Dio Chat Session November 28th, 2000

HOST EMC Wasp:Coming up next..... Dio!!!!

HOST EMC Wasp: Will dio make it to philly in the future. I last saw him at Arizonas in Dover Delaware....Great Performance

Ronnie James Dio: We will definitely be in Philadelphia,

we will make it there on the next tour. I have a love affair with Philadelphia, when I'm asked what favorite city to play in is my answer is Philadelphia so we will defintely be there soon.

HOST EMC Wasp: Any chance of you doing Egypt with Doro or Gates with yngwie?

Ronnie James Dio: Theres always a chance, unfortunately we don't currently play either of those in the set, we would need a night of rehearsal, but theres always a chance that we might.

HOST EMC Wasp: I WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO HEAR ON THIS TOUR.

Ronnie James Dio: We like the last tour that we did, we came to the realization that we are Dio not Rainbow or Sabbath, over the years I have given a cross section of all the bands but now we do one Sabbath song and one Rainbow song, we play songs from all of the Dio releases, if its a full show we do 20 -23 songs in the set.

HOST EMC Wasp: Is there or was there any plans to release a video for magica?

Ronnie James Dio: There were plans and still are plans to do a video, we didn't do one early on and then our touring schedule took us away from that, I do hope to one day perform MAgica in its entirity for a DVD release. There will be visuals for Magica.

HOST EMC Wasp: Hey Ronnie will you be adding We Rock to the list or Mob Rules?

Ronnie James Dio: There are both on the list, they are included in the final encore. If the full set is played, then both of those will be included.

HOST EMC Wasp: Why the move to play the entire magica L.P. ?

Ronnie James Dio: It‘s a concept piece, we didn't struggle and work on it to be chopped up song by song, we feel thats its a great piece and we are capable of performing the entire piece in concert, so thats why we do it.

HOST EMC Wasp: Hi Ronnie, what are your plans after the tour finishes?

Ronnie James Dio: We have a charity project that we are involved with called Children of the Night, and the song Craig Goldie and I have written will be performed by many artists, this will be much like the Hear N Aid project (which will be rereleased). This tour will not be ending until April. We will be touring in Europe, then we will be working on the project, and then getting back on the road to do this again. In response to am I working on my autobiography and when will it come out ~ I have well over a third finished but due to commitments, I haven't finished it yet. Music is the first thing that I do and to write you need total concentration on that project, but I am working on it and will complete it sometime in the future.

HOST EMC Wasp: RONNIE, WILL YOU BE COMING BACK TO VENTURA ONCE MORE?

Ronnie James Dio: Not this time around, there was some talk of playing New Years Eve there but thats not going to be happening. We will be back there at some point just not that soon.

HOST EMC Wasp: Will there be a continuation of the MAGICA story on a future CD?

Ronnie James Dio: I think that you can be assured that there will be, it will not be the next CD. I would like to make it a full prose piece. There will be two other parts to the Magica story (a trilogy) and there may be more to follow.

HOST EMC Wasp: What part of a song do you write first, the music or the lyrics? Is Magica the first of a trilogy?

Ronnie James Dio: Always the music first, the music inspires me to write what the music is about, I have titles followed by the lyrics. The music helps explain what I will write word wise. The music always comes first.

HOST EMC Wasp: Magica is a great cd...what has the response been to playing it live?.Can`t wait to see you play it in Washington D.C.

Ronnie James Dio: The response has been to our expectations, we knew it was a great piece when we wrote it, and since we do it from beginning to end the response has gone beyond our expectations. At the end of the day what we wanted to do was give the Dio fans a form of fantasy that they would appreciate. Magica is a return to what Dio is. Craig Goldie, Jimmy Bain, and Simon Wright, all contributed and we look forward to playing it every night.

HOST EMC Wasp: What word on the ELF reunion?

Ronnie James Dio: We still have plans to do that, again. its a matter of time, Dio is my first priority, Elf will be a fun project to do, it is still in the works and it will happen, it seems to be picking up momentum, its definitely going to happen its just a question of when.

HOST EMC Wasp: What are the words you say as the song "shame on the night" fades to silence?

Ronnie James Dio: I honestlly don't remember, if you are talking about what it is said backwards it might be Crucify the Diver

HOST EMC Wasp: Is there any chance that the band will play Wales U.K. Its been 13 years since the last show!!

Ronnie James Dio: We are planning on being in the UK in February and hopefully Wales will be one of the stops. We have only played in London recently and thats due to the promoters. They are booking people that don't play the type of music that we do, hopefully they will learn that our fans will be at the shows, so hopefully one of our stops will be in Wales on this tour.

HOST EMC Wasp: What was one of the most impressive bands you've toured with in recent years?

Ronnie James Dio: I think in the Sabbath days I liked Prong and I also liked Testament, we have toured so frequently with opening acts and there haven't been many that have overly impressed me. Doro and Yngwie have been very impressive.

HOST EMC Wasp: Does it look like Craig Goldie will be in Dio for a while or is it a one shor deal?I hope he stays.

Ronnie James Dio: This is a long term proposition, hopefully it will be forever, he has told me that leaving was a mistake, but I don't think that it was, because it made him realize how much he liked being in this band.

HOST EMC Wasp: Will your next cd stick to the traditional DIO themes?

Ronnie James Dio: Yes it will, much more so, than in the past 4 to 5 years, Magica was quite an undertaking but I would like to make the next album harder and faster, but it will be a pure Dio album.

HOST EMC Wasp: For a while you seemed to want to get away from fantasy-themed albums...have you decided to abandon that route? Can we ever expect to see the style of music you played w/Tracy G again?

Ronnie James Dio: I like that Tracy G is the operative word there, now that Tracy is no longer with us and that Craig is, I draw my attitudes from the world around me, and at that time I was shouting out socially. It doesn't mean that I won't be angry again but I don't think that you will see a return to that style again.

HOST EMC Wasp: How did the Jimmy Bain reunion occur?

Ronnie James Dio: Craig and I had completed writing the album and I got a call from Jimmy just to reconnect and he had sorted out some problems and it was a twist of fate because we had not chosen a bass player for the album. I asked him if he would like to play on the album and he was happy to do it. I am glad to have Jimmy back both as a personal friend and part of the band. Its a wonderful pleasure to be back with him again.

HOST EMC Wasp: Thank you for "Last in Live"....would there ever be the possiblilty of a compilation of your tribute songs?

Ronnie James Dio: I've only done two tribute songs, so it would be a short album, I don't plan on doing others, I did those do because I am a fan of both Alice Cooper and Aerosmith, so that was my way of saying thank you to them.

HOST EMC Wasp: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE GREAT YEARS. RONNIE,STILL THINKIN OF BUYING A HOUSE IN CAMBRIA?

Ronnie James Dio: No I've moved my geographic desires a bit, I will eventually move farther north in CA, and you're welcome.

HOST EMC Wasp: Will you ever work with Vinnie Appice again?

Ronnie James Dio: I would never say no, Vinnie has been an important part of life, both personally and musically, right now I'm happy with SImon. I never said no to playing with Sabbath and later did an album with them. I would never say no but the chances are quite slim. In response to do I keep in touch with Vivian CAmpbell ~ I have not really spoken to Viv personally in quite a few years. Vivian is going to take part in the Children of the Night project that I mentioned earlier. I keep in contact with him thorugh Jimmy. We have no animosity towards each other. He is one of the most distinctive guitar players that I have ever heard. We will be working together on that project so hopefully we will talk then.

HOST EMC Wasp: I don't mean to bring up a negative thought but I must admit I was disappointed with the Vh-1 special not having DIO included.

Ronnie James Dio: I was a bit disappointed myself, I felt that all the work that we have done over the years have left its mark but there were many choices (we may have been #101) I don't watch VH1.

HOST EMC Wasp: What happened on the tour with Wasp and Iron Maiden and thanks for giving Wales a mention

Ronnie James Dio: That was down to Iron Maiden, WASP were signed to Sanctuary which was the same label, there must have been some political things that went on, but I felt that I would be blamed for them not being on the tour (I'm blamed for almost everything else) but things happened and they weren't on the tour.

HOST EMC Wasp: WHAT ABOUT RAINBOW REUNION?

Ronnie James Dio: Theres always the thought of that in the works, people still want to see that lineup but at the end of the day we have had some offers but nothing has happened yet. If we did have a reunion, it would not be a long tour probably an album and one or two shows (most likely in Japan), I think that we were the best line up of Rainbow (not to throw stones at other members) but my main consideration is Dio and Blackmores is Rainbow.

HOST EMC Wasp: Hi Ronnie Sarah here. I heard something about a Project with Roger Glover, from DP, Is there something there?

Ronnie James Dio: The project was that we are going to include Roger in on the Elf project, he produced the Elf records and he will be part of that reunion.

HOST EMC Wasp: Will the Deep Purple/Dio thing play any dates in the US?

Ronnie James Dio: At the moment there are some plans for February (possibly Radio City Music Hall, Chicago, and The Hollywood Bowl) nothing is concrete but hopefully it will happen.

HOST EMC Wasp: RONNIE ,HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR VOICE SO STRONG AFTER SO MANY GREAT YEARS ?

Ronnie James Dio: Everything is a matter of technique and you must have talent, you must also know how to use that talent. I never toook singing lessons because I didn't want someone making me into someone other than myself. I don't smoke or abuse myself so I think that plays a part. Its a mental thing, I am very strong mentally and i refuse to be beaten down in anything that I do.

HOST EMC Wasp: Will there be a point where you feel you've said everything you need to and retire, or just keep going until fate stops you?

Ronnie James Dio: I will stop when I feel that I can't sing anymore, its a very physical thing. And if I am not at the top of my game then I will stop. I will never stop writing or being involved in the music business. I think that I will be doing this for a number of years to come and I think that we will do it together. I will see the end when the end smacks me in the face.

HOST EMC Wasp: HI Ronnie Were you called to sing on the solo cd of Tony Iommi?

Ronnie James Dio: No

HOST EMC Wasp: Why do japan releases have bonus tracks?

Ronnie James Dio: I think that its because of the bootleg situation, they can buy the album from another source but they won't get the bonus track. Its also the reason that the artwork is better so that they will buy that one rather than the release that came out before in their own country.

HOST EMC Wasp: WAS COUNTRY GIRL ABOUT WENDY?

Ronnie James Dio: It was.

HOST EMC Wasp: I love Holy Diver! Do you think it is your best song?

Ronnie James Dio: I think its an excellent, it is a very personal song for me because it is the first song that I wrote for the Dio album, I don't think its my best song but it is in the top three. 

HOST EMC Wasp: What did you think about being featured on South Park????

Ronnie James Dio: Initially my ofiice was called and they asked management if they could use Holy Diver on one of their shows and my first response was absolutely not because I have seen what they have done to other artists. They assured me that it wouldn't be that way and I realized that the show is part of Americana and that I thought it was wonderful and I am pleased and proud that they asked me to be part of that. I have no regrets.

HOST EMC Wasp: Will you ever play any early,early Prophet stuff ever again, I love alot of these songs,Angel,Walking in different circles, pays to advertise,hey look me over.This to me was a vital part of the magic that is now DIO.

Ronnie James Dio: Thank you for the compliments, I agree that they were all learning experiences and I will keep them as a memory pinned to my pillow. They were a great time for me but they will remain in a secret place in my heart.

Ronnie James Dio: To everyone who has taken part in todays conversation and to those who were not able to have their questions answered: We Rock!