In a recent interview on “dopeYEAH Talk,” guitarist Vivian Campbell talked about Dio, Whitesnake, Riverdogs, Shadow King and Def Leppard. You can watch the entire interview via the embedded YouTube clip below (a clip from a full in bloom interview with Adrian Vandenberg has been provided as well).
This is a full in bloom interview with Giuffria/Dio guitarist Craig Goldy.
YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on YouTube.
YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW.
‘DIO AT DONINGTON’ DOCUMENTS TWO LEGENDARY PERFORMANCES FROM ONE OF ROCK’S ALL-TIME GREAT VOCALISTS
On September 23rd, Niji Entertainment & BMG will release two legendary live performances from DIO at the Donington Festival in the UK. DIO AT DONINGTON ‘83 captures the original DIO lineup on the HOLY DIVER TOUR and captures a young, hungry band 3 months after the release of their debut album. The set features classic tracks from Ronnie James Dio’s already amazing career as vocalist for Rainbow and Black Sabbath, alongside soon to be classics like “Holy Diver”, “Rainbow In The Dark”, and “Stand Up And Shout”.
Dio at Donington ’83: PRE-ORDER
Dio at Donington ’87: PRE-ORDER
Following three hugely successful studio albums and silver, gold, and platinum certifications around the world, DIO AT DONINGTON ’87 captures the DREAM EVIL line up, and features such classics as “The Last In Line”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Children,” and “All The Fools Sailed Away”.
Additionally, both discs contain killer renditions of both RAINBOW and BLACK SABBATH classics, including “Man On The Silver Mountain”, “Neon Knights”, “Stargazer”, and “Heaven and Hell”, among others.
As the singer of Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, and his own band, Ronnie James Dio is often considered to be one of rock’s all-time great vocalists, who sadly passed away in 2010, after battling stomach cancer. However, Dio’s music continues to connect with the masses – the official Ronnie James Dio Facebook page has over 2.5 million followers, his music on Spotify receives over 3 million monthly listeners, and in the most recent season of the hit Netflix series, STRANGER THINGS, the popular character Eddie Munson sports a large “DIO” patch on the back of his beloved denim jacket.
DIO AT DONINGTON ’83 & ’87 is available in both LIMITED EDITION 2LP & CD configurations.
Each features a 3D / Lenticular art print of the cover.
The LP sets feature an exclusive etching on Side D.
Also available in standard formats, the standard LP also does feature the Side D etching.
Pre-Order/Pre-Save DIO AT DONINGTON ’83 & ’87 today and enjoy “Stand Up And Shout” from ’83 and “Rock ‘N Roll Children” from ’87 NOW!
Dio at Donington ’83: PRE-ORDER
Dio at Donington ’87: PRE-ORDER
DIO AT DONINGTON ’83
Personnel:
Ronnie James Dio – Vocals
Vivian Campbell – Guitar
Jimmy Bain – Bass
Vinny Appice – Drums
Claude Schnell – Keyboards
Tracklisting:
1. Stand Up and Shout
2. Straight Through The Heart
3. Children Of The Sea
4. Rainbow In The Dark
5. Holy Diver
6. Drum Solo
7. Stargazer
8. Guitar Solo
9. Heaven and Hell
10. Man On The Silver Mountain
11. Starstruck
12. Man On The Silver Mountain (Reprise)
DIO AT DONINGTON ‘87
Personnel:
Ronnie James Dio – Vocals
Craig Goldy – Guitar
Jimmy Bain – Bass
Vinny Appice – Drums
Claude Schnell – Keyboards
Tracklisting:
1. Dream Evil
2. Neon Knights
3. Naked In The Rain
4. Rock ‘n’ Roll Children
5. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
6. The Last In Line
7. Children Of The Sea
8. Holy Diver
9. Heaven and Hell
10. Man On The Silver Mountain
11. All The Fools Sailed Away
12. The Last In Line (Reprise)
13. Rainbow In The Dark
Guitar World: Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen on writing rock for a stadium audience and learning from ‘80s spandex cringe. You can read the entire interview @ this location.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
Let’s start with the T. Rex influence on Diamond Star Halos. As a guitarist, what did Marc Bolan mean to you guys growing up?
Vivian Campbell:
“He started the ball rolling for me. It wasn’t Marc Bolan the guitar player per se; rather, it was the whole thing – his sound and image. He really was the grandfather of the glam rock movement; he had the hair and the androgyny, and of course, he made music that was such infectious ear candy.
“I was about nine years old when I first saw him on Top of the Pops. It was such a lightbulb moment where I went, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to wear my sister’s clothes. I want to blow my hair and play guitar and make a living doing it.’”
You wanted to be that guy on the cover of Electric Warrior.
“Yeah, exactly! He looked so great with his long hair and that Les Paul. That started me on the path. He just had the whole package, but the music was there. Out of that grew the different people who actually did influence me as a guitarist, like Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore. But I have to say, it was Marc Bolan who set me on my way to discovering them.”
Phil, how about you?
Phil Collen:
“Oh, I thought Marc Bolan was amazing, but for me, it might have been more David Bowie, who was from the same time period. I saw Bowie on Top of the Pops with Mick Ronson playing his Les Paul. The way he held that thing, I was like, ‘My God, this guy is so fucking cool.’
“I was 14 and I was trying to identify myself. I’d already gotten into Deep Purple, Zeppelin and Hendrix, but then came Bowie, Bolan, Roxy Music, the Faces, but especially Bowie. That was the music that spoke to me.”
Now, you guys have a lot of guitars, but if you could boil things down, what were your main instruments for this album?
“For me personally, it was a natural Jackson PC1. I’ve had it since 2007, and it’s the one. I use it on a lot of the solos and things because it just sounds right. I do like my red Jackson PC Supreme – it’s got the fattest neck they’ve ever made.
“It sounds great, but for some reason I didn’t use it all over the album, and I should have. But I kept coming back to the PC1. There were also a couple of Telecasters. I used Squier Telecaster on the solo on This Guitar, and there’s a Squier Starcaster for the lick at the beginning.”
Viv, how about you?
“Mostly Les Pauls. I used my Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul and my original Dio “Holy Diver” Les Paul. I also used a ’66 Telecaster. It’s been refretted with jumbo frets so I can actually bend on it. And I used my original Tom Anderson Strat for when I needed some shimmer or a little front pickup action. Those were the four that I used.”
You can read the entire interview @ this location.
Andrew Freeman:
We are thrilled to be releasing our version of the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” as the first single from our upcoming EP available on 11.11.22.
Frontman Andrew Freeman, bassist Phil Soussan (ex-Ozzy Osbourne) and former Dio comrades-in-arms Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard) and Vinny Appice (ex-Black Sabbath) announce the release of their Collector’s EP ‘A Day In The Life’, which is numbered and limited to 3,000 copies worldwide.
The silver-colored 12″ vinyl not only includes two live tracks and a recently recorded new track (which gives us a first hint of how the third album will sound like) – but also Last in Line’s unique interpretation of Sgt. Pepper’s iconic masterpiece.
None other than video director Matt Mahurin produced the music video for the title track. For almost four decades, rock and metal greats such as Metallica, U2, Disturbed and Def Leppard have trusted his creative and grim art.
Classic Rock Magazine: Def Leppard talks about the making of their new album, Diamond Star Halos, playing state fairs in the 2000s, getting new management, and the band’s terrifying plane incident in the mid-’90s.
A Vivian Campbell excerpt has been provided below. You can read the entire interview with the rest of the band @ this location.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
Vivian Campbell:
“There isn’t another band on the planet like this. And what it comes down to is a collective sensibility. My two big experiences prior to Def Leppard were with Dio and Whitesnake, and neither situation worked out well for me. Ronnie James Dio named the band Dio, which tells you all you need to know. And Whitesnake: has there ever been a band in the entire history of rock music that’s had as many musicians pass through the turnstiles?
“If David Coverdale had only charged membership, he’d be a gazillionaire! In Def Leppard it’s different. Joe (Elliott) isn’t your typical ego-driven singer. There’s more humility to it. We’re all in service of the music. And we all look after each other to a certain extent.”
“I don’t mean to paint a false rosy picture. There’s been times when I’ve had an arm out in each direction stopping members of Def Leppard from fucking killing each other! Shit does happen, you know? But we all see the big picture. Whatever the problem, we work it out. And you can’t be an asshole in this band. There’s no latitude for that at all.”
“When you first hear that word, the bottom falls out of your world but once you get beyond that, you just deal with it. It’s all good now. I’m feeling great. But I don’t think that whole thing really changed me that profoundly. I think it cemented what I already believed. I wouldn’t say I’m fatalistic, but I’ve always been acutely aware that we’re on the clock. So I guess it amplified my world view.”
You can read the entire interview @ this location.
VWMusic: We recently caught up with drummer Vinny Appice. We talk Sabbath, Dio, and more. You can read the entire interview @ this location.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
Now, if I remember correctly, earlier in the year, there were a whole lot of different rumors going around regarding you being offered a role with Ozzy Osbourne, and you ultimately turned it down. Can you clarify that for me?
Vinny Appice:
I got a call from Sharon Osborne, and she told me, “We’re putting a band together around Ozzy. Right now, Ozzy is in England, and he heard about you. We’re willing to fly you to England, and have you hang out with Ozzy.” Basically, they wanted to see how I got along with him, and the guys, and if it would work. The thing is, I was really young. I was probably nineteen, or twenty years old, and I had heard crazy stories about Ozzy, God bless him. [Laughs].
So, I asked my brother, and I said, “Carmine, I got an offer to go play with Ozzy in England. What do you think?” Well, Carmine said, “Yeah, I confirm that he’s pretty crazy.” Carmine went on to tell me some stories, and basically, he said, “The last time I was with him, we were at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood, and we were having a drink and eating. Someone called me, and I turned my head, well, when I turned back around, Ozzy was passed out in his plate of spaghetti.” So, I was like, “Okay. Maybe I shouldn’t do this.” [Laughs]. It’s so hard to remember, but those are the main reasons that I didn’t take that offer.
But then, luckily, a couple of months later, I got an offer from Sabbath while they were in L.A. They needed a drummer right away. So I went down and met Tony Iommi, and it worked out really well. Tony and I got along great, and he invited me down the next day to play with the band, and see how it goes.
I remember they only had like four total days before the tour picked up again because Bill Ward had just quit during the Heaven and Hell world tour. So, it worked out good, and then my relationship with Ronnie was incredible. We got along so well, we became like brothers and that led to Dio down the road. It’s crazy to think about now, but me passing on the Ozzy gig, it was a good move in that way. That was a good move for me, for a lot of reasons. But either way, Ozzy lasted a long time too. His career was on top forever. It still is, you know?
Could you have ever imagined that Holy Diver would become one of the definitive albums in all of rock history?
Yeah, no, we never thought that. [Laughs]. As a matter of fact, I just got the award for Holy Diver going double platinum. It went double platinum this year, so it’s ironic, and I just got it a couple of days ago. It’s beautiful, and that was like a really special thing for me because that’s something that we started from scratch.
When we did that album, we used to go into Sound City Studios at night around 7 pm, and that’s when we’d rehearse, and smoke a lot of pot. [Laughs]. It was like a hangout for us. We had the band there, and some of our friends would come down and hang out too. It was like a little party each night, and it was a really good time. We actually would look forward to going there each night, and that good energy was really reflected in some good songwriting, and some good songs being put together.
We did some crazy, crazy things there at Sound City, man. I mean, they let us do anything we wanted. We had it blocked out for like six weeks, and we destroyed all the candy machines, we would just bang on them and get candy if we were hungry. We broke all of them, and then, with all the pinball games, we opened them up too, so we couldn’t lose the ball. I mean, we did all this crazy shit like punch holes in the wall and stuff. [Laughs]. We were just doing what came naturally, and we just played really well together. We had Vivian Campbell on guitar and Jimmy Bain on bass, Ronnie and I, and then Angelo Arcuri, who recorded the first four Dio records, he was there too. He was my best friend, and he was the sound man for Sabbath at one point. It was like a hangout for our gang of friends and the band.
I remember when we went into the studio, what we did was we wrote four songs, and then we took all the gear right across the parking lot into the Sound City Studio. It was like a complex, and we just picked up the drums and cymbals – everything’s on the stand, there was no breaking it down – and we just carried it in, including Ronnie. [Laughs]. We carried all of that stuff in, so we could get set up, and record the four songs, work on them, and finish them. Then, we would go back to the rehearsal space and write four more. And that’s how we did Holy Diver.
It was just a great time, with everybody having so much fun, and as Ronnie would say, “It was magic.” That magic we went in with, that made for a great album. And then when we started to mix it in the studio, my drum tech turned to me, and he says, “Holy shit. This is going to go platinum,” and I’m like, “Yeah, right.” Honestly, we had no idea. We just thought we were making a good record, and then it came out and it was just amazing.
It really amazed us how it became so important in rock history. Even today, that album, it’s like the cornerstone of rock. When it came out, it sold and sold, and then it went platinum back then, and now to see it go double platinum, that’s pretty cool. It was just a moment in time when everything fell into place. Everything was right. Everything was loose. Everything was cool. It was a window of writing some great songs and having a great time.
There’s a lot more to go. You can read the entire interview @ this location.
Rockpages.gr recently interviewed Dio/Whitesnake/Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell. An excerpt from the interview can be found below. You can read the entire interview @ this location or watch the video clip below.
On the new Def Leppard album, Diamond Star Halos:
Vivian Campbell:
I think it’s my best playing by far. I think it’s our best singing, too. I just I think, musically, we’ve all sort of gotten really good, which you would hope if you keep doing something long enough, you finesse it and you get better. But I think in terms of recording my guitar solos and parts on this record. As I said earlier, it was very relaxed because nobody was looking over my shoulder. I was very comfortable with it. Historically, I’ve never been that comfortable playing in the studio in front of people.
I mean, even long before Def Leppard when I first recorded with DIO, Ronnie (James Dio) was in the studio, and I felt that presence with me and it intimidated me a lot. On the “Holy Diver” album and then on the “Last In Line” album, I said to Ronnie and our engineer, Angelo (Arcuri), I said, “Can you please go play pinball and let me record”? I mean, honestly, I did that. So they would set me up with a track -and this was before digital- it was the two-inch tape machine, and so they’d set it up and I’d hit play and record, and I’d play a bit. And then if I liked it, if I got something I liked, I’d call them, “Hey, come back in the studio”. They’d come in and go, “Okay, yeah, We can work with that”. But that’s because I didn’t prepare for my guitar solos. I just thought: “The song’s in E or A. I’m going to just practice and warm up and just be inspired in the moment.” And it all goes back to the very first solo that I recorded for DIO.
On the “Holy Diver” album, “Rainbow in the Dark” was the first guitar solo. So, we had cut all the tracks. And Ronnie said to me the night before: “Tomorrow we’re going to start recording guitar solos. Which one do you want to start with?” And I thought… errrr “Rainbow In The Dark”. So, all day, before recording that solo, I was playing in A minor, A minor… because that’s the key of the song, just playing all day. But not thinking to structure a solo, I don’t know why. It never occurred to me that it would actually work to give myself a roadmap, so I’m just playing, playing, playing. And then that evening we get a guitar sound and Ronnie goes, “Okay, let’s try one”. And the solo on the record is the first take. So I did the solo and Ronnie went: “Wow, that was brilliant. Do you want to try another”? And I said, “Oh, okay…” although I didn’t want to try. And I was thinking, “Well, what was wrong with that one?” So, it’s getting into my head now. I did another one and it was just totally different, and then Ronnie says: “We just want to keep the first one. Let’s move on to another song”.
I think the problem was that instilled in me this false sense that that was how I should record guitar solos. And then it never quite happened that way. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes, more often than not, it would be, “Oh shit, I’ve got to work something out”. Now, in this day and age, my thought process is totally different. I listen to the song, I listen, I listen, I listen, I listen…and I think in my head and I imagine what the guitar is doing and knowing how I play and thinking of parts, “Okay, I hear a melody going there.” And so to have the luxury of time on this record, on “Diamond Star Halos”, to sit at home and just do that and then listen to it and think: “That’s good, but the performance is not quite good enough. I’m going to drive a car and come back tomorrow and do it again.” And so, for that reason, I would say this record definitely has my best playing.
Read the entire interview @ this location or listen to the interview via the video clip below.
Vivian Campbell Interview
The story behind Dio's iconic 'Holy Diver' artwork — as told by the man himself https://t.co/OgxS8rU0oF pic.twitter.com/pzeatYNkt1
— revolvermag (@Revolvermag) May 25, 2022
Dio “Rainbow in the Dark”
.@OfficialRJDio finally took center stage today in 1983 after years of playing second fiddle to famous guitarists: https://t.co/VPfyeOnZKL
— UltimateClassicRock (@UltClassicRock) May 25, 2022
37 years ago today the Hear ‘N Aid single “Stars” was recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. (May 20 & 21, 1985). The project, started by Ronnie James Dio, raised over $1 Million Dollars that year for famine relief in Africa.
DIO
HOLY DIVER
SUPER DELUXE EDITION
Rhino Celebrates Ronnie James Dio’s 80th Birthday With 4-CD Collection Featuring Remixed And Remastered Versions Of Dio’s 1983 Platinum Debut, Along With Unreleased Outtakes, Live Recordings, And Rarities
Joe Barresi’s Newly Remixed Version Of Holy Diver
Will Also Be Available As A 2-LP Set On Clear Vinyl
Both Holy Diver Releases Will Be Available On July 8
New Mix of “Holy Diver” By Producer Joe Barresi
Available Today Digitally
Ronnie James Dio would have turned 80 years old on July 10. Among the greatest heavy metal singers of all time, Dio’s career spanned five decades, touched millions of fans and pioneered his signature “devil’s horns,” one of the most popular hand gestures in the world. Dio also provided vocals and lyrics for some of the most iconic rock albums of all time with Black Sabbath and Rainbow, before establishing his own band Dio as a metal force with their 1983 debut Holy Diver.
Holy Diver was a platinum-certified smash and one of the late singer-songwriter’s most groundbreaking achievements. Rhino revisits this epic metal moment on HOLY DIVER: SUPER DELUXE EDITION, available on July 8 as a 4-CD boxed set ($59.98) and digitally.
The collection comes with two versions of Holy Diver. The first is a new mix of the album made by Joe Barresi (Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, Slipknot). He used the original analog tapes to remix all nine tracks on the album. The second is a newly remastered version of the original 1983 mix. The Super Deluxe Edition also features unreleased live performances and outtakes, along with a selection of rarities from the era.
Barresi’s new mix of “Holy Diver” is available today digitally as a preview to the new album mix. Click here to listen now.
In addition, Barresi’s new mix of Holy Diver will be released the same day as a 2-LP set on 180-gram vinyl ($34.98). It includes the original nine tracks, plus the 1983 B-side version of “Evil Eyes” as a bonus track. Side four is decorated with an etching of the legendary demon Murry that graces the album’s iconic cover. The vinyl is kept in a gatefold sleeve that shows off newly commissioned artwork by longtime Dio artist, Marc Sasso. The same artwork is also used for the 4-CD Super Deluxe Edition.
Critically acclaimed and a commercial success, Holy Diver contributed two timeless classics to the heavy metal canon – “Rainbow In The Dark” and its title track. The album also ranks #16 on Rolling Stone’s current list of “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.”
After departing Black Sabbath in early 1982, Dio began composing songs that would eventually appear on the album. After writing both “Holy Diver” and “Don’t Talk To Strangers,” Dio then assembled an amazing group of musicians, two familiar faces and one fresh recruit, with drummer Vinny Appice (Dio’s Black Sabbath bandmate), bassist/keyboardist Jimmy Bain (Dio’s Rainbow bandmate) and guitarist Vivian Campbell joining him to record the Holy Diver album.
In the illustrated liner notes that accompany the Super Deluxe Edition, music journalist Mick Wall shares the album’s creation story, including the making of its crown jewel, “Rainbow In The Dark.”
He writes: “Lyrically, it was Ronnie James Dio at his poetic best…Musically, ‘Rainbow In The Dark’ was also the band’s first truly collaborative endeavor. The inspiration for the monster guitar riff came from something Viv had written when he was 16. Vinny added his distinctive battle-cry beat, and Jimmy added the final touch with the infectiously simple keyboard motif.” The song was finished in 10 minutes, he adds.
HOLY DIVER: SUPER DELUXE EDITION goes beyond the original album with a previously unreleased recording of the quartet performing live in 1983 at Selland Arena in Fresno, California during the Holy Diver Tour. Wyn Davis mixed the concert recording, which spotlights live versions of songs from Holy Diver (“Stand Up And Shout” and “Rainbow In The Dark”), Rainbow classics (“Man On The Silver Mountain” and “Starstruck”), and Sabbath staples, (“Children Of The Sea” and “Heaven And Hell.”)
The Super Deluxe Edition also revisits the Holy Diver recording sessions to uncover unreleased outtakes for several album cuts, including unheard takes for “Invisible,” “Straight Through The Heart,” and a version of “Rainbow In The Dark” that boasts an alternative guitar solo. There’s also an early version of “Evil Eyes,” a song that would resurface on Dio’s 1984 follow-up album, The Last in Line. A selection of rarities rounds out the new collection with mono and stereo 7” single edits for “Rainbow In The Dark” and a version of “Evil Eyes” that was released in 1983 as the B-side to “Holy Diver.”
HOLY DIVER: SUPER DELUXE EDITION
CD Track Listing
CD1: Holy Diver (2022 Joe Barresi Mix) *
CD2: Holy Diver (2022 Remaster)
1. “Stand Up And Shout”
2. “Holy Diver”
3. “Gypsy”
4. “Caught In The Middle”
5. “Don’t Talk To Strangers”
6. “Straight Through The Heart”
7. “Invisible”
8. “Rainbow In The Dark”
9. “Shame On The Night”
CD3: Live at Selland Arena, Fresno, CA, 1983
1. Intro *
2. “Stand Up And Shout” *
3. “Straight Through The Heart” *
4. “Shame On The Night” *
5. “Children Of The Sea” *
6. “Holy Diver” *
7. “Heaven And Hell” – including guitar solo *
8. “Rainbow In The Dark” *
9. “Man On The Silver Mountain” *
10. “Starstuck” *
11. “Man On The Silver Mountain” – reprise *
12. “Don’t Talk To Strangers” *
CD4: Outtakes, Singles & B-Sides
Tracks 1-7 unreleased
1. “Evil Eyes” – Wyn Davis remix *
2. “Don’t Talk To Strangers” – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix) *
3. “Invisible” – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix) *
4. “Invisible” – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix) *
5. “Rainbow In The Dark” – Alternative Guitar Solo Version (Joe Barresi mix) *
6. “Straight Through The Heart” – Take 2 (Joe Barresi mix) *
7. “Straight Through The Heart” – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix)*
8. “Rainbow In The Dark” – 7” Mono Edit
9. “Evil Eyes” – 1983 Version. B-Side of “Holy Diver”
10. “Rainbow In The Dark” – 7” Stereo Edit
* previously unreleased
HOLY DIVER: 2022 Joe Barresi Mix
2-LP Clear Vinyl Track Listing
LP1: Side One
1. “Stand Up And Shout”
2. “Holy Diver”
3. “Gypsy”
4. “Caught In The Middle”
LP1: Side Two
1. “Don’t Talk To Strangers”
2. “Straight Through The Heart”
3. “Invisible”
LP2: Side One
1. “Rainbow In The Dark”
2. “Shame On The Night”
Bonus Track
3. “Evil Eyes” – 1983 Version. B-Side of “Holy Diver”
LP2: Side Two
Etching
Guitar World: Meet Rowan Robertson: Ronnie James Dio’s lost prodigy. Read the entire interview @ this location.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
It’s been more than 30 years since Lock Up the Wolves came out. Tell us how it all happened.
“Yeah, it’s a fairy tale, isn’t it? It was 1988 and I read in the metal magazines that Craig Goldy was no longer in Dio. I was a big fan of Steve Vai at the time, and I was dreaming of getting my big break the way he got his break with Frank Zappa. My head was full of that, so I sent a demo tape to Dio’s record label.
“I made it on my Tascam four-track, and on track one I put on Last in Line, and then I soloed along to it on track two. I just did some free soloing after the song had ended. It got sent back to me with a declining letter, but a friend said, ‘Keep going!’ So I sent the tape over to the Dio fan club in LA and forgot about it for a few months. Then I got a call from Wendy Dio completely out of the blue one evening.”
So you got the gig on your lead prowess and being able to cop a classic Dio tune. Did you send a letter with the tape?
“I sent a letter with it saying how great I thought Vivian Campbell was. I was told Ronnie had put the tape off to the side because I was too young and that the gig was originally offered to Doug Aldrich, but he turned it down because he wanted to stay with his band, Lion.
“So I got an audition despite my age. That’s an interesting point you made about getting it on my lead prowess, and I think I probably did. Ronnie had said he liked my rhythm sound, but when I listen back, I don’t think that was one of my strengths then.”
Tell us about the audition process.
“They flew me over to Los Angeles and auditioned me at the Alley Rehearsal Studios in the Valley on Lankershim. Ronnie said, ‘I really want this to work,’ and he made me feel very comfortable.
“We played through Last in Line and some of the big songs. I remember looking over at Jimmy Bain on the other side of the stage; he was smiling and I thought, ‘I’m doing something right here!’ Then they auditioned me a second time, and Ronnie’s personal assistant told me [later] that I’d gotten the gig. So even before they officially told me, I got the news.”
Tell us about your first show with Dio. The pressure is on.
“We were supporting Metallica, who were touring on And Justice for All. It was such a cool time to be touring with Metallica; I love that album and I was hanging out with Kirk and Lars a lot, and they were really cool to me. The first show out, I actually felt completely relaxed and totally confident.
“The lights go down and there’s this big buildup to the opening song, Wild One, with a long intro tape being played, and then there’s a big drum fill and I run out on stage. Before the gig, my guitar tech, ‘Pops,’ had asked if I wanted him to turn my distortion pedal on and have it ready to go. I said, ‘No, I’ll do it when I get out there.’
“So I ran out there and – of course – I hit the ‘off’ switch and the whole rig went completely silent and 10,000 people started booing me! I was pretty nervous for the second show, but I got over it. Ronnie wasn’t happy after that first show, but there wasn’t any conversation and I just didn’t go near him that night. The first thing with Ronnie was you had to do your job well.
“Ronnie certainly didn’t micro-manage anybody; he hired you and you were in a band with him and he wrote the music with us as a band. If you made a mistake, he wouldn’t say anything, but you wouldn’t want to make that same mistake again. He cared about his art and his craft deeply.”
Read the entire interview @ this location.
Guitarist Craig Goldy shares a creepy tale from the Dio ‘Dream Evil’ tour. Watch the video below.
full in bloom: Guitarist Craig Goldy talks about the feud between Ronnie James Dio and Vivian Campbell and the agreement that was made between Dio, Vivian, Jimmy Bain, and Vinny Appice. Craig also offers some great insight into songwriting/publishing and how his deals with Dio and David Lee Roth were structured.
Dio (Official):
Holy Diver, recently certified Double-Platinum. Celebrating 2 million copies sold in the US! 🤘🏼
Def Leppard: Congrats Viv on his first podium finish in the ARA National Rally series this past weekend!
From Viv’s co-driver Michael Hordijk:
Through 120 miles of ⛸ skating rink stages SnoDrift Rally, Viv piloted us to a third in class, our first national podium! 🥉
full in bloom FLASHBACK: In an old school interview with MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, Ronnie James Dio talked about what he thought killed heavy metal. You can watch the video news clip below or you can view it on our YouTube channel.
VIDEO NEWS CLIP – Ronnie James Dio on What Killed Heavy Metal
