JOE ELLIOTT/PHIL COLLEN On Writing DEF LEPPARD's New Song OPEN YOUR EYES

Tuesday, 12th April 2022

Def Leppard 2022

Def Leppard members Joe Elliott and Phil Collen have been interviewed about the new Diamond Star Halos album with video available.

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

As announced on 17h March it will be released on Friday 27th May 2022.

Joe and Phil spoke to Consequence's Heavy Consequence feature for a 21 minute interview promoting the Diamond Star Halos album and The Stadium Tour.

Consequence was formerly known as Consequence Of Sound.

Watch the full 21 minute interview video below.

New Song Open Your Eyes

Joe highlighted the new song Open Your Eyes as an example of how the band found new inspiration to make new music during lockdown.

One of many new songs written by Joe with Phil.

He also revealed they have at least two other new songs ready go be recorded later on in addition to the 15 on the album.

Working Remotely/Album Guests

Joe also spoke of the album guest appearances by Mike Garson and Alison Krauss along with the remote sessions.

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).

Joe Elliott/Phil Collen - April 2022 Interview Quotes

Open Your Eyes

Joe Elliott - "You were at home. So as Phil says the energy saving factor was enormous because genuinely it became like a hobby. He would, Phil would send me an MP3. Let's say...the greatest example for the entire record really is the song Open Your Eyes."

Joe Elliott - "He sent me this like minute ten riff. He said I've been out and bought a bass. And he was messing with the bass and he came up with a bass lick. Then he put some guitars over that. And that's pretty much all it was at the time."

Joe Elliott - "So I woke up to this. He's asleep. I'm listening to it going 'Yeah there's something there'. But I need a verse thing so I sent him an email back 'Can you jangle those chords?' Instead of just blaring them out really loud."

Joe Elliott - "So he did and he came up with this fantastic jangle. I mean it's just beautiful. Which is the verses. And then the part became like the chorus if you like. So me and Ronan spoke while he was asleep. Glued it together. Then when it got to the end of the second chorus, I had this epiphany of a middle eight."

Joe Elliott - "So I got my phone out and my voice memo recorder and played the chords on an acoustic guitar. Made sure that they worked. I then sent that recording to Ronan who, again Phil's still asleep, I said Ronan cut a 16 bar block into the song after the second chorus and put these chords in."

Joe Elliott - "So he programmed a bass. He played some rough guitars. Sent it back to me within the hour and put my bits over the top. Send them back to Ronan to edit into the file. Then we had this rough demo of the song which then goes to Phil."

Joe Elliott - "He wakes up to it and it's pretty much a complete song minus his solos. If it got the approval of, you know, as a song. You know all the parts. And it did."

Phil Collen - "This only took two days by the way. This whole process is two days. While we're doing other shit as well. You know like our kids going to the swimming pool. Hanging out. Whatever you know. Just having a normal life. So it was inspiring."

This Guitar/Writing Process

Joe Elliott - "Just totally. And while we were working on that song Sav is possibly playing the bass or the 12-string, fingers bleeding, on This Guitar in Sheffield."

Joe Elliott - "Me and Phil are conversing back and forth between Dublin and California. Vivian's in New England. He's possibly doing guitars on one of the other songs. And they just all bit by bit come into Ronan who's basically the postmaster."

Joe Elliott - "He's the guy that has to juggle all the mail and go 'OK which one am I gonna do today'. We just get on with it and then once Ronan pieces a song together. Sends it out to all four of us. In this awesome program called Bounce Boss. Where each song is its own file."

Joe Elliott - "You click on it. You play it. It saves every mix so you can compare mixes. And flick them between them on the fly. So you don't have to rewind back to the beginning or click back to the beginning. And then when you make your comments Bounce Boss sends an email out to everybody in the band. Saying Phil's made a comment. Joe's made a comment. And everybody just clicks on that and reads the comment."

Joe Elliott - "And it's normally like OK well I've got a great idea for a backing vocal on that section. Great go for it. There was no committee meeting like 'Oh let's hear it then'. It was like get on with it and then we'd hear it and every time it was like that's it. We know each other that well. We knew what would work."

Joe Elliott - "So we'll never go back to recording the traditional way ever again because it's so much more fun to do. It was liberating. Absolutely liberating."

Mike Garson Guest Appearance

Joe Elliott - "Me and Phil are huge fans of Mike Garson. I'd been working with Mike for four years on and off doing a bunch of Bowie tributes. So he was kind of in the orbit if you like. And after my demos were presented and my piano playing's rather rudimentary. I suggested to Phil having, you know 'cause he's right in the forefront of my mind, what about Garson. He was like yeah! because we're both huge fans of Aladdin Sane which is where we discovered him."

Joe Elliott - "And so to have Mike on board is something again we might not have done but it was absolutely the right thing to do now."

Alison Krauss Guest Appearance

Joe Elliott - "And the same thing when we brought Alison Krauss in because again huge fan. Been around in our little world on and off for 30 years. And about bloody time you know. So we were very open minded to everything that happened."

Buy 'Diamond Star Halos' Online

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

Diamond Star Halos - Tracklisting

01 - Take What You Want - 4:14
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