Def Leppard planning to keep going like Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones

Def Leppard is in no danger of hanging their guitars up anytime soon. The group is in their 29th year, and guitarist Phil Collen said they're taking cues from two of the biggest bands in the world. Collen told classicrockrevisited.com, "I would not want us to be a karaoke version of ourselves. But the fact that we have been recording and releasing new stuff makes us real. The Rolling Stones are still out there. I think we will still be out there when we are their age... If you have something to offer and you still have the hunger and the energy to do it, then why not do it? Look at Aerosmith."

Also like Aerosmith and the Stones, Def Leppard is working on new material. Collen said, "We have about eight songs on the go but we have two that are demoed. We are trying the new songs out backstage... We are doing some pre-production and we think we will have at least five or six songs totally produced and ready to go by the time we come off the road. We are going to start recording in January." The guitarist added that the new material "is very rock. In fact, it is more rock that it has been in a few years.... We want the next album to have a rough edge. I think the new album will be a lot more raw."

Def Leppard's current album is the covers project called Yeah!, which features their hit version of the David Essex smash "Rock On." Their summer tour with co-headliners Journey resumes next Tuesday (August 15th) in Morrison, Colorado.