Vivian Campbell Back at Work on New Albums with Both Def Leppard, Last in Line
Vivian Campbell isn't just back in action after a cancer scare; he's actually working on new projects with both Def Leppard and Last in Line.
Def Leppard is finishing their long-awaited follow up to 2008's 'Songs from the Sparkle Lounge,' after Campbell took some time away for a stem-cell treatment program. Meanwhile, Campbell is also collaborating with a group of fellow members of Dio, dubbed Last in Line after the 1984 album and tune by that band.
“We're back in the studio this week, writing the final songs for the new record," Campbell says via Last in Line's Facebook page. "Recording recommences in early January with Jeff Pilson producing. It's such a rush to wrestle my Les Paul like this again.”
No long after, Joe Elliott confirms, Def Leppard will have their new album out. "We're back on it now and hoping to get it finished by early spring," he told the Belfast Telegraph this weekend. "I was in the studio last night, actually, and I'll be in again tonight -- if I don't wear my voice out.” He's described the album as "basic and raw."
Pilson, after rising to fame as a sideman with Dokken, Dio and Foreigner, has added producer duties to his resume -- working with Steven Adler, Starship and Kill Devil Hill, among others.
Campbell left the hospital ahead of schedule following successful Hodgkin’s lymphoma surgery. Last in Line is rounded out by Vinny Appice, Claude Schnell and Jimmy Bain, along with replacement frontman Andrew Freeman. Dio died of stomach cancer in 2010.