http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=4196788c-88c5-4760-bacd-15ed7cd8b68a

Rock Steady

Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

You would think a near-legendary band like Def Leppard would be certain of 
their rock-star status. After all, they're the ones behind such fist-pumping 
anthems as Rock of Ages, Photograph and Pour Some Sugar on Me, and have sold 
millions of albums around the world.

They've been at it for more than 30 years and have survived death (guitarist 
Steve Clark died in 1991) and dismemberment (drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in 
a car accident in 1984 and plays with a modified drum kit). And though their 
old songs endure on classic-rock radio stations, the band, which comprises 
singer Joe Elliott, guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, bassist Rick 
Savage and drummer Allen, is still a creatively viable entity. In fact, a new 
disc is due for release later this month, and the first single, a collaboration 
with country superstar Tim McGraw, is already a hit.

Plus, the touring never stops. Def Leppard is headlining a major arena 
excursion with fellow 1980s survivors R.E.O. Speedwagon and Styx (featuring 
Canada's Lawrence Gowan) that's making its way across North America. Pulling 
into Ottawa on Saturday, it's the hottest ticket of the season -- a sold-out 
show with more than 15,000 fans expected at Scotiabank Place. The buzz is 
deafening.

With things going this well, you'd expect the band members to be on top of the 
world, fairly convinced they're doing something right. But, as guitarist Collen 
revealed in a recent phone interview, "It's never a slam dunk."

As an example, he refers to the band's last disc of new material, 2002's X, 
which did not sell well.

"We thought it was great and no one heard the bloody thing," he says. "We tried 
so hard. It's kind of frustrating when you try your hardest and unfortunately 
nothing ever came of that one."

It wasn't the loss of income that bothered him, but the fact that it didn't 
reach an audience.

"Being an artist, part of it is sharing with other people and actually 
completing the circle," Collen says. "That's the thing, we constantly strive 
for that. You win some, and sometimes you don't and so it's a constant battle."

The fight continues with Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, due for release this 
month. It was recorded while touring over the last couple of years, and 
co-produced with the band's front-of-house engineer, Ronan McHugh. Sparkle 
Lounge was the name of the backstage nook set up to give them a place to be 
creative.

To record on the road, "obviously you have to really apply yourself," explains 
Collen. "We went into this little area ... it's backstage, could be anywhere. 
It's been a trailer, it's been a bathroom. The sparkle lounge has an electronic 
drum kit and some stuff in there. It worked out really well. We certainly got 
the feel of the album while we were on tour, and it was just a matter of 
finishing it off between tours."

This month's album launch means a busy schedule for the Brit rockers. In 
addition to tour dates, there are television appearances on Dancing With the 
Stars (they will be playing on April 29, not dancing) and Jimmy Kimmel Live on 
April 30. And with Leppard songs expected on new versions of the video games 
Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the familiar riffs will be soon be even more 
pervasive.

While all of this gives the sense they might have ramped up the marketing 
strategy, Collen says the push is about the same as last time, when they 
launched X. Faced with the declining fortunes of the music industry, they 
learned there are no guarantees that an album will be a success, even if it has 
a powerful label behind it.

Still, Collen has a good feeling about Songs from the Sparkle Lounge. The 
single, Nine Lives, is a meat-and-potatoes rock song made even meatier with 
McGraw's voice. It's already hit the top spot on rock-radio charts in the U.S.

There's virtually no hint of country on the song, by the way. "In the back of 
my head, I had this idea for a song but I knew we couldn't go country," Collen 
says. "But we could go bluesy-rootsy. How I described it was AC/DC doing Start 
me Up by the Stones."

In other words, it rocks, a fact that bodes well for the new disc. Any other 
themes or new directions? "I think the main part of it is it still sounds like 
Def Leppard," says Collen. "That's where we wanted to go with that."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008