English translation from the Swedish Pop Magazine OKEJ. OKEJ was more or less the only music magazine in Sweden during the 1980’s and almost 90% of Swedish youth read it and then talked about in school. Are you interested in the OKEJ magazine phenomena, read more here!
DIO
- A HARD ROCKIN CHARMER
Many rock stars of the larger model ignore the promotional trips and contacts with the press. They release their albums and trust the company to arrange the sales on their own - an attitude that is often combined with the greeting that the artist in question is so fantastically "great" and so incomprehensibly "sensitive" that it is simply impossible for him to socialize with us ordinary, simple earth wanderers. In this way, the distance between artist and audience is increased and the journalists can walk home in anger and write sulfurous submissions about rottenness and commercialism. Or you can, in the manner of the self-torturer, turn the tables and spit out a soliloquy about the Artist who creates so intensely that he simply cannot bear to meet other people.
EVERYTHING FOR THE FANS
Thankfully, as is well known, rules are confirmed by exceptions and Ronnie James Dio is a brilliant one - this strange little man cherishes his relationship with the mass media as a dear possession. he can push his schedule to the limit to get as many magazines and interviews as possible and he is always careful to provide the writers with the best material possible.
- We do everything for the fans. he says. That's what sets us apart from other heavy metal bands. We care about our fans - it's for the faithful and loyal audience that we play and work!
The last time I interviewed Ronnie, he was in a hotel in Amsterdam, where he wandered around the corridors for a whole day in search of all the journalists he had promised to meet. I missed him in the breakfast room myself. but with the help of the reception, he found him a few floors higher and got the requested interview - as expected, Ronnie began by apologizing profusely for the hassle and stress and trouble and for the fact that the schedule didn't quite fit.
- You know how it is. he said, you want to get as much done as possible and we have a relatively short time. Then it will be like this. it is unavoidable.
Then Ronnie was in Europe to do PR for the first LP with Diob by this time a classic. In the USA it has sold nearly a million copies and is still the group's biggest success.
The year was 1983 and Dio as a group was a new and unsung hero - to get readers and audiences on board it was safest to point out the singer's previous involvement in bands like Rainbow and Black Sabbath, possibly with the addition that Ronnie was also a polished multi-instrumentalist. arranger and producer and that he was probably one of the most talented people.
THE TEXTS ARE IMPORTANT
One day you no longer need to bother with such obvious things - after several big tours and three albums.
"Holy Diver”, "The Last In Line" and "Sacred Heart", Ronnie James Dio is a well-known and respected name. His band guarantees high musical class and most of his songs are significantly more interesting than most other things the genre has to offer. Maybe because Ronnie tries to build his compositions on solid and complete ideas as much as possible instead of. like so many others. combining a newly constructed melody loop with various mediocre or banal text fragments.
- A song should come from both the heart and the brain. I have always written this way - for me it is obvious that you start from a working and comprehensive idea and that you then let the text harmonize with the music.
The lyrics are important in these contexts and the subject area is wide - here you can find everything from good stories to mysticism from other spheres, even though Ronnie's interest in the occult seems to have waned somewhat. This is not a band that plays ballads, he says, and that is probably partly due to my way of writing lyrics. I write stories about life and about what happens around us - I keep my thoughts about love and relationships to myself.
BREATHING TECHNIQUE
He is certainly creative and has plenty of practice and experience. Ronnie James Dio - who was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and raised in Cortland, New York, where he learned to play the classical trumpet as a child. He started his career back in the 60s, when he played bass with The Prophets and in a couple of early versions of his own Elf. The trumpet was okay, he says. It taught me a proper breathing technique. but as a rock instrument I needed something else. That it just happened to be bass was more of a coincidence - and deep down, it was probably a singer that I wanted to be more than anything!
BREATHING TECHNIQUE
He is certainly creative and has plenty of practice and experience. Ronnie James Dio - who was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and raised in Cortland, New York, where he learned to play the classical trumpet as a child. He started his career back in the 60s, when he played bass with The Prophets and in a couple of early versions of his own Elf. The trumpet was okay, he says. It taught me a proper breathing technique. but as a rock instrument I needed something else. That it just happened to be bass was more of a coincidence - and deep down, it was probably a singer that I wanted to be more than anything!
After a tragic car accident in 1970, Elf reformed and a short time later they were discovered by Roger Glover of Deep Purple, who produced their first album and later engaged them with two more albums - then both Elf and big brother Deep Purple broke up and with Dio as a singer Ritchie Blackmores legendary Rainbow was formed.
REGULAR MEMBER
- The band was actually called Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and it was Ritchie's ego trip from start to finish. says Ronnie. It doesn't matter at all how much the rest of us did or where the ideas came from - it's was all about Ritchie. Despite that relationship, the collaboration lasted for three years and the group managed to release five albums with Ronnie James Dio as singer - the defection was a hard blow for Rainbow. but that is of course forgotten now that Deep Purple has been resurrected and Dio has become big with his own name.
REGULAR MEMBER
- The band was actually called Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and it was Ritchie's ego trip from start to finish. says Ronnie. It doesn't matter at all how much the rest of us did or where the ideas came from - it's was all about Ritchie. Despite that relationship, the collaboration lasted for three years and the group managed to release five albums with Ronnie James Dio as singer - the defection was a hard blow for Rainbow. but that is of course forgotten now that Deep Purple has been resurrected and Dio has become big with his own name.
- Although I am a regular member, just like the others, he says. It is important to remember that we do call ourselves Dio. but in that case Dio is a group where we work together on more or less equal terms.
Believe whoever you want - Ronnie writes, arranges and produces, he is the center both on stage and on the record and he has given the group his own adopted surname. With this as a starting point, everyone can draw their own conclusions. I myself find it difficult to imagine that a headstrong gentleman like Mr. Dio could combine creative work with unwavering democratic principles.
CLASH WITH PAUL STANLEY
In 1979 he replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. a period in his career that he hardly likes to talk about today. - It's nice to have escaped from there, he says and marks it with a clear finish.
There are nicer topics, Ronnie means, and you can agree with him on that. Dio who debuted on record in 1983 and who has since then consolidated his position as one of the truly heavy and reliable names in heavy metal. The new LP "Sacred Heart" does not offer as many surprises as the first "Holy Diver" and also "The Last In Line" but the musical quality is high. Ronnie experiments with tempo changes and unusual harmonies and he has managed to get the occasional hit. for example the single "Rock n'Roll Children”. However, the recording was in some respects a rather difficult story and Dio encountered problems. including regarding the choice of recording studio. "Holy Diver" was made in Sound City in Los Angeles and the follow-up "The Last In Line" in the high-altitude Caribou Ranch near Denver, Colorado - when it was time to go into the studio for the third time, time was short and for planning reasons they were forced to stay close to Los Angeles. Ronnie first booked two months in the well-known Record Plant. But when Paul Stanley got in touch and wanted the same studio for the same period of time, the owners tried to solve the dilemma by giving Dio half the time but then kicking the group out. So he dropped out. A friendly reception is the least you can ask for and Dio moved on to the Rumbo studio in the San Fernando Valley. He is happy with his record, but would have liked to have had more time and greater resources at his disposal. Anyway - what's done is done and now other projects are on the agenda. Dio has many long tours ahead of him and Ronnie is also planning his own film, which will be shot as soon as possible. The story is based on effective imagination and is about a young guitarist who is drawn into an unknown world. Most of the film is animated and on the soundtrack we find thunderous rock'n roll. Although Ronnie likes to listen to classical music at home, when he relaxes by the gramophone, but if he is going to play himself, it must be rock for the whole penny - and that is why the audience loves him and his band!