Joe talks musical beginnings, rock legends, and Joe Dirt with David Spade and Dana Carvey on the newest episode of Fly On The Wall. Tune in HERE.
View this post on Instagram
Month: July 2024
Def Leppard Cover Song Contest: Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Pyromania
Join Sweetwater in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Def Leppard’s Pyromania with an exciting opportunity to show off your best cover for a chance to win loads of sweet Def Leppard gear! Fans are invited to showcase their musical talents and love for the band by submitting cover versions of songs from the album Pyromania for a chance to win thousands of dollars’ worth of gear, including guitars personally spec’d by Def Leppard’s own Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen.
Have you or your band got a killer version of “Foolin’”? Maybe you’ve got an amazing rendition of “Rock of Ages” the world simply needs to hear? Sweetwater invites you to grab your camera and capture your best take for a chance to win big! Whoever submits the most compelling cover, as chosen by members of the band and Sweetwater, wins!
Aren’t feeling up to a cover-song challenge? You can also enter to win one of several signed Def Leppard Pyromania 40th anniversary reissue vinyl LPs!
Enter your Pyromania cover song HERE for a chance to win!
PRIZES
- Vivian Campbell Spec’d Gibson Les Paul Standard: For decades, Vivian Campbell has been synonymous with one of the world’s most iconic guitars, the Gibson Les Paul. He has deservedly had signature models released as a result. For this competition, Vivian picked a Sweetwater Exclusive Les Paul Standard in Lemonburst because, in addition to being a stunning looking and sounding six-string, its SlimTaper neck is a profile he gravitates to. Axe chosen, the next step was to customize the instrument to Vivian’s exact specifications.
- Phil Collen Spec’d Jackson PC1: British-born axman extraordinaire Phil Collen has been a proud Jackson guitars endorser since 1986, and his signature PC1 is one of the company’s best-selling artist models. So, Sweetwater grabbed a Custom Shop PC1 Satin Au Natural and then got on the phone with Phil to instigate his custom tweaks.
- Shure SLXD Beta 58 Dual Wireless System: Giving you a stadium-ready setup with impeccable audio resolution and plenty of range to command any stage — whether you’re Joe Elliott or just starting out on your musical journey.
- Jackson X Series 5-string Concert Bass DX V: In any venue — from a local club to an arena — the driving, low-end punch of the bass is vital. Along with the drums, it’s the very foundation of your band’s sound. This Jackson five-string delivers all the low-end clarity and thump you’ll ever need.
- Yamaha DTX8K-M Electronic Drum Set: While this impressive eKit offers up a truckload of bells and whistles, it is simple to use, thanks to the sound-sculpting options built into its three Modifier knobs. Its hyper-responsive kick-drum pad is perfect for double bass beaters, too. In a nutshell, the DTX8K-M sounds great and is as easy to use as it is fun to play.
Def Leppard Guitarist Phil Collen Makes Graphic Novel Debut with ‘Hysteria’ (Exclusive)
As a teen in England, Phil Collen was obsessed with all things American. The music, be it rock or blues, were major influences, but of particular interest to the guitarist of heavy metal glam band Def Leppard were the comics that were being imported into London shops in the 1960s.
It was in these shops that Collen picked up copies of Silver Surfer no.1 by Stan Lee and John Buscema and The Hulk No 3 by Lee and Jack Kirby. He still has those copies, stored in a case in his home in London. The Hulk was one of his favorites, as was Batman.
“I really got into the vibe of it and the culture of it,” Collen says on a Zoom from Nashville, where he is taking a short break from Leppard’s circuit as part of the Journey for the Summer Stadium Tour, which also includes acts Cheap Trick and The Steve Miller Band.
Now, Collen will be able to make his own impact on that comic culture. The guitarist, who has been with the band since its 1982 breakout Pyromania, has co-written a graphic novel that blends his musical career and his love of horror.
Titled Hysteria, the same name as the band’s 1987 album, still one of the best-selling albums of all time, the graphic will be published in spring 2025 from indie publisher Vault Comics. It will be the second title from the company’s Headshell imprint, which features sequential art collaborations with recording artists Metallica, Slash, Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy, among others.
Hysteria is a horror story dealing with the dark side of rock stardom, and even features a cameo from the band itself. It tells of Foz, the frontwoman of an indie band named Darkside who inherits her father’s estate and discovers it comes with a half-remembered guitar from her childhood. The guitar is demonic, thanks to being made from some cursed wood back in Mesopotamian times. It speaks to her, promising fame and success — and soon, it delivers. When the band’s equipment is stolen before it is due to open for the band Def Leppard, Foz, in a nod to Bruce Banner seeing the ragefull Hulk unleashed, lets loose her own dark side, so to speak, in order to get the guitar back.
“Poured out on the pages of this graphic novel is a story (Phil) couldn’t tell you in a song that takes you to places Def Leppard have never gone before with their music,” says Vault CEO Damian Wassel, who helped put together the rest of the creative team of the book.
Eliot Rahal, who previously penned the ninja vampire tale Bleed Them Dry for Vault, co-wrote the graphic novel. Alex Schlitz, who previously drew short stories in compilations such as YULE: Dreadful Tales for the Holiday Season and Sagas of the Shield Maiden Vol. 2, is handling the illustrations. Fabi Marques is the colorist and Andworld Design is lettering.
Collen said that the co-writing process was very much like working with bandmates. “It reminded me of songwriting with someone you really like,” he says. “You’d go, ‘What about this?’ And ‘What about this line? And we can follow up with this melody.’ It was very much like that, bouncing ideas, and he would run with it.”
He adds, “When you hit on something, it runs away, and you’re part of the slipstream. It was very inspiring, I gotta say.”
A similar feeling arose when working with Schlitz, who is making her graphic novel debut after working in the anthology shorts world.
Hysteria will come in retail and deluxe editions. A befitting a rock ‘n roll tour, there will be merch, including Dark Side T-shirts. And Vault also had a custom-made guitar built to Collen’s specification that the guitarist will unveil later on this summer’s tour.
Check out a preview at HollywoodReporter.com
Interview: Phil Collen Says Fans Should Expect A Lot From Def Leppard In The Next 10 Years
via Loudwire
On Friday (July 19), Def Leppard‘s longtime guitarist Phil Collen joined Loudwire Nights to celebrate the release of their latest song, “Just Like ’73” — a track that he said brought some closure to the band.
“It was nearly on the album, Diamond Star Halos,” Collen told host Chuck Armstrong about the new song. “We actually hadn’t quite finished it. I started the demo and had this idea for the thing. We were right in the middle of Diamond Star Halos.”
Collen explained how the song is centered around a lyric from a T. Rex song, but more than that, it also shines a light on the era of music that got Collen and frontman Joe Elliott into music.
“I had the drum idea and a chorus and then worked on them, but didn’t quite finish it off,” he said. “The album came out, [then] we went on to Drastic Symphonies.”
The idea that releasing “Just Like ’73” closes the book on Diamond Star Halos is something Collen hadn’t previously thought much about — but totally agreed with.
“It actually sums it up really well, to be quite honest.”
Read More: Interview: Def Leppard’s Phil Collen Says Band Is On 10-Year Plan
Def Leppard’s Summer Tour To Celebrate 40th Anniversary of ‘Pyromania’
via Cleveland Scene
Earlier this month, Def Leppard returned with “Just Like 73,” a rocking new single featuring Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello. For Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, the song represents several different rock eras.
“The song was left over from our last studio album,” he says via phone from his New Hampshire home. Def Leppard performs with Journey and Cheap Trick on July 30 at Progressive Field. “The song just wasn’t completed in time to make that record. We finished it over the past several months. It’s an homage to our youth and the era in which we came of age musically. It was the early 1970s and the birth of glam rock. There are many hues in ‘1973’ that throw back to that era. The drum sound is reminiscent of that, and the vocal chant and the nonsensical lyrics are too. It’s quite the contrast in style. Def Leppard is essentially from the 1980s, and Tom Morello is from a different generation, and we’re playing a song reminiscent of the 1970s. We’re casting a wide net.”
The band’s most recent album, 2022’s Diamond Star Halos, also casts a wide musical “net.” It finds the band exploring its softer side and even venturing into Americana territory via collaborations with singer-songwriter Alison Krauss.
“That was a COVID record,” says Campbell when asked about the release. “We were supposed to do our stadium tour with Mötley Crüe, but it was postponed. Rather than sit on our asses and do nothing, we decided to make a record. [Singer] Joe [Elliott] started the ball rolling. I make a joke at Joe’s expense here, but I mean it well. I call him Elton Joe.”
Elliott wrote all the songs on piano. While they weren’t typical Def Leppard songs, but the group agreed to record them anyway.
“I thought [the music] was very different sounding,” says Campbell. “Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, we would have told him to save them for his solo album. At this stage in our career, we are very comfortable with acknowledging the fact that we all bring different writing styles to Def Leppard, and it’s fine to make a record that doesn’t fit a norm that might be expected. I would say in the future moving forward, that would be our MO for making albums. Anything goes. Whatever happens to be a good song whether it comes from an individual or the group, it won’t be dismissed because it doesn’t fit the perceived genre.”
Campbell says the band took a similarly experimental attitude into the studio when it recorded Pyromania in 1984 with producer Mutt Lange. It would become one of the top-selling rock albums of all time. To mark the 40th anniversary of that album, the group has released a deluxe expanded edition and a full music and merchandise collection.
“I remember it being a groundbreaking album,” says Campbell, who was not yet in the band when it cut the release. “A matter of fact, in 1983, Phil Lynott, who was the band leader of Thin Lizzy, was talking to me and was very seriously considering breaking up Thin Lizzy because of Pyromania. I pleaded him not to. I was a huge Thin Lizzy fan and they were They were a huge influence. It would be totally ironic if he would break them up because of Def Leppard. [Pyromania] was groundbreaking, and it’s important for us 40 years later to celebrate that record. It definitely moved the goalposts for the entire genre.”
Because Pyromania is now 40, Campbell says the group will play deep cuts from it on the current tour.
“When you play a stadium, you are beholden to the hits,” he says. “At the same time, we’ll balance that by going deep on Pyromania with a few album cuts we wouldn’t normally play. We’ll play the new single too.”
And Campbell says Def Leppard is happy to share co-headlining duties with Journey (each group will play a 90-minute set). Like Journey, Def Leppard was inducted into the Rock Hall long after it was eligible.
“I think our induction was mostly fan-driven,” says Campbell. “The fans were incensed and petitioned for it. Going back again to before my 32-year tenure with the band, I was always a fan. I bought High ‘N’ Dry and All Through the Night. I even bought the first singles. I was a genuine Def Leppard fan, and that’s what made it even more joyous for me to become a member of this band 32 years ago.”
Campbell says it incensed him as a fan in 1987 that when Def Leppard released Hysteria, which he says was “on another level,” it didn’t win a Grammy even though the album had yielded seven Top 10 hits. In fact, the band didn’t even get nominated.
“It was mind boggling to me,” he says. “I think there is this expectancy that the industry will not recognize Def Leppard for what it has contributed. When the news came [about the Rock Hall induction], it was really nice, but it wasn’t something that had we had sleepless nights and anxiety about. I think the real reward for the band is that we’re doing this at this point in our lives, and the fanbase is growing, and the music has become multi-generational. That’s the only validation we only need. We can still go out and play stadiums, and I’ll take that any day of the week.”
Def Leppard, Journey take over Comerica Park for 35,000 as stadium tour hits Detroit
Comerica Park got a big dose of ‘80s rock energy as about 35,000 fans piled into the Detroit ballpark Thursday night for a doubleheader from Def Leppard and Journey.
The potent pair — two of that era’s enduring hitmakers — were joined by another classic rock radio staple, Steve Miller Band, for a long, festive and sonically diverse blast of music on a pleasant summer night downtown.
Detroit was just the fifth night on Def Leppard and Journey’s Summer Stadium Tour, but the show is already a well-oiled machine, which is little surprise given the long, deep touring pedigrees of the two co-headliners.
Def Leppard closed the evening with a finely tuned 1½-hour set of Union Jack-stamped hard rock, a signature wall of sound layered with sheets of vocal harmonies, squalling guitars and unapologetic pop hooks. It’s an approach meant for a big setting like CoPa, and the flashy visual accompaniment on the centerfield stage drove home the point.
Vocalist Joe Elliott, now sporting an august white mane, led the proceedings flanked by his singing compatriots Phil Collen (guitar), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Savage (bass), with drummer Rick Allen typically merry and thunderous back at the kit.
Vocalist Joe Elliott, now sporting an august white mane, led the proceedings flanked by his singing compatriots Phil Collen (guitar), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Savage (bass), with drummer Rick Allen typically merry and thunderous back at the kit.
There was plenty of music pulled from that album’s multiplatinum follow-up, 1987’s more polished “Hysteria,” full of chart-scaling hits such as “Armageddon It,” “Animal” and “Love Bites,” which served as instant crowd-pleasers at Comerica Park, with a rippling “Hysteria” and sticky “Pour Some Sugar on Me” saved for the encore.
One new number — the stomping, glam-touched “Just Like ’73,” a nod to band members’ formative music years — was tucked into the blend, while a quick riff by Elliott on Kiss’s “Detroit Rock City” launched an unplugged-style session at the edge of the stage’s runway.
THE HYSTERIA IS REAL IN ALL-NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL AND MORE FROM ROCK LEGENDS DEF LEPPARD AND VAULT COMICS
Def Leppard and the Vault Comics imprint Headsell are pleased to offer their forthcoming graphic novel collaboration, Hysteria co–written by Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen and Eliot Rahal (Bleed Them Dry, The Vain, Midnight Vista), with illustrations by Alex Schlitz (YULE: Dreadful Tales for the Holiday Season, Sagas of the Shield Maiden Vol. 2), Fabi Marques (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Batman: The World) as colorist and Andworld Design as letterer. Def Leppard kicked off their 2024 North American summer tour in July. Retail and deluxe editions of Hysteria will be released spring 2025 with merch to follow.
“Blending music and comics together like this is an incredible and insane dream, and I could not be more thrilled by the work Eliot, Alex, and Vault have put into Hysteria. It has been a joy and one hell of a ride. I know fans are going to love it,” said Phil Collen, Def Leppard guitarist.
Continuing the celebration of rock, the graphic novel Hysteria follows Foz, the frontwoman of indie band Darkside, after she inherits her father’s estate and discovers it comes with a half-remembered guitar from her childhood. The guitar speaks to her, promising fame and success. Soon, it delivers. But when Darkside’s equipment is stolen at a massive music venue, just before they’re set to take the stage with Def Leppard, Foz goes on the warpath to get it back. A knuckle-dusting rampage ensues, and the guitar’s true history is revealed.
Co-writer Eliot Rahal said, “From the very beginning, before we had anything, this story felt big. Phil came to us with a vision, a ton of passion, and the word ‘Hysteria’—something that has a lot of history for the band. It’s something that carries a lot of meaning. A legacy. And in many ways, that’s what this story is about. The Vault team worked with me tirelessly to help create a framework to capture that spirit. Then… as the team assembled and the art came in… I saw the idea take shape in real-time, and the weight of the project became even more real. I put everything I had into this book because it was clear to me that everyone else also had as well. I’ll be forever grateful for being a part of this project.”
Def Leppard’s Hysteria, the graphic novel, features never-before-heard music from Darkside, to be recorded in collaboration with Phil Collen, as it tells the story of the world’s most dangerous guitar. Additional details on the release of the Darkside EP will be announced at a later date.
“As a Midwestern native raised on rock and roll and a musician from a family of musicians, Foz and Darkside’s story has come to mean a lot to me,” added illustrator Alex Schlitz. ”The opportunity to work on this book with Def Leppard has been not only a huge honor, but such an exhilarating treat. I’m so grateful to be part of the team bringing this story to life, and I’ve had such a blast working with Eliot, Phil, and Fabi to create this world. I’m excited for everyone else to finally get to come on the journey with us!”
Damian Wassel, Vault CEO, added, “I could say all the usual things about this graphic novel. Hysteria is one of the most iconic albums of all time. Def Leppard are titans of rock. So, no surprise, the graphic novel rocks too. But there’s so much more to it than that. Because Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen isn’t just an animal on the guitar. He’s a lifelong comics fan. Poured out on the pages of this graphic novel is a story he couldn’t tell you in a song that takes you to places Def Leppard have never gone before with their music. Leading the creative charge for the band on this project, Phil has worked hand in hand with writer Eliot Rahal and artist Alex Schlitz to create a graphic novel that takes off like a rocket, about a band that gets cursed and is left with no choice but to run riot.”
Def Leppard joins forces this summer with fellow rock icons Journey for The Summer Stadium Tour 2024, which kicked off on July 6th in St. Louis, MO at Busch Stadium and will run through 24 cities, from coast-to-coast, ending on September 8th in Denver, Colorado at Coors Field. Cheap Trick, and The Steve Miller Band will join the tour, varying city by city. Tickets are currently still available through local providers
Horror, thrills, music, and more are blended together in this fun, fast-paced, roller coaster ride from one of the biggest bands in rock history. Hysteria will be available in stores and online on April 15, 2025.
“Really, really cool… his guitar style is so unique and he really didn’t let us down”: Def Leppard’s Phil Collen on their collab with Tom Morello
via Music Radar
Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen has been talking about his group’s new single Just Like 73 and its guest feature Tom Morello, who contributes a suitably sparkly solo.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Collen spoke about how the collab first came about. “Well, Tom heard my original demo of the song with just me on it, and maybe Joe (Elliot) doing a vocal.
“And he’s, like, ‘Oh my God, this is great.’ So he told our friend Brian Monaco, who is actually president of Sony Music, and Brian’s, like, ‘What do you think about Tom being on it? He loves this thing.’ And it was, like, ‘Yeah, that’d be awesome.'”
You know, I love Rage Against The Machine. I think Tom’s really, really cool and his guitar style is so unique and he really didn’t let us down. I remember talking to him about it. He said, ‘Well, what do you hear?’ and I said, ‘Well, you gotta do your Tom Morello thing.’ And he did. (I) heard it back and said, ‘This is absolutely perfect.’
Just Like 73, which comes out on vinyl in August, is another of Leppard’s paeans to the glam rock era complete with stomping Glitter Band-style drums, Slade-like backing vocals and a Morello solo that’s both recognisably him but also fits perfectly with the glam-influenced song.
Collen admitted in the interview that the song was a leftover from the sessions for their 2022 album Diamond Star Halos (its title itself a pinch from glam icon Marc Bolan). “We only finished it off this year with everyone playing and singing on it. So, yeah, it was like almost there but not quite for that album.”
The guitarist also confirmed that the band were working on new songs. “Without a doubt. (Joe and I) write all the time. We send each other things. Sav (Rick Savage, bassist) gets in on there. Just between the three of us, there’s just a lot of stuff floating around already. So we’ve, yeah, got a bunch of stuff. It’s really exciting. And it’s a great place to be. It’s never that thing where, ‘Well, we’ve got to sit down and write an album.’ It’s, like, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to play this to the guys and see what the reaction is.’ And we keep pushing the boat out even further.”
Watch Def Leppard’s Exclusive SiriusXM Concert Featuring the First-Ever Live Performance of Two Songs
via SiriusXM
Just before the start of their Summer Stadium Tour 2024, Def Leppard took over the SiriusXM LA Garage for an exclusive concert featuring some of their biggest hits and the first-ever public performance of their brand-new song.
Watch the band’s full one-hour set on the SiriusXM app now for a limited time, which includes songs like “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Photograph,” and “Rock of Ages,” plus the first-ever live performance of their new song “Just Like 73” and their “Pyromania” classic “Comin’ Under Fire.”