Location: Libro Music Hall / Vienna
Interview date: November 4, 1996
Way back in 1996, when the World Wide Web was still in diapers and RockLine didn’t exist yet, a bunch of the biggest rock fanatics piled into a van and headed off to a gig. Def Leppard – November 4, 1996 – Vienna was the target we just couldn’t resist.
The expedition of brave, rock-solid Leppard fanatics was organized by Tomaž Purkart, back then the ‘culprit’ behind many a rocker pilgrimage across central Europe. Thanks to him, I got an incredible chance for a one-on-one interview with guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell.
Unforgettable things started happening right when we arrived at the venue, which holds roughly 2,000 people. The first thing we spotted there, much to our surprise, was singer Joe Elliott strolling around in front of the entrance. You can’t pass up a chance like that, so I dashed over to him and asked for an autograph. I don’t remember the details of what we talked about anymore. But I remember damn well that he brought up the possibility of organizing a Def Leppard show in Slovenia. As you probably know, nothing came of it, sadly. Until now!
A few die-hard Slovenian Def Leppard fans asked me to publish the following conversation, which I did a few hours before the show in Vienna.
RockLine: Does the sound of the new album Slang affect the live sound when you play your older songs?
Phil: The old songs actually sound better live now. We recorded Slang live in the studio.
On the previous albums, we played everything separately in the studio.
RockLine: Would you work with Mutt Lange again?
Phil: Of course, if Mutt were interested in working with us.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t work with us while we were recording Slang, because he was busy with three projects:
Bryan Adams, Michael Bolton and Shania Twain.
RockLine: Are either of you a Journey fan?
Phil: Of course.
RockLine: Have you heard the album Trial By Fire yet, with Steve Perry back on vocals?
Phil: Is the album out already?
Vivian: Yeah, about a month ago. Journey are back to their old lineup.
RockLine: Do you think the release of this album (Trial By Fire) will have any effect on AOR music?
Phil: Depends where. In the US, the situation right now is almost like in the seventies, when disco dominated.
Not much has changed. In Europe, of course, it’s different. Tastes keep changing
and it’s impossible to predict what kind of impact that album might have.
RockLine: Phil, how do you look back on your 15 years with Def Leppard?
Phil: The years have just flown by. You won’t believe it, but we work most of the time.
We don’t sit around, we don’t go on vacations or anything like that.
Vivian: We’re kind of a scientific phenomenon (laughs).
RockLine: Vivian, are you planning to contribute more of your own songwriting on the next album?
Vivian: I definitely hope so. For an album we always use the best songs, no matter who writes them.
RockLine: Does the album Slang represent a new direction for the band?
Phil: Rick Allen is playing real, acoustic drums again and we recorded everything live in the studio, so there’s a big difference between Slang and the previous albums. With Slang we put more emphasis on the individual songs and the lyrics, and less on the production. That’s why it’s the rawest album we’ve ever made. A good example is the song Truth?.
Vivian: Even compared to Pyromania, Slang is a very raw album.
Phil: Pyromania as a whole is an album with a very consistent sound. Slang offers variety.
Gift Of Flesh is a lot rawer than Stagefright. Pearl Of Euphoria and Truth?
are also much rawer than Die Hard The Hunter from Pyromania.
RockLine: Do you have a live album planned?
Phil: No. Not yet.
Phil’s last answer about a live album turned out to be remarkably prophetic.
The live album Mirrorball (review HERE) didn’t come out until 2011.
