GUITARIST CRAIG GOLDY ON WHY HE IS A MEMBER OF MULTIPLE BANDS, “[I] HAVE TO DO EIGHT TO TEN DIFFERENT THINGS TO MAKE THE EQUIVALENCY OF WHAT [I] USED TO MAKE WITH ONE”
Ruben Mosqueda of Sleaze Roxx spoke with guitarist Craig Goldy (Dio, Dio Disciples and Resurrection Kings). Excerpts from part one of the interview appear below.
Sleaze Roxx: How do you plan differentiating Resurrection Kings from Dio Disciples which was only a touring entity, but sounds like will soon be recording a record and Black Knights Rising which was a “just for fun” project to Last In Line which features the original Dio lineup minus Ronnie? Also, Vinny also plays in Last In Line. That could cause a lot of confusion amongst casual fans.
Craig Goldy: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. The casual fan will have you pegged as a person that has no scruples. The [music] world has changed so much that some of us have to do eight to ten different things to make the equivalency of what we used to make with one. We need to make money. In my world, money isn’t the core reason why I do anything. It has to be something that I believe in. I know that isn’t the shrewdest way to go about my musical career, but that is just the way that I am. I’m of the belief that “If you build it, they will come.” — like in that movie Field of Dreams. People don’t realize that a lot of us were paid as “sidemen” in the ’80s and we didn’t have the big piece of the pie like a lot of the others guys.
Sleaze Roxx: You were part of Project: Driver at one point which featured Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge, Bob Rock and you. You left and Tony MacAlpine stepped in.
Craig Goldy: That was interesting because of the relationship that Ronnie and I had when he was recording Hear N’ Aid. He flew me in to record while I was on tour with Giuffria to be a part of that. He actually had me go first. I was like “Great! I have to go first and there’s George Lynch, Neal Schon and Yngwie Malmsteen. Why am I going first?!” So, I laid down some guitar and Ronnie grabs my arms and says “See, I knew that you’d start with a theme and not just start noodling around. That’s why I had you go first!”
It was during those recordings that I got noticed by Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge who had just left Ozzy’s band. We started talking about the possibility of putting a band together with Rudy and Tommy and at the time, they had Jeff Scott Soto on vocals. I was like “This is going to be outstanding!” Jeff left and we got another guy that sounded like a cross between David Coverdale and Ian Gillan. I was like “Good Lord! This is going to be great!” We were getting offers from labels then I got the call from Wendy about joining Dio. It had been close to three years to the day when Ronnie had said to me “Goldy, if things don’t work out with Viv at some point, I would like you to be in the band.” He was true to his word and called me to join Dio. Those guys were the best ever, they were so supportive.
Read more at Sleaze Roxx.
source: sleazeroxx.com
. Excerpts from part one of the interview appear below. Sleaze Roxx: How do you plan ... )
Welcome to the music business, where artists have to give their music away for free, or get paid fractions of a penny so people can stream it on spotify, because $12 bucks for 15 songs is just too much money, yet they’ll pay $150 a month for a couple of cell phones and $150 a month for cable/internet +Netflix/Hulu/AmazonPrime, etc…
I dunno, I understand things change, and love the convenience of digital music, but I buy everything I have. I’ve had massive arguments with younger people who feel that they are entitled to free or cheap music. Music was never that expensive to begin with. As a teen with a summer job, I always had money to buy music.
I feel for these guys, for sure.
Michael,
I agree with everything you wrote. But the truth is, the youth today has turned their backs on buying albums, because the products they are being offered, are sub par and disposable. Most albums today have one or two good songs on them and that is it. So, kids would rather buy the hit singles for a few dollars, then purchase a whole product. Outside of artists like Adele (who is major anomaly), Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and possibly One Direction, most artists cannot sell complete records anymore.
Unfortunately, the days of making great albums are over. Today, everything is about instant gratification and next the trend. Therefore, music, like fashion, actors, movies etc., is all dispensable. You are only as good as your last hit.
D 🙂
Pop fans have always been like that, it’s just that they now have the technology to match their mindset of disposable music. The prime technology of music pre-internet was an immobile sound system which forced us to pay attention to what was played. Casual music fans had their Walkmans and ghetto blasters, but these enhanced the music experience. Having thousands of songs in an ipod does for music what having thousands of Facebook “friends” does for relationships.
Great point, Tyger.
D 🙂
Lets also face facts, Mr. Goldy like other ‘artists’ of his genre were grossly overpaid back in the day. He was an average player playing in average bands and was paid well because he was part of the genre that was generating big dollars. I don’t begrudge him that. But most of these average talents were lucky to get what they got back in the day. Like most genre’s, only the super powers make the music and the money that pays them a lifetime.
Agreed 100% Dana. Actors in the past couldn’t depend on special FX, so they HAD to be great actors. I remember listening to some of the great Queen albums all the way through as a youngster, and being blown away at how great they were. No one seems to put that much thought, work, or effort into making great albums anymore, which is a shame.
I completely agree, T.
D 🙂
Michael, Dana, I think you’re both absolutely correct. It’s depressing. I used to get so excited for my favorite bands to release new albums, and I always looked at the singles as just the first step or two into the door of the full album. Actually, 90% of the time my favorite songs were “album tracks” that were never radio singles or MTV videos. I never once considered just picking up the single and stopping there, I always wanted to hear everything that a band had to offer. When I was younger, I did my share of copying music from my friends, and giving them copies of stuff I had – it’s how we spread new music around, but that’s usually how I would get turned onto a band and then bought everything after that. I would often later buy what I had copied so I could have the album art and a better quality copy of the audio. I buy every album that I acquire now, it’s how it should be done. I won’t work for free, and we shouldn’t expect musicians to either. Especially for our genre of music nowadays, they’re not raking in millions of dollars like in the 80’s, they are very much “working musicians” and if we the fans can’t spend the $10 – $15 for an hour’s worth of music that we’ll enjoy for years, then more of the bands we love will cease to exist because they can’t make a living doing it anymore.
I think my 13 year old daughter summed it up last week on how dispensable or disposable music is now.
We’re in the car and a song comes on the radio (can’t remember exactly who it was but it was a poppy radio tune).
Me: Hey that’s a good song.
My Daughter: What? That song is old, there’s better stuff now.
Me: Old? When did it come out?
My Daughter: Last month
LOL, sadly, that sums it all up.
D 🙂
Here’s a chicken vs egg argument.
If there was still quality music being released today, would fans be more inclined to purchase tangible CDs?
Let’s face it, most artists who’ve come out in the last 20 years release albums that are basically collections of singles rather than albums that are meant to be listened to from start to finish.
So, is the quality of the product driving the trend towards digital music? Or, it is technology based?
First off while never my favorite guitar player I appreciated Goldy’s unique voice and style. Loved how Ronnie recognized it as well.
About the complaints about the kids, come on!!! Kids were cherry picking songs ever since I was well… one of them. 45s, casingles, blank cassettes where we would trade music or wait for American Top 40 to come on and record the songs we like. Technology has changed things are done but not why they are done.
Also the Karma came back to bite the music industry when they jacked up the prices for CDs (that could have been sold for the same price as vinyl and cassettes) Add to the fact as record companies began being ran by vodka companies and focusing more on fewer artist with higher sales the industry trained people to buy fewer albums and rely more on singles.
Also the artist are to blame as well. A handful of superstars have stood up to the powers that be. Prince won’t allow his music on youtube. Taylor Swift and Adele won’t allow their new records to be streamed. And they all still sell… Millions.
What is with the white flag mentality of most artist? The fans have spoken and the technology has won? It’s still about content. Anyone else remember how fast Napster fell off the face off the earth once they were ordered not to exchange copyrighted music? Would you visit Spotify if they didn’t have your favorite artist? Would you watch Youtube if you couldn’t see your favorite bands?
The bands that are surviving and thriving know the rules have changes and are using that to their advantage. $10.00 for the new Lynch Mob CD? I’ll think about it. $20 bucks for a copy autographed by George with guitar picks and a few stickers. Heck Yeah!!! Love to have an autograph to hang on the wall. Even if it was signed by some intern at George’s label.
Consumers drive the market, but consumers only get away with what they can. How many people do you hear complaining that the first 6 Star Wars movies aren’t on TV or Streaming Services and you have to buy the newest special edition or buy from Disney and their distributors? Marketing 101, if people want your product they’ll find a way to get it and the two fastest ways to go out of business: overprice your product or give it away for cheap.
While it is true that ’45 and ’78 singles were sold back in the day, the radio stations, record companies, etc. still encouraged the masses to buy the albums. Then, in 80’s with advent of MTV and videos, bands made multiple videos for songs off the same album, therefore encouraging the consumer to purchase the entire record, rather then a single.
The other issue today, most of these commercial artists are produced by the same two or three men, such as Max Martin or Dr. Luke. That is why Katy Perry, KeSha, Rhianna, Jessie J., all sound the same. There is very little diversity, and a lot of redundancy, in most of the music that dominates the charts today. Even Adele, whom I have to admit has an great voice and is talent, most of her songs all sound the same.