Def Leppard guitar slinger Vivian Cambell says he wants to try and bring the band back to rock and roll basics, while retaining a more modern sound, in an interview with Guitar International.
Guitar International: Phil Collen promised Eddie Trunk that the next Def Leppard LP would be hard rock, are you guys able to deliver on that promise?
Vivian Campbell: It’s not this one! [Laughing]. He was talking about the next one! [Laughing] We all agree and know on a certain level that we can make it happen. If we were with a major record label and they paired us with Rick Rubin, I’m sure he would strip us down and have us doing it. It’s easier said than done. What Def Leppard did 30 years ago; they were in a different head space then. You played and wrote different then. So it might actually be disingenuous of us to go back and force ourselves to do a record like High n Dry.
GI: Not necessarily go back and redo High n Dry but juts a straightforward rock LP?
Vivian Campbell: Back then Rick Allen had two arms, although we can represent ourselves very well live, it difficult for Rick to jam. If I were to come in the room and show the other guys a riff, Rick would have to sit there and think how he was going to join in.
It’s not like other bands where you can kick out the jams and see what happens. It does take a little more patience. I’m not saying we’re not going to do it; Phil and I are championing and trying to do something like that for the next record.
We realize that our core audience wants us to make a rock LP. So we will attempt to address that on future records. With that said, I don’t see us making an entire LP that’s like High and Dry, with songs with 1 through 12 as old rock songs.
Campbell also spoke about his experiences playing with Dio, Whitesnake and his recent role playing guitar for his teenage heroes, Thin Lizzy. Read the full interview here.
www.defleppard.com
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