Ireland's Independent.ie conducted a Q&A; with DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Independent.ie: So, let me get this straight. You're a hard rock guitarist - and a vegetarian. Isn't there a law against that?

Collen: "I've felt weird about eating meat since I was a kid. I'm a picture of health at 51. I hardly eat any kind of food. I'm a vegan. You don't need meat to survive. It's a pleasure thing.

Independent.ie: Speaking of forbidden pleasures, you had a reputation for hitting the bottle pretty hard back in Def Leppard's glory days. What convinced you to pack it in?

Collen: "I was just getting so, so fucked up. I was having blackouts and I didn't like being completely out of control."

Independent.ie: Whereas your band mate, Steve Clark, kept drinking and passed away at age 31. It was the booze that that did for him in the end, wasn't it?

Collen: "Steve carried on and obviously it killed him. It was a very similar thing. The difference was that I thought, 'Oh shit, I shouldn't be doing this. It's not for me.'"

Independent.ie: In the eyes of many, Def Leppard came pretty close to being a real life SPINAL TAP. Did it seem that way from the inside?

Collen: "Yeah, absolutely. You can't escape the Spinal Tap. There were definitely moments like that. You've got to bear in mind we were kids. Rick Allen [Def Leppard drummer] was 19 when we were doing Pyromania."

Independent.ie: You've had your differences with your record label recently. It's been reported you were mightily miffed about the marketing of your recent albums.

Collen: "You remember the days when PRINCE wrote 'Slave' across his face? For us, it's a control issue. You want to own your own music. Also, you pay a publishing company to protect you -- and then everybody's downloading your stuff and they don't do anything about it.

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