Def Leppard to Play in Burgettstown on Sunday

Def Leppard fans have learned to be a patient bunch. The veteran British hard rockers are in the midst of a six-year gap between studio albums. In the past, four and five years respectively have elapsed between albums.

But there’s good news on the horizon: Def Leppard’s first studio effort since 2008’s “Songs from the Sparkle Lounge” is due out next year. “We’ve been recording it in installments and it’s been coming along pretty good,” guitarist Vivian Campbell said by phone. “It’s good to be moving forward creatively, but basically the band can’t make a quick record. It’s the nature of Def Leppard and that’s never going to change.”

Def Leppard’s co-headlining tour with Kiss includes a stop at the First Niagara Pavilion in Burgettstown on Sunday. The bands will play an equal amount of time, with Kiss closing the shows. “It is the first time Def Leppard hasn’t closed the show since the band’s very early days,” Campbell said. “In most cases we’re going on during daylight, which is very different. It makes sense because with Kiss’ production and pyrotechnics you’d rather see them at night.”

Def Leppard began recording its as yet untitled new album in February and March of this year, Campbell said. The band plans to regroup in November and December to finish the disc. Campbell said he’s hoping for a Spring 2015 release. Campbell joined Def Leppard in 1992 following the death one year earlier of original guitarist Steve Clark from complications of drug and alcohol abuse.

In early 2013, Campbell was diagnosed with cancer. He said the Hodgkin’s lymphoma has not slowed the band’s touring or writing schedule. The cancer went into remission in late 2013 but returned this year. Campbell is scheduled to undergo a stem cell transplant in September. “It’s good to keep working through it,” he said.

In addition to Campbell, Def Leppard includes singer Joe Elliott, guitarist Phil Collen, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen. The band formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 and released its first album, “On Through the Night,” in 1980. The band’s initial lineup consisted of Elliott, Savage, Allen and guitarists Clark and Pete Willis. Collen replaced Willis after the band released it 1981 sophomore effort, “High ‘n’ Dry.”

When Def Leppard’s debut record was released, the band was considered among the young lions of the nascent British heavy metal movement along with bands like Iron Maiden and Sweet Savage, which featured Campbell. By the time Def Leppard released its third album, 1983’s “Pyromania,” the band had become adept at writing radio-friendly hard rock songs while maintaining its hard edge. Propelled by the No. 1 singles “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages,” “Pyromania” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

It would be four years before the band released its next album, “Hysteria.” Much of the delay was due to Allen’s recuperation from a New Year’s Eve 1985 car wreck in which his left arm was severed. Allen relearned to play drums using a custom electronic drum kit. “Hysteria” hit No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, has sold 12 million copies in America alone and featured five Top 20 singles: “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Animal,” “Love Bites,” “Armageddon It” and “Rocket.”

Following the “Hysteria” tour, Def Leppard headed into the studio, but the band’s plan to avoid a long gap between records was derailed when Clark died. The band released “Adrenalize” as a quartet in 1992. Campbell, who previously played with Ronnie James Dio and Whitesnake, made his Def Leppard studio debut on 1996’s “Slang.”

IF YOU GO: Kiss, Def Leppard, and The Dead Daisies. 7 p.m. Sunday Aug. 24. $32.50 to $161. First Niagara Pavilion, 665 Route 18, Burgettstown. Tickets available on www.livenation.com