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Def Leppard Tour History Fan Archive.
Slang Countdown 5 - Classic 1996 Joe/Phil Interview

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014





Slang Deluxe Edition 2014.

Def Leppard will release the Slang Deluxe Edition on 10th/11th February in the UK/US and a 1996 interview with Joe and Phil is available to read.

The interview was done in the midst of their June-September 1996 North American tour in support of the original 1996 album.

Slang Interview - 17th October 1996 USA Today

Def Leppard updates its voice with 'Slang'

Def Leppard is no stranger to ecstasy or agony. The British band has sold 40 million albums worldwide - and has suffered devastating losses.

In the midst of making Hysteria in 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash. Guitarist Steve Clark died after an alcohol binge during 1991's Adrenalize sessions.

With Slang, its sixth studio album, the dominant lite metal band of the '80s now faces the challenge of finding a niche in the grunge-absorbed '90s.

"We've never had big hair, but we get lumped with all the poodle rockers," singer Joe Elliott laments, noting that his band endured by refusing to join the Def Leppard copycats. "We evolved, but we got a bad rap because other bands imitated us, the same way that Bush and Everclear followed Nirvana."

Though the Leps outlasted their impersonators, they were stained by the genre's image.

"There's a lot of hate toward the '80s stuff," guitarist Phil Collen says. "Inane lyrics, power drums and polished pop metal were valid in the '80s. But times changed, and we changed too."

Last year's Vault, a greatest hits collection that underscores the band's knack for tidy pop hooks, has been on Billboard's chart for 37 weeks. Slang signals a shift toward diversity, from the soulful Breathe a Sigh and the psychedelic Pearl of Euphoria to the Middle Eastern exoticism of Turn to Dust.

The band's current U.S. tour showcases oldies (Photograph, Rocket, Foolin') and fresh cuts in a 20-song display of crisp musicianship and pop euphoria.

The feel-good vibe, which dramatically counters Seattle-bred gloom, may result from "the weird fact that we all love our parents," Collen jokes. "Joe's mom glued the sleeves of our first singles. My dad was my roadie. We had no reason to be miserable and rebellious."

Their initial enthusiasm hasn't waned, because "you never lose the hunger," Elliott says. "Until we formed a band, all of us were destined to be factory workers."

Adds Collen: "We got together to create a hybrid of our favorite bands: the rock of Led Zeppelin, the glam of David Bowie, the coolness of T. Rex. That really still motivates us."

Friendship also bonds Elliott, Collen, Allen, bassist Rick Savage and guitarist Vivian Campbell.

"We've stayed together while our personal lives fell apart," Elliott says. He's divorced, as is Collen. Allen recently pleaded innocent to a charge of spousal battery. Elliott faced a similar charge earlier but won't discuss specifics, saying only, "Reports have been highly exaggerated in the English papers by those scumbags with their Canon lenses."

Romantic ties inevitably fray under the band's consuming responsibilities.

"Whoever you're with has to really understand and be patient and love you to death, because that person always gets the leftovers," Elliott says.

The 17-year Leppard marriage survives, even thrives, on bickering. Each bandmate pens songs "that get ripped to pieces," Collen says. "No one takes it personally and says, 'Wait, this is my art.' There's no place for that kind of ego."

Instead, individual contributions are "Leppardized," Elliott says. The original idea and end result are as different as My Way versions by Frank Sinatra and Sid Vicious. The Leppard mantra: our way.

Slang's collaborative process was eased by the recording location: a rented villa in Marbella, Spain, that allowed the players to gaze out the window at the Rock of Gibraltar.

"It was the best recording experience ever," Collen says. "I refuse ever again to sit in a studio, a dungeon, for three years. We want to have fun."

Without high studio costs and outside interference, the band felt the freedom to stretch and experiment. "Call us what you want, but we're not pop puppets," Elliott says.

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

  • 2CD Album Listing @ - Amazon.com - 11th February 2014
  • Double Vinyl Album Listing @ - Amazon.com - 11th February 2014
  • 2CD Album Listing @ - Amazon.co.uk - 27th January 2014
  • Double Vinyl Album Listing @ - Amazon.co.uk - 11th February 2014 (Import)





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