Lovedrug's story is a sadly familiar one. After building a respectable national fanbase, the Ohio melodic rockers found themselves backed by a major label. However, when the music industry started to implode, the band found itself without a deal. "It's made us work harder, but I'm glad it's turned out the way it did," says Lovedrug guitarist Jeremy Michael Gifford during a recent chat with Noisecreep.

"Since we were unsigned, we were trying to figure out a way to fund the recording of our new studio album," Gifford said. "We then came across a site called PledgeMusic.com. It's a site where fans can donate money by picking certain packages offered by a band they want to support. One of the options we gave our fans was to pick a cover song for us to record. So many people took that option and the next thing we knew, we were buried in covers!"

Lovedrug eventually tracked covers by My Bloody Valentine, Fleetwood Mac, Third Eye Blind, and Michael Jackson, among others. All of the performances will be compiled for a digital release on iTunes as well as on a limited edition physical CD available on Lovedrugmusic.com. One of the more intriguing tracks on the record is 'Hysteria,' the dazzling title track from Def Leppard's hallmark 1987 album. Gifford and his Lovedrug cohorts thought it was fitting to premiere the track on Noisecreep.

Listen to Lovedrug's cover of 'Hysteria'


"The funny thing is that we actually picked the Def Leppard song ourselves," admitted Gifford. "We're just huge fans of 'Hysteria' and wanted to give it a different spin. Ours is an acoustic-on-steroids take on the song [laughs]. Look, there was no way we were ever going to try and replicate the original's production. Robert 'Mutt' Lange's work on that song and album is legendary. So we decided to just do the song in a different style and I love the way it turned out."

Gifford and Noisecreep then spent the next 10 minutes waxing about Lange's genius.

"I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and he told me that Lange had produced the latest Nickelback album, and then it hit me," Gifford said. "I had epiphany. Nickelback are trying to be the Def Leppard of this decade, but they're failing miserably at it [laughs]."

Watch the video for 'Ghost By Your Side' by Lovedrug


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