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 Ronnie James Dio needs no introduction. From his work with Rainbow, Black Sabbath and with his own band Dio, and now with Heaven and Hell, Dio is a musical legend.
Komodo Rock's Mike Elliott had the chance to speak to Dio just before the start of Heaven and Hell's UK tour about what fans can expect, a new Heaven and Hell album, and what his feelings about current Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell are.
Mike Elliott: YouÂ’ve just got off tour with Alice Cooper and Queensryche in America. How has that gone for you?
Ronnie James Dio: It was great. It was
wonderful. You are talking about 3 headline acts there. It was quite a
show. It was very and enjoyable and went very well.
ME: You worked with Queensryche last year on the Operation Mindcrime II album. Was it good to get out on the road with them?
Dio: The very first European tour that
they did, they supported us, so IÂ’ve known them for ages and ages. It
was great to have them out there because they are friends, plus all the
Alice guys as well, we are all friends. It was very enjoyable because
there was no animosity at all.
ME: ThatÂ’s got to be good when you are out on the road.
Dio: Oh yeah. ItÂ’s great to see familiar smiling faces for a change.
ME: So you are heading to the UK tomorrow. What can the UK fans expect from the Heaven & Hell show?
Dio: ItÂ’s visually a very good show. We
have production with us and itÂ’s done very well. ItÂ’s very interesting,
we donÂ’t try to blow up the world or anything, we try to do that
musically. ThatÂ’s where people will be the most satisfied. I mean the
band is just so good, it just never lets up. There has not been one bad
show in the almost 9 months that we have been on the road. Not even
close to a bad one. TheyÂ’ve all just been absolutely stunning. Each one
of them.
If people do have expectations of seeing
something good and listening to something that is really amazing then I
think that is what they are going to get.
ME: They are going to get a full on musical experience?
Dio: Absolutely yeah. These are songs
that we havenÂ’t even touched for fifteen years. They are a hundred
times better than they were ever played before or ever done before.
ItÂ’s been a real revelation.
ME: Do you think that is because coming back to the music fifteen years
later technology has improved, sound equipment has improved. Do you
think that has played a part in that?
Dio: No not one bit. ItÂ’s all
down to how good everyone is and how we had probably forgotten how good
the songs were all those years ago. How much more intricate they are
than we remembered, and how satisfying they are to play. Because each
song is an adventure in this kind of music and a departure in what most
people do. ItÂ’s just been absolutely wonderful to play these songs
because everyone is so good in what they do and everyone has the same
attitude. We just refuse to be bad!
 ME: And go out there and have a good time night after night.
Dio: Absolutely
ME: I think thatÂ’s really important. You put out Live At Radio City
Music Hall recently, and itÂ’s just been certified gold in America, have
you been impressed with how that has turned out?
Dio: Oh yes, extremely impressed. I
thought that the people who shot the show did a wonderful job. They
captured the show very well and I think that their editing, their
camera movement and what they did with the finality of it was
wonderful. I was very happy with the musicianship and what it sounds
like.
ItÂ’s a great product and from what IÂ’ve heard from everyone else so
far, fans especially, then itÂ’s probably correct. It was a great show,
and it shows the band in such a good light, and shows us for exactly
what we are, and that we enjoy what we do and that the audience enjoys
it with us.
ME: And captures the live feel of what you do in the arenas?
Dio: Yeah it really shows the band at
the level that itÂ’s supposed to be at. And once again the performances
are pretty flawless.
ME: So with it having gone gold there has been talk of maybe a new
studio album from Heaven & Hell next year. Is that something that
could happen?
Dio: Yes, we have decided to do that.
When it would be, I couldnÂ’t tell you. This is the last part of the
tour after about 9 months on the road. ItÂ’s time for us to take a
little breather. When the time is right we will get together and start
writing for the next album, but as far as the release date goes it will
probably be later next year.
ME: Does that mean that you wonÂ’t be going back to the solo Dio stuff for a while then?
Dio: I will. I plan on doing some
touring around March or April. Sometime like that. I want to keep a
hand in on that one. I love this band that I play with as well, and
itÂ’s another career, another career with a lot of great music as well.
You will see that a lot in the shows that we do play. When people ask
if we are going to be doing any Dio material. ThatÂ’s always a nice
compliment. But of course we donÂ’t. It would be wrong to do that.
ItÂ’s nice to know though that people donÂ’t forget and itÂ’s something
that they want to hear again so much like we are doing with Sabbath now
those songs live forever and they become kinda classics of their own.
There is always that path to go down and I will.
ME: With touring with Dio, the band, and recording another album next
year does that mean there is unlikely to be another Heaven & Hell
tour next year?
 Dio:
I donÂ’t know if there will be one next year. It depends on how long it
takes us to do what we do. When you do an album you have to tour with
it. When it is I donÂ’t know but IÂ’m sure we will.
ME: So it will be a tour when the album is ready?
Dio: Yeah. When we have that all
finished and we can take our time and do a proper job of it then
touring will certainly be in the offing.
ME: Taking time and getting things just right is obviously important to you?
Dio: Oh yeah. We are always on top of
that anyway. We refuse to play badly in concert and we refuse to put
out a bad album as well. What we write will be what makes us happy, and
usually what makes us happy is what people want to hear from us. I
donÂ’t know how much time we will need. Sometimes you can take too much
time. You can just wallow around and all of this should be perfect and
that should be perfect. You have to have the ability to know when
naturalness has to take over because everything isnÂ’t perfect, because
if itÂ’s too perfect then that is what it sounds like. It has no heart.
It has no soul.
So we know very well how long it will take us and how long it should
take us to do it. We are not going to go for the perfectionist, but we
do have enough time certainly to give ourselves some choices.
ME: I think thatÂ’s very important. If you write things that are too perfect then people wonÂ’t respond to it in the right way.
Dio: ThatÂ’s right.
ME: We talked earlier about Queensryche. How did the collaboration on Operation Mindcrime II come about with you playing Dr X?
Dio: Well Geoff called me and said “We
are doing Operation Mindcrime II. Please come and sing and play the
part of Dr X”. And at that time I had the time to do it. I was between
things, luckily.
So knowing Geoff as long as I did and knowing him as well as I do it
was really a no-brainer for me to say “yeah ok, I’ll do it”. And you
know Mindcrime I was such a great piece of work, and to be included on
the second part of that was really flattering for me. So it was
something that I wanted to do. Especially for Geoff, and the rest of
the guys as well, but especially Geoff, who is such a good friend.
ME: You had the one live performance in L.A. with them that appeared on
their DVD. Is that something that you would like to reprise at some
point perhaps?
Dio: Well I could at some point. They
have released it now so everyone has seen it. I donÂ’t know how much
more important it could get. Unless we played on the moon or something!
Other than that, as far as reprising it goes, you know, if it was the
right situation, and it was important to the guys to do it, then I
would. It was really a lot of fun to do that with them live. It was
like a magical kinda night.
ME: When Tenacious D put out their debut album they had a song that was
dedicated to you. How did you feel about that at the time and more so
now?
Dio: Well I was very flattered. I was a
fan of JackÂ’s anyway, certainly as an actor. I had not heard their
material and someone told me that this band, Tenacious D released a
song that was about me and told me that it was time for me to retire.
They kinda put it in a very negative way and as always I thought IÂ’ll
listen to it myself and I thought it was great.
I knew exactly what they were talking about, and of course when I met
Jack and spoke to him about it he was very reverential and very
respectful about it. He said I hope youÂ’re not mad and I thought it was
great. So he was very happy about that and I was very flattered that
Jack cared. A guy of JackÂ’s stature cared enough about me, you know, a
singer.
 ME:
ThatÂ’s superb. Just one more question for you. YouÂ’ve had press
recently regarding Vivian Campbell. Is that something that you are
quite passionate about?
Dio: No IÂ’m not passionate about it. I
think that the lowly vermin that captured that on his cell phone at a
moment when you are saying something that perhaps you would never say
to the press, or something that you didnÂ’t really mean that much, but
you know, sometimes situations dictate what you say. And once again
that was something that was completely off the record.
Apparently I said something bad about the band as well, about Def
Leppard, and once again all of things that were said were said in the
heat of the moment. No reference to them at all, and I would like to
apologise to those guys. I like them. It wasnÂ’t fair to them, but as
far as Vivian goes, all I can say is check out the source, and then see
what that source has been saying and sometimes you reply. Most of the
time I have been taking the high road on all of it and I have not said
anything on it. I have praised Vivian so much and I think that he
deserves praise for as great as he played, but you know that was just a
retort to the things that he had said about me first, and once again in
an unguarded moment, I feel that I was very unfair, but I said what I
said.
But I am not passionate about hating him, no. I have better things to
do with my life than to think about revenge or being a horrible person.
Of course I donÂ’t want him to die! What I said was, once again a heat
of the moment thing. Those thing can not be explained unless you speak
to the source which is me I guess, like you are doing. So no, I have no
passion about that whatsoever.
ME: I wasnÂ’t sure how you would take it but I thought it was worth asking. To sort of clarify it.
Dio: Well if I say something I will certainly explain what my motive
was and what my method is. So thanks for giving me the opportunity to
say it.
ME: Your very welcome. Thank you very much for talking to me.
Dio: Thank you Mike.
You can catch Ronnie fronting Heaven and Hell this November in the UK. The bands schedule takes in the following shows:
4th - Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
6th - Glasgow SECC Hall
7th - Sheffield Hallam FM Arena
9th - Manchester Evening News Arena
10th - London Wembley Arena
11th - Brighton Centre
13th - Birmingham NEC
14th - Cradiff International Arena
15th - Nottingham Arena
17th - Plymouth Pavilions
18th - Bournemouth BIC
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And thank you Mr. Dio for sharing with us