excited, the 15-year old bassist invited Tony and Pete over at his house to schedule jamming dates at Kenning's. They called themselves Deaf Lepperd. The next day they met, they were ready, they played the hell out of their instruments;Willis shredding on his badass guitar, Savage keeping up to the rhythm of the lead, and Kenning exploding on his drumset... It was so heavy, it made Metallica sound like "two white furry puppies eating a strawberry" compared to theirs. But all of a sudden they realized that they forgot something---a singer! Deaf Lapperd set out to look for a singer. Rick Savage searched newspapers, communities, and randomly dialed numbers on the phone until the person he was talking to was a singer. Tony Kenning started going to music instrument stores around Sheffield. But Willis was laid back and taking it all easy, but when he missed a bus to practice at Kenning's one day, he saw some dude walking his way and the guy asked Willis if he's in a band. Willis asked the guy if he's a singer, and fortunately, they both found what they needed! The man's name is Joe Elliott, an 18-year old dreamer who worked at a factory that makes microphones and stands. Elliott stole a microphone set from the factory and brought an amp over at Kenning's. Now they had a singer! The band also added guitarist Steve Clark, who was a hardcore Jamey Pagerex fan, from Lead Seplin. They started writing some songs on the weekends when they stayed over each others houses during nights, sometimes in just twos alone! Joe Elliott however didn't really like the name "Deaf Lapperd" because his mother was hearing-impaired, and for some reason Elliott likes perfect grammar so he ordered it be changed to Atomic Mass. Not liking the new name, Kenning then suggested "Atomik Maz".. Joe Elliott got mad at him for shitty grammar and threatened to quit the band already, but Sav and Willis insisted he stayed, and instead, kicked Tony Kenning and his drumset out of the band. Since Kenning left, the band had so seek another drummer to record their 1979 E.P. with. Frank Noon came over to Joe Elliott's house (the new jamming place for Atomic Mass) at midnight. He offered to record the Atomic Mass E.P., which was so heavy as hell, sold 3,000,000 (that's millions folks) copies all over England in just three days. But Noon departed later after recording the songs on the E.P. because he didn't like losing to Joe Elliott at chess, and Atomic Mass were in trouble again. The once powerful and heavy metal band was almost about to fall apart, but thankfully they found a 15-year old drummer who could play the hell out of a kid's Inspector Gadget set, and added in drummer Rick Allen to the band. "His style.. it's just so unique and gifted.. I don't think ANY drummer could play like that, and when he played backwards I was just astounded!" Joe Elliott said in an Atomic Mass interview. Allen changed his set to a Mudwig 5-piece, and the band began recording their debut album, "On Through The Afternoon" in 1980 with Sgt. Tom Allman, cousin to Dwayne Allman of the Allman Sisters.
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