There will almost certainly be at one least one new Dio song put out next year. Talking exclusively to Classic Rock, guitarist Craig Goldy said: “We were working on tracks for a new Dio album just before Ronnie died in May. And we did almost finish one song. Wendy (Dio, the great singer’s widow/manager) has been talking about reissuing the Magica album (originally released in 2000) with bonus tracks, including this one.
“The thing is that the lyrics deal with what Ronnie was going through at the time, when he was battling cancer. So now they are very emotional. It’s hard to listen without a lump in your throat.”
We will have more very soon on Goldy’s own plans for a new supergroup.
Goldy is featured on the just released live Dio double live CD At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987. He’s on the latter recording.
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
I wanted to let you know that Rudy, Simon, Craig and Scott will be playing some shows in Europe together with Ripper Owens and Toby Jepson as DIO Disciples.
There will never be another Ronnie, but we want to keep his music alive and hope you will support the band and become one of the DIO Disciples. ... We will post the UK/European tour dates as they are confirmed, and we are planning some US dates also.
What a joke! Viv was always hateful of Ronnie and now Dio have reformed...without Dio! I guess Viv was just waiting for Ronnie to Die since there's no way a reunion would've taken place with Ronnie still with us. This is ridiculous, I'm sorry. From antimusic.com:
Former Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell has revealed plans to reboot the original lineup of Dio with new singer Andy Freeman, who he vows will “do justice” to the fallen frontman’s legacy.
The Def Leppard and Thin Lizzy axeman had a rocky relationship with the former Black Sabbath frontman, who passed away in 2010. Dio once said of Campbell: “I hope he fucking dies. He’s a fucking asshole.”
But the guitarist has always insisted he was proud of the work he did on the first three Dio albums.
Now he’s confirmed a reunion with drummer Vinny Appice, bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboardist Claude Schnell, two months after they jammed together. That was brought about when Campbell jammed Rainbow in the Dark with Steel Panther in January.
He says: “I met up with the original Dio band guys again. Now that I’ve brushed up on how to play those solos again, we’re planning to jam some more and plan to do some gigs too.
Campbell describes Freeman, a past member of Hurricane and Bulletboys, as “a great singer who can really do justice to Ronnie’s parts.”
Bain says: “We’ve had a couple of rehearsals and it sounds great. Listening to Vivian playing those songs again has been amazing. He’s just so into doing this and his enthusiasm has rubbed off on the rest of us.
“Andy isn’t Ronnie. How could he be? But what he does bring is his own twist on the vocals.
“Our aim is to do some shows around November, concentrating on the first two albums. It’s gonna be great getting back onstage with these guys for the first time in so long.”
Last year Campbell revealed he’d been “numb” to the iconic singer’s death, saying: “We never had a very strong relationship beyond music. That was what brought us together. I found it difficult to communicate with him and he found it difficult to communicate with me. I didn’t have any reason to contact him after he fired me.”
Vinny Appice recently came close to ruling himself out of replacing Bill Ward in the Black Sabbath reunion lineup if he was asked, saying: “It’s hard not to. But right now I’m concentrating on Kill Devil Hill.”
An official tribute band, Dio Disciples, has been touring since last year, featuring Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, Toby Jepson and James LoMenzo along with Craig Goldy, Simon Wright and Scott Warren – all of whom were in the band when Dio died.
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
Wow - 'ridiculous' doesn't even begin to cover it. I mean, there's nothing to keep that group from getting together and performing the songs, but I have to believe that they can't call themselves Dio.
Wow.
Alan
_________________ Alan
"This is a true story, except for the parts that didn't happen." - Steven Wright
I thought I read somewhere once that Vivian didn't care for heavy metal and he seemed to have disdain for his time in Dio.
It is cheesy that he's doing this, but what I think is worse is that Vinny Appice and Jimmy Bain are taking part of this. Vinny was supposedly Ronnie's friend, yet he's throwing in with the guy who dissed him for years after he got booted out of the band?
Very strange.
I doubt, however, that they will be calling themselves Dio. I would think that Wendy Dio owns the Dio band name now, as she's overseeing Ronnie's posthumous releases.
Ronnie is probably planning some otherworldly revenge on Viv as I write this...
Andrew Freeman is prepared to be regarded as “the world’s most hated singer” when he replaces Ronnie James Dio in a reunion of Dio’s original lineup.
Guitarist Vivian Campbell recently announced he’d jammed with keyboardist Claude Schell, bassist Jimmy Bain and drummer Vinny Appice, and it had gone so well they’d decided to work together again.
Now Schnell confirms they’ll perform under the name Last In Line, by way of a tribute to Dio, who died two years ago yesterday.
The keyboardist also reveals the reunion came about after Def Leppard axeman Campbell jammed with metal cabaret act Steel Panther.
Schnell tells MusicLegends: “Viv had done an impromptu play with Steel Panther and he was energised to the point of saying, ‘We should get together.’
“It was initially supposed to be a fun hang. It turned out to be more than just fun. As chance would have it, it actually sounded quite good.”
But the musicians shared a sombre moment when they jammed Dio classic Holy Diver. Schnell says: “The song starts with just the instruments alone. I think all of us had kind of a memory anticipation of the next thing we were going to hear being Ronnie’s voice. Other than the obvious and notable absence it sounded exactly as it sounded back in the day.
“On the one hand it felt great to be playing this great music again – but Ronnie being no longer with us to sing it became painfully obvious as we progressed through the session.”
Despite those emotions, Schnell says former Lynch Mob singer Freeman did a great job. “If he didn’t, I don’t believe we’d be pursuing the project with him,” the keyboardist explains. “His online comments about ‘preparing to be the world’s most hated singer’ notwithstanding, I think he’s going to do a very credible and impressive job of covering this material.”
When Dio returned to Black Sabbath in 2006 the lineup called themselves Heaven and Hell after one of their albums, to distinguish what they were doing from Sabbath’s output. That’s a leading reason why the former Dio men came up with the name Last in Line – the band’s second album but the first to include a keyboardist in the band.
“It’s been getting a very good response,” says Schnell. “It’s a subtle nod to Ronnie. The first album on which we all played, me included, was The Last in Line. And I think it works better than Holy Diver does anyway.”
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
Vivian Campbell On Revisiting Dio: ‘I Wrote Those Riffs. I’m Going To Take Them Back’
by: Matt Wardlaw
July 8, 2012
It’s been well documented that Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell had a complicated relationship with Ronnie James Dio during the time that he was playing guitar for Dio. But their collaboration was certainly a successful one, illuminating Campbell’s talents as a guitar player as record sales brought three gold and platinum albums for the Dio band, beginning with the band’s debut release ‘Holy Diver’ in 1982.
The band’s third album ‘Sacred Heart,’ would be the final release to feature Campbell, who was fired by Dio, a situation which drummer Vinny Appice says was “chalked down to business decisions” that Campbell didn’t agree with. The parting would bring years of tension between Campbell and Dio and it became a subject of harsh commentary in interviews.
In a new discussion with Cleveland Scene, Campbell recalls one interview where he called Dio “one of the vilest people in the industry” and says that the interview came at a bad time when he was jet-lagged and he now says, “I do regret my choice of language.” But he also says that he does have “strong feelings” about his time in the Dio band.
“I had a poor relationship with Ronnie and his wife Wendy. Musically, it was great and I was proud of the records and still am. I thought the band was amazing. I had a hard time with Ronnie and he had a real hard time with me,” says Campbell
It’s been said in the past that Campbell quit the band and he still bristles when thinking about that statement. “I didn’t quit that band. They quit me. I’m proud of those records and for years and years, Ronnie and Wendy excluded me from that.”
Campbell’s recent announcement of his plan to reunite the original Dio band represents his goal to “take the bull by the horns” and reclaim his spot in the Dio legacy. He explains, “No one deserves to be onstage playing those songs from a guitar player point of view more than me. I wrote those riffs. I’m going to take them back.”
Though he’s made his plans known about reuniting the lineup from his time in the band, dates have yet to be announced.
Last In Line consists of guitarist Vivian Campbell, bassist Jimmy Bain, keyboardist Claude Schnell and drummer Vinny Appice.
They’re joined by former Lynch Mob and Hurricane vocalist Andy Freeman, who’ll fill the gap left by the late Ronnie James Dio.
Campbell – who left Dio in 1987 to join Whitesnake and has been with Def Leppard since 1992 – tells BackstageAxxess: “We’re calling it Last In LIne after the second album.
“We found a terrific singer in Andy. He can totally do justice to the songs. He doesn’t sound anything like Ronnie, which is great – I don’t want to draw that comparison. Ronnie was a very unique singer but Andy is great in his own right and he sings the songs very respectfully.”
Campbell rejects the suggestion that Last In Line are any kind of tribute act. “We actually wrote the majority of that material as a band,” he says. “I feel like we’re entitled to go out and play it.
“There’s obviously a big legacy of Dio music and I think I’m right in saying that most people would think those early albums are the strongest. So we’re just chuffed to play it.”
He says they’ll play a handful of warm-up shows in California, Nevada and Arizona in June, then head to Europe for a full-fledged tour the following month.
“We just started rehearsing,” he says. “It sounds fucking amazing.”
Campbell’s departure from Dio came after he endured a difficult relationship with the frontman. In 2011 the guitarist said: “I was really proud of the music we made together – but it was tough being in a band together. But he died way too young.”
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
I'm really ambivalent about the whole thing. While I love the songs and the recordings, I don't think I'd be willing to pay money to see these guys play old Dio songs without Ronnie. I'd rather see them do something new.
I'm really ambivalent about the whole thing. While I love the songs and the recordings, I don't think I'd be willing to pay money to see these guys play old Dio songs without Ronnie. I'd rather see them do something new.
Especially Viv, who had nothing good to say about Dio when he was alive, but has no problem cashing in on Ronnie now that he's gone.
Dio offshoot band Last In Line will play most of the band’s first two albums but not much of third release Sacred Heart – because the material carries too many bad memories.
Guitarist Vivian Campbell, now with Def Leppard, last week told Classic Rock he aimed to reclaim his heritage by playing songs he co-wrote for the first time since being sacked by Ronnie James Dio in 1986.
But he’s not ready to extend that to the album he was touring at the time he was fired.
Campbell tells Talking Metal of their setlist: “We haven’t completely finalised it yet, but it’s basically going to pick itself.
“There are only nine songs on Holy Diver and I think there’s only nine songs on the The Last In Line album.
“The Sacred Heart album was very difficult for us all – that’s when things really started to go wrong with the band. No one wanted to be in the studio with Ronnie.
“We would literally just come in and do our parts; we wouldn’t really hang, whereas with Holy Diver and Last In Line we were in the studio 24-7 and everyone was committed to making those records.
“So the Sacred Heart record, we don’t look upon it as favourably. We probably won’t play too much from that.”
While Campbell and bandmates Vinnie Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell used to perform some Black Sabbath and Rainbow tracks with Dio, the guitarist feels it wouldn’t be appropriate now they’re working with singer Andy Freeman.
“I don’t think it would be legitimate for us to do that,” says Campbell. “The original Dio band played Man On The Silver Mountain, Stargazer, Long Live Rockn’Roll, Mob Rules, Heaven And Hell and Children Of The Sea. Those were legitimate enough for us to do because Ronnie was there and he’d been in those bands.
“But without Ronnie there, I don’t think it’s very legitimate to play Sabbath or Rainbow songs, so we won’t be doing that.”
Last In Line’s debut tour takes place in the UK next month, but the band have added a warm-up show at Slidebar in Fullarton, California on August 3.
Last In Line UK tour
Aug 8: Belfast Limelight Aug 9: Glasgow Cathouse Aug 10: Bloodstock festival Aug 11: London Islington Academy
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
LAST IN LINE, the band featuring DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell alongside fellow founding DIO members Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell, plus singer Andrew Freeman, who has previously fronted HURRICANE and LYNCH MOB, has begun writing original material, according to a new Facebook post from Campbell.
Said Vivian: "We got together in a rehearsal room this week to kick around ideas for some new songs.
"It's so much fun to play with these guys and we soon came up with a bunch of great starting points.
"Will keep you all posted as to how things develop."
LAST IN LINE performs material from the early DIO records that Campbell appeared on.
Vivian Campbell's former SWEET SAVAGE bandmate Ray Haller filled in for Jimmy Bain at LAST IN LINE's October 20, 2013 performance at the Loud Park festival at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Speaking to David "Gus" Griesinger of BackstageAxxess.com at the January 2013 NAMM (National Association Of Music Merchants) show at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, Campbell stated about reuniting with the original DIO band: "We're calling it LAST IN LINE after the second [DIO] album. It's the original DIO band — myself, Vinny Appice on drums, Jimmy Bain on bass, Claude Schnell on keyboards, and we found a terrific singer called Andy Freeman, who can totally do justice to the songs. Actually, he doesn't sound anything like Ronnie [James Dio], which is great, [because] I don't wanna draw that comaprison. Ronnie was a very unique singer, but Andy is a great singer in his own right, and he certainly sings the songs very respectfully.
"The original band, we actually wrote the majority of that material as a band, so I feel like we're entitled to go out and play it. I don't think we're a tribute band or a cover band or anything like that.
"There's obviously a big legacy of DIO music, and I think I'm right in saying that most people would think that those early DIO albums are the strongest, so we are just chuffed to play it."
Campbell and Ronnie James Dio worked together on the first three DIO albums — 1983's "Holy Diver", 1984's "The Last in Line" and 1985's "Sacred Heart" — before Irishman Campbell left to join WHITESNAKE in 1987.
The first-ever career-spanning documentary on the life and times of legendary metal icon Ronnie James Dio comes to cinemas worldwide for two days only on Wednesday, September 28 and Sunday, October 2. Executive-produced by Dio's widow and longtime manager Wendy Dio and fully authorized by the artist's estate, "Dio: Dreamers Never Die" delves deep into the singer's incredible rise from a '50s doo-wop crooner to his early rock days in ELF and Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW, to replacing Ozzy Osbourne in BLACK SABBATH, and finally cementing his rock star status with his own band, DIO. The film incorporates never-before-seen footage and personal photos, as well as offering intimate scenes with his closest peers, family, and friends, among them Wendy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Glenn Hughes, Vinny Appice, Lita Ford, Rob Halford, Sebastian Bach, Eddie Trunk and Jack Black, as they bring viewers inside the life of one of rock and roll's true heroes and one of the most beloved figures in rock.
In addition to the feature-length film, this special cinema event will also include a hand-picked selection of outtakes from the cutting room floor, creating an experience that is exclusive only to fans in attendance.
Rhino/WMG will release the soundtrack from DIO: Dreamers Never Die in the autumn.
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