"We've got lyrics to write for about four or five songs," explains Elliott, "which I should be getting back to work on as soon as I get done with this tour, I will be straight back in that mode."

"We've got about fifteen songs going. Seven or eight of 'em are written. The other seven are musically written that need melodies. I will get straight back to in January."

Elliott attempted to explain the musical direction of the band's follow-up to 2008's "Songs From The Sparkle Lounge." "I don't know. It's a good question," he says. "It sounds like Leppard. It sounds like what Leppard should be doing at our age as well. It's a bit more� I don't wanna say 'mature'; that's the worst word you could ever say. But it's certainly not a childish record."

"I mean, there's a couple of songs on there that absolutely are typical Leppard anthemic things. But there's a lot of cool stuff which is a lot more musical, if you like, and a lot more experimental, if you want, without being jazz or anything like that."