Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen has been interviewed by Brisbane newspaper The Courier Mail. Def Leppard play Brisbane this November as part of their first Australian tour for 16 years. Phil talks about the new album 'Songs From The Sparkle Lounge', the bands history and Tim McGraw.

Def Leppard are guitar heroes once again

"I think it's down to the timing. If we'd have done a standard Def Leppard album that was based on ballads and stuff like that, it wouldn't have had the same attention. It's a rock album that some people deem as being a bit of a brave move.

"But we didn't think of it like that, this is what we wanted to do. By being very natural and not trying to please other people, anyone really, even fans or record company executives, I think there's a certain amount of integrity that shines through."

"(McGraw) said 'I'd love to work with you guys,' and I had that in the back of my head. I ran into him at one of our shows at the Hollywood Bowl and I sang him a bit of it. Before you knew it we had the basis of it, and then it was doing bits and pieces.

"It was a year before he'd done his vocal on it. It took a bit of time but it was pretty cool, it wasn't a hack song-writing thing, it was born out of fun and a bit of real inspiration really. It was the right reasons for doing it."

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Full Interview -- Here