Def Leppard fans recently got a peak behind the scenes at the making of Def’s new album, Drastic Symphonies, which reworks 15 of their songs with the Royal Philharmonic. The band shared a trailer for the album, which drops May 19, featuring footage of them with the Philharmonic at Abbey Road Studios.
And while some bands may have just given the Philharmonic free range with their music, guitarist Phil Collen says that simply wasn’t the case with their band.
“We didn’t want to do it like everyone else,” he tells ABC Audio. “We wanted to be involved in it. We thought what a great opportunity, you know, the Royal Philharmonic, and it’s like a massive thing, and we have songs that we’re so proud of, so we didn’t want to mess it up.”
Collen says the process of picking the songs for the album was really easy. They were so serious about getting it right that some of their biggest hits, like “Rock of Ages,” “Photograph” and “Let’s Get Rocked,” didn’t make the album because they “didn’t work.”
One hit that did make it is “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” although Collen says the original sounds “ridiculous” with an orchestra. But instead of leaving it off, they adapted a version they heard years ago by a Canadian singer named Emm Gryner, making it a duet with frontman Joe Elliott.
And for Collen, one of the highlights of the project was getting to hear the Royal Philharmonic perform their songs at Abbey Road Studios. He notes, “It far exceeded our expectations. It was pretty amazing.”
Drastic Symphonies is available for preorder now.
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