http://www.projo.com/music/content/artsun-leppard_04-06-08_I59L0SS_v14.1e5d574.html

This Leppard learns to update its spots

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, April 6, 2008

BY RICK MASSIMO
Journal Pop Music Writer

The platinum-selling British pop-metal act Def Leppard is hitting the road for 
the fourth year in a row, and coming to Providence Wednesday with a new record 
and a new attitude. A couple of new attitudes, in fact.

Guitarist Viv Campbell says the new record, Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, is a 
return to the Def Leppard formula - "There's no mistaking any of the songs, 
because we have a very distinctive sound that's driven by our vocals," 
particularly lead singer Joe Elliott - but with a new method.

The new album was written largely in a backstage area (lit with little 
Christmas lights, hence the title) on the road, but Campbell says the most 
important new influence on the making of this record was Def Leppard's previous 
record, Yeah!, the 2006 collection of '60s and '70s rock covers that got the 
band members into playing music in the first place.

Making the Yeah! record, walking in other bands' footsteps, was fast and 
enjoyable, Campbell says. "We really enjoyed the experience, which is in stark 
contrast, I can honestly say, to the way we mostly make records, which is like 
a trip to the dentist, only not as much fun. So we looked at each other and 
said, 'That was easy and fun; let's try to remember that when we make our next 
record.' "

For example, Campbell and Phil Collen recorded their guitar parts at the same 
time. "We'd normally do it one guy at a time, under the microscope. But when 
you actually play with another live person, it's not perfect, but you get this 
push-pull thing that you can't program and you can't replicate."

In the band's post-chart-topping days, Campbell says, it's important to get new 
records out to your fans fast. "The landscape has totally changed. ... I'm glad 
to say we finally learned that lesson.

"I can't believe it's taken us this long to work that way."

That same carefree attitude, Campbell says, extends to the band's view of their 
spot in the marketplace, years after hits such as "Photograph," "Let's Get 
Rocked" and "Foolin'."

"We didn't care about the industry [this time]. In the past, we have been so 
beholden, and trying to make records to please other people, and it's always 
been a real contention point for me that we've always tried to conceptualize 
the record before we wrote a note. We're always trying to think too far ahead - 
'What kind of record should we make?' 'What kind of record does the public want 
from us?' (Expletive) that - just make a (expletive) record!

"I'm glad to say we did that this time."

Also, most of the songs on the new record weren't written collaboratively, 
Campbell says, which made a big difference in the lyrical content more than 
anything else. Usually, he says, "someone will bring in an idea, and no matter 
how developed it is, it usually gets pulled apart by committee. And as a 
result, it gets very watered down. But we didn't do that on this record."

As such, "the lyrics reflect different things than your normal 'let's get 
rocked' Def Leppard mentality. So for the most part, it's a little more 
grown-up, as indeed we all are." For example, Collen has a song inspired by the 
death of his father; Campbell has a song inspired by replacing the late Steve 
Clark in Def Leppard.

(Incidentally, "new guy" Campbell, formerly of Whitesnake, has been the band 
for "only" 16 years. While he occasionally feels on the outside looking in 
regarding aspects of the band's most successful history, he mostly feels 
"perfectly assimilated. We all share in the creative decisions and the 
songwriting. . . . I always was a big Def Leppard fan," even before their first 
record in 1980, Campbell says, adding that "I always contend that if I had 
grown up in Sheffield instead of Belfast, I would've been in the original Def 
Leppard.")

After the meticulously produced pop-metal sound that produced chart-toppers 
such as "Photograph," "Foolin'," "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and plenty more, 
comeback attempts such as 1996's Slang and 1999's Euphoria suffered from the 
band's old self-consciousness, Campbell says. In the middle of the grunge '90s, 
Leppard was "anathema to whatever the music industry wanted to be. And we felt 
out of it."

While Campbell says he likes the "organic" sound of Slang, he sees it as "a bit 
of a knee-jerk reaction. And I said it at the time: The things that Def Leppard 
was known for - strong song structure, harmony vocals, big choruses - it went 
totally out the window and we went as far in the opposite direction as we 
could. And it was an interesting experiment . . . but I felt we weren't being 
true to ourselves."

With Euphoria, the band felt "Maybe it's OK to be ourselves again," and it 
sounds like it (down to the title, a conscious echo of the monster hits 
Pyromania and Hysteria). But again, "it was premeditating before creation." 
Campbell says they followed the conventional wisdom that a rock band could only 
get on the radio with a ballad. Leppard certainly helped that happen, with 
"syrupy ones" such as "Love Bites," "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" and 
"Tonight," but when the newer ballads didn't click, they were left with nothing 
satisfying.

"You don't enjoy playing those kind of songs as much. You get into a rock band 
to play something exhilarating. And like many bands, we got into the mindset 
that that's part of the game that you have to play. And [now] we thought, 'No. 
We're going to make a rock record - a rock-pop record.' "

That's what they've done on Sparkle Lounge, and the hook-laden, upbeat leadoff 
single, "Nine Lives," written and recorded with Tim McGraw (whose road manager 
is Leppard drummer Rick Allen's brother), shows it off.

It makes Campbell optimistic for the future, as does the relative youth of the 
live audiences, with fans turning out for a band that is older than they are.

"The upside of music piracy is that young people who would normally never be 
into a band of our generation, they find out that they like it. And they come 
to our shows, and these 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds know every word to every song. 
You know they've got it all in their iPod; you know they didn't pay for it. But 
you know what? They bought a ticket. And that works for us."

Def Leppard, REO Speedwagon and Styx are at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, 1 La 
Salle Sq., Providence, Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Tickets are $78.50, $58.50 and 
$32.50; they're available at the box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, at 
www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (401) 331-2211.

© 2008, Published by The Providence Journal Co., 75 Fountain St., Providence, 
RI 02902.