Audio - Interview - Vivian - 98.9 WMMO - posted 4Mar2019

[CindyJ]

Def Leppard “New Guy” Vivian Campbell Talks Vegas, Rock Hall, side Project Last In Line And More
Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell talks the band’s new Vegas residency, their Rock Hall induction, his side project Last In Line and a lot more.

By Joe Rock

When I asked Vivian Campbell about being the “New Guy” in Def Leppard he joked that with 27 years in the band he’s their Ronnie Wood.

In fact on his list of rarities he’d like the band to play in their new Vegas residency are many songs he wasn’t a part of recording.

We also discussed Def Leppard’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Viv also shared a bit about his side project “Last In Line”.

Give a listen to the interview below.

Listen Here

How do you feel about doing another Vegas residency?

Vivian: "I'm excited about that. We had a lot of fun the one and only other time we did it back in 2013. We've still gotta construct the show yet and figure out how to do it, but the great thing about Vegas is you can approach doing a rock show in a very unique and very different way. There's no expectations, I suppose, so it's a blank canvas for us. And, obviously, Leppard's got a big, big, big catalog of songs to pull from. I'll be seeing the rest of the guys at the Hall of Fame. That's our next, the next time we convene at the end of March. We'll be talking about it then, I'm sure, and gettin' down to the brass tacks of discussing the show."

What do you want to play?

Vivian: "I wanna play WASTED. I wanna play BILLY'S GOT A GUN. I wanna play TOO LATE FOR LOVE, GODS OF WAR. I wanna play stuff that has guitar. The thing is, Leppard like I said, there's so many great songs in the catalog, but it is nice to dip into some more relatively obscure stuff cause.... when we go on tour, which we do a lot, you tend to have to play the hits. The really, really big songs always have to feature in a Def Leppard show. That's understandable because our audience is growing in numbers and in generations. A lot of people are seeing Def Leppard for the first time. So we've gotta understand the expectations of the majority of the audience coming. They want and they expect to hear the really, really big hits. And then we have a lot of people who've been fans of the band for years and years and they follow us around and they come to multiple shows. I know that those sort of people really want to hear something obscure, and it's nice to do something for them when we can, and Vegas is that kind of opportunity."