Today, the world sees rock and classical royalty unite on Drastic Symphonies - a brand-new euphoric album featuring Def Leppard’s greatest produced tracks dramatically reimagined, and sounding more exhilarating than ever before, via the band teaming with London’s iconic The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
In an extensive interview with MusicRadar, guitarist Phil Collen talks about the new release and much more. An excerpt from the chat follows...
MusicRadar: There's a lot of challenges facing live music now, and the whole Ticketmaster thing too, but you guys have continued to be a huge live draw. You were one of the first bands to develop the idea of the classic rock package tour in the modern age, and that's developed with The Stadium Tour. What's the key to keeping that consistency?
Phil Collen: "Rolling with the punches and moving with the times. It's like everything, I remember when it went from vinyl to cassette, and then CD, then then it's download, then it's streaming… you couldn't have imagined that stuff. But you have to go with it, you have to roll with it. And the shows are the same. This Mötley tour is amazing. We were just in South America, and people are crying, people are just in tears, they're going, 'Oh, my God!' They get to see these two juggernaut rock bands that they never thought they would actually see again.
"We keep raising the bar with our vocals and playing, and the way that we present the show. And I think you have to do that. Mötley is very different to us, but it's the same thing in that it's a massive show, and it's really exciting.
"We learned something when we went out with KISS; the show is more important than anything, and you take the ego out and the crews work together and everything is the show. Beyonce just did a thing a few months ago in Dubai and it was so over the top. And that's what you're competing with – pop things, and you've got to be this massive rock band. So you keep having to raise the bar, and you keep having to get better. And I think that's the difference. That's value for money for a start-off. The minute you go out there and you're not really into doing it, you're turning your back on the audience, you're not really putting everything in, is the moment you kind of lose that. So I think there's a constant thing of striving to be better, and especially with the show."
Read more at MusicRadar.com.
Drastic Symphonies represents a bold new approach to Def Leppard’s most loved songs. The band have deconstructed and rebuilt not only some of their most well-known tracks, but also some of their hidden gems as well. By and large, they have intertwined the audio from the original tapes and performed them alongside The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, consistently ranked as one of the world's leading orchestras. The album additionally includes new vocals and guitars that culminate in stunningly beautiful symphonic arrangements, which at different points you can hear Joe Elliott duetting with his younger self.
Vocalist Joe Elliott says, “Def Leppard has always enjoyed veering off the expected path - working with the likes of Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift & Alison Krauss for example. So, when the offer to revisit some of our back catalogue with the Royal Philharmonic was presented to us, we all jumped at it. Although we’re far from the first band to ever do this, working directly with an orchestra at Abbey Road on some of our more orchestrated songs seemed too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was recorded at Abbey Road in March 2022 and is produced by Def Leppard, Ronan McHugh & Nick Patrick (producer of the following RPO/Orchestral albums - xElvis, Roy Orbison, Beach Boys and Buddy Holly), with arrangements by Eric Gorfain (Neil Diamond, Ryan Adams, Christina Aguilera).
Guitarist Phil Collen says, “When the offer of doing an orchestral album with the RPO was suggested, we were honoured. But we didn’t just want an orchestra plonked over our previous recordings. We decided to create something special where we would have something classic but present it in a brand new way that would involve making everything work in the context of Drastic Symphonies. Recording new parts, remixing previous sounds, taking some of our instruments out so the orchestra could breathe, and literally making a new album. It was an amazingly inspirational process culminating in the live recording of the RPO at Abbey Road studios in London. An absolute team effort that took a good part of a year. It’s a new Def Leppard album, it’s a greatest hits plus album with some songs rarely heard before, it’s a live RPO album and we think it’s perfect. We’re so proud of how Drastic Symphonies turned out and can’t wait to share it to the world.”
The album is available on CD, 2LP black vinyl, limited 2LP colored vinyl, limited 2LP picture disc, CD/Blu-Ray (Atmos) and digitally. Building upon elements from the album artwork, a collection of exclusive merch is now available in the band's official store, here.
- Album Order
- Hero Link (Order & Save)
Tracklisting:
"Turn To Dust"
"Paper Sun"
"Animal"
"Pour Some Sugar On Me" (Stripped version)
"Hysteria"
"Love Bites"
"Goodbye For Good This Time"
"Love"
"Gods Of War"
"Angels (Can’t Help You Now)"
"Bringin’ On The Heartbreak"
"Switch 625"
"Too Late for Love"
"When Love & Hate Collide"
"Kings Of the World"
"Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" (Vinyl and Atmos bonus track)
"Hysteria" visualizer:
"Animal" Director’s Cut video:
Trailers:
(Photo - Ross Halfin)
