DEF LEPPARD's PHIL COLLEN On A.I. In Music: 'I Think You Have To Accept And Embrace Any New Technology'

In a new interview with Argentina's Rock & Pop 95.9 FM radio station, DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen weighed in on a debate about people using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) music generator as a tool to create melodies, harmonies and rhymes based on artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithms and machine learning (M.L.) models. Asked for his opinion on the use of A.I. in music in general, Phil said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's scary. It's not scary — it's disappointing, because you hear lots of... At the moment you can still tell if a song's A.I. I hear a lot of country bands and R&B, and you can hear something, you go, 'Okay, well that's definitely A.I.' But the stuff we do doesn't sound like that. It definitely sounds a different way. And the same with the live recordings or live performances. There's so many bands out there and artists that use samples and tapes and sequences and stuff like that. Yeah, we use loops on the drums and stuff like that, but all our vocals are really live. We actually really sing them, and you can tell the difference. There's a feeling, especially if we make mistakes, which happens every night, if you forget words or whatever. So I think there's something really cool about that."

Collen continued: "One thing I will say, we don't have any speakers on our stage. We used to have monitors and that. Everyone's got in-ear monitors, so the singing has got so much better because before you would have, like, this noise — it'd be a rumble going down the microphones and coming in your ear. Now you can hear everything so clearly that it's just a lot more precise. So I love that; that's really cool.

"So, yeah, I think you have to accept and embrace any new technology," Phil added. "Same with A.I. — everyone uses it. People [use it] and they don't even realize they're doing it. They Google something and A.I. will talk straight back at them. So, yeah, we all use it. I think you just have to be aware. At the moment, I love what we're doing and I love the fact that we're not too reliant on that stuff and that it hasn't taken over yet."

Earlier this month, DEF LEPPARD announced the dates for an extensive 2027 North American arena tour featuring support from GOO GOO DOLLS and THE STRUTS. The 45-date run will kick off on March 2 at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania and include stops in Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Nashville, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Houston, St. Louis, Tampa, Atlanta, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia before winding down on July 2 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

DEF LEPPARD's story will be told in the upcoming feature-length documentary "Long Live Def Leppard", slated for release in theaters in early 2027. The film from director Jeff Feuerzeig chronicles the legendary rockers from their humble beginnings in Sheffield, England to global chart domination in the 1980s and 1990s.

DEF LEPPARD is working on the follow-up to the "Diamond Star Halos" album, which came out in 2022. DEF LEPPARD's new LP will include the song "Rejoice", which was released in late January ahead of the band's return to Las Vegas for their "Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency".

"Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency" ran through February 28, 2026 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. These new shows followed the band's sold-out residency successes in 2019 and 2013.

In January 2025, DEF LEPPARD released a cover of Ben E. King's 1961 classic "Stand By Me". All proceeds from the song went to FireAid, which raises money for those impacted by the fires that swept through Los Angeles in January 2025.

DEF LEPPARD's version of the song is featured in the Netflix film "Bank Of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger", which was released in January 2025. The band can be seen performing the track before the credits.

DEF LEPPARD's "Just Like 73" single, featuring a guest guitar solo from RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, was made available in June 2024.

DEF LEPPARD's 12th studio album, "Diamond Star Halos", came out in 2022. A year later, the band followed it up with "Drastic Symphonies", a collection of reimagining of some of DEF LEPPARD's greatest hits with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road. The album spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Current Classical chart.

DEF LEPPARD was finally inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2019 — 14 years after the British rockers first became eligible.