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Phil Collen
Philip Kenneth Collen (born December 8, 1957 in Hackney, East London, England) is one of the guitarists for British rock band Def Leppard. He joined the band in 1982 following the firing of Pete Willis.
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Biography
Collen was born in Hackney, East London, England. Because of this region, he speaks with a Cockney accent. At the age of 16, Phil got his first guitar (a red Gibson SG), taught himself how to play, and left school to pursue a career in music. He then joined a line-up of early bands including Lucy, Tush, Dumb Blondes, and Girl.Def Leppard
Phil Collen and Steve Clark, dubbed as "The Terror Twins".
But when Willis was dismissed from Def Leppard, Collen wasn't formally asked to join the band. Elliott evaluated Collen's ability to play the guitar so well after he handed out a demo recording of "Stagefright," during the band's Pyromania sessions, in hopes of performing a solo that fits in with the bands' style of music. Soon after, Collen officially joined, and his ability on the guitar impressed producer Mutt Lange and the rest of the band. He quickly bonded with fellow guitarist Steve Clark, with whom he created Def Leppard's trademark dual guitar sound. He and Steve were even known as "The Terror Twins" due to their enthusiasm in hard rock music and because both musicians had a close bond in personality.
Over the years, Collen quit drinking, stopped eating meat, and adopted a healthy lifestyle (He became a vegetarian); Clark did no such thing and ended up losing his life to alcohol and prescription drugs in early 1991.
After Clark's death in 1991, Collen faced the challege of not only dealing with the loss of a friend he has bonded for so many years, but also with the burden and responsibility of reproducing Clark's style while creating and recording all the guitar parts for their next album, Adrenalize. At this time he considered quitting the band, but remained steadfast.
It was until April of 1992 that Phil Collen and the rest of the band got their break when Vivian Campbell joined the band as co-lead guitarist to help the rest of the band move forward into recording more albums together without having too much problem. Although Campbell joined, both guitarists have had gotten along well, but not so much as he did with Steve Clark.
Equipment
In 1989, Collen teamed up with Grover Jackson of Jackson Guitars to develop an ergonomically correct electric guitar called the PC Archtop. He has since designed three more Jackson electric guitar models (PC 1, 2 & 3). The PC1 is currently produced and sold through Jackson.Phil uses steel guitar picks made by Dunlop. He plays GHS 12-52 strings tuned to E'flat.
In November 1992 he was quoted in Guitar School as using the following equipment.
Guitars: Jackson/Charvel custom Pickups: DiMarzio Super 3 (bridge), Fast Track ( neck ) Amplification: Randall RRM2-200 Cabinets: Randall custom 4 X 12s/Celestion Vintage 30s Effects: Digitech GSP 21s, Rockman XPR, TC Electronic 1128 EQ, Scholz stereo choruses, BBE 442 Sonic Maximizers, Rane MPE 28, Palmer Speaker Simulator
Side Projects
Collen has worked in numerous side projects, some of them together with Joe Elliott. One of his recent side projects was a tribute to David Bowie and Mick Ronson. He and Elliott also got together with the Trevor Bolder and Mick "Woody" Woodmansey from Spiders from Mars and keyboardist Dick Decent to form Cybernauts. In 2001 they released a great live album of classic Bowie hits. In addition, Collen has also appeared on a number of other music projects.
Recently, Phil organized a band of his own called Man-Raze, comprised of former Girl bandmate, Simon Laffy, and the drummer from the Sex Pistols, Paul Cook. He also made a guest appearance with the band Sheer Greed on the song "Eveybody Wants" on their album Sublime To The Ridiculous.
Personal life
Collen currently resides in Southern California with his wife, Anita Thomas. Collen has a son, Rory James Collen, and a daughter, Samantha Collen.Trivia
- In October 1980, Adrain Smith joined Iron Maiden However, had Adrian refused, Phil would've been their next choice.
- He practices kickboxing
- He has been dubbed by some as "The Shirtless One", because he typically performs shirtless
- He is know as one of the "Terror Twins"
- On "Yeah!" the 2006 covers album by Def Leppard, Phil performed the lead vocal on "Stay With Me" (originally recorded by Faces) and sang lead vocal on Search and Destroy originally done by The Stooges on the bonus tracks EP.
Liverpool Echo News - interview with Phill and Joe Liverpool EchoLeppards DO change spots Jul 11 2008 Jade Wright
JOE Elliot and Phil Collen saunter into a hotel room bigger than my entire house, looking every bit the conquering heroes.
The eternal rockers have just played the Islington Academy and their new album, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, has gone into the charts at No. 5. They're clearly on top of the world.
"Looks like we've still got it," chuckles singer Joe. He's 48 this year, his hair still golden-blond, lush and long.
He is dressed immaculately in freshly pressed jeans and a tailored black shirt with a diamante skull and crossbones on the back, every inch the rock star.
"What a gig!" he bellows to the cavernous room. "We were so nervous before we went out but that was awesome. I could do it all over again."
I've taken up the challenge of a lifetime. I'm on tour with Def Leppard, Sheffield's finest heavy rockers.
Their success makes today's rock acts look like minnows in comparison. They've sold more than 65m albums in the course of their three-decade career. In sales alone, that puts them ahead of acts like Stevie Wonder, The Spice Girls, Oasis, Nirvana, Bob Dylan ...
And after a six-year break they're back. I caught up with them in London, playing their most intimate gig for 25 years in the 800-capacity north London club.
And what a show it was. In among the media throng were the uber-fans, the die-hards who were prepared to queue up and support their boys all the way.
Over the years the band rocked with the best of them and lived harder than most.
After the drinking years, and the drug-fuelled years, the death of guitarist Steve Clark and drummer Rick Allen's horrific car accident that cost him his arm, it's incredible they're still here, let alone preparing for another tour.
A tour that takes in the ECHO Arena next week.
"I'm excited about that," grins Joe. "I love Liverpool. I love The Beatles, and The Zutons. People think that because I write the sort of music I do that I can't appreciate other things. That's just rubbish. I listen to all sorts, and it's The Beatles I always come back to. Legends."
Joe currently lives in Dublin, with his wife Kristine, whom he met while she was working in wardrobe for Def Leppard.
Joe makes himself comfortable on an enormous white sofa while lead guitarist Phil makes a beeline for a large silver platter and lifts off the domed lid. I dread to think what can be inside. But I needn't have feared.
Underneath lies a feast of the poshest toast I've ever seen – there's four different types of butter.
"What did you expect?" laughs Phil, raising an eyebrow. "Steak? Drugs? A thousand brown M&Ms in a brandy glass?
"I hope you're not disappointed in me," he gives a cheeky grin. "But you can't beat a nice bit of toast.
"I shouldn't have it really – I try to keep off wheat – but this is my treat. Help yourself.
He offers the toast around and carefully butters and devours slice after slice. He's entitled to his one vice. The clean-living rocker has already eschewed alcohol, drugs and meat. He's a keen kick-boxer and works out every day – so much so that he's been dubbed "the shirtless one", so fond he is of showing off his toned torso.
"I'm the oldest in the band," he laughs. "I'm 50. But I look the youngest, because I look after myself. I'm a strict vegetarian, I try to eat as much raw food as I can. I look after myself. I live in California; it's nothing unusual there.
"But I come back to England and people expect the cliche," he says, with a world-weary sigh. "They think I'm going to be drinking, smoking, snorting coke out of some blonde's belly button.
"I've had people come up to me and ask why I'm with my partner. She's black, and people have asked why am I not with some blonde half my age. I try to explain that I don't live my life to be a cliche. That I'm an ordinary bloke who does an extraordinary job, and away from work I do my own thing."
He pauses for a second, and corrects himself.
"But then I realise how lucky I am to be able to do this, to be here," he waves his arm to indicate the hotel suite.
"I started out as a dispatch rider in London. I worked for a living, weaving in and out of the traffic every day, so I know how lucky I am now to be able to live like this. I'd never have set foot in a place like this if it hadn't been for this band."
Phil joined the band in 1982 following the departure of Pete Willis, making him a relative newcomer.
The doubly misspelt hard rock act ("Don't call us heavy metal, we're not heavy metal," insists Joe) were born in 1977. Originally called Atomic Mass, Joe thought up the new name while writing reviews for imaginary rock bands in his English class at school.
They went on to become one of the hardest living bands of the 80s, so I must admit I'd expected life on tour with them to be a bit rougher round the edges. A bit, well, less civilised.
Aside from the plush hotel suites, the band have three full-sized tour buses for the five of them. Somewhat excessive perhaps?
"No, we have to do it that way," explains Phil. "Viv (guitarist Vivian Campbell) and I have one. It's all vegetarian and we keep it nice and clean.
"Then Joe and Sav (bass player Rick 'Sav' Savage – so called to avoid confusion with drummer Rick Allen) have another – that's the dirty bus.
"And then Rick has his own bus which he fills with flowers and incense. He burns joss sticks on it and it gets in everyone else's throats, so he's on his own in there."
Rick Allen, the band's famous one-armed drummer, is a haven of peace and calm. As well as the incense on the tour bus, he attaches joss sticks and sunflowers to his drum-kit onstage to harness positive energy.
The story goes that he lost his arm after losing control of his car on his way to a New Year's eve party at his family's home in Sheffield. Aged just 21, he was thrown from the car resulting in the severing of his left arm due to the seatbelt not being properly fastened.
He's got a lovely, sunny disposition. He's a firm believer in karma, and says that, after plenty of tough times he's never been happier.
He and Phil meditate backstage before the shows, and they believe a lot of their success has come from their positive energy.
And it seems to be working.
"We're happier than we've been in years," explains Joe. "I get out of bed every day and I can't wait to see what it brings. Maybe that's the wisdom age brings. Or maybe you just realise that every day is precious."
"Either way, we certainly enjoy ourselves more than we used to. We love every day."
* Def Leppard play the ECHO arena alongside Whitesnake and Thunder as part of the Summer Pops on July 15. For tickets call the ECHO arena on 0844 800 0400 go online to www.accliverpool.com or call in at the 08 Place or arena. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2008/07/11/leppards-do-change-spots-100252-21327993/2/
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