Def Leppard will Release Covers Album, Start Working on New Material This Spring

Def Leppard will release an album of covers, titled Yeah!, this spring and will support it with a summer tour. Guitarist Vivian Campbell and singer Joe Elliott were both influenced by songs from the glam rock era as children in the early '70s, so they've recorded Roxy Music's "Street Life" "as more of a punk rock song," Campbell told RollingStone.com.

Yeah! will also include versions of the Electric Light Orchestra's "10538 Overture," Thin Lizzy's "Don't Believe A Word" and The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset," among others.

The group will start working on a new studio album following the completion of the summer tour.

Campbell, meanwhile, has released a blues-based solo collection of covers titled Two Sides Of If that sees him singing for the first time. "Blues, as a genre, works well for me because it can accommodate me as a guitar player as well as a singer," he explained.

Def Leppard's 1987 album, Hysteria, has sold more than a million copies in Canada, while 1983's Pyromania has moved more than 700,000 units. The band have had such hits as "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Photograph" and "Rock Of Ages."

January 8 marked the 15th anniversary of the death of guitarist and Def Leppard co-founder Steve Clark, who played with the band for almost 13 years. He died from an overdose of alcohol and prescription drugs at his London home.

SOURCE: Chart Attack