Interviews

Def Leppard - Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell Interview

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Def Leppard represents everything about the 80’s and truly captured an entire decade with hits such as:  Rock of Ages, Foolin’,  Photograph and Pour a Little Sugar on Me.  Without question, the band has a gift for songwriting.  But as they openly admit, MTV was responsible for turning them into global superstars.  Musicpix had the opportunity to sit down with Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell of the 80’s mega- band prior to a performance to talk about the band’s longevity, their new material and holding a world record in the Guinness Book of World Records…read on.

Musicpix:  Def Leppard was once a curiosity and 34 years later, you’re globally adored.  Can you talk about weathering success?

Phil:  We just love doing it.  The motivation has always been about the music instead of presenting the band.  It’s never been about image or anything like that…it makes it more real. We’ve got a lot of ambition to go that’s why we’re still here. 

  Musicpix:  I was fortunate to be a teenager in the 80’s…I watch teens now gravitating to your music decades later and getting acquainted with the 80’s.  Can you talk about why you think we crave that 80’s sound?

Phil:  In general, I don’t think there are many new bands coming up that aren’t a real product of the industry.  If there are those new bands, they don’t have the amount of hits that we’ve got.  We never spilt up so our technique remains very much intact as far as that goes.

Viv:  People have been bashed over the head with these songs for decades…these songs are branded in their DNA.  Back in the 80’s,  MTV was the driving force of the culture so you couldn’t escape hearing what was popular.  Today, we live in a very fragmented world where people only tune into what there’re interested in.  There’s so much media everywhere…the internet, cable channels, satellite radio, personal computers,  cell phones… everyone is living in their own world.  Back in that day, you couldn’t escape music so we were fortunate that we grew up in an era and we were a part of that, so our music is a part of that fabric and that’s what they want to hear.  I think it’s different for musicians growing up these days…it’s got nothing to do with whether or not the music was a any better in that era…nowadays it’s harder for stuff to stick.  That’s fortunate for us.  We have something that people want to hear and we enjoy playing live.

Musicpix:  Talk about the three new tracks on your latest release Mirrorball…

Phil:  In general, we had three songs finished and I liked the idea that we weren’t doing a whole album.  Going back to the days of Bob Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, where you get inspired to write a song, you’d write it, record it and release it.  You didn’t have to write the record one year and release it the year after and do seven other filler tracks.  The whole idea was three new songs and that’s where we were in the beginning of this year.  I think there was more energy that went into it…it was more of an artistic endeavor than a business and I really loved the idea.  When we finished, we have three new songs which definitely had a new feel.  Especially nowadays, people want to hear a brand new song.  It fits perfectly into that that train of thought.

Musicpix:  Phil you wrote, "It’s All About Believin’...talk about the new stuff.  It’s so inspiring.  Your song is all about inspiring us to believe…

Phil:  I actually wrote the song with a friend of mine in LA…When we came up with the idea; it was definitely a Def Leppard song.  I write songs all the time for other bands but this song was obviously for Def Leppard.  It wasn’t religious at all…it’s about faith in yourself and being positive.

Musicpix:  Let’s talk set list selection.  You HAVE TO play Sugar and Photograph right?  How in the world do you decide what else you’re playing night after night?

Phil:  We actually change our set list depending on where we are.  Like when we’re in Japan.  They love it when we actually go into deep tracks but in America, not so much.  We’re fortunate to have a lot of material to choose from thank God.

Musicpix:  Here’s a fun fact…in 1995 Def Leppard went for the big one and played 3 continents in one day -a feat for which you received a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records. Starting at midnight in a cave in Tangiers, Morocco, you played an acoustic set. Then you flew to London, England to play at midday. Finally, you end up in Vancouver, Canada for yet another show….. 5,845 miles in a day!  Is there a record that you’re trying to break these days?

Phil:  Yes, we could try to break that one but someone would have to sponsor it.  [laughing]  Yea, it was on three continents…someone dreamed this up for releasing our greatest hits album.   It was pretty cool so if anyone wants to suggest something and actually pay for it, we’d be happy to oblige.

Musicpix:  Are there bootlegs around for that?

Phil:  Good question.  You would think there would be…it was great live in the cave.  It was quite surreal. It felt like a week but it was a 36 hour period.

Musicpix:  Lastly, the phrase:  you’re not getting older you’re getting better applies. You guys are now middle-aged and flooded with work.  Is there something you’ve always wanted to do that you haven’t done?

Phil:  Yea, it gets more difficult with Def Leppard though.  We had an album in 1996 called Slang and it was very different in the way we recorded it.  We recorded it live.  We didn’t spend a lot of time on the writing.  We wrote it and recorded it.  It was really cool but lot of people didn’t like it because it was experimental.  We found that you can’t really do that when once you’re established.  It’s a very fine line with what’s acceptable with your fans and what’s cool vs.  selling out to wallpaper music…you want to make it cool.  So it becomes more challenging but we actually have become better writers and producers over time.

                                                                                 

 

The Band

  Joe Elliot-lead vocals, guitar
  Phil Collen-guitar, vocals
  Rick ‘Sav’ Savage-bass, vocals
  Vivian Campbell-guitar, vocals
Rick Allen-Drums

Discography

  1980 On Through the Night
  1981 High ‘N’ Dry
  1983 Pyromania
  1987 Hysteria
  1992 Adrenalize
  1996 Slang
  1999 Euphoria
  2002 X
  2006 Yeah!
  2008 Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
  2011 Mirror Ball: Live & More
  2011 Dreamin’ With Def Leppard

The Tour

  Tue 08/16/11 Toronto, ON
  Wed 08/17/11 Clarkston, MI
  Sat 08/20/11 Burgettstown, PA
  Sun 08/21/11 Darien Center, NY
  Wed 08/24/11 Cuyahoga Falls, OH
  Fri 08/26/11 Saint Paul, MN
  Sat 08/27/11 Kansas City, MO
  Mon 08/29/11 Englewood, CO
  Wed 08/31/11 Salt Lake City, UT
  Fri 09/02/11 Albuquerque, NM
  Fri 09/09/11 Mountain View, CA
  Sat  09/10/11 Irvine, CA  
  Sun 09/11/11 Wheatland, CA
  Wed 09/14/11 Ridgefield, WA
  Thu 09/15/11 Auburn, WA
  Tue 09/20/11 Tulsa, OK
  Thu 09/22/11 New Orleans, LA   
  Fri 09/23/11 The Woodlands, TX
  Sat 09/24/11 San Antonio, TX
  Sat 10/15/11 Perth, Australia
  Tue 10/18/11 Hindmarsh, Australia
  Thu 10/20/11 Darling Harbour, Australia
  Sat 10/22/11 Melbourne, Australia
  Tue 10/25/11 Canberra, Australia
  Thu 10/27/11 Boondall, Australia
  Sat 10/29/11 Newcastle, Australia
  Sat 11/05/11  Osaka, Japan
  Mon 11/07/11  Tokyo, Japan

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