Def Leppard Featured In Guitarist Magazine

Before it stormed to 25 million sales, 1987’s Hysteria cost Def Leppard three years, $5

million and a drummer’s arm. Guitarist Phil Collen remembers the mayhem, tragedy and

skyscraping ambition of one of the era’s classic albums.

Read more below and get the magazine HERE


Phil Collen on My Favorite Riff with Nikki Sixx

Phil Collen takes apart some of the band’s most iconic songs on Nikki Sixx’ show My Favorite Riff, a video series where some of the world’s greatest guitar and bass players, along with future stars, talk about music, gear, and most importantly, riffs. Read more HERE.

“The Hysteria Files with Phil Collen” Premiere

Introducing the new series: “The Hysteria Files with Phil Collen”

Via Ultimate Classic Rock: Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen takes fans on a trip back in time to the genesis of some of the biggest hits from the group’s Hysteria album in a new video interview conducted to commemorate the recent deluxe edition reissue of the classic LP.

Shot at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, California, Phil Collen takes a walk down memory lane as he re-visits the making of Hysteria 30 years later. Stay tuned for more videos coming soon!

In this clip, which is making its exclusive premiere above, Collen — toting a guitar outfitted with a GoPro camera so you can see exactly what he’s doing — looks back on a handful of the songs Def Leppard slaved over during the years it took to finish Hysteria. His comments shed a light on everything from the influences they absorbed while writing the songs — like “Armageddon It,” which Collen says was inspired by T. Rex, and “Love Bites,” which he recalls initially sounding like an Eagles song — to the incredible lengths they pursued to achieve sonic perfection.
Read More: Phil Collen Looks Back on Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria’: Exclusive Video Premiere

Phil Collen talks 30th anniversary of ‘Hysteria’

“The 30-year anniversary of Hysteria, is going crazy. The response on that has been incredible. It was really cool to document everything, especially looking back on it,” he said. “I got to play ‘Hysteria’ last week with Joe Satriani, and it was really cool. That show was a lot of fun,” he added.

On his plans for the future, Collen said, “We are going to be busy. We have new Def Leppard material that we are starting to write, which is really exciting. We’ve got new Delta Deep material as well, and a live Delta Deep album coming out soon.”

Read more HERE

New Billboard.com Interview w/ Band & Hysteria Recording Team

Read now the brand new Billboard interview with the band and recording team on what it took to make Hysteria.

Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria’ Turns 30: An Oral History of the Album’s Painful Path to Victory
By: Melinda Newman

Hysteria, a meticulously crafted rock masterpiece infused with elements of pop, new wave, glam, and even rap, turned into one of the defining albums of the ’80s, certified 12x platinum by the RIAA and named the No. 25 biggest album ever on the Billboard 200 chart in 2015. The album spawned an extraordinary seven hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 — including an impressive six top 20-charting smashes. Among those: the top 10s “Hysteria” (No. 10), “Pour Some Sugar On Me” (No. 2), “Love Bites” (their sole No. 1) and “Armageddon It” (No. 3). In the end, Hysteria spent 78 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart — the most weeks spent in the top 10 for an album by a rock band in the chart’s 61-year history.

However, its success was far from certain when it came out Aug. 3, 1987.

In all new interviews, the remaining band members — guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991 — and others involved in the album’s creation and marketing talk about the long road fraught with doubt, pain, joy, drama, misadventures and, ultimately, tremendous triumph. For the first time since Hysteria’s release, recording engineer Nigel Green discusses the groundbreaking, innovative wizardry devised in the studio long before the existence of Pro Tools……

READ THE FULL BILLBOARD ARTICLE HERE

Phil Collen Demos DiMarzio Pickups

In this new clip from DiMarzio, Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen demos the Super 3, HS-2 and Super Distortion S pickups.

Collen also jams with keyboardist CJ Vanston on “Inside/Outside.”

“I’ve been playing DiMarzio pickups for at least forty years,” Collen says. “They’re all over our records. I put them in every guitar.”

Read more on GuitarPlayer.com

#ThrowbackThursday with Phil Collen on VEVO

We’re celebrating #ThrowbackThursday all day with Phil Collen on Vevo! Stay tuned in to our social media @DefLeppard as Phil chats about the making of several Def Leppard music videos today.

Watch the VEVO playlist HERE