The Def Leppard guitarist returns to the band after taking some time away for his health
Vivian Campbell recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation. During the conversation, he reveals that there is new music coming for both Def Leppard and Last in Line.
“Could possibly come out at the end of the year or early next,” he says about new Def Leppard music. “I mean, we’ve gotten a record basically ready. The issue is we keep writing more songs, you know. I think there’s like 17 or 18 to go at the wound and I know there’s a few more coming. So it’ll be done when it’s done, you know. So, because it all goes back to, you know, how I think “Hysteria” was done. I think “Pour Some Sugar On Me” was the biggest song on the record, and it was the last one that was written. It was a late addition. So I think that mindset still exists, you know that, hang on a second, before you send it to the press, here’s another song. But yeah, the goal would be to get it out within a year or so. I’d guess, yeah.”
Campbell has been battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma since being diagnosed in 2013. He has undergone various treatments, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and a stem cell transplant in 2014, and most recently, a bone marrow transplant in January 2025. Despite his ongoing health challenges, he has remained active with both Def Leppard and his side project, Last in Line.
In May 2025, Campbell returned to performing live with Def Leppard after recovering from his bone marrow transplant, receiving widespread praise from fans and bandmates for his resilience. Campbell gives Trunk a health update.
“You know, I’ve been very lucky actually. I got an early diagnosis for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 13 years ago, 12 years ago, something like that. You know, being around the houses through the mill with all sorts of chemo and immunotherapy and combination therapies. And ten years ago I did, an oncologist stem cell transplant, which means using my own stem cells. That didn’t work. The cancer kept coming back. And then a couple of years ago, it really got bad. So it was the first time in having to deal with it that I was seriously concerned about it. And, you know, the doctors told me, really my only transfer of cure was to do a donor transplant. And that’s exactly what I did. Starting last summer during our tour, I started doing more chemo in preparation for it. And then right after the tour, they started giving me very hardcore chemo leading up to the transplant,” he says.
He continues, “I was supposed to start after Thanksgiving, and I lost my donor ten days beforehand. So that was a kick in the nuts. But I was very fortunate that they found me another one in December. And on New Year’s Eve, I went into hospital. I was in for about three and a half weeks. And I did what has turned out to be a really, really successful transplant. So I did a PET scan in the middle of April, and I’m a hundred percent clean, completely in remission for the first time in 12 or 13 years. And I am obviously overjoyed, you know, you couldn’t ask for more than that. I had an incredible donor. They mark the ten genetic markers, and this donor was a ten out of ten. A young man, actually, I don’t get to know who he is for a couple of years, but a 21-year-old man. And they always prefer youthful donor. And you know, obviously I’m gonna buy him a beer for two or three.”
Campbell also confirms Last in Line has an album of material completed, although he’s not sure how the group will release the songs.
“Our last show was the first week of May last year at the M3 Festival in Baltimore. And then right after that I went touring with Leppard all through the summer. And obviously right after the summer tour with Leppard, I was dealing with the transplant and the chemo and stuff. So it’s basically my fault, I gotta kind of schedule things and get us back up and started again. But the short answer is we probably won’t do anything this year. We’re working on a record. We’ve got, we actually wrote the song so long ago. I’ve practically forgotten them, but we do have an album written. We have four master tracks that we’re currently working on. And the ball is in my court. I gotta do guitar on those tracks. I’ve only done one so far, and so once those four are finished, we’ll probably release them,” he says.
He adds, “Actually, I mean, we were, you know, we did write an album’s worth of music, but I’m not sure if we’ll put it all out as one thing. We might release it piecemeal because, you know, getting back to albums and stuff, when you put out a record, I mean, it’s just got such a short shelf life nowadays, you know, so maybe it might be more beneficial for us to release two, three or four tracks at a time. And you know, hopefully next year we’ll get back into doing some shows. But it’s been rough since our last show. We lost our road manager, roadie guy, you know, it’s not like Def Leppard. We travel in sprinter vans and we have one roadie and his name was Mark Weber. And unfortunately he passed away last July.
“And so next time we do go play, we’re playing without Mark. And, you know, it’s been a rough ride with, with Last in Line with the attrition. We had, like I said earlier, we lost Jimmy Bain to cancer on the eve of the release of our debut album, and we lost our manager, Steve Strange, three years ago to cancer. So, and now we lost Mark. So, but having said all of that, it is very, very cathartic for me to play on stage with Last In Line. It really exercises the muscle of guitar playing furiously. It keeps me sharp on the top of my game and, you know, the travel’s hard back to back shows, you know, five or six hours every day in a sprinter van, cheese sandwiches, no sleep. But when we’re on stage, it is just electrifying for me to play it. It just kinda recharges my batteries. And then when I go back to Def Leppard, I feel so, so confident about my playing again. So yeah, I’d like to get back at it. I do miss it, to be honest.”
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