“You could sing along to the songs – including the solos. You can really mess a song up by playing the wrong solo. You can put people off”: Phil Collen on Def Leppard x Tom Morello, his love of thick guitar necks – and why Pyromania still blows him away

A portrait of Phil Collen against a black background. Collen holds a Jackson s-style.

He may have spent over four decades in the biz, but Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is still just as excited about playing guitar in a rock ’n’ roll band as in 1983 when the band dropped its landmark album, Pyromania. And why shouldn’t he be?

Not only is Def Leppard still packing stadiums – and not only was their last record, 2022’s Diamond Star Halos, a smash hit – but now they’ve got another hit on their hands in single Just Like 73, an outtake from the Diamond Star Halos sessions and featuring Tom Morello.