Def Leppard News - DEF LEPPARD's VIVIAN CAMPBELL In Good Health/To Continue Immunotherapy

Saturday, 26th August 2017

DEF LEPPARD's VIVIAN CAMPBELL In Good Health/To Continue Immunotherapy

By Chele Drappel

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell was interviewed last month and shared some good news about his health.

Vivian, who celebrated his 55th birthday yesterday, spoke to Mitch Lafon in July for the Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon podcast.

Vivian talked about the Riverdogs, their California album, band history, his first concert (Rory Gallagher), Gary Moore, leaving Whitesnake, his time in DIO, British 80s rock scene, Shadow King, his first band Sweet Savage, Last In Line second album plans, Def Leppard and his health.

Vivian gives some great news about his health. If you recall he said last year, in November, that the two year clinical trial he was a part of would end this summer and he might have to stop taking the drug Pembrolizumab and might have to consider other options including possibly radiation.

He now says the drug is FDA approved and so he can continue to take it and that his body responds to it and his health is in good shape. Good news not only for himself and his family but in terms of continuing to record and perform with Def Leppard, Last In Line and Riverdogs.

All the more reason to celebrate the Oh Yeah Legend Award he will receive in November in Belfast which 'recognises the exceptional contribution of a musician or music industry figure from Northern Ireland'.

Listen to the full 41 minute interview via the radio link. Vivian's part started at 13:18mins in and lasted until 54:07 mins.

He also says he will start the recording the second Last In Line album in a few weeks.

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

Rock Talk - Vivian Campbell Interview Quotes

His Current Health Status

"Well I'm very lucky but it's still ongoing for me. For the last two years I've been doing a process called Immunotherapy. It's part of a Phase II clinical trial taking this amazing new drug called Pembrolizumab which just recently got FDA approved for Hodgkin's Lymphoma which is the cancer I have. So I literally just finished. I had my last infusion last week and it's a great boon for cancer patients because for me personally I'm one of the very fortunate 20 to 30 percent of the population that have a specific DNA marker. I think it's called PDL1 which means that my body actually responds to it."

"And I know it doesn't work for everyone but my body responds to it with absolute minimal side effects and I'm able to continue my life and my work. Which is a big big part of the process for me because if I were sidelined by things to where I couldn't work, it would kill me because you are what you do and I've always been a musician and I always, that's part of the reason why I keep so busy with all these different projects. I mean music has always been my lifeblood. You know to be out there playing guitar, writing songs with great creative people and getting that feedback from an audience is what keeps me going you know."

"So I've been very fortunate with this and like I said the drug was just recently in March FDA approved so I'm gonna be able to continue to take it beyond the clinical trial and I get an infusion about once a month and life goes on and it's all good. So in that regard I am one of the lucky ones but I only mention it because I do need to schedule - you know I've had over the last couple of years I've flown from Singapore to LA. From London to LA. From New York to LA. I've flown from all over the world to go back to LA to get an infusion only to go straight from the hospital back to the airport. Fly to rejoin the tour you know. So the most difficult aspect I gotta say in all honesty is has been the scheduling you know. Certainly not the side effects."

Last In Line Second Album

"Riverdogs and then Def Leppard scheduled this tour, that we just wrapped up you know. So it kinda did usurp a little bit of the time. We're about fifty percent into the Last In Line album. We've got about fifty percent of it written. We'll be getting together in the next couple of weeks to do some more shows. We'll do some more writing. We actually have a start date. We're going back into the studio, again with Jeff Pilson to produce. We start on 11th September I believe is our first tracking date. But given the rate for Jeff's schedule and our schedule it probably won't be delivered until December. So it would be early 2018 before it gets out."

"But it is coming and the new songs are really interesting. I mean you can really, I can really hear the growth of the band. And the growth of the style of the songwriting is great. You know some of the arrangements are a bit more complex than they were on the first album. And it's been a real joy I gotta say."

Sweet Savage/Def Leppard Influence

"One of the things that really inspired me was Def Leppard's rise and the fact that this band up in Sheffield, you know, we're a couple of hundred miles north of London where all the real action was, where Iron Maiden where. You know that they'd independently released an EP and somehow gotten it to John Peel at BBC and he'd played it on his show. And that had led to Geoff Barton of Sounds driving up the motorway to see the band play and give them a feature story. You know so I was very inspired by that. That they'd taken this whole DIY route. And I was very much aware of this and I was very much a Leppard fan and I appreciated all that they were doing right from day one."

No Riverdogs Live Shows

"I'm going back out with Leppard in late September. I'm starting the second Last In Line album 11th September. And in between now and then I'm going to Europe for two and a half weeks with the Last In Line and we also have some US, a handful of US shows before that."

Listen to the full interview at - podcastone.com
Def Leppard - Rock Talk 2017 Show Page
Def Leppard - Radio 2017
Def Leppard - Vivian Campbell Section
Previous Show - 25th August 2017
Back

share this story:

get def leppard news

Stay in touch with the latest updates.

Subscribe to the RSS feed

Subscribe to the Mailing List

explore def leppard tour history