DEF LEPPARD Guitarist Explains Decision To Record Blues Album

DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell has launched his new official web site at www.viviancampbell.com.

Campbell will release his first solo album, "Two Sides of If", on September 6. Campbell will be joined on the blues-oriented album by ZZ TOP's Billy Gibbons, singer Joan Osbourne, and former FRANK ZAPPA and MISSING PERSONS drummer Terry Bozzio. "Two Sides of If" features a collection of Campbell's favorite blues songs, including WILLIE DIXON's "I Ain't Superstitious" and "Spoonful", FLEETWOOD MAC's "Like It This Way", RORY GALLAGHER's "Calling Card", and MEL LONDON's "Messin' With The Kid".

With regards to his reasons for recording a blues album, Campbell writes on his web site, "The question has been raised as to why, when known as a rock player, I choose to make a blues record. What's more, the record is a collection of blues standards with the only 'new' track being a Billy Gibbons original, 'Willin' For Satisfaction' (so new, in fact, that Billy just finished writing the lyrics five minutes before we tracked it!) I wrote a brief explanation as to 'why blues' that is printed on the CD booklet.

"Why standards? Well, I believe in the reverence of the blues, and I don't subscribe to the misconception that just because you can play guitar you can play the blues. It can be especially woeful to hear rock guitar players play blues with bags full of technique but hearts devoid of soul. I also believe that as simple as the blues can seem, there's a certain intangible that can't simply be written into the three-chord formula, and as such I wish to bide my time and take the path to learning more about that intangible and hopefully, in due course, I'll write within the genre myself. Still, there's always been plenty of room for interpretation of roots music, and that is all I attempted to offer with this record."