2 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Release The DIAMOND STAR HALOS Album

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Monday, 27th May 2024

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Def Leppard 2022

Def Leppard's first new album in seven years Diamond Star Halos was released on this day in 2022 worldwide.

'Diamond Star Halos' is the band's 12th studio album.

The first studio album since 2015 was announced on 17th March and then released on 27th May 2022.

The album had been recorded remotely in Ireland, USA and England during 2020 to 2021 after the pandemic saw the 2020 and 2021 Stadium Tours postponed.

The first single 'Kick' was released on the same day as the album announcement.

This was followed by 'Take What You Want' and 'Fire It Up' ahead of the album's release.

The album was released some two months after they had secretly visited Abbey Road studios to watch The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra record their parts for the then unannounced 'Drastic Symphonies' album.

An album eventually released on 19th May 2023.

Read some quotes about the album's origin and recording below.

And the various track listings for all versions.

Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).

Diamond Star Halos - May 2022 Interview Quotes - (Transcribed by dltourhistory)

Seven Years Since Last Studio Album

Joe Elliott

"Yeah it's a funny one really because we weren't planning on making an album until lockdown."

Phil Collen

"We were forced into it yeah."

Joe Elliott

"But at the same time, had it not been for the fact that the pandemic lasted so long it would have been out last year. So it would only have been a six year break."

"But it probably would have been eight years if we hadn't have had the pandemic in the first place."

Joe Elliott

"You know so it' a really strange situation that we found ourselves in but glad to have it done and out there."

Who came up with the artwork?/Album Title

Joe Elliott

"Well Phil came up with the title. We'd been flapping around for a while of what to call the album. A couple got rejected. Some never even made it past first base. But then he just went 'Oh sod it let's just call it Diamond Star Halo'."

"Which is a phrase that we use quite often to explain a lyric atyle. Or an era in time. You know Diamond Star Halo is a - it's the part line out of the song Bang A Gong by T. Rex. Which were the band themselves were a huge influence on us."

"And the 70s was a recurring theme on the way that the songs were developing on the album. So as soon as he said it."

"I'll never forget this. We were all on a conference call. Not on Zoom, just phone. And when he said 'Oh let's just call it Diamond Star Halo'. There was silence for about six or seven seconds. And you could almost hear everybody's cogs going round."

"And then there was this collective 'Yeah that's great!'. And then somebody suggested we pluralise Halo with Halos. And boom we had it you know."

"And from there onwards it kind of started - it led us down the path for the artwork didn't it."

"I think I said - I keep seeing tattoos. Not Popeye the sailor man type things on a big muscley arm. But some kind of tarot card tattoo thing and we just expanded from there you know. And we got Olly Munden. Part of the team The Munden Brothers."

"They were a suggestion from the label in fairness, Universal. And they said we really like these guys. And we were very open to engage with anybody with positive suggestions. Didn't have to come from us."

"And they started bouncing a few ideas round and when they sent the roughs over. Even though they said look these are real basic ideas we could see that there was a little spark there. It's like yeah we're going in the right direction here."

"So we let them get on with it and they came up with a fantastic sleeve."

Diamond Star Halos Title

Phil Collen

"Not even slightly. Me and Joe always refer to that era don't we that we got baptized into music if you like. We were at around 12 or 14 years old. It was the 70s there was one, two TV shows in England. Top Of The Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test. And that's really where it was like kind of a Mecca for us."

"We'd go this is amazing. And I remember seeing David Bowie as Joe did on Top Of The Pops and T. Rex and everything. And that era. We're always going oh that's hubcap diamond star halo. Which as a line in Get It On (Bang A Gong) doesn't really make sense, but it totally makes sense if you know what I mean."

"So that was perfect for us."

Joe Elliott

"It makes sense to us."

70s Influence/Sound On Album/Remote Recording

Joe Elliott

"And it was organic. It was completely organic. You know the more you talk about the record and the more you delve back into how the process of the album came along. And because it was done in such an odd way and without technology impossible way to do."

"It's got an organic natural feel about it. You know the fact that we were in isolation. Offered each one of us individually a comfort zone. Even though we were pushing the boundaries of our own expectations."

"So it's a real weird juxtaposition that we were in our own homes. Instead of these guys being the greatest guests I've ever had in my house. And me being obviously the greatest host they've ever had."

"There's something about the fact that if I'm singing a song these guys are sitting around my house. They're not sitting around their own or getting on with something else."

"On this album we were collectively working on this album all the time. Individually we may of only been doing five, six, seven hours a week because you were living life with your family. And you weren't allowed to do certain things."

"Phil would take his kid to the park because you're still allowed to go out and exercise. I've got a big garden I didn't have to do that."

"And I had somebody staying with me that could take my kids into the garden so I could get on with making the record. And we were eight hours apart time zone wise ."

"He's in California. I was in Dublin, Ireland. And that again worked to our advantage because while I'm asleep he's working away on something. And I wake up to it in my inbox."

"He goes to bed and I work on it and send it back to him and he wakes up to it in his inbox. And we were playing Tennis with these songs like that all the way through making this album."

Starting The Album In March 2020

Joe Elliott

"Which again, I'm going back again now, March 2020 we didn't realise we were making an album. We were thrown into this Pandemic lockdown. And came up with an alternative plan to them coming over to me."

"Literally in 30, 40 minutes on the phone. I said what are we gonna do now?. And it's like OK well why don't we try and just do it over the Internet."

"You know I've got these finished songs. he said Oh really, I've got some as well. How many have you got Phil?. Three, four by the time I requested This Guitar which dates back to 2003. And I've been dying to sing it ever since I first heard it."

"I had three. So we instantly had seven. When we brought everybody else on board. Sav says well I've got two on the go. Great we've got nine songs on day one."

"And because we weren't five alpha males in one room everybody had the time and space to work on their own material."

"And we, it wasn't reluctance at all but we instantly accepted the fact that if he said I've got a song. He's got a song. Not an idea to a song that we might need to Leppardise it, change this."

"No, it is what it is. I've got a song written on a Ukulele. I've got a song, two songs written on the piano. OK. If we were in the same room they would have tried to transpose the piano parts into guitars. We both agree to that."

"It would probably have happened. But because we did it this way it didn't. Which instantly expanded our horizons massively. Yet as I said earlier on somehow put us into a comfort zone of being able to do that without the peer pressure of our own selves."

"Looking at each other going what have you got?. Why are we gonna work on your song first?. Etc. We're not that competitive, but it just took away this usual situation that we're in like which one are we gonna do first."

"Then somebody has to put their hand up and say let's do mine or let's do his. We just worked on them all at the same time. It was Ronan McHugh the co-producer who had all the work to do."

"Because he had the job of weeding through our performances, the takes of the song and gueing them all together. But as disjointed as this might sound to somebody watching that has never done what we've done."

Buy 'Diamond Star Halos' Online

Amazon - Regular CD
Amazon - Deluxe CD
Amazon - Vinyl
Amazon - MP3

Diamond Star Halos (Deluxe) - Tracklisting

01 - Take What You Want - 4:14 - (Rick Savage/Joe Elliott) - Amazon - (MP3)
02 - Kick - 3:42 - (Collen) - Amazon - (MP3)
03 - Fire It Up - 3:19
04 - This Guitar [feat. Alison Krauss] - 3:50
05 - SOS Emergency - 3:25
06 - Liquid Dust - 4:01
07 - U Rok Mi - 3:33
08 - Goodbye For Good This Time - 4:27
09 - All We Need - 4:46
10 - Open Your Eyes - 4:19
11 - Gimme A Kiss - 3:12
12 - Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - 4:57
13 - Lifeless [feat. Alison Krauss] - 4:19 - (Collen/Elliott)
14 - Unbreakable - 3:46
15 - From Here To Eternity - 5:37

16 - Goodbye For Good This Time (Avant-Garde Mix)

17 - Lifeless (Joe Only version)

Producer - Def Leppard
Producer - Ronan McHugh
Release Date - 27th May 2022

Diamond Star Halos - Regular Japanese Tracklisting

01 - Take What You Want - 4:14
02 - Kick - 3:42
03 - Fire It Up - 3:19
04 - This Guitar [feat. Alison Krauss] - 3:50
05 - SOS Emergency - 3:25
06 - Liquid Dust - 4:01
07 - U Rok Mi - 3:33
08 - Goodbye For Good This Time - 4:27
09 - All We Need - 4:46
10 - Open Your Eyes - 4:19
11 - Gimme A Kiss - 3:12
12 - Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - 4:57
13 - Lifeless [feat. Alison Krauss] - 4:19
14 - Unbreakable - 3:46
15 - From Here To Eternity - 5:37

16 - Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - (Stripped Version)

17 - This Guitar (Joe Only version)