Ça doit quand même suffire, de toute façon je ne vois aucune autre raison pour rester dans un groupe où il n'a qu'un impact très limité, relégué au rang de second guitariste d'appoint loin derrière Phil Collen. Le jour où Def Leppard ne rempliront plus les salles, il n'hésitera pas à chercher un meilleur business, comme il l'a fait en passant de Dio à Whitesnake, puis de Whitesnake à Def Leppard.
Ce n'est pas une critique, Doug Aldrich a fait la même chose. A la différence qu'il est resté en bons termes avec Dio, et surtout qu'il a un rôle important dans Whitesnake.
On peut ajouter aussi que ces dernières années Campbell a joué dans 2 groupes parallèles, ainsi que son propre projet solo. Sans compter Thin Lizzy l'année dernière, et je ne suis pas au courant de toutes ses activités extérieures.
S'il a autant besoin de jouer et créer en dehors de Def Leppard c'est bien parce qu'il ne sert pas à grand chose, ou du moins qu'il ne peut pas vraiment s'épanouir au sein d'un groupe qui n'est pas le sien, ce qu'il reconnait lui-même entre les lignes dans les interviews.
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
C'est vrai, les fans ne vont pas apprécier la démarche. Cela étant, je me pose des questions sur ses motivations. C'est clairement pas financier. Il n'a pas besoin de l'argent de poche que ça peut lui faire, par rapport à ce qu'il peut empocher sur la tournée annuelle de Def Leppard aux US. Serait-ce un vrai truc sincère pour honorer Dio, avec un fond de remords sur la façon dont s'est terminée leur relation, et les mots d'oiseaux échangés dans la presse (la seule personne avec qui Dio était publiquement embrouillée) ?
C'est facile de rester brouillé avec quelqu'un de vivant, mais une fois qu'il meurt...bizarrement des tas de remords assaillent les personnes restées en vie. Démarche sincère peut-être?
Sinon ils peuvent prendre Paul Rodgers, il s'est ramassé toutes les critiques possibles et la haine du monde dans la figure quand i a annoncé chanter avec Queen, et pourtant...il s'est admirablement bien débrouillé
Le principal problème de Luke Cage, c'est l'acteur. Il a une bonne tête, mais dès que le plan est un peu large, on le voit, bras ballants, comme un culturiste qui attend le bus, et ça c'est mauvais.
Radio Metal asked “You played with Dio’s solo band in the early ’80s, at what is considered its creative peak, but I know that you two were not very much on good terms. Is this something that you regret now, not to have had the time to make up with him before he died?”
Vivian Campbell replied: “No. Even when I was in the band with Ronnie [James Dio] back in the days, we never had a very strong relationship beyond music. That was what brought us together: we were on stage together, recording and writing songs… It was a very strange relationship between he and I. It was a lot of miscommunication, of misunderstanding and I think a lot of it was generational. Ronnie was a lot older than me and I found it very difficult to communicate with him and vice versa, I think he found it very difficult to communicate with me.”
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
Interview de Claude Schnell, il confirme que c'est Vivian Campbell qui est à l'origine de cette idée et qui a motivé les autres :
In a May 14 interview with Jason Saulnier of the MusicLegends.ca web site (hear audio below), Schnell explained how the reunion of the former DIO bandmates came about. "We got together for a coincidental play a few weeks ago," he said. "And what was initially supposed to be just kind of a fun hang to see what would come of it. I mean, it had been — amazingly — 26 years since we had all been in the same room together, since Viv's exit post the 'Sacred Heart' album. So we got together just to have a play for fun, and it turned out to be more than just fun. It was a a lot of fun, and as chance would have it, it actually sounded quite good. I think we were all a little bit surprised at not only by how good it sounded, but more importantly, how good it felt, and how authentic it felt, and how familiar everything seemed; it was kind of like walking through some kind of a time portal. I mean, basically, we recaptured — I think — the vibe that we had all those years ago, and it just seemed like an obvious next step to maybe proceed with this a little bit further."
On what it felt like to playing with his former DIO bandmates again:
Schnell: "For the most part, we had all been in touch over the years anyway. I speak with Vinny very, very often — probably on a weekly basis, I would say. And Viv and I kind of keep in touch. We have some mutual friends. We share an auto mechanic, for one thing. So we kind of keep tabs on each other and keep in touch in that regard. But Jimmy, actually, I don't think anybody had heard from in a long time. And it was actually a chance encounter with Viv at this past NAMM [convention] in January [in Anaheim, California], when I had approached him to perhaps get together with me to work on some stuff that I had been trying to pursue that the subject of maybe getting together for a play with the old guys kind of came up. I know Viv had done an impromptu play with, I think it was STEEL PANTHER at the House Of Blues, if I'm not mistaken. And he was energized from that performance to the point of saying, 'Yeah, we should get together with Jimmy and Vinny.' So Viv got everybody's e-mails and got everybody in touch with each other, and we got together, and again, it felt like old times. [We gave each other] a couple of bro hugs, and within an instant we were off and playing. And also, Andrew, the singer with whom we did that initial rehearsal, is somebody that Vinny had played with when he was playing with George Lynch in LYNCH MOB. And I had briefly done some work with Andrew on some of my projects. So they were very familiar faces, and it felt very organic and very natural."
On the new band's tentative plan to play some shows under the name LAST IN LINE:
Schnell: "[To call the band LAST IN LINE is] the plan at the moment; that seems to be the consensus, and from the e-mails that I have received and from the various commentaries that I have seen through the social sites and online, it's been getting a very good response, so I think that's probably gonna be the name that will survive. And also, it's kind of a subtle nod to how, in his last efforts, when Ronnie did the [BLACK] SABBATH reunion of sorts, even though they couldn't call it SABBATH, they chose to use the name of the first album on which Ronnie played with SABBATH. Similarly, the first DIO album on which we all played together — myself included — was 'The Last In Line'. And I think LAST IN LINE works better as a band name than HOLY DIVER does anyway, so…"
On the first LAST IN LINE rehearsal:
Schnell: "I think 'Holy Diver' was the first [song] that we played. And interestingly, too, because the song starts with just the instruments alone, I think all of us had kind of a memory anticipation of the next thing we were gonna hear being Ronnie's voice. Because other than the obvious and notable absence of Ronnie's voice, it sounded exactly like it sounded back in the day. It was very, I guess, duplicitious. On the one hand, it felt great to be playing this music again and to have the authenticity and the strength and the power and all of the things that go with playing with such notable material, but the absence of Ronnie being no longer with us to sing it became painfully obvious as we progressed through the session. Not to take anything away from Andrew's performance — he did an outstanding job, and if he didn't, I don't believe that he'd be the one that we'd be pursuing the project with. But he did a very, very good job. His online comments about 'preparing to be the world's most hated singer notwithstanding,' I think he's going to do a very credible and very impressive job of covering this material."
"Sadly, none of us really remembered all the songs all the way through exactly the same way, but it didn't really matter. As a testament, I think, to Ronnie's work ethic, having played together for so long and having had so much repetition back when we did play together, it didn't matter, and I think the momentum and inertia of how strong the music is just carried us through and we basically got through it all. Probably the largest component of that is the military Swiss clock that Vinny and Jimmy provide when they play together. I mean, I don't think there's a better rhythm section in rock out there."
On LAST IN LINE's setlist:
Schnell: "Well, it's largely gonna be material from the first three albums — 'Holy Diver', 'The Last In Line' and 'Sacred Heart' — the albums on which Viv played. I don't think we're gonna be doing any material from the albums on which Craig [Goldy, Vivian's replacement in DIO] played and the later incarnations of the band. But, fortunately, there is no shortage of material and hits on those first few records, so you can count on 'Rainbow In The Dark' and 'Holy Diver' and 'Rock And Roll Children', and so forth and so on. The list goes on and on, on and on."
On LAST IN LINE's touring plans:
Schnell: "We've been putting out some feelers and getting some kind of feedback about… Actually, [there is] a very strong international interest in seeing this back on the road. Again, this is all kind of very ironic and surprising, because quite honestly, initially, the only interest in doing this is a bunch of friends getting together to have a play and socialize a little bit and kind of catch up. But, like I said, it just seemed so organic once we started playing that the notion of doing it more than once seemed inevitable. And, of course, with that being considered, then it was an obvious conclusion that, 'Well, let's see if anybody would be interested in hearing this.' Needless to say, the ears that were listening within the rehearsal hall were on fire. There was an awful lot of, 'Hey, that sounds like that band from way back when.'"
On Vivian's involvement with LAST IN LINE:
Schnell: "I'm not terribly familiar with what Viv's following has been post-DIO. I mean, I know everything that he's done, but it seems to me that he is largely defined by what he did on those first few albums, and I'm here to tell that, believe me, every bit of fire he had back in the day is still well in place and is just chomping at the bit, waiting to break out."
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
Pour la première fois, Vivan Campbell émet des regrets sur certains de ses propos sur Dio :
Asked what it has been like for him to revisit the DIO material with his new band featuring original DIO members Vinny Appice (drums), Jimmy Bain (bass) and Claude Schnell (keyboards) along with singer Andy Freeman, Vivian said, "The thing that Andy has going for him is that he doesn't sound like Ronnie [James Dio], he doesn't have that tonality Ronnie does, and I know that there a few singers out there that do. A lot of people said, 'Why don't you get this guy? He sounds just like Ronnie. And this guy sounds exactly like Ronnie.' But that's kind of missing the point. I don't want a Ronnie clone. I don’t want that to be the focal point of the band. I want it to be a celebration of the original band and the original albums and just the original music. Andy brings his own thing to it; he puts his own spin on it. He's a great, great singer who does justice to the songs, but he doesn't try to clone Ronnie. Like I said, I want the focus to be about the original band and the original songs.
He continued, "It was a long time coming, because for me, that was a difficult point in my life, when I did those first three albums with DIO. It was well documented that Ronnie and I had a very contentious personal relationship; our relationship only worked on a musical level and not on a personal level. So it was difficult.
"We all contributed [to the songwriting in DIO]. I wrote a lot of those songs and a lot of people tend to forget that.
"I was fired from the band, and for many, many years and his ex-wife, Wendy Dio, tried to portray it that I left the band, that I turned my back on them, and that actually wasn't true. It was a bit of a mud-slinging match between Ronnie and I, and I regret a lot of the things I said about him. I'm sure if Ronnie was still alive, he would regret a lot of the things he said about me. But the fact is it was very difficult for me to even listen to those songs for decades, and enough time has passed where I'm able to go back and reflect upon that and actually take ownership of it again, and embrace it for what it was. I mean, they were great records, I'm proud of them, I'm very proud of my input to them, I'm very proud of the songs I wrote and the way I played back then. I meet people that come up to me and say, 'Man, that solo in 'Rainbow In The Dark',' and so on and so forth. It means so much to people. So I just [thought] now is a good time… It's the 30-year anniversary of 'Holy Diver' next year, and it's a good time to go back and embrace it again."
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
Pour les mauvaises nouvelles, Vivian Campbell est atteint d'un cancer...
Mais il a l'air de bien supporter le traitement.
Pour les choses plus positives, voici son interview lors de son récent passage à That Metal Show, dans lequel il réitère ses regrets vis à vis des propos qu'il a pu avoir sur Dio, et aimerait avoir eu le temps de faire la paix. Même s'il insiste avoir été mal traité ce qui a nourri sa forte rancœur durant toutes ces années.
C'est à lire tout à la fin :
Trunk: How's it going for you, because, for people who haven't followed the story all that closely, I was very sorry to hear the news that you announced earlier this week that you have been diagnosed with cancer. So how are you doing?
Vivian Campbell: I am doing very well, all things considered. I've got to say the treatment is going great. And I am looking forward to getting out and doing some shows this summer with LEPPARD and LAST IN LINE.
Trunk: Well, you know, I was telling the audience, Vivian, before you called in earlier in the show, that I remember talking to you about six, eight weeks ago, we spoke on the phone, because you've been wanting to come on "That Metal Show" for a long time. And I remember talking to you; you were doing the [Las] Vegas residency [with DEF LEPPARD] at the time. And you were like, "I can't do it this time, I'll explain soon. There's something going on." I assume this is what was going on, right?
Vivian Campbell: Indeed. I think it's a legitimate excuse.
Trunk: Yeah, absolutely I'd say so.
Vivian Campbell: But yeah, I'm looking forward to getting on "That Metal Show" sometime in the future, if you still want me.
Trunk: Yeah, of course we do. But tell me how this happened in terms of when you found out about it, what exactly is going on and what your symptoms were.
Vivian Campbell: I have Hodgkin's lymphoma; it's a kind of blood cancer. And what alerted me to the fact that something was amiss was, pretty much exactly a year ago, we were in rehearsals for the DEF LEPPARD summer tour and I developed this cough and it just wouldn't go away. Some days it was more pleasant than others, but for the most part, I was coughing 24/7, and I just went to a few doctors and they couldn't diagnose what was going on until they actually had a look at my chest and realized that I had enlarged lymph nodes. So I got my diagnosis, actually, just before we started, when we were in rehearsal for the Vegas shows this past March and April. And as soon as those shows were finished, I started my chemotherapy treatment, so I'm just over two months into the chemo and is going remarkably well. I've got to say I feel so much better, actually, since the first chemo treatment. I stopped coughing and I definitely feel like I have a lot more energy as a result of that. So obviously, there's a lot of side effects from doing chemo, as I'm sure a lot of your listeners know. Which is one thing that's actually really resonated with me as a result of going public with this is how many other people suffer from cancer of different shapes and forms, you know. It's unfortunately a very prevalent disease.
Trunk: Yeah.
Vivian Campbell: Anyway but I've been very, very touched by all the love and support I've had via my Facebook page and via the DEF LEPPARD Facebook page and the LAST IN LINE page. So it's good to know you're not alone.
Trunk: Yeah, I thought it was good that you did go public with it, because I think that others that are going through it could kind of maybe find, you guys could find some mutual strength and very much a community. I mean, you're right it's way too common. I mean, both of my parents are cancer survivors and it's, you know, I mean, there's hardly anybody that anybody knows that hasn't dealt with it directly or an immediate relative. So I think that I would assume that it's good to kind of reach out to the community and talk to other people that are fighting the same things you are and different experiences they're having with whatever the treatment would be.
Vivian Campbell: Well, certainly. You can gather a lot of strength from that, you know. For me, I did kind of want to not go public with it at first, because it is a weird kind of thing. You've got to kind of learn to deal with it on your own terms before you can address the rest of the world about it. So, you know, I feel very comfortable going public about it. For the first couple months, I even tried to keep it from my children, because they were still in school and doing exams and stuff and I didn't want to add to their concerns. But after a while, it's inevitable that you, you know, something's going on and you have to kind of come out with it and kind of explain what the situation is. But I'm very comfortable with it. I'm very comfortable with the treatment. I'm very comfortable with how my body is reacting to it. Obviously, it's done a number on my hair, so I'm a bit more Joe Satriani these days. I'm hoping that means I'm going to play even more notes like Joe.
Trunk: Well, that's the least of your worries. That could always come back, you know.
Vivian Campbell: Yes, indeed. So, you know, but it's all good you know. I have no issues with [any of it]; I'm perfectly at peace with it all.
Trunk: Struggling with a cough, which you said was your major symptom, I mean, that had to wreak havoc on you in DEF LEPPARD because, as everybody knows, with the harmonies in that band, and you're a big part of that singing, it must have interfered at times with the live show, right?
Vivian Campbell: It did, actually. It was difficult, because, you're right, we're singing, we're on the mic every song, so I actually had to keep turning and looking at [drummer] Rick Allen, and people, I think, were thinking maybe I was just rocking out with Rick, but I was actually coughing up a lung the whole time. It was very uncomfortable and it just got worse and worse towards the end of the tour last summer. And it was kind of pretty bad when I was in Vegas too. I mean, I had some things that were more tolerable than others. But a lot of people noticed it too. I know I wasn't fooling anyone with it. I'm glad that that part is gone at least. I can breathe a lot easier now, and now I'm essentially dealing with the chemo and not with the cancer. I'm pretty sure I've knocked the shit out of the cancer at this stage. It's just dealing with the side effects of chemo, you know.
Trunk: Viv, did this, and of course, we'll talk about a few other things as well, but was there any history of this in your family at all?
Vivian Campbell: No, this is an idiopathic disease. There's no rhyme nor reason for getting it. It strikes anyone. It doesn't have anything to do with your lifestyle or your diet or your ethnicity or your genetic makeup or anything. In fact normally it strikes people younger — usually in their 20s and their 30s. So there's no reason for it at all; it just kind of was a random thing.
Trunk: Yeah, I think that's what I learned about cancers, because there's some that are obviously hereditary. Like my dad is a colon cancer survivor, so as a result I get screened every three years, just because that is something that's very hereditary. My mom survived a very rare form of leukemia, and when that happened, the doctors were, like, "No, it's completely random, so you don't have to worry about it; there's no screening for that." So you learn a lot about this, whether directly through you coming forward or just having experiences with it, that I imagine help you. What was your… When you got this news, were you floored? How did you handle it?
Vivian Campbell: No, I wasn't floored. I knew something was wrong, and I was just glad to find out what it was, to be honest, you know. I was glad that there was finally an explanation. Obviously, when your doctor says you're going to finish six months of chemo, you immediately think that's probably not going to be fun. But now I've taken it in my stride. It's a bump in the road. It is what it is. It could be a lot worse, you know, and there's a lot worse cancers out there and I was very, very lucky to find it very early so it's just a question of riding out the treatment. It's actually been good for me in a lot of ways. It's been a very humbling experience, and it kind a helps you recalibrate and put the focus on what's important in life.
Trunk: What exactly is the treatment? I mean, are you taking injections or do you have to go to the hospital on a regular basis? What are you doing exactly?
Vivian Campbell: Yeah, yeah. I go to my doctor's office approximately every two weeks and they hook me up and drip chemo into me for about two or three hours.
Trunk: And is it — have you had real — besides the hair loss, have you had really — what are the major side effects? You being sick to your stomach and things like that?
Vivian Campbell: Yeah. It's uncomfortable. It hasn't been debilitating for me, you know, which is why I'm able to go on tour with LEPPARD and with LAST IN LINE this summer, because it's not anything that brings me to my knees, where I am puking 24/7 or anything like that. I do have moments of discomfort and nausea, bone pain and tiredness and stuff, but it's nothing that's affected, or at least I haven't let it affect my daily life. You know, I'm sitting here having a beer, to be honest. And I've had a full day. I've been up since seven this morning and being out and doing this and that and the other. So it's — I really haven't let it impinge on my lifestyle too much. But maybe that's just me; I'm just an ignorant cunt when it comes to that shit.
Trunk: I was going to say, is that almost more of a mental outlook? I mean, I know that this stuff can be a really brutal to deal with in terms of the treatments, but it sounds to me almost like your mental disposition, going into it, is, like, "Well I'm going to take this down, I'm going to not miss a beat playing with the band and I'm even going to have a beer on the weekend." It sounds like that's probably pretty healthy in terms of your mental approach.
Vivian Campbell: I do think so, yeah. It definitely starts in the mind, and I'm not of the mindset that I'm about to be sick, and I certainly have no intention of dying anytime soon.
Trunk: And they're telling you that the prognosis to cure this I think I read in your online statement was about 80 percent, right?
Vivian Campbell: Well, yeah. I mean if you're going to have a cancer, it's the one to get. It's over 80 percent cure rate, especially when you catch it early, like I did. It didn't get to the bone marrow or anything like that, you know. So I'm really not at all concerned about it, you know. It's just a question of dealing with the side effects of chemo, as far as I'm concerned.
Trunk: So tell me about the touring plans then, because I don't know if DEF LEPPARD has anything scheduled for America, but what is your next move as far as playing?
Vivian Campbell: I'm leaving for France on Wednesday morning. We have a brief European run of shows, starting at Hellfest in France next Friday, a week from today. So that's the first show, and then we have four shows in Spain, arena shows that were going with WHITESNAKE in Europe. And then we have three shows in Scandinavia. That's one in Norway and two in Sweden. And then I've got to fly back to L.A. to do a chemo treatment for a day and a half. And then I fly up to Canada to rejoin the band. Two shows in Canada, and we have to on the East Coast of America and that's it for LEPPARD for this summer.
Trunk: Wow. So you really feel good enough and confident enough that you're going to be able to handle all that travel and doing that stuff?
Vivian Campbell: I am 100 percent confident I can do it. Yes.
Trunk: Wow. That's remarkable, man. Good for you. And then I know that we had Rick Allen, he's coming up on "That Metal Show". We had him in there this season and he was telling me that he and the band had an absolute blast with that Vegas residency and kind of let us to believe that there might be more of that coming somewhere down the line, I guess.
Vivian Campbell: Well, it was a lot of fun. I'd say the most fun part of it was being DEAD FLAT BIRD, being own opening act, because we could get out there and just — there were no rules as regards to what DEAD FLAT BIRD played, so we were playing some really early LEPPARD stuff.
Trunk: All the stuff that I probably pestered everybody to hear.
Vivian Campbell: Exactly, yeah. I mean, that was great. It's very refreshing for us to play something other than "Pour Some Sugar On Me", you know. You can understand yourself. I mean, we're sort of between a rock and a hard place. We have to play the hit songs, and we're very fortunate that the band has those hit songs to play, but, you know, it's a lot more fun for us to get out there and do something obscure. So we got to do that, which was a lot of fun. And, actually, to break the show up into two parts was very theatrical too, so that adds a lot to the excitement level for us.
Trunk: When I saw online some of the songs you guys were doing, 'cause if people didn't understand what happened. DEF LEPPARD came out as their own opening act when they did their residency in Vegas and you played all these deep tracks, early tracks, obscure tracks. And when I saw that stuff coming through online, I mean, I was so pissed that I didn't get there to see it, because I was dying seeing that setlist. But the way Rick made it sound, it probably will happen again at some point, so that would be good to see.
Vivian Campbell: I would hope so, yeah.
Trunk: Have you guys talked about or work on any new music yet?
Vivian Campbell: We've done a lot talking about it, that's for sure. And we even done a little work on it. Yeah, we started a song when we were in Vegas. It's just difficult to get us altogether. As you know yourself, we're kind of scattered geographically in terms of where we all live, and it's difficult to get us all on the same page at the same time. And when we do get together or work, it's always for another purpose other than specifically to do a record. I mean, we haven't scheduled time to do that for many years. And at this stage, we are long, long, long overdue having some new music. It's kind of embarrassing, actually, but we've started something at least.
Trunk: Well, you're an Irishman living in Los Angeles and Joe's [Elliott, vocals] an Englishman living in Ireland. So I would think that you would be, if anything, pushing to either do the record in L.A. or in Ireland so you could go home for a little bit.
Vivian Campbell: Well, I certainly rather do it in Ireland. I'm not in L.A. by choice. I mean, I'm here because my children live here. And as soon as they go to college, I'm getting out of [Los Angeles]. I'm not saying I'm going to go back to Ireland specifically but yeah, L.A. is a strange spot, as you know. Home is where you make it and, you know, that's where my kids are. But yeah, we have, in the past when DEF LEPPARD did actually make albums, it is geographically beneficial for us to record it in Ireland, for one reason or another.
Trunk: Yeah, and I saw a documentary on THIN LIZZY and they went into Joe's house with Scott [Gorham, THIN LIZZY guitarist] when they were remixing some of that stuff and I saw in the video Joe looks like he has a nice setup there.
Vivian Campbell: He certainly does, yeah.
Trunk: It wouldn't be a bad place, it doesn't look like, that's for sure. Let me ask you one more thing on another topic here, Viv, before I let you go. You mentioned LAST IN LINE, which, for those that don't know, you're going to go out with Jimmy Bain [bass] and Vinny Appice [drums] and a singer and do material from the first two DIO records, which, of course, you were a huge part of. Where does that stand? What's the progress report there?
Vivian Campbell: Well, we actually had intended to do a three-week European tour incorporating a lot of festivals, but because of my chemo treatment schedule, we've had to curtail that seriously. So as it happens, I mean, we're fitting shows between my treatments so we can only manage to do four shows. They're going to be in the U.K. actually. Well, the first one is in Northern Ireland, in my hometown of Belfast, on August 8. So basically we have three shows, three club shows and one festival date in the second week of August.
Trunk: Have you guys rehearsed?
Vivian Campbell: A little bit, not a lot.
Trunk: I was just wondering for you, how did it feel to revisit music that is 30 years old and such a huge part of how people discovered you as a player? But for a long time you kind of moved away from that and embracing it again and did you have to relearn and re-listen to it to remember what you actually did?
Vivian Campbell: I actually did, yeah. I didn't listen to those records for decades, for one reason or another. So yeah, I literally had to go in and relearn it. I specifically want to play my guitar solos as they were on the record, or as close to as possible, because that's the way that people have been listening to it for 30 years. So it's going to be in people's DNA, and that's what people are going to want to hear. So it has been a bit challenging for me to go back and relearn my original guitar solos, because even when I was with DIO, I don't think I ever played them exactly the same live. I was always a bit haphazard with regard to how I approach recording guitar solos. So they're a bit sporadic, they're a bit challenging to relearn. But it's been good for me. It's been a really good exercise and I'm getting back into playing my guitar again, which I would blame on THIN LIZZY. The stint I did with LIZZY in 2011 really kind of reignited my passion for shredding again. So that's kind of what led to me calling Jimmy Bain and Vinny Appice and Claude Schnell to see if they wanted to get together and play. So it's been fantastic. I mean the first time we actually got in there and play together it sounded really, really, really tight like it was 90-something percent there. We could have done a gig that night, you know. It just kind of comes back to you.
Trunk: And the all important question is tell everybody about the singer because he's got some big shoes to fill.
Vivian Campbell: Yeah. We have this great singer name of Andrew Freeman. When I called Vinny and Jimmy and Claude to get together and play, I mean, it was literally just to do that. Like, "Hey do you want to get together and jam?" And we booked a rehearsal room on an afternoon somewhere in the valley here in L.A. and went out and played. And while we were there, Vinny actually said, "Hey, I know this great singer. He lives nearby. His name's Andrew Freeman. He sang in LYNCH MOB when I played with George Lynch." And I said, "Well, give him a call see what he's doing." So Andy actually came down that very afternoon, that first afternoon we were playing, and he just walked in and he set up his little iPad, he had his lyrics on it and he just started singing. And it gave me goose bumps. He doesn't sound like Ronnie, he doesn't have that tonality and very few people do. And in a way, I'm grateful that he doesn't, because I think it would've been weird to try to have a Ronnie clone. But he certainly has the same power in his voice and he has the same passion and he certainly has a similar range, so he can hit the notes and he brings his own twist to it. So hearing Andy sing, and just playing with those guys again, it kind of — we sat down afterwards and we all said well let's take this a stage further. Let's go out and do a gig or something. So one thing kind of led to another and we're talking about doing a tour. Then we decided to call it LAST IN LINE and here we are. We're actually going ahead and doing it.
Trunk: Viv, you know, it's no secret, and of course, it spilled out many times publicly that you and Ronnie had differences when Ronnie was still alive. And I wonder, what has been the reaction from the fan base? Have you gotten a sense of, you know, I'm sure there's a degree of people that agree that those albums you were a part of are the definitive albums — I do, for one — but, obviously, look at it a little bit cross-eyed, saying, "Well, this guy kind of distanced himself and had this kind of sparring with Dio and now Ronnie's gone, and now he's going to go out and embrace it. I mean, how do you answer that and what is your feelings about that?
Vivian Campbell: Well, as far as I can gauge, I mean, opinion is kind of impassioned one-way or the other, which is good. I mean, I'd rather people cared than didn't care. I mean, people either seem to be very passionately in favor of it or very passionately against it, you know. There's very few in between. For those you actually embrace the music for what it was, I mean, those songs were not only recorded and played by Vinny and Jimmy and myself, but they were also written by us. You know, I think a lot of people forget that that we were very, very much a creative part of those records. And I think people have to approach it with an open mind. I do regret a lot of the things I said about Ronnie, and I'm sure if Ronnie were alive today, he would sit down with me and have a beer and shake my hand and that he would probably apologize for wishing me dead. It was an unfortunate situation. I wanted to distance myself from that music and from that organization, because I was very unceremoniously fired from that band. And then, in the years afterwards, it was portrayed by Ronnie and Wendy Dio that I had turned my back on the band, that I had left the band, which couldn't be further from the truth. I was fired in the middle of a tour for only asking that Ronnie and Wendy fulfill a promise. Actually, Ronnie fulfill a promise; Wendy knew nothing about it.
Trunk: Can you reveal what that promise was?
Vivian Campbell: Well, when we first met on the very first night that the DIO band formed, it was in a rehearsal studio in north London in October 1982. And it was Ronnie and myself and Jimmy and Vinny, and we hung out and we played. And that was the birth of the band. And Ronnie kind of explained to us that he didn't want to be a solo artist, he wanted to have a band, but he was going to call it DIO for a number of reasons. Number one, for name recognition because he was a celebrity, he was a star. Obviously, number two, he had an existing record deal at the time and he kind of explained to us that he wanted us all to contribute creatively, which we did. And he explained to us that by the third album, that through our blood sweat and tears, that it would be an equitable situation. And I just held him to that promise come the third album. Apparently, the promise was forgotten, so the result of that was I was fired. And that really did hurt me a lot, because I did give blood sweat and tears for that band. I wrote those songs with Ronnie, I gave it some of my best years and I worked for nothing, practically. I worked for less than our road crew. Anyone who was in that band at that time will tell you that our road crew got paid more than the band did, because we believe that we were working toward something that had been promised to us. So it was an unfortunate situation, and it really, really hurt me. So for many, many years I wanted nothing to do with the music. I wanted nothing to do with Ronnie or Wendy Dio. And as a result of that, I did lash out and I did say some things that perhaps were a little bit harsh.
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
Des extraits en concert très récents du groupe, LAST IN LINE. Fantastique performance du groupe, et le chanteur est très bon (mais bon, aucune comparaison possible avec RJD...).
Pour rappel; le groupe est composé des membres originaux de DIO (Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain et Claude Schnell), plus le chanteur Andrew Freeman (qui a chanté dans HURRICANE et LYNCH MOB).
et la set list du festival de Bloodstock le 10/08/2013 :
01. Stand Up And Shout
02. Straight Through The Heart
03. King Of Rock And Roll
04. Don't Talk To Strangers
05. Sacred Heart
06. Evil Eyes
07. Holy Diver
08. Caught In The Middle
09. Egypt (The Chains Are On)
10. I Speed At Night
11. The Last In Line
12. Invisible
13. Shame On The Night
14. Rainbow In The Dark
Encore:
15. Gypsy
16. We Rock
Ca doit être assez cool à voir en live, quand on a pas eu la chance de voir DIO à l'époque
Globox666 a écrit :J'ai l'impression au niveau des cris que c'est la bande son d'un film porno gay avec un mec derrière avec un gros chibre et un autre devant avec un tout petit trou de balle...
Franchement l'interprétation est excellente, et le solo de Campbell sur Don' t talk to strangers vaut à lui seul cette vidéo. J'adorerais les voir, on est loin du tribute band à 2 balles.
D'ailleurs, avec Def Lep au Festival d'été en juillet, c'était un peu sinistre la forte commémoration de Steve Clark alors que Cambpell portait les traces de sa chimio et n'était pas particulièrement mis en évidence.
D'ailleurs, c'est fou à quel point la chimio l'a transformé en sosie de Colm Feore.
Le G@SP a écrit :j'ai pas tout compris non plus mais l'important c'est que ce soit dans les fesses!
L'interprétation est chouette, surtout Campbell qui s'est amélioré par rapport à son époque dans Dio où il n'était pas toujours au top en live. Son court passage dans Thin Lizzy l'avait déjà démontré.
Par contre je ne suis pas convaincu par le chanteur, pas mauvais en soi avec une bonne voix au demeurant mais pas assez de conviction et puissance à mon goût. Bon après c'est toujours mieux que Ripper...
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
La guérison du cancer de Vivan Campbell est en bonne voie :
51-year-old DEF LEPPARD and LAST IN LINE guitarist Vivian Campbell, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma earlier in the year, has posted the following message on his Facebook page:
"For anyone who gives a toss, after doing another PET scan and all the other follow-up tests, then getting a second opinion, etc., I'm officially in remission from Hodgies. That's the good news. The bad news is: I no longer have an excuse to not go to the gym."
Campbell, who joined LEPPARD in 1992 after stints in DIO and WHITESNAKE, had been receiving chemotherapy since April.
"I feel fortunate that my cancer sent me an alarm call in the form of 'the cough that wouldn't quit,'" Campbell said earlier in the year.
Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system characterized by the painless enlargement of lymph nodes, spleen, or immune tissue.
"I did kind of want to not go public with it at first, because it is a weird kind of thing," Campbell said in a June radio interview. "You've got to kind of learn to deal with it on your own terms before you can address the rest of the world about it. So, you know, I feel very comfortable going public about it. For the first couple months, I even tried to keep it from my children, because they were still in school and doing exams and stuff and I didn't want to add to their concerns. But after a while, it's inevitable that you, you know, something's going on and you have to kind of come out with it and kind of explain what the situation is. But I'm very comfortable with it. I'm very comfortable with the treatment. I'm very comfortable with how my body is reacting to it."
Happy new year to all. We're excited about playing more shows in 2014, but even more so, we're looking forward to writing and recording some new music, too. What, you didn't know that?
Best,
Viv.
R.I.P Ronnie James Dio !
"La culture, c'est comme l'amour. Il faut y aller à petits coups au début pour bien en jouir plus tard."
Pierre Desproges
LAST IN LINE, the band featuring DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell alongside fellow founding DIO members Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell, plus singer Andrew Freeman, who has previously fronted HURRICANE and LYNCH MOB, will enter the studio in April to begin recordings its first original material.
R.I.P Ronnie James Dio !
"La culture, c'est comme l'amour. Il faut y aller à petits coups au début pour bien en jouir plus tard."
Pierre Desproges
Oui...je pensais pas que les groupes faisaient encore cela, ça doit faire plus d'un an que je suis pas tomber sur un groupe demandant un "like" pour écouter un petit titre.
R.I.P Ronnie James Dio !
"La culture, c'est comme l'amour. Il faut y aller à petits coups au début pour bien en jouir plus tard."
Pierre Desproges
LAST IN LINE est signé chez Frontiers, album prévu pour le 1er trimestre 2015.
"We are 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 flavour 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 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. Begining 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."
Unfortunately, guitarist Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard has announced some bad news in the last few days. The guitar player will be in treatment again for cancer after announcing last year that the disease was in remission. He was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma back in 2013. Hopefully, he will stay strong and win this fight.
Vivian Campbell posted this message on his official Facebook page: "I'm saddened by the fact that my cancer has returned. However, I'm beyond consolation that it's return will prevent me from being able to do my job for a while. I'm still working on a schedule of treatment with my doctors, but I will see you all very soon. My apologies."
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
L'album de Last in Line est maintenant annoncé pour février 2016 :
LAST IN LINE — the band featuring DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell alongside fellow founding DIO members Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell, plus singer Andrew Freeman, who has previously fronted HURRICANE and LYNCH MOB — has set "Heavy Crown" as the title of its debut album, due on February 19, 2016 via Frontiers Music Srl. The CD was recorded at a Southern California studio with producer Jeff Pilson, a veteran bassist who has played with DIO, FOREIGNER, DOKKEN and T&N, among others.
LAST IN LINE recently filmed music videos for the songs "The Devil In Me" and "Starmaker" with director Thomas McNeely. The first clip is expected to make its online debut later this month.
R.I.P Ronnie James Dio !
"La culture, c'est comme l'amour. Il faut y aller à petits coups au début pour bien en jouir plus tard."
Pierre Desproges
Tracklisting : 1. Devil In Me - 2. Martyr - 3. Starmaker - 4. Burn This House Down - 5. I Am Revolution - 6. Blame It On Me - 7. In Flames (bonus, edition deluxe) - 8. Already Dead - 9. Curse The Day - 10. Orange Glow - 11. Heavy Crown - 12. The Sickness
R.I.P Ronnie James Dio !
"La culture, c'est comme l'amour. Il faut y aller à petits coups au début pour bien en jouir plus tard."
Pierre Desproges
Je m'attendais à bien mieux que ça pour leur premier clip, sans être totalement mauvais c'est très commun, et hormis le solo de Campbell on ne retrouve quasiment rien du style Dio (le groupe). Sans parler du chant un peu plat, la comparaison avec qui vous savez est rude.
I'm the lost one chasing colors to the sun
Colors bleed but never fade
D'ailleurs, c'est fou à quel point la chimio l'a transformé en sosie de Colm Feore. 
