==================================================================== Main Event Vivian Campbell Comes Full Circle ----------------------------------- By Brett Ratner Vivian Campbell looks more like an alterna rocker than a metalhead these days. Upon meeting the legendary riff-meister responsible for powering the music of Ronnie Dio and later David Coverdale's Whitesnake, you notice some profound changes have gone on since his "hair band" days. The aforementioned tresses are straight and un-teased while the leather and spandex have given way to casual t-shirts and Airwalk sneakers. When he speaks, his thick Irish accent serves as vehicle to politely-spoken, eloquent, unpretentious sentences, singing the praise of Clapton, Beck, Gilmore and many other decidedly non-metal players. You can't help but think that this person could just as easily be a member of The Cranberries, maybe U2, or even just a regular guy. These changes have permeated his playing as well, which made him a perfect choice to join Def Leppard. Truly a group known for their survival skills, this band has weathered the loss of a guitarist, the drummer's right arm and the rapidly changing currents of popular music. The mere fact that they are still playing to stadium-sized audiences testifies to their talent, dedication, ability to evolve and especially their songwriting. This is just fine with Campbell, who hung with The Amplifier right before soundcheck at Nashville's Starwood Ampitheater. The band is smack in the middle of their "None More Black" tour in support of their recent album S.L.A.N.G. and the single "All I Want Is Everything." Despite his busy schedule and offer from his band mates to join in a soccer match, he seemed more than happy to expound on the virtues of playing for the song, focusing on touch versus chops, connecting with an audience and especially the need for a solid-playing instrument. "This is a song-oriented band because I'm a pop fan at heart. Def Leppard writes great songs," Campbell said, noting that a song-oriented band requires a different approach to guitar. "Playing wise, the parts in the songs are just that. In most hard rock bands, you have two guitar players, they tend to be playing the same thing. Both playing rhythm guitar, you know, double live double track and one takes a solo while the other takes rhythm. For the majority of Def Leppard songs, there are actually parts. If Phil (Collin) is playing a riff in 'A,' I'll play it in another register just to add texture to it or we actually have two separate but integrated parts. It's a lot more orchestrated that way. It's probably not a challenging playing guitar in Def Leppard as it was in Dio for obvious reasons. Number one, there is another guitar player. There's half the work right there. Also Dio was very much a guitar-based band. Def Leppard is much more about the songs." Campbell contends that when playing in a song-oriented band, catching the right emotional vibe is more important than being able to pull off the heavy licks. "It's not a mechanical thing with me, it's where my head's at," Campbell said. "It has nothing to do with how my fingers are working or if I'm properly warmed up. It's how I feel in relation to the audience. It's one thing to be a musician, it's another to be an entertainer. There has to be a little entertainer in a musician, otherwise you may as well listen to the record. People come to a show for a reason. They want to experience a different energy that you don't get from the dimension of something that's pre-recorded. It's a very visual thing too. We expend a reasonable amount of energy up there. We're leaping around, and your playing suffers when you're acting the clown, but some nights, I can be totally clowning around, my playing can be horrendous but I can still have a great show. It depends on how I feel, it's all in my head." According to Campbell, getting in the right head space is facilitated by a solid guitar. Campbell was known for pointy guitars with whammies in the '80s, but he says he's back to his original setup again. "If you go back far enough, I started playing Les Pauls," Campbell said, who currently tours with a number of Les Pauls, including a Custom Shop '57 Gold Top Reissue and a '57 Black Beauty Reissue. He also uses a J-200 acoustic "When I play chords, I vibrato my chords. So I play at lot more in tune on a Les Paul. It's a solid thing and a more natural sustain. I had to rearrange my playing a bit, but it's worth it. There's more integrity in the way I play when I play a more solid instrument like a Les Paul." Campbell says the change in guitars inspires him to play more appropriate guitar parts, in other words to play things that make people go "ahhh" instead of "wow." Campbell believes more players need to adopt this philosophy. "A lot of guitar players miss the point of what they're doing," Campbell said. "The primary reason they are there is to play music and play songs. It's not about the athleticism of how fast your fingers can coordinate. It's a musical thing and an emotional thing." Campbell practices what he preaches, noting that he has dug up the old blues and rock records that made him want to play in the first place. He tries to incorporate these influences into his own work. "I've come full circle," Campbell said. "When I practice now, I practice my vibrato." ----------------------------------- Brought to you by Gibson Guitars and the WebGuys. Copyright 1995 Gibson Guitar 1818 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville, Tennessee 37210 USA. All rights reserved. http://www.gibson.com/magazines/amplifier/9-96/mainevent/main-event.html