Last In Line eye 2020 release date for third studio album
Last In Line have commenced work on their third studio album and are hoping to release it in late 2020.
Speaking to Planet Rock’s Paul Anthony shortly before their storming set at Planet Rockstock on Saturday night (7th December), guitarist Viv Campbell and vocalist Andrew Freeman opened up about the follow-up to February 2019’s ‘II’.
“We’ve got another record we’re working on for next year, which we’ve pretty much got written, we’ve just got to put lyrics to the songs and we’ll go from there,” Andrew said.
“Our last album (‘II’) is still pretty new – it’s not even a year old yet – so we’re already thinking about moving forward and not taking… because of all the things that interfere, that take us away from this (band) we kind of want to get this going now. If it takes a year to get out at least we’ll have most of it written by next year.”
Viv added: “Which is what we’re kind of hoping for. We have, as Andy said, we’ve got a lot of the music written. In fact, most of it or all of it. Andrew’s just got to do the hard work of melodies and lyrics and stuff.”
Andrew quipped: “Yeah, we say we’ve got it written but now we have to make them songs (laughs).
Revealing that they’re label-less after leaving Italian imprint Frontiers Music Srl – who released 2016’s ‘Heavy Crown’ and 2019’s ‘II’ – Viv continued: “We were in (Las) Vegas with Def Leppard with the residency over the summer and Andrew lives in Vegas so Vinnie (Appice) and Phil (Soussan) flew out and we had four days I think where we just wrote and came up with ideas.
“Anyway, long story short, we wanna get started on the record by February in LA. We don’t have a label deal at the moment – we’re between labels – so we’re excited about the prospect of going to a new label and hopefully y’know actually getting our music out a bit more globally.
“But we want to get a head start on the record, we don’t want to wait ‘til all that’s in place because if we don’t start it by February we’ve got no chance of getting it out next year and it would be great if we got it out, say, this time next year.”
Reflecting on the creative process, Andrew told us: “Everybody’s a writer and it’s nice that we got together for four days and we were able to put together 12/13 songs for a new record. In four days!
“When you have that kind of an energy going on where you have four guys that just want to create, create, create, it’s hard for you to rest on your laurels. I mean you will - and they’re not my laurels to rest on – but I’m very privileged to have these big songs to just pull out. Like if one of our songs doesn’t go well it’s just ‘oh let’s pull some old Dio song out to win the crowd back’.
“So, we have that our disposal it’s just nice to be able to write songs and also write songs that people seem to be interested in now. They’re kind of standing up, it seems to be that they’re standing up with the older tunes and that’s helpful because we get a lot out of it and it’s a really unique show.
“We’re doing all these classics and then you see them singing ‘Rainbow In the Dark’ and then they know all the words to ‘Landslide’. It’s nice and I think it’s a pretty unique situation.”
Extolling the virtues of staying creative, Viv added: “You’ve got to be a creative musician otherwise there’s only one direction you’re gonna go. It’s going to be a slow descent regardless.
“So, you’ve got to exercise the creative muscle and I know that’s true of Def Leppard. We make Def Leppard records knowing there’s no way in hell any of them are going to sell anything close to ‘Pyromania’ or ‘Hysteria’ or even ‘High 'n' Dry’.
“So, Joe (Elliott) has said this before and rightfully so – first and foremost we make records for ourselves in Def Leppard, and in Last In Line because we have that energy and, as Andrew said, we have that drive and we want to keep making new music and it’s really encouraging to get the feedback towards our own music and it sits so comfortably with the Dio classics.”
Watch the full interview with Last In Line below where Viv also talks about balancing Last In Line’s schedule with Def Leppard and why you need a sense of humour on tour:
Viv Campbell will be touring the length and breadth of the United States with Def Leppard in summer 2020 on The Stadium Tour. The blockbuster trek also features Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.