The super group Manraze, featuring Def Leppard’s Phil Collen on guitar and vocals, Sex Pistol Paul Cook on drums, and ex-Girl Simon Laffy on bass, have recently released their second album titled, PunkFunkRootsRock.

One would think after nearly 30 years in the music business, Collen would be jaded and content to take the adulation and the big paycheck that comes from touring with Def Leppard. While he does love Lep, it is inspiring to see the inspiration Collen gets from writing, recording and performing with Manraze.

In the interview that follows, Collen is very open about how the new music is different than one would expect, and how the band, which despite the pedigree of the members, is looking for their big break. The band would love to tour but needs ears on the music in order to get the attention needed to make a splash.

Collen is also very excited about being in a three-piece band. He is full of energy and describes the experience of playing with only two other people with the same excitement as a six-year-old sitting on Santa’s lap unleashing a laundry list of hoped for toys on Christmas morning.

In this interview we don’t talk Def Leppard but instead focus on a new band that more people should know about, Manraze. The music is truly like the title of the album but it is also well written, flawlessly executed and sounds best cranked up loud. Read on to discover the other band in Phil Collen’s life. If you give this music a chance, then chances are you’ll become a fan.

Phil: It makes total sense, actually. I think you’re right. We were not trying to find what we sounded like. We just went in and recorded the songs. It only took two weeks. We did it all in one or two takes; it was really, really cool.

Phil: What I want to happen is for one of the songs to get played somewhere, whether it is radio, television or a movie soundtrack. This music sounds great to me. We want to get the word out. We are a really good band and we’re a really good live band. We need to get it into the right hands, or rather, the right ears.

The problem with the album is that people are asking, “What is this?” This is not just regular rock music, as it falls in a lot of different categories. I think if one of these songs gets into the right place, then it will be a different story and we can then tour it properly, we are up for it.

Phil: We need something to take, to stick somewhere. This day and age, it is the same story for everyone. Unless you’re lucky enough to be on a soundtrack or something, then nothing is going to happen. We’re not under any illusion; we know that is how it happens these days. Even the Rolling Stones, when they put a new song out, it won’t really do anything other than let you know that they’re going to be going out on tour.

Manraze is a different thing as this is a brand new band – well, its five years old but we still need attention. We need someone in the right place to hear this and realize, ‘this is fucking great.’

Phil: Yeah, we have that. A lot of the time, you try and put stuff out there and then, all of sudden, luck will happen. With Def Leppard, it just happened with this movie Rock of Ages. We have a song called “Rock of Ages” which is what the play is based on. We were lucky as Tom Cruise is going to be singing, “Pour Some Sugar On Me” in the movie.

Sometimes, you can try till your blue in the face and then something just happens, at the right place, at the right time.

Phil: Me too, I would go with exactly the same song, as it crosses over into a lot of different genres. There is a Police thing, or a Clash thing going on. That song could crossover into rock, pop or reggae. I agree, I think that would be the perfect song, but again, it is just getting it out there and getting people, the right people, to hear it.

Phil: We were in the studio and my wife, Helen, was interviewing Paul [Cook]. We were just finishing off some of the vocals in the studio and she asked Paul what the album was like. He said, “Well, it’s kind of punky and kind of funky. It’s emotional.” He pretty much said it and right away I just thought to make all of that one word.

Phil: I agree. One of the things I am most proud of is that we did this album in two weeks. We didn’t get tripped up once. I have always been tripped up, at one point or another, in the studio on every other album that I have been a part of. There is something with the vocals, or the bridge, or the meter that is not quite right and you have to change it up. There is always something. This one was like bang, bang, bang and everything just went right.

I think that is one of the reasons that everything sounds so cohesive, because it was all done in just a few days. We would do the drum track, the guitar track and the vocal all in the same day, which is really rare. We did it like it was done back in the good old days. This is how Jimi Hendrix did it on rock records and how Miles Davis did it on jazz records. The Police even did this on their first album. The Beatles and The Stones used to record like that on their first albums and so did Led Zeppelin. It really works. We’ve really gotten away from that in the industry these days.

To be honest, I did a lot of the guitars on my laptop, which is amazing. While they were doing drum tracks downstairs, I was upstairs on my laptop doing rhythm tracks. Like I said, it was one take, or two takes at the most. We would do all that and I would go down and sing it. While they were fucking around with that, I would go back upstairs and do the solo. It really flowed and the album has a really excited production vibe that I have never experienced before. It was wonderful.

Phil: It is really aggressive. I used my Jackson PC1 and I played it on the neck pickup. We have been playing that song live since we first got together. We were trying to figure out what we sounded like when we first got together. We knew we were a classic three-piece so we had the flavor of Hendrix, who was a three-piece and also the Police, who were a three-piece. We have done “Fire” so many times, and we knew it was great, so I thought for this album, “Fuck, we really need to record this.”

It is my regular guitar tone but it is on the neck pickup. Most of the time, I use the Humbucker, but on this, I used the neck pickup, as it sounds more in your face. I do that for the solos and stuff but I did that for all of “Fire.”

Phil: We had that one floating around. We were going to use that song in the movie “I Super Biker” but they didn’t use it. The song was just sitting around, and it was really cool, as it has that tribal drum thing going on. We just decided to finish it up and put it on the album.

Phil: That was the first piece of music we had for the album. To be honest, that song really reminds me of an updated version of Motorhead. It has that kind of spirit to it. I would never have normally gone there, but I did because we are a three-piece band.

I have a total new appreciation for a three-piece band now. It’s a totally different club, if you like, whether it be Motorhead, the Police, Cream…I’m just glad we are now a part of this three-piece club.

Phil: Girl was a five piece. I was in a club band when I was about 19 that was a three-piece, but I had never been in a real working three-piece, where you discover the magic of improvising, and of playing, and being the singer. There is like a sixth sense you have with the other members of the band. There are some things you can do in a three-piece that you just can’t do in a four-piece, or a five-piece. They say that twos company and threes a crowd but in this case, threes company.

Drums, guitar and bass, and the vocals coming from the guitar player, I find just to be amazing. It is still kind of new to me and this is really a huge discovery for me. I am just now discovering all of these new things and I’ve been around the block. Paul is also discovering a lot of new things and he was in the most iconic punk band in the world. They changed music, fashion and everything in England. I have been in Def Leppard for years. We are enjoying a lot of new and fresh things.

Phil: He would say he loves it. The great thing about Paul is that he has so many great ideas. You’d be surprised, as a lot of drummers just play drums and don’t contribute ideas. Paul is all about power and that is what I’ve always loved about his playing, even before I played with him. He plays with his sticks upside down so he can really bash them.

He comes up with the most amazing, sensible ideas in the studio, that you would never, ever, in a million years, expect to hear from a drummer. Once again, it’s part of being a three-piece, everyone must contribute. We are like having three little cornerstones; it’s bizarre.

Paul will come out of nowhere and say, “Perhaps we should make this more like the Temptations” or he will say something completely out of context for who you would think he is. He said, “I think on this song the drums should be more like a Coldplay thing.” You wouldn’t expect him to say that, but when he starts playing, you hear he was right. He plays so hard and so much that he gets blisters.

Phil: Simon and I never used to write in Girl. When we started writing in Manraze, and before Manraze, we found that we have a lot in common, lyrically. It almost sounds like conspiracy theory things and political things. Most relationship songs are really lovey dovey but we just put a different angle on it. If we left it up to Simon then he would really twist it all up.

We discuss what the songs are about, lyrically. It is almost like going into character. I remember the movie Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olvier. Dustin Hoffman was running on the spot and Laurence says, “What the fuck are you doing?” He says, “I’m getting into character.” Laurence says, “Well why don’t you just try acting?” It’s really funny. You can really take that into songwriting. You put yourself in the frame of mind of the character. You are not just the actor though, as you are the director because you’re writing the song.

Simon is musical as well. He plays bass but he also plays guitar. He will play something and I will say, “What chord did you just play?” and it will be something I never would have thought to play in a million years. I love discovering stuff like that. There are no egos in this band. There is just enjoyment and I think you hear that in the music.

Phil: Helen, my wife, and I sat down and wrote the songs our in different order. We both agreed that was the ultimate first track.

Phil: My favorite album by the Police is Ghost in the Machine. They play some really dark stuff on that album, and it is dark, lyrically, as well. I also love the last one, Synchronicity, as I think that was the ultimate songwriting for Sting. I think that album put him into a whole different bracket. I like selected tracks but for an overall album it is Ghost in the Machine. Lyrically, “Spirits in the Material World” is an amazing song.

Phil: I think so. On the 2nd of October, we are doing our first USA show at the Roxy in LA. We will be out on Sunset Boulevard and I’m really looking forward to that.

The real problem is being asked to do a tour. It is very expensive to tour. We would love to get on a tour and open for another band. What would really be great is to get a promoter behind us and do a club tour in a bus.

We did a British tour last year, in November and December, when we opened up for Alice Cooper – it was fucking freezing. We were all on a tour bus and it was fucking great. We’d love to do that in the States, even if it was just an East Coast tour, or whatever. We’d be up for it. We’re just waiting for someone to tell us they want us to do it. We can’t just do it ourselves as you have so many expenses with the road crew and the bus driver…it costs a fucking fortune. If someone would invite us on a tour then we’d make it work.

www.manraze.com