Subject: LepLine Vol 2. Issue 1, pg 1 Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 19:24:48 -0400 (EDT) From: "Melanie A Papcun" LEPLINE WHERE ARE THEY? Joe: "We have rented a villa in the South of Spain. We cleared out all the furniture and brought in our own recording equipment. We opted for a house rather than a studio because we wanted a relaxed atmosphere...without any receptionists, studio owners or other grown-ups!" WHO IS PRODUCING THE ALBUM? Phil: "We are producing it with Pete Woodroffe who worked with us on Adrenalize and more recently on RetroActive." SO NO MUTT LANGE THEN? Phil: "No! The experience of recording RetroActive gave us the impetus to record some new material in a similar fashion....a little more spontaneous!" WHERE DID THE BAND COME UP WITH THE NAME 'SLANG'? Joe: "phil thought of it! We wanted a title that had a good ring to it. Seeing that as Rock 'N' Roll and indeed this album is steeped in slang...we thought it was a cool title!" IS THE ALBUM FINISHED THEN? Sav: "No not yet! We have been working on about 16 songs. They are all in various stages of undress but we hope to have about a dozen songs 'done anddusted' before the end of the year!" ARE THE SONGS TYPICAL LEPPARD SOUNDING? Phil: "No! Our approach has been very different. We have been putting some of the backing tracks on tape live, as a band. Rick Allen has gone back to playing a real drum kit, for the first time since his accident. As you can imagine this created a great vibe in the studio (House). We have tried to develop lyrically, and musically the album is very varied. However...you can still hear it's us!" VIV, HOW HAVE YOU FOUND RECORDING YOUR FIRST LEPPARD STUDIO ALBUM? Viv: "It is great fun being in the studio with the lads at last on a full album but I never thought it would be so different from how have recorded albums before. We do EVERYTHING by committee. I knew it would be difficult for any guitarist to come and work with a band that had been established so long and had produced such great work before. Everyone is still going through a learning experience They are learning to work with Pete and not Mutt and I am learning to work with Pete and them. My experiences of recording in the past were a lot less complicated... not necessarily better...but definitely a lot less complicated. In the bands I have been in before we used to all go into the studio together and almost write the song as we played live. We would have the main structure and melody nailed the first day. We would then come back and record the new parts, changed parts, vocals, etc. In contrast, the Leps are much more precise. We record each song bit by bit until it is right. It can be weeks before we hear a song through with the vocals. I find I have to come home and have a break. A metamorphosis occurs. I get home write a couple of songs and go back. The band always seem pleased with the stuff I bring back. I am on break at the moment but that is also due to my back. I have had had a bad back for at least a year but never really done anything about it. The other night it totally gave way whilst playing football...got to play football, it's what life is all about, surely! Anyway....I am pretty crocked at the moment so I might not get back before the band leave at the end of the month." "On reflection it is avery difficult time for the band at the moment. We are going through our own period of evolution. We are completely changing our style and finding our new identity for the nineties. We are dumping the coporate pressure and restrcitions we had at the end of the eighties and are now writing and playing how we want. Well...as this is all going on I am still trying to find my own role as the 'New' Leppard." VIV, HOW ARE THE SONGS THAT HAVE BEEN RECORDED SO FAR? "Excellent! I liek a lot of the songs we already have down. there are 16 or so that we are working on. We spend a lot of time stylising a song. You can take ANY song and stylise it into a different mould. That mould could be Pop, garage, rock, country, alternative....in fact anything. We are paying vast amount of attention to the modern nineties sound. We are really on the case as far as knowing what sounds nineties and modern and what sounds dated. We sift through all the chaff and just log in our memory banks what is appropriate. When you get into the studio you can then hear those influences in our work. It is a really excellent approach and it is producing a very New Leppard sound. The three main aspects of a song are always, as far as I am concerned,...Music...Melody...Lyrics. I think that my biggest difference working with the Leps has been stylising. For example...I wrote a song called 'Work It Out'.The demo version is totally different from the studio version we have now. The studio version is much better. As a band we gave it a very different treatment in the studio and we now have a cracking song. The other song that comes to mind is "All I Want Is Everything". The studio treatment was, once again, very different from the demo style. I really like what we have doneso far...I just can't wait to play them live. I will probably try writing some new stuff as soon as my back has eased and pop into a studio and record demos and then join the lads later when we go to the mixing studio." As you can glean from above, the album is very different from anything you have heard before. The band are working flat out to try and complete it. It is the fact that they are always on the pinnacle of a new sound always produce excellently played songs with a gripping melody that we we know it will be worth the wait. New songs, a new Leppard sound, a nineties Leppard labum...that is ...SLANG. copyright Def Leppard Rock Squad 1995. --------------------------------------------------------------- Melanie :) papcunme@student.msu.edu