Guitarist Vivian Campbell says late bassist Jimmy Bain shouldn’t have been with Last In Line when he died as he knew he was in ill health.
Bain died in January of lung cancer aboard Def Leppard’s Hysteria On The High Seas cruise. And while Leppard and Last In Line member Campbell says he doesn’t think Bain knew he had cancer, he was taking antibiotics for pneumonia at the time.
He tells Talk Is Jericho: “This band and this record was really the only thing that Jimmy had in his life to focus on and he was focused on it intently.
“That was his beacon of light and that was his salvation in the last couple of years of his life. He believed in this project so much and he was so excited to be doing this – and that’s why he should never have gone on that cruise.”
Campbell continues: “We didn’t know he had cancer. I don’t know if Jimmy did either, but we knew he had pneumonia. He had been diagnosed as having pneumonia and was taking antibiotics for it and he was not well.
“But Jimmy insisted on doing it and he wanted to do it.
“I’ll say this about him. He was a true rock and roller to the end. He died with his boots on – literally. We found him in full regalia in his that cabin on the ship and he was living it to the end. He believed in it so much and it was so sad that he never actually got to see it.”
Bain died just weeks before the Dio offshoot released their debut album Heavy Crown. They’ll go on tour across the US and Europe starting later this week, with Phil Soussan taking Bain’s place in the lineup.
The band have released a clip of their performance of Starmaker from rehearsal sessions ahead of the live run. Watch it below.
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Last In Line: Heavy Crown tour dates
Oct 22: Costa Mesa Tiki Bar, CA
Oct 23: West Hollywood Whisky A Go Go, CA
Oct 28: Orangevale Boardwalk, CA
Oct 29: Reno Rockbar Theater, NV
Oct 30: Las Vegas Vamp’d, NV
Nov 10: Pontypridd Hard Rock Hell, UK
Nov 13: Zwolle Hedon, Netherlands
Nov 14: Paris Le Trianon, France
Nov 16: Strasbourg La Laiterie, France
Nov 17: Stuttgart LKA Longhorn, Germany
Nov 18: Telfs Rathaussaal, Austria
Nov 19: Zlin Winter Masters Of Rock, Czech Republic
Nov 21: Warsaw Progresja Music Zone, Poland
Nov 22: Berlin Huzleys Neue Welt, Germany
Nov 23: Cologne Luxor Koln, Germany
Nov 25: London O2 Academy Islington, UK
Nov 27: Bristol Bierkeller, UK
Nov 28: Nottingham Rescue Rooms, UK
Nov 30: Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall, UK
Dec 01: Newcastle O2 Academy, UK
Dec 02: Sheffield Corporation, UK
Dec 03: Belfast Limelight, UK
Last In Line: Starmaker is a 'middle finger' to manipulative people
