Def Leppard's Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell were recently interviewed by The Japan Times newspaper whilst in Tokyo on the Japanese tour. They spoke about touring, recording and Taylor Swift.

Interview Excerpts

"I'm knackered!" announces guitarist Phil Collen the morning after. "With jet lag! Normally we Zen out about it, three hours sleep and bang. But I definitely sensed a bit of drag in our ass!"

"We have a trainer who comes with us," explains Collen, a vegan for 25 years. "He's the European Champion at Muay Thai kick-boxing, so I do everything - weights, spin-bike; really hardcore!"

A laughing Campbell retorts, "I eat all the pies and drink the beer!"

"On the 'Hysteria' tour, we played the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky on Halloween," recalls Collen. "It was a 23,000-capacity arena and we had just 3,000! People were all dressed up but we were really depressed that no one was there. That was grim! Fortunately the record then did what it did (selling 20 million copies) and we came back (to the Rupp Arena) and filled it!"

Today, Leppard have adapted better than most to the new music climate, and they are cautiously happy at the way the music industry has developed.

"Albums are not as important; it's not as critical as it used to be," explains Campbell.

"You can bang out stuff on your laptop now where you would have spent gazillions of dollars in a studio (back then)," adds Collen. Referring to the band's trademark multilayered guitar sounds, he laments, "If Mutt had had (music-editing software) 'Pro Tools' back then, we'd have got that done in six months!"

"Technology is great, but it's taken away the mystery, and that's taken the shine off of modern music. Now, personally, I am a little skeptical if it's real," says Campbell. "That's what's great about Motown records: You are hearing the sound of a room. Now, with any medium, including visual, it's too easy to manipulate."

Collen counters, "I disagree a little bit, because what you get now is artists having a direct relationship with their music. You are not bogged down by the bullshit of a label or an A & R guy or a producer."

"Apparently when she (Swift) was young, her mum was forcing us on her, so she's got this delusional dream that we are actually good," jokes Campbell. For her part, Swift has described it as a "dream come true."

Def Leppard's appetite is very much unsatisfied, and their days are clearly far from numbered. Collen, for one, is feeling better than ever about their prospects.

"I can remember when we kicked off 'Hysteria.' I was 29 and I (felt like we were) old fogies, but I don't feel that now. I'll be 51 in December but I feel probably better now than I did then, and if you've got an itch to scratch, you have to do it!"
© The Japan Times 2008.

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