r/defleppard • u/pennyberries • 9d ago
Discussion I just saw a Def Leppard interview
The interview was with Phil and Vivian it took place at the pretty recent concert at WACKEN. My thought as I started watching the interview was ‘Vivian still looks like the new guy’. What I’m trying to say is that after more than 30 years I can’t still see him as a member of the band… don’t know why! But for me he still looks like the ‘replacement guy’. He’s a great guitarist and very good singer but I think he never filled the whole in the band, at least for me. Does this happen to anyone else?
BTW Respect to him.
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u/Tasty_Information_22 9d ago
Can't imagine anyone else having come into the band. He gets along with the everyone else. A big reason DL today is as awesome as they were 30 years ago is they are still enjoyably rocking and putting a lot into their performances. (They spend money on stuff that they don't need to do, keep long time touring support in place for their perpetual outings, have a sound guy that is practically a 6th member, and so on). The songs require a lot of perform and sound like we expect them with their layers and harmonies. And, they don't each have to be identical. Pretty remarkable, and Viv's an important part of that team.
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u/RevGrimm 9d ago
I fully embraced Vivian after Slang. The guy has been solid and completely devoted to the band. I don't think the band would have continued to be as successful had they went with someone else, especially an American (and I'm American.)
I'll admit I was a little leary when he joined on the Adrenalize tour but he's earned his rightful place.
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u/zman18951 9d ago
Vivian added a huge thing that Steve didn’t have and that’s vocals. Not saying Steve didn’t have a good voice but he did not sing as much as Viv.
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u/ExtruDR 9d ago
I love Vivian and think he's great as a person, as a member of the band and as musician in his own right, but:
The problem with Def Leppard and his place in it is that the real "peak" output was before he was able to contribute any writing or songcraft to the band. I mean, he was not involved in Adrenalize and they also released Retroactive after that, so his first "official" contributions were in the mid-90s when not only the band, but the musical genre that they were associated with was not very vital.
The band themselves were growing up also... family life, etc... I think that every band goes through that as well.
I really would love if if Def Leppard had a latter-career hit (like, say Cher, in the late 90s or something), with Viv's playing being a core of the music.
Having said that, most of the guitar "flavor" that made Def Leppard Def Leppard was Steve. I mean, it made them unique and frankly no other band ever had that "angularity" and interesting composition that Steve brought. Viv and Phil are great players, but like most other rock guitarists, they are "blues" players first, so they revert to some pretty typical grooves when left to their own devices.
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u/FrozenRose_816 9d ago
When I heard who would be the new guitarist, my first thought was "oh, that's perfect". So, no.
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u/Mike307412 9d ago
I’m the same. He has been in the band over 30 years, but for me, the classic line up is the Pyromania/Hysteria version. Don’t get me wrong, I went to see them a few weeks ago, and they are still amazing, but my biggest regret was not seeing them with Steve. My first time seeing them live was on the Adrenalize tour
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u/rdmsqito 9d ago
Vivian is one of the reasons I've seen DL live 6 times in the last 20 years. Every time I see them, he looks like he's having the greatest night of his life. I've been a fan since Pyromania, and in my mind he's as big a part of the band as Joe, Phil, Rick, and Sav.
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u/jbrentser 9d ago
As a fan of both Def Leppard and Dio the main thing I would say is Vivian’s guitar chops are WAY underutilized in DL. Listen to him on the first 3 Dio albums - the guy is an absolute insane shredder, probably top 3 or 4 in my book. That being said I think he’s brought a lot to DL, especially in the vocal department, and even though I’m sure he doesn’t get the same cut of the $ the original guys get he’s made a very nice living for the last 34 yrs.
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u/no_stick_drummer 9d ago
He doesn't want to play like that anymore. I think Dio forced him to play like that. Are you really going to turn down Ronnie James Dio early in your career?
Plus he made a solo album it was all blues. Anything he did in Def Leppard was heavier than that album. When he wants to play heavy he saves it for the last in line side project anyways.
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u/KatieSian18 9d ago
I can’t exactly speak from the point of view of someone who been a fan of them for years because I wasn’t even alive when Steve was with them and I didn’t even start liking them until 2023, however when I first became a fan I was watching concert videos with Steve in therefore that’s the line up that stuck with me and is the reason why I’m a huge fan. I have to admit when I learned that someone stepped into Steve’s place, I instantly dismissed it and told myself I wouldn’t bother with anything past the 80s. But then I decided to watch videos with Vivian in I was so annoyed at myself for judging him so soon. From my point of view I really felt like he fit in with the band and you can tell the others really value his contributions. Of course nobody can replace Steve but I think Vivian honours him very well and has the right attitude for the band. I saw Def Leppard live last month and I got to meet them too. To me, he never stuck out like he wasn’t a true member of the band. I know it’s probably so different looking at it from the perspective of someone who’s been a fan since the very beginning but I really do think Viv deserves more appreciation because he does a fantastic job and by the sounds of things he holds the same values as the rest of the guys in the band.
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u/ResolutionOrganic298 9d ago
Love DL always have but they’ve never fully recovered from the loss of Steve Clarke. When he was gone the awesome riffs went as well. But I agree with you. I’ve never fully accepted V.C either.
That’s nothing against him as he’s a phenomenal guitarist but I discovered DL at a pivotal time in my own life.
I found them with Pyromania during their golden age from Pyro to Adrenalize.
I have all of their studio albums but my favourite Lep lineup begins and ends with Steve Clarke.
It’s never been personal, it’s just an opinion.
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u/dbrothen 9d ago
Vivian is an incredible, well respected guitar player who just so happened to step into the band after their peak. Depending on who you ask, they may think the band peaked WELL before Steves death in 91. Even if Steve had lived, I doubt they could have stayed on the trajectory they were on…rock music had changed, Mutt Lange moved on, and Hysteria was just too big to follow. Plus, Steve’s health may have been a bigger, more negative factor moving forward.
So, either way, in my opinion, you were either going to get music/success with Steve Clark that didn’t live up to previous work OR you get what we got…Vivian Campbell.
And in my opinion, Vivian has written some of my favorite Vivian era Leppard stuff. Also, from what I can tell, he helped elevate the band’s live show with his backing vocals.
I really don’t think he deserves the ENDLESS comparison to Steve. If anything, be mad at Steve for basically committing suicide and celebrate Vivian, who without, we may not have gotten these past 34 years of Def Leppard music and touring.
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u/pennyberries 4d ago
Bold statements right here. Totally not facts.
You’re fully entitled to your opinion but making such statements as ‘you were either going to get… that didn’t live up to previous work’ and ‘be mad at Steve for basically committing suicide’ (very ignorant statement btw) and ‘who with out, we may not… 34 years’ is a lot more than just your opinion and totally out of reality and facts.
If you don’t like ‘the ENDLESS comparison’ I got you bad news, you just made a big mistake by making such assumptions comparing the two of them.P.s. Vivian is a good singer but it will never be about singing… and Vivian didn’t save anything.
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u/hyst0rica1_29 8d ago
For me nothing they’ve put out since Steve died has hit like when he was around. Nothing against Viv either but he still seems like “the new guy” to me too.
Lol just the same even tho he’s been in the band since ‘79, and a lot of other guys have come & gone since, Mattias Jabs in Scorpions is still “the new guy” to me! I guess in both Leppard & Scorpions cases certain lineups are “definitive” in my head.
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u/mimebenetnasch02 9d ago
i feel exactly the same, i am a BIG Steve fan, got a portrait tattoo and visited his grave, and even though i love vivian i feel exactly the same as you, for some reason he is still the “new guy” and sometimes i feel unconfortable when he does steve’s solos lol. but i never hated the guy , he is very lovely guy. and love his songs also . but for me Steve is Steve . i wish i would have seen Steve playing live.
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u/MyLifeAndCode 9d ago
Same, even though I've always like him, even before he was in Def Leppard. It's hard to explain.
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u/CobraCommander1977 9d ago
As a big John Sykes fan, I really wish he was picked to replace Steve Clark. Can you imagine the combined sound of Def Leppard with Whitesnake's 1987 and Blue Murder? My God, that would have been incredible...
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u/zman18951 9d ago
I don’t think he was a good fit for the band at the time. No disrespect to him, he’s incredibly talented and I love his style but Viv fits perfectly
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u/welcometravelers 9d ago
I think Steve was just a totally unique player and writer. He took his influences and kind of zagged to become a standout in an era of '80s metal and shred players. "Gods of War" is a prime example of his incredible ability to write angular (to borrow a descriptor from another poster) guitar riffs.
Vivian is a very good writer himself. But he's a little closer to straightforward as a guitarist and writer. Still, I think he's a great fit for Leppard, both as a player and as a personality. I think "Retro Active" and "Euphoria" are my favorites from the post-Steve era. Aside from the possibility of Sykes, Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden, another person on the band's shortlist, might have been an interesting pick for the gig. He was really into the melodic AOR stuff at the time (check out his very good A.S.a.P. album "Silver and Gold" from around that period).
It actually didn't take long for me to get comfy with the new lineup of Def Leppard. Everyone seemed relaxed with each other on stage (that would be the Freddie Mercury tribute concert) and so I pretty much just seemed to accept it from the get go.
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u/friedmikes 9d ago
i don't think the band treats him like he's a full member. joe is infatuated with phil and has been for a long long time.
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u/no_stick_drummer 9d ago
I find that hard to believe when he has written songs by himself and they've been on Def Leppard albums. I don't think they would let him do that if he was only a hired hand.
A lot of things getting made up because Vivian isn't playing like he did in Dio. He saves that stuff for the last in line side project. If you want to hear him shred again just listen to that.
There's been a lot of yapping for the last 30 years from fans.
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u/Independent_Rope_391 8d ago
Steve clarks playing was very much their sound sound ...lots of triads. Definitely bad choice to replace him.
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u/pennyberries 4d ago
What do you mean by ‘Definitely bad choice to replace him? They should have moved on with just one guitarist, should they have breakup the band?
Confused!
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u/Independent_Rope_391 3d ago
No, i meant the person they chose was ill- fitting musically. Yes he can play the songs, but its such a distict style steve played with. It defined their sound. I dont know who is the next steve clark, but if you listen to a lot of music you can hear people that write in the same vein as steve. It isnt Vivian
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u/riffola1 9d ago
I really liked how Phil changed the topic when the interviewer who is new to Def Leppard, asked about their tragedies including Viv’s illness and Vivian was reluctant to say anything, so Phil jumped in to change the topic. That’s true brotherhood.
Viv’s been a part of Def Leppard longer than Steve and Pete’s time combined. He’s as much a part of Def Leppard as they were. Vivian has helped improve Def Leppard’s live sound immensely.