Last In Line release their debut album Heavy Crown through Frontiers on February 19.
But guitarist Vivian Campbell admits that when the band – himself and fellow former Dio members Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell, plus singer Andrew Freeman – first got together in 2012 they had no intention of recording anything at all.
“It was only when [label] Frontiers asked us that we even thought about it,” he says. “In the end we wrote and recorded the album in three separate sessions. We were growing as a band all the time, and the songs which came from the final session, such as The Sickness and Curse The Day, are probably the best on the record. In all, it took us about a year to do it.”
Campbell also gives huge praise to Jeff Pilson, who produced Heavy Crown: “He did a fantastic job on the vocals. He also understood we wanted to get a live vibe in to the recording. We then made Chris Collier, who was the engineer on the album and mixed it, listen to [Dio’s album] Holy Diver over and over again, so he understood the type of sound we wanted. We avoided everything to do with modern technology.”
Last In Line will play Devil In Me and Starmaker, two songs from the album, when they play Def Leppard’s Hysteria On The High Seas cruise in January [21-25].
Heavy Crown comes out two days after Leppard finish their current touring schedule. And as they’re not due back on the road until June, this is when Last In Line will get the chance to be most active.
“We have a few dates lined in the States,” Campbell says. “We’ll also be appearing at the Frontiers Rock Festival in Milan during April [23⁄24]. I reckon that’s the time when we will do a clutch of dates in the UK.”
Don’t rule out the band (now minus keysman Schnell) recording an EP later in the year as well.
