Def Leppard

[muthagoose]

DEF LEPPARD To Team Up With JOURNEY For Summer Tour

DEF LEPPARD and JOURNEY will be teaming up for a U.S. tour this summer. No dates have been confirmed at this time.

DEF LEPPARD's two-CD collection of hits, "Rock of Ages", has sold 452,000 copies in the United States since its May 2005 release. Meanwhile, the band's 1999 "Vault - Greatest Hits" (Mercury) collection has shifted 4.08 million copies so far.

DEF LEPPARD's all-covers set, entitled "Yeah!", is tentatively scheduled for release in May. Guitarist Phil Collen told Billboard.com last year that the album will include "a bunch of stuff — all '70s stuff. Most of it is songs that we grew up with in England. 'No Matter What' by BADFINGER is going to be the leadoff single. We've done 'Waterloo Sunset' by THE KINKS, T. REX, MOTT THE HOOPLE, ROXY MUSIC and THIN LIZZY. And a lot of it is obscure; it's not the standard stuff. It's not like STONES or BEATLES songs."

[muthagoose]

DEF LEPPARD Singer: I Detest The Phrase 'Hair Band' Or 'Hair Metal'
However, Joe Elliott, makes no comment on his feelings about the term "Cock Rocker"

Stephanie Warsmith of the Akron Beacon Journal recently conducted an interview with DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Q: Do you consider yourself a hair band? Hard rock? Something else?

Joe: I detest the phrase "hair band" or "hair metal." It's insulting to us. I still think there is a level of negativity attached to "'80s band." There's always a joke that follows it... We are just a rock band. We're too pop to be metal. We're too rock to be pop. We came from the British glam scene. We have more in common with THE ROLLING STONES than IRON MAIDEN.

Q: The band has faced a lot of hardship, including the death of guitarist Steve Clark and drummer Rick Allen's car crash in which he lost an arm. What have been the band's low point and high point?

Joe: The absolute low point was Steve's (death)... There's no coming back from death. Rick Allen proved there is coming back from an accident as bad as his. You can do what you did before. Rick's an inspiration... Our ticket sales are the best since the "Hysteria" tour... What we are doing now is absolutely one of the highs. It makes a mockery of how we are supposed to be this cursed band.

Q: How did the idea for your latest album of cover tunes from the '60s and '70s develop?

Joe: The "Yeah!" album has been in the making in my head since 1983. It got shoved aside. We were making our own records... We recorded songs that were inspirational to us as young kids, when we were pulling our parents' sleeves and saying, "I want a guitar for Christmas, please."

Q: Does the band have plans for another album and, if so, when and what will the theme be?

Joe: We are already doing new material — writing on the road. We're hoping to get a record done for next year. It will be a good, classy DEF LEPPARD record.

Q: Did you tour with JOURNEY in the past? How's it going this time?

Joe: We never have. It's a shame because it's working so well this time. We met them a bunch of times. I went to see them in Lexington (Kentucky) in 1983. It's a joy — an absolute pleasure. My kind of tour.

[muthagoose]

DEF LEPPARD Nearly Complete With 'Sparkly' New Album

Gary Graff of Billboard.com reports: DEF LEPPARD is "about 85, 90 percent finished" with its next album, which frontman Joe Elliott describes as "a very rock album" tentatively titled "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge".

"I'm not gonna say it's radically different to anything we've ever done," Elliott tells Billboard.com. "There's classic DEF LEPPARD. There's stuff that sounds like it's going back to the middle, late-'70s AC/DC and new wave-type sounding stuff. There's definitely some moments on it where anybody that's familiar with our music will go, 'Whoa! I wasn't expecting that!' We've just been very adventurous, musically, on certain numbers."

Elliott says the "Sparkle Lounge" album title refers to a room the group maintained backstage during its 2006 tour dates, where the musicians would congregate with co-producer and live sound technician Ronan McHugh to work up and record ideas.

Muthagoose says: CLASSIC ROCK WEEK ROLLS ON AT LIVE-METAL.NET!!!

[muthagoose]

DEF LEPPARD ANNOUNCES SPRING 2008 TOUR

Great Britain’s Premiere Arena Rock Band Gears Up For a New Tour

Def Leppard, Britain’s greatest arena rock band, is set to play a series of headline shows in spring of 2008 – as part of a 2008 World Tour. This year’s outing includes 19 dates, kicking off on March 27 in Greensboro, NC and ending on April 26 in Chula Vista, CA. The tour is being produced by Live Nation. The band is also set to release a brand new studio album in 2008 with details to be announced shortly. The album will see the band adding to their incredible legacy and promises the inclusion of a very special collaboration.

“Def Leppard is consistently one of the most exciting and successful bands we work with year in and year out,” said Live Nation Senior Vice President of Touring Bruce Kapp. “There is no better way to kick off our touring season than with Def Leppard.” Tickets go on sale beginning January 11th and are available at www.livenation.com.

2007 was another monumental year for the band, playing a 50 date arena tour across the USA. Starting June 2007 and ending in September 2007, the group’s summer concert tour became a must-see phenomenon -- regularly selling out arenas to crowds of 15,000 to 20,000! The show featured stunning production and a special acoustic set, in addition to Def Leppard’s huge catalogue of global hits. 2007 was also the 20th anniversary of the band’s legendary “Hysteria” release, an album summed up by Mojo magazine in Sept 2007 as “Hard rock’s equivalent of “Thriller””.

With more than 65 million albums sold worldwide, not to mention two prestigious Diamond Awards to their credit, Def Leppard--Joe Elliott (vocals), Vivian Campbell (guitar), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick "Sav" Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums)—continues to be one of the most important forces in rock music. The group’s spectacular live shows are filled with hit after hit from their groundbreaking discography that set the sound for generations of music fans and artists. Def Leppard’s powerful rock anthems have become synonymous with their name and it’ easy to see why rock fans keep gravitating toward their electrifying live performances. On their 2008 tour, the band is promising a highly-charged, no-nonsense set of rocking performances, packed with hits spanning its entire career. Def Leppard are one of only five rock groups who can claim two separate original 10 million plus selling albums in the US. The others are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Van Halen.


Dates are as follows:

Date City Venue
Mar 27 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Complex
Mar 29 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live Arena
Mar 30 Estero, FL Germain Arena
Apr 01 Greenville, SC BI-LO Center
Apr 03 Reading, PA Sovereign Center
Apr 04 Atlantic City, NJ Music Box at The Borgata
Apr 06 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
Apr 08 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
Apr 09 Providence, RI Dunkin’ Donuts Center
Apr 11 Quebec City, QC Colisee Pepsi Arena
Apr 12 Ottawa, ON ScotiaBank Place
Apr 13 Hamilton, ON Copps Coliseum
Apr 16 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
Apr 18 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
Apr 19 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena
Apr 22 Boise, ID The Idaho Center
Apr 23 Spokane, WA Spokane Arena
Apr 25 Las Vegas, NV The Pearl
Apr 26 Chula Vista, CA Coors Amphitheater

More information about the upcoming album to be released shortly.

For more information on Def Leppard and updated tour news, please visit the band’s Web site at www.defleppard.com

[muthagoose]

DEF LEPPARD: New Album Release Date Announced

DEF LEPPARD has set a March 18 tentative U.S. release date (one day earlier internationally) for its new album, entitled "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge". It will be the band's first LP since last year's "Yeah!", which was a collection of covers of songs by artists who had influenced the band. Their most recent studio album of original material was 2002's "X".

DEF LEPPARD will team up with STYX and REO SPEEDWAGON for a North American tour in March/April. The trek will consist of around 20 dates.

[muthagoose]

DEF LEPPARD: New Album Pushed Back To May

DEF LEPPARD's official web site has been updated with the following message:

"Well, it's one of the constants in the history of DEF LEPPARD, and we regret to inform you that it has popped up again: the release of the band's new album, 'Songs from the Sparkle Lounge', has been pushed back (even though the date we mentioned two weeks ago was only a tentative date to start with). The album is now scheduled to come out on May 5 in the UK and May 6 in North America (international dates have not been confirmed yet, but it will probably be May 6 as well). I guess we don't need to tell you that these dates are also tentative and subject to change.

"We can also give you the working titles of all the tracks scheduled to appear on the album. From the way things look now, 11 songs from the Sparkle Lounge will be making their way to your CD player:

01. Nine Lives
02. C'mon C'mon
03. Go
04. Love
05. Cruise Control
06. Bad Actress
07. Hallucinate
08. Tomorrow
09. Come Undone
10. Only the Good Die Young
11. Give It Away

"Please note that some of these titles may still change (they're working titles, after all) and that they are not listed in any particular order."

[muthagoose]

Def Leppard Set To Release New Album on 4.29.2008

Def Leppard, Great Britain’s premiere arena rock band, is back with a bang—kicking off 2008 with the release of their 14th studio album and a U.S. arena concert tour scheduled for this spring. Entitled Songs From The Sparkle Lounge (Bludgeon Riffola/Island/UMe), the album set for release on April 29, contains 11 new songs including the highly-anticipated single “Nine Lives” featuring a groundbreaking collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw. The band is set to debut the single on ABC-TV’s Dancing With The Stars on April 29 and on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 30. Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is Def Leppard’s first album of brand new material since 2002’s X and begins yet another remarkable new chapter in the band’s 30-year recording career.

Recorded last year during month-long stints at lead singer Joe Elliott’s Dublin studio, the album’s title refers to a backstage area called “The Sparkle Lounge” on Def Leppard’s 2006 tour where the band would go to write songs. Tracks from the album have been described by the group as written in the style of Hysteria, with the production of High 'n' Dry.

"The whole record's got a great '70s feel," said lead singer Joe Elliott. "By our standards, it's a very different album as we've been very adventurous, musically, on certain numbers. On the album there are classic Def Leppard songs and then there's also tracks that are very new-wave influenced while others sound like middle-to-late '70s AC/DC. There will definitely be some moments on it where anybody that's familiar with our music will go, 'Whoa! I wasn't expecting that!'"

The foundation for the album’s collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw was layed at Def Leppard’s 2006 Hollywood Bowl show where McGraw joined the band on stage for an encore performance of “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” The artists stayed in touch following the performance, and when the band started writing the song “Nine Lives” they immediately thought of reaching out to McGraw to sing on it. Guitarist Phil Collen flew to Nashville to play it for McGraw who loved it and recorded the song in Nashville shortly after. Other standout tracks on the album include “Go,” reminiscent of the band’s classic track “Rocket” in its power and aggressive tribal beat; “Love,” an emotive and moving epic song; and the anthemic “Tomorrow,” a song written by guitarist Collen about the death of his father.

With more than 65 million albums sold worldwide and two prestigious Diamond Awards to their credit, Def Leppard--Joe Elliott (vocals), Vivian Campbell (guitar), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick "Sav" Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums)—continues to be one of the most important forces in rock music. Over the course of their career, the band has produced a series of classic groundbreaking albums that set the sound for generations of music fans and artists. The group’s spectacular live shows, filled with powerful melodic rock anthems, have become synonymous with their name and they are an institution in the touring industry as they continue to sell out arenas worldwide.

The 11 working titles on the new album are as follows:

Go
Nine Lives
C'mon C'mon
Love
Tomorrow
Cruise Control
Hallucinate
Only The Good Die Young
Bad Actress
Come Undone
Gotta Let It Go

For more information on Def Leppard, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, and upcoming tour news, please visit the band’s web site at www.defleppard.com

[muthagoose]

DEF LEPPARD: Go 'Green' with Vault CD

According to The Def Leppard Satellite Of Love, DEF LEPPARD's Vault: Greatest Hits 1980-1995 is among many catalog CD's that is part of Universal Music Enterprises and Wal-Mart's new 'Green' Album Package available now at Wal-Mart during their Earth Month promotion.

Each album insert features a seed paper that will sprout into wild flowers when planted into the ground. In addition, each new CD repacked in the new REPAK(R) includes three free digital downloads and the elimination of the CD jewel design.

"Said Mike Davis, Executive Vice President & General Manager, UMe: "We have a long-standing commitment to being 'green' and we're proud to continue to lead the music industry in addressing environmental issues."