Frontiers Music Srl is pleased to announce the signing of Last In Line, featuring original Dio members, Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell, along with vocalist Andrew Freeman.
When he left Black Sabbath in early 1982 to form his own band, the late, great Ronnie James Dio took powerhouse Black Sabbath drummer, Vinny Appice with him.
Ronnie knew that he wanted a European flavor to balance-out the band, so he asked his former Rainbow bandmate and Scottish native, bassist Jimmy Bain to join him. In turn, Jimmy recommended a young Irish guitarist, Vivian Campbell to complete the line-up. When the four of them met and played for the first time in a North London rehearsal room in September 1982, the magic was evident and the classic Dio band line-up was born.
Between 1983 and 1985, in quick succession, that line-up wrote, recorded and toured the first three Dio albums. Widely considered to be the crown jewels of the Dio catalogue, Holy Diver, Last In Line and Sacred Heart went on to sell millions as the band, now reinforced by keyboard player, Claude Schnell, played to audiences worldwide.
By 1985, however, trouble was brewing and the fabric of the band had started to unravel. Beginning with Vivian Campbell’s firing during the Sacred Heart tour, one by one the other original band members left the fold and slowly the magic was lost.
30 years after the recording of Holy Diver, and without trying to replace the singular sound that was Ronnie’s voice, the original band have started playing the songs they created together again. Joined by the passionate, powerful and unique voice of vocalist Andrew Freeman, Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell have united under the name of their classic album, Last In Line, to perform and tour their original songs again.
When any group of musicians write and record together, they create a sound that becomes uniquely theirs. Last In Line brings to life those early, classic Dio albums in a way that only they know how. In a way that only they can.
Frontiers plans to release the new recording in the spring of 2015.
31 Responses
When it comes to how Ronnie treated his band, he learned that from Blackmore. And it’s a common practice. People think bands are partnerships and they’re not. Usually when someone like Blackmore, Dio or any other star breaks from a group to go solo it’s about the money and their band is paid scale or a set salary. Do you think Dio was an equal partner in Rainbow or Black Sabbath? Hell no. Just like Tommy Thayer isn’t in KISS.
The first three Dio albums are beyond brilliant, they are required listening for any metal fan. Good to see them get back together to play and hopefully Vivian’s health is good. But it’s still sad Ronnie and Vivian never buried the hatchet. But Vivian was very young when he joined Dio and Ronnie was already in his 40’s. I read an interview with Vivian in Guitar World where he was asked about what it was like being in the band with Ronnie and he replied, and this is the exact quote “It was like being in a band with your dad”. He went on to describe how Ronnie was sort of dad-like towards him. He stated that when he was going out on the town to have fun, Ronnie demanded to know what his plans were, where he was going and when he’d be back. I’m sure part of that was Ronnie being concerned Vivian would get into trouble or something might happen that would have a negative impact on the band. But I also think another reason was Ronnie was just worried about Vivian personally and wanted him to be safe, just like any dad would.
I talked to Vivian online once and he refused to acknowledge Ronnie and that he would have made it big on his own without Ronnie’s help.
They apparently suffered from not only personality differences but a generation gap to. Vivian was young and had ambitions of his own and obviously thought he didn’t need Ronnie. It’s sad though because the short time they were together they made incredible music. That interview in Guitar World, the monthly “Dear, Guitar Hero” article, was the first time I had heard him say that about Ronnie, that he was like an overbearing dad.
On an unrelated note, he bashed the Gibson Guitar Company in the same article, saying they don’t support the artists that endorse their products. He’s been one of those artists almost his entire career.
I always thought Viv quit the band to join whitesnake or something like that. Always thought they hated each other. So now he’s doing the Dio band thing? I dunno, I think hes a really good guitarist and I wish him well with his recent health issues but can someone explain what the deal is?
When Dio had just released Dream Evil, Vivian was asked in an interview with Hit Padader what he thought about it and I clearly remember his response was that it sounded like “early 80’s metal” and that’s what he had wanted to get away from. Ronnie stated once that Vivian didn’t feel he was getting enough attention in Dio but he couldn’t understand why Vivian said that and yet he joined Whitesnake where he would have to split leads with Adrian Vandenberg. The bottom line has be a combination of business issues, personal issues and musical differences brought it to Vivian being out of the band. No offense to Craig Goldy, who’s a great guitarist, but I was bummed when Vivian left the band and the albums without just weren’t the same. I saw Dio in concert for the tour for Last In Line and that band was phenomenal.
This whole thing is very strange to me…Dio is gone and this seems like a money grab….especially with Vivian Campbell on board, as it has been documents that he and Dio pretty much hated each other…it was Dios band, so to me this would be like Ted Nugents band going out without him and calling themselves Stranglehold, or Wang Tang Sweet Poontang…I thought this was supposed to be a one-off show they did in rememberence of Dio, not an actual gigging band…I dunno, not sure I like this….
In my online chat with Viv, he said since he helped write them why should’nt he be able to perform them? Though I do not wish bad things on people it was strange how he acquired cancer just as he was about to get this thing off the ground. Ronnie died from cancer,as we all know….
Vivian citing his writing of the songs is true…I just think the timing is off. Why wait for RJD to pass away and then perform them as the name The Last in Line?? I could say that about the entire group, not just Vivian. Great songs and band, just not great timing in my opinion…
I agree
Steel Panther invited Viv on stage a few years ago to perform “Rainbow In The Dark” (video is on YouTube) and it inspired him to reach out to his old Dio bandmates. Once they got together to play, they were inspired by how quickly everything fell in place. So that’s the background on the “timing” issue.