Joe Elliott explains why he had to pull out of the project, "It is with great reluctance that I have had to pull out of the production job for the BSR second album. When I agreed to do it after a great meeting with the boys, it was at was at a time when Def Leppard weren't exceptionally busy. Things changed and I found myself in a situation where the amount of time I could allocate to the album would not have done justice to the record or the band.

"They deserve someone who can do the job without rushing it or having to bail out half way through due to other commitments. I KNOW they're are going to make a great second album and maybe sometime down the road, we can revisit the idea of working together again.

"Myself, Ricky [Warwick], and Scott [Gorham] have a very long-standing & firm friendship which goes back decades!! I wish them nothing but the best & much success with the new album."

Black Star Riders frontman Ricky Warwick adds, "Joe is like a member of the family. I was very excited by the prospects of Joe working with us on the new record, but sometimes things happen that we cannot control. I know we will work with Joe in the future."

The band has announced that they will now be entering the studio in September with Nick Raskulinecz to begin recording the new album. They are expecting to release the new effort next spring.

Raskulinecz, who had previously worked with The Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains, Rush, and Mastodon, had this to say about taking on production duties for the album, "I was a fan of the first album, and I'm really excited about the songs they've written for their new record. I'm really looking forward to getting into the studio with them to help bring those songs to life."

Warwick explains how they picked Raskulinecz for the album, "I have been a fan of Nick's work for some time. So when it became apparent that Nick wanted to work with us, we were all very excited! He has done some amazing work with other artists in the past and I can't wait to hear what we manage to create together in the studio."