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Def Leppard Tour History Fan Archive.
Slang Countdown 12 - 1996 Phil/Rick/Sav Interview

Sunday, 9th February 2014





Slang Deluxe Edition.

Def Leppard will release the Slang Deluxe Edition on 10th/11th February and another 1996 band interview is available to read.

Billboard interviewed Phil, Rick and Sav in April 1996 which can be read below.

Billboard - Slang Album Review May 1996

Def Leppard Shifts Gears With 'Slang' - Band Updates Sound On Mercury Album

When a band is as successful as Def Leppard, it would be understandable if it's members stuck to the same driving rock formula that has provided them with such acclaim since the early '80s.

However, on its new Mercury album, due May 14, the British quintet felt the need to break the mould. The result is "Slang," a refreshingly updated effort that still draws on Def Leppard's strength - catchy, hard rock-based guitar-driven pop melodies - but brings the band into the '90s. The group has replaced its trademark meticulous production with an edgier, more experimental sound that incorporates elements of funk, soul, alternative, and even dance music.

"There's been a lot happening in music in the last few years, and we kind of embraced all that stuff and made it our own," says guitarist Phil Collen.

"Unlike many of the '80s hard rock bands who had their moment, Def Leppard has remained vital in the '90s," say Josh Zieman, senior director of marketing at Mercury. "They were never trapped in the '80s."

That change is evident on the first single, "Work It Out," which goes to top 40, album rock, and hard rock radio the last week of April. On the crunchy, funky tune, Joe Elliott's vocals are deeper and subtler than ever before.

"That was done on purpose," says Collen. "One of the things that we're very identified by is Joe's voice, and it became, unfortunately, part of that '80s thing. Some of that style was instinctively wrong for where we are at the moment, personally and career wise and musically. So, on some songs, we got Joe to sing in a completely different way. On 'Work It Out,'' we said 'Sing like Iggy Pop, sing like Bowie, sing down there,' and he actually sounds real appealing because it's different."

The band may not have been trapped in the '80s, but the group members will be the first to admit that they were trapped in the studio. Their albums, in particular 1987's "Hysteria" and 1992's "Adrenalize," took years to record, with each layer fastidiously added.

While the band is very proud of those records, the studio process became so arduous that Collen says he seriously considered quitting the band.

"I spent four years in the studio making 'Hysteria,' and it got to the point where I'd go to the loo so I could just get out of the room. I'd get coffee and go, 'Shit, I don't want to go back in there. It's worse than working in a factory.' We'd spend months doing the same guitar riff. We started doing that again on 'Adrenalize,' and it wasn't valid at that point. That was some kind of turning point."

Although the band felt stifled by the process, the public couldn't get enough. According to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, Def Leppard is the only band to have two albums top the 9 million sales mark. "Pyromania," released in 1983, is certified for sales of more than 9 million. "Hysteria" is certified for sales of a staggering 11 million copies, while "Adrenalize" has been certified for U.S. sales of more than 3 million units. "Reto-active," a 1993 collection of B-sides and alternate tracks, has gone platinum.

By the time the band began working on "Slang," it knew it had change. The band members' first move was to part with longtime producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, opting to produce the album themselves with engineer Pete Woodroffe.

"Look, we're all best friends. I speak to Mutt all the time," says Collen. "he helped us find our direction in the first place. He put his stamp on us, and it's enabled us to work this way now. No one gets really precious about songs. I know some bands, they go, 'Well man, we're gonna change that middle eight, the chords, and the lyrics there,' and the guy in the band who wrote it goes, 'Fuck! That's my heart, man, don't touch it.' We've never had that because we worked with Mutt, and he kind of ironed that out."

For the first time in years, the band rehearsed and played the songs together in the studio instead of each coming into the studio and recording his part separately. The result is a much more live-sounding, enthusiastic album.

"It had gotten to the point where the first time we'd even play the songs as a group was at [tour] rehearsal after the album was finished," says bass player Rick Savage. "On this record, from the very start, it was definitely a conscious decision to be more like a group, to work songs out a little bit more between us rather than the guitar part down and then later, we'll add some thing else. It was all pretty much done at the same time on this record."

The band, which is signed to Mercury U.K., convened in a house in Spain in 1995 to begin writing material and rehearsing. Drummer Rick Allen arrived first and, much to the other members' surprise, set up an acoustic drum kit. Since losing his left arm in an 1984 auto accident, Allen has played an electronic kit with the band.

"I took my electronic drum kit down to Spain with every intention of using it and then when I set up the real drum kit and started playing it, the whole vibe of playing it was brilliant," says Allen. "It reminded me of why I started playing drums in the first place."

Allen's bold move energized the rest of the band. "The electronic drums were a bit of a crutch for Rick," says Collen. "I'd go around to his house and he'd have a regular kit and we'd jammed a couple of times, but he wasn't ready ready to play them in a band situation. It was for Rick to overcome, and he did. Rick overcame some personal demons, and it made the band sound better than ever before."

In the middle of recording "Slang," the band was asked by its management to consider putting out a greatest-hits album. Although it was initially reluctant, the band now thinks the November 1995 release of "Vault" was a smart move.

"It gave us a bit of time to work on 'Slang' because we were, and still are trying to break away from that image of the '80s that Def Leppard was a huge part of," says Savage. "To us, initially, it seemed like we were dragging up the past again, but then we realized that if we were ever going to put a greatest-hits album out, it would have to be then. It is closing a chapter and making some sort of statement that that was then and this is now."

The single from "Vault," the ballad "When Love And Hate Collide," reached only No.58 on the Billboard's Hot 100, but it was the band's biggest hit ever in England.

"It did exactly what we thought it would in the U.S. We didn't have any great expectations" says Collen. "We wrote it five or six years ago, but had never recorded it. It was a natural to put on 'Vault.'"

In addition to bearing a contemporary sound, "Slang" is also the first complete studio album the band has made since the death of longtime guitarist Steve Clark, who died in 1991 during the recording of "Adrenalize" after a long battle with alcohol.

Five years later, his death still haunts the band. One track on "Slang," "Blood Runs Cold," addresses Clark's relationship with the band.

"In all fairness, no one could have done more than we did as a group," says Savage. "Phil and Joe went as family members to AA meetings. Anybody who's lived closely with anybody as badly off as Steve was would recognize instantly how much it takes out of your life. It's only when we came out of the recording process of 'Adrenalize' and got halfway though the tour we started functioning as a group again. With [guitarist] Viv [Campbell] joining the group, we feel like we're firing on all cylinders again." Campbell, who also sings and writes songs, penned "Work It Out."

Mercury, which has released all the band's albums, considers itself tuned into Def Leppard's fan base. "We found that traditionally, Def Leppard sells strongest in the racks; more than 50% of their sales are from rack accounts," says Zieman. "Knowing that, we're going to have a lot of special things that we'll try to do with rack accounts. We'll also be doing promotions, contests, and advertising with all the chains that make sense."

For retailers, a new Def Leppard album means strong sales. "They're such a big band," says John Artale, buyer for Carnegie, Pa.-based National Record Mart. "Even if they only perform half or a third as well as usual, it will do well. The timing is also right. They're a good summer band."

Summer will bring a new tour by the band. The show will stress the music, not the over-the-top production the has marked their previous tours, says Savage. The band is booked by QBQ Entertainment and managed by Q Prime.

Once the tour starts, other marketing efforts will begin. "We're in discussions with Ticketmaster," says Zieman. "We're looking at [phone] advertising [that is heard] while people are on hold. We're also looking at printing inserts to send to ticket buyers who purchased tickets to shows of the same music genre."

The band will start its tour in Bombay, India, in May and will come to the U.S. for an amphitheater tour starting in June.

For Def Leppard, whose members have been together 17 years, the road is a reminder that there are still markets to conquer. "We have all of South East Asia to cover; we've never been to South America; we've never been to South Africa," says Savage. "It's great to see the popularity of the group still going up in other parts of the world. After all this time, it's nice to see that growth and see something to aim for."

All previous updates on this release and new music can be found in the Album News section.






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