Vivian Campbell didn’t write any songs on Def Leppard’s new album given that he “just wasn’t prepared”
Vivian Campbell didn’t write any songs on Def Leppard’s new album given that he “just wasn’t prepared”
Def Leppard and Last In Line guitarist Vivian Campbell was recently interviewed by Sakis Nikas for Greece’s Rock Pages. Campbell was promoting Def Leppard‘s upcoming new studio album Diamond Star Halos, which will be available on May 27, 2022.
Campbell was asked how come he didn’t write any songs for Diamond Star Halos to which he replied:
“I just wasn’t prepared. I thought we were going on tour. And like I said, I don’t have a home studio. This is my home studio, my iPhone, you know! So I keep ideas in it, but I’ve never gone to the next level. And when all of a sudden we were making a record, I just had to learn how to record. And the songs came in thick and there were so many of these 15 songs on this record. I mean, so it’s not like we were short of songs if we had seven songs and all of a sudden I’m like, Guys, we need more songs to finish an album. Then I would have gone to my iPhone and said, Okay, yeah, I got this, let’s try and mix it. But it was just coming in thick and fast. I just wasn’t prepared for the record, to be honest, but I don’t think it’s a bad record as a result. I mean, the songs are great. There’s 15 of them and it covers a lot of different musical spectrums. I think we’re good. So having said that, I do feel bad because I, you know, I feel like I just wasn’t prepared. I didn’t do my homework.”
Nikas noted that it had been 17 years since the release of Campbell‘s first solo album [Two sides of If in 2005]. In terms of whether he is considering releasing another solo album, the guitarist revealed:
“So, maybe some time in the future, hopefully the time will be right. And we’ll do that again. It has to get beyond my iPhone to do. Yeah, I know. Yes. Would be the short answer. But in reality, I mean, working with Def Leppard and working with Last In Line… you know, that keeps me pretty busy. You know, many people have said, when Covid happened and everything sort of stopped, you know, a lot of people rethought how they’re living their lives. You know, for me, it really made me realize how busy I’d been for the last ten years or so, you know, because when I wasn’t working with Def Leppard, I was on the road with Last In Line and it was just constant, constant travel, home for a day, gone again. So I really appreciated having the time off and I got to do other things in my life, you know, that I’d always wanted to do. I really got into rally driving and, you know, racing with cars. But having said that, you know, now getting back to work. We’re in L.A. at the moment rehearsing for the tour with Def Leppard. And I go home for 12 days before between rehearsal and tour. And in those 12 days I need to record guitar solos for the new Last in Line record. So it’s again, it’s just there’s so much. So I would love to make another record, but I would need to technically get my shit together and I would need to take a big block of time. And I don’t know how to do that.”
You can check out the rest of the interview with Vivian Campbell at Rock Pages‘ website and/or listen to the interview below: