Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has reunited with his former band Sweet Savage to record new music together for the first time in almost 45 years.
Speaking exclusively to eonmusic's Eamon O'Neill at Download festival, Sweet Savage frontman Haller Ray Haller revealed that Campbell has recorded two new songs with the Belfast band he co-founded in 1979, his first studio contributions to Sweet Savage since he quit in 1982 to join the original line-up of Dio.
Sweet Savage are best known for the fact that Metallica covered one of their early songs, Killing Time, as a b-side for their Unforgiven single, and included it on their 1998 Garage Inc. album. The endorsement from Metallica helped revive interest in the band, whose most recent album, Bang, was released last year.
Campbell, who went on to join Whitesnake in 1987, and Def Leppard in 1992, remained close friends with his old bandmate Haller and has become involved in an upcoming archival project celebrating the band's formative years.
"Universal want to put out all the old stuff, so we're going to," Haller told eonmusic. "We've gone through all these tapes and all these recordings from the '80s. Then Viv and I came up with the idea, 'Why don't we do two new ones?' So we recorded two new songs, and they're ready to rock and roll."
The recordings will accompany a collection of previously unreleased and rare Sweet Savage material from the band's classic era. According to Haller, the project will showcase the quality of the group's early songwriting and recordings, which helped establish them as one of the most respected bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.
While the new songs had initially been earmarked for release this year, scheduling commitments have pushed the project back. Campbell's touring obligations with Def Leppard have left little room for promotion, prompting the band to target an early 2027 release instead.
"We think it would be more advantageous to hold it until the start of next year," Haller explained. "The two new songs are absolutely amazing. It's Viv, and it's the Viv that we know."
