The Classic Rock office had a welcome visitor this morning – none other than Phil Collen, guitarist with Def Leppard.

Collen was here to do an interview for an upcoming CR Podcast. But the subject matter wasn’t Leppard – rather, it was Collen’s side-project, Man-Raze.

Man-Raze, in case you don’t know, is a three-piece featuring Collen, bassist Simon Laffy (Collen’s old bandmate in his pre-Leppard band, Girl) and Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook.

Man-Raze have been described as a rock version of The Police. Or a poppy Nirvana. Either way, we wholeheartedly recommend that you check out their debut album, Surreal.

Geoff Barton first met Collen when he (i.e Collen) was a member of the aforementioned Girl, and the duo (i.e. Barton and Collen) enjoyed reminiscing about those early, glammy days.

Barton said: “I first came across Girl when I was ushered into the offices of Jet Records to see a film of them playing live. It was so long ago, they weren’t even called videos then!”

Collen recalled: “I enjoyed my time with Girl, even though we used to get spat at a lot.

“But yes, I know the film you mean. It was shot in a sleazy strip club, if memory serves. You can see clips on YouTube, in fact. Sometimes when I’m on the road with Leppard, the road crew will upload the offending videos just to embarrass me!”

Hmm. Now there’s an idea…

Watch out for our Phil Collen Podcast, coming to this website soon.