Def Lep wouldn’t make it now

Not now: Phil Collen

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen believes his band wouldn’t make it to the big time if they were starting out now.

And he thinks their next album will be released without having been worked on in a studio.

Drawing from their recent experience of beginning to re-record their back catalogue in the style of “genuine forgeries,” he insists the record can be made on the road.

Collen tells PennLive.com: “I don’t think we’ll go into a studio – you can pretty much do it in a trailer. We’ve recorded a bunch of stuff while on tour. That might be the way to go, to not take a whole block of time and say, ‘We’re going to record for a year.’”

The band have already written tracks for what will be their 10th studio album, which Collen describes as “really cool, hard rock stuff,” and he adds that there’s less pressure to complete a full-length record in today’s environment. “It’s more singles based,” he says. “You don’t have to put an album out – you can put a song out here and there.”

Another aspect of the modern world is that Def Lep wouldn’t make it today, the guitarist reflects. “Definitely not – times have changed.

“It was a time and a place, and you have to be aware of that. The fact we’re out there still touring and writing new music is fascinating. I think we’re really blessed.”

And Collen believes they’re still around today because of their integrity – something he thinks a lot of other bands lack. “They go away after a while and we’ve never stopped,” he says. “We are real; we walk it and talk it. The fact we’ve known each other for so long and gone through so many experiences, good and bad, keeps us very tight.

“We’re from a working-class background in England. I’ve known lots of other bands and they’re weak in the way they approach things – the get upset over the slightest little thing.

“I think there’s something about us that keeps you going. The things that make other bands split up don’t even register with us.”

But he adds: “Writing new material is the lifeblood.”