Collen, Def Leppard keep active to stay loud

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen wakes up at 6 a.m. every day. He’s a vegan and he takes a kickboxing bag on tour for drills and daily workouts.

While Collen’s regime is probably smart for any 60-year-old, it especially helps a heavy metal guitarist for an iconic rock band stay vital in 2017.

“If you still have that enthusiasm, your body helps you out, Collen said.

Def Leppard performs Wednesday at the Spokane Arena with special guests Poison and Tesla.

The British band, known for two Diamond-status original albums (10 million units sold or more) and hits like “Love Bites,” “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” has remained active since their formation in 1977. Collen joined the band in 1982.

Their 2015 self-titled release debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, although Collen said the band never considered the newest album to be a money-making enterprise.

“We made it for ourselves,” Collen said. “There was no business agenda. Normally we wouldn’t have put those songs together – it was very diverse. But it was purely about us and a celebration of Def Leppard across the years. It was a pure artistic enterprise.”

Fans can expect a healthy mix of material from all decades at Wednesday’s show.

“You do have to play some hot chestnuts – there is a list of absolute essentials,” Collen said.

Collen has never tired of touring, even when the band played shows on three continents in a single day to set a world record back in 1995. They played in Tangiers, London and Vancouver, Canada.

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat if someone was crazy enough to want to do it,” he said. “Touring is the reason I joined the band. It’s the coolest part of it. You’ve done all the work in the studio, it’s just a no brainer to go out and give it to the fans. It completes the artistic circle.”

The Def Leppard songbook continues to influence new fans and artists. The band even collaborated with Taylor Swift in 2008 for a special concert featured on the CMT television series, “CMT Crossroads.”

“She was on her way,” Collen said. “That was a ball. It was great to see our songs stripped down in a different way.”

Even with a few diversions into a softer sound, Def Leppard is still about a rich sonic experience. Collen said the band has always worked to create a sense of fullness to the music – a quality that can go unappreciated in an age of listening to music through tiny computer speakers.

“You have to make records that have an apparent loudness,” Collen said. “You have to belt it out so it translates (to a live experience). You can’t play it relaxed.”