Jessie David of Metal Wani had to chat with Vivian Campbell about the Last In Line II album release, a new tour, and Def Leppard’s induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Last In Line features the original members of Dio. The rebirth of Last In Line grew out of the ashes a couple years after the death of Ronnie James Dio. Vivian just finished doing a tour with Thin Lizzy and just wanted to play aggressive guitar. So he called up Vinny Appice and Jimmy Bain who have always been friends and right away they went into rehearsal. Vivian said, “We hadn’t played together at that point for 27 years but as soon as we started playing, started jamming it could have been 27 minutes, the chemistry was so immediate so apparent.”

Long story short Vinny said it would be more fun if they had a singer so they brought in Freeman.

When Last In Line started they were playing Dio tracks so for their new second album they wanted to stand out. Vivian said,  “I don’t think I would have called the band Last In Line. Just because we’ve grown way-way beyond that. We’re no longer just playing out Dio catalog were playing original material now.”

He goes on to say that this was the inspiration to call the album II. He said, “LIL II just kind of streamlines things.” The new album features new member Phil Soussan, who Vivian described as an ambitious player, saying, ”He’s a busy bass player and less fundamental.”  

When asked to compare his musical preferences with Def Leppard and Last In Line, Vivian pointed out that in Def Leppard the vocals are the main focus wherein Last In Line they have extended guitar solos. Going on to say, “In Last In Line, I’m the only guitar player. I’m doing all the heavy lifting and that’s kind of my focus, in Def Leppard we're there to serve the songs.”

Last year Def Leppard released a new 2-disc best of compilation. When asked if we can expect some new music from Def Leppard this year, Vivian said there has been some rumbling. “It is on the horizon, by next year I would guess we will be thinking about recording or releasing something.”  

On March 29th Def Leppard will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. When asked about it, Vivian said, “It feels very grown-up." It's not something that the band would have spent a long of time thinking about. What means a lot to them is that they got the most popular fan base vote. In terms of industry recognition, Vivian said that he feels that band always got sidelined and ignored and that feeling goes way back before he was in the Def Leppard.

On a more personal note. Vivian has been battling cancer, but he won’t let it beat him. He said, “My work is what keeps me alive. If I weren’t able to do that I would have died.”

The interview ends with Vivian Campbell talking about the Dio hologram and thanking his fans.