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The Making Of 'Def Leppard' Part One | Classic Rock | Louder
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4/9/2025
Part One: The Making Of 'Def Leppard
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00:00
Music
00:02
Music
00:04
Music
00:08
Music
00:12
Music
00:14
Music
00:16
Music
00:18
Music
00:20
Music
00:22
Music
00:24
Music
00:26
The beginnings of the new record
00:28
We decided to just
00:32
Get together for one month
00:34
And some of us have got some songs written
00:36
Some of us have got just ideas
00:38
And we just thought
00:40
We're not going to finish an album in a month
00:42
But let's get together in the studio
00:44
See what comes out of it
00:46
But don't go beyond the month
00:48
Let's try and do as much as we can
00:50
And it was great
00:52
We all got together
00:54
And
00:56
Listened to everybody's ideas
00:58
And then just pick them off
01:00
One at a time
01:02
The ones that we wanted to go in and start working on
01:04
We all got in one room together
01:06
And
01:08
You know just
01:10
Just laid them down as a band
01:12
We just flowed
01:14
And within like two days we had
01:16
Pretty much five or six songs
01:18
And at the end of the week we had like
01:20
Twelve songs on the go
01:22
And we thought you know what
01:24
We're going to make an album
01:25
For us
01:26
For you know the fact that we love music
01:28
And we like writing songs
01:30
And making deaf leather music
01:32
I'm addicted to your poison
01:36
I'm never about to think
01:38
It was kind of done in stages
01:42
Essentially three periods of a month long
01:46
Of building the album
01:48
And it was kind of nice to do that
01:50
There was no pressure
01:52
You could learn to live with the ideas
01:54
As they were progressing
01:56
You weren't losing any perspective
01:58
By having to
02:00
Day after day after day after month after month
02:02
Go through the same sort of songs
02:04
So it was a really nice sort of
02:08
Way of letting the album grow
02:10
In a natural way
02:12
We were able to go away
02:14
And listen to the songs
02:16
Really listen to them
02:18
And then with that hindsight
02:20
Be able to you know
02:22
Come up with the best part
02:24
That we could possibly come up with
02:26
Whether that was drums, vocals, guitar, whatever
02:30
So that's been the process
02:32
And we go away, listen
02:34
And then the second time we got together
02:37
We were able to just modify
02:40
And just focus in
02:42
On what was really important
02:44
So that we liked the songs
02:46
As much as we possibly could
02:48
And actually be fans of the music that we made
03:00
We're actually a really really good live band
03:02
But we're not very good usually
03:04
At capturing that in the studio
03:06
And the reason for that is that
03:07
Normally the way the band works
03:09
Is very methodical
03:11
Very piecemeal
03:13
One guy at a time
03:15
And it's very difficult to capture
03:17
The subtle, nuanced dynamics
03:19
That a live band has
03:21
When you're doing it one guy at a time
03:23
So we set up in the studio
03:25
The five of us in one room
03:27
So we could all make eye contact
03:29
And we started playing some rock ideas
03:33
And we managed to bang about
03:35
Five or six rock song ideas
03:37
In the first couple of weeks
03:39
Which was great
03:40
And that was really easy
03:41
And we kind of knew that
03:42
That would be the easy part of the record
03:43
But then after that
03:45
We thought
03:47
Well
03:49
We're not really just
03:51
That kind of band anymore
03:53
So we're not looking for a straight up rock record
03:55
To kind of embrace
03:56
Some of the more
03:57
More diverse elements
03:59
That the band's known for
04:00
The production elements
04:01
The
04:02
Kind of
04:03
Pop scene
04:04
Big production thing
04:05
And so that's
04:07
When we started scratching our head a lot
04:09
And thinking okay well what
04:11
What kind of song do we need next
04:13
Now that inevitably happens
04:14
With every Def Leppard record
04:15
And that's when it starts getting
04:17
A little bit more painstaking
04:31
One thing that I think we were really conscious of
04:33
Is making something that is a little more diverse
04:37
Than some of the records and albums we've done in the past
04:41
We all knew that once by this stage
04:45
We have a certain style anyway
04:47
Our sound is very much based in the fact
04:51
That the way that we orchestrate our guitar parts
04:54
The way that our backing vocals blend together
04:58
There's a sound
04:59
So those ingredients are never going to go away
05:02
So that we knew that whatever we do
05:04
It's essentially going to end up sounding
05:06
You know indicative of Def Leppard
05:09
But we also wanted to just not be confined
05:13
To specific songwriting things
05:17
That we've done in the past
05:19
Basically anything that sounded good
05:23
Regardless of how it came about
05:25
Or what it represented
05:27
Was put forward and was worked on
05:30
To get to a point where
05:32
It was good enough to get on the album
05:36
Even if it was just starting off with an acoustic guitar idea
05:41
It was progressed
05:43
And from that point of view
05:44
It was great to not really be confined to like going
05:48
Well we can't really do this
05:50
Because it doesn't really sound like a Def Leppard song
05:52
At this point in time
05:53
You know so it kind of gets left
05:55
In fact the first track on the album
05:59
Let's Go
06:00
Is a combination of three completely different ideas
06:04
That I had from years back
06:06
That every so often
06:08
It just so happens that
06:10
You put them together and it all kind of works
06:12
In the right environment
06:14
And a lot of things happen like that
06:16
On the new album
06:17
We'd work for a month
06:19
And we'd take the tapes home
06:20
And Phil would play them to his friends in California
06:23
And I'd be playing to my friends in Dublin
06:25
And Sam would be playing to his friends in Sheffield
06:27
And you know before you put the tape on
06:30
Somebody would say
06:31
So you know you've got some new songs
06:32
What does it sound like?
06:34
And we all ended up saying
06:35
It sounds like Def Leppard
06:37
And I think when we all realised
06:39
That that's what we'd been saying out loud
06:41
Phil said
06:42
Why don't we just call the album Def Leppard
06:44
Because we've never done it
06:45
So it was pretty simple really
06:47
Why we did it
06:48
I said let's call it Def Leppard
06:49
Because we're making it for us
06:51
And no one else
06:52
Plus we've never had a self-titled album
06:54
So that's pretty much how that came about
06:56
Yeah it was an EP
06:57
And it ended up an album
06:58
For the right reasons
06:59
You know
07:00
Because we wanted to make music
07:07
I think it played a part
07:08
You know Viv's illness
07:10
You know
07:11
It played a part in
07:13
That's pretty much how we approach things
07:15
After we've done the Viva Hysteria thing in Vegas
07:18
Because we found out there
07:20
It's like oh right
07:21
Yeah I've been dealing with lymphoma
07:23
For the last almost three years
07:26
I did three rounds of chemo
07:29
And that didn't take care of it
07:32
And then exactly a year ago
07:35
I went into hospital for about three and a half weeks
07:37
To do a stem cell transplant
07:53
Well I'd have to go with Let's Go first
07:54
Because it's so classically Leppard
07:57
That again it came very naturally
08:01
You know a lot of people might think
08:02
That we just sat down to try and rewrite Sugar
08:04
But we didn't
08:05
That's a song that was very close to my heart
08:08
It was something that was
08:09
And here's my favorite part
08:11
Not this part of the year
08:12
Against growing up
08:13
As you guys
08:18
Missing hisKing call
08:19
We are using it
08:20
We are going to get inunding
08:21
We are going to
08:22
Oh God
08:23
That's going dobre
08:27
As you guys
08:27
But I'm going to get out a few maintenaches
08:28
Number six
08:29
We're going to push
08:29
At least
08:29
And get inunding
08:32
I think the transcript
08:33
That we watched
08:35
And get inundating
08:36
The cabinets
08:37
Are going to take you
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