ANDREW FREEMAN On Getting Fired From LAST IN LINE: 'I Think It's Completely Asinine, The Decision They've Made What To Do'

During a May 27 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" show, singer Andrew Freeman once again addressed LAST IN LINE drummer Vinny Appice's recent revelation that the band was looking for a new vocalist. Asked if Vinny's March 25 interview with "Trunk Nation" host Eddie Trunk was when he first found out he was no longer a member of LAST IN LINE, which was originally formed by original DIO members Appice, Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Jimmy Bain (bass),Andrew said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, it's not the first [time I heard about it]. I knew it, but they had never done me the courtesy of making an official announcement. I got a letter back in September of last year, and I think that they thought there was gonna be a bigger reaction from me, and I didn't have one. They e-mailed me — they had the manager e-mail me a letter. So I got a letter basically saying that they were moving on without me, with the name… I did find out about it, but there was just complete silence up until [Vinny spoke about it on] your show."

After Trunk noted that there has been no public statement from LAST IN LINE about Freeman's exit from the band, Andrew said: "[There has been] no public statement 'cause it's just not that simple to get rid of me. ['Cause] I'm an owner [of the LAST IN LINE business]. And I'm one of the original [members]. I mean, obviously, it's a collective of the original DIO band, but it's the music business, it's a business, and we had to form a business in order to do it, and the original partners are me, Vinny and Vivian. And they decided to do that [make me a partner]. They could've kept me as a hired hand [when we first formed LAST IN LINE], but they didn't. So with the original band, when we first put it together, it was the three of us and then Jimmy Bain and [former DIO keyboardist] Claude Schnell… So when we started, it was the original guys from the original band and then me singing, and we did a few shows, and we got offered a record deal, and then it turned into a business, and then they end up firing Claude and brought in this guy, Erik Norlander, who was a hired guy."

Addressing the fact that LAST IN LINE was performing DIO material, alongside LAST IN LINE's original songs, up until the end of his time with LAST IN LINE, Andrew said: "At the end, we were doing a half-and-half set. It was maybe a little more DIO than our stuff, but we'd do about 12 or 15 songs per show, so it was about six [DIO songs] and six [LAST IN LINE songs], or seven and five or whatever. So it wasn't like we could sustain an entire show, I believe, doing just our material… I mean, we could if we were opening for somebody maybe, but to go out and do a headline run, I think a lot of people would scoff if we came out and we didn't do 'Holy Diver'. They wanna see that stuff."

After Trunk said that there is a "perception out there" that Andrew did not want do play the DIO material with LAST IN LINE, Freeman clarified: "The person who really didn't wanna do the DIO stuff was Vivian. Now, we started doing it, and we started writing these songs. For example, we played the Download festival in England, and we played the same day DEF LEPPARD did, so he had double duty. He was headlining the show, and we were the first band on the bill. So we do the first show, and right before we go on, we're getting everything together, and he's, like, 'Let's just do all of our stuff.' Like, 'You sure you wanna do that? We at least gotta do one. That's pretty brave.' He says, 'Yep. We're an original band. Let's go out and let's do an original set.' So the compromise was we did a full original set, and then our last song was, I think, 'Rainbow In The Dark'. So we closed with 'Rainbow In The Dark'. But I was always the guy that was, like, 'Hey, I don't think that's a good idea,' because coming from the cover band world years ago and having original bands where you do two covers and you put an original in, just to slip it in between the stuff as you're trying to grow, I thought that that was the best idea, was to always have the DIO material. 'Cause Vinny really likes doing the DIO stuff, and I think Vinny likes doing the DIO stuff more than he likes doing the LAST IN LINE stuff."

Asked if that was the first time he sensed "maybe a difference in direction", Andrew said: "Everything that I did with those guys was following their lead, basically, because it's their heritage, it's their whatever, their history, and I just wanted to be comfortable sitting in with that. I wanted to take it to the goalpost with them, because I'm a fan, and this is something that Vinny and I had spoken about back when we were doing LYNCH MOB back in like 2005, about, 'Hey, what's going on with Vivian?' Blah, blah. 'Cause I've known Vinny for a long time, and he's the one who brought me in. And he's, like, 'Well, Vivian doesn't wanna do it.' And I said, 'Okay.' And then later on [Vivian] contacted all of them and said, 'Hey, I'd really like to get together with you guys.' It was after [Vivian] did the THIN LIZZY run and wanted to play rock, he says 'rock guitar' again. No slight on [DEF LEPPARD], but he wanted to play rock guitar again, he said. So they got together. He called Jimmy, he called Vinny up, and I guess they called Claude as well, and they got together and jammed. And Vinny said, 'I know the singer. I already got the singer.' So he e-mailed me and said, 'Hey, do you wanna come over and jump in this jam we're doing?' I'm, like, 'Well, I got a session that day, but I'll come over for a little bit.' So I literally went over for a half an hour. We did three songs, and I had to split because I had a session... So I had to leave and do that. But I don't really have any issue doing any of that stuff. What I don't like about it is if we're gonna market ourselves as an original band, then we gotta get out there as an original band. With all the connections these guys have, why are we not opening up an ALICE IN CHAINS run?... We did a couple of runs where we were out with… Who did we play with? We did a UFO tour. We did a SAXON tour — I think a couple of SAXON tours. And we did some MEGADETH dates over in Europe. So with the pedigree of that band and the respect that they get from the metal community, I never understood why we weren't doing more stuff besides playing Joe's Clam Shack in Tupelo. Like, what are we doing? And I think that that, and the lack of enthusiasm that some parties in the band had towards it, because they have other jobs, it was really frustrating, and I think that just came off to them as I wasn't interested or whatever."

Elaborating on the differences in the various members' vision for LAST IN LINE, Andrew said: "When you join a band and one of the guys goes to you, 'You need to dye your hair black.' 'Why?' 'Well, so you look more like Ronnie [James Dio].' 'I don't wanna look like Ronnie. So if you want me to do that, go get somebody else.' I'll go out and sing this material and I'll get it as close as I can with the voice that I have. And I understand I don't sound just like this guy. There's plenty of guys out there that do this just like Ronnie does it or as good as or close to. I'm not one of them.

"Now, I understand that it's a battle," Freeman continued. "'Cause you're trying to win hearts and minds in a crowd. Because you're basically representing their childhood and representing something that's extremely important to them, so you gotta be as close as possible. But you also can't be a mimic, and you can't be a clown while you're doing it. I'm not gonna put a wig on. I'm not gonna dye my hair to look a certain way. I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna be me, but I'm gonna sing the shit out of the stuff.

"This is not a tribute band, and when people would come at us and say, or in the press, like, 'Oh, you're in the DIO tribute.' I'm not in a fucking DIO tribute," Andrew insisted. "This is an original band of the guys who used to be in DIO. We do some of that stuff, but we're not up there glorifying Ronnie. I mean, depending on who you ask in [LAST IN LINE], they don't even like Ronnie, they didn't even like the guy… [It was] not just [Ronnie] and Vivian [that had issues]. There's a couple of guys that were in the band that had [issues with Ronnie], but they didn't talk about it as much.

"I think a lot of times the confusion is there's Ronnie James Dio the man, and then there's DIO the band. So to decipher those two things, you have a bunch of guys going out and playing Ronnie's songs, which are also Jimmy and Vinny and Vivian's songs, 'cause they were a collective, they were a band, it's confusing. So what do you do?"

Andrew went on to say that he is "amazed" that LAST IN LINE has lasted for almost a decade and a half, considering Vivian's hectic touring schedule with DEF LEPPARD.

"Every time that we did something, it was always a decision, are we going forward?" Andrew explained. "When Jimmy passed, I thought we were done. And then we got somebody else to come in, and then we went out and filled some commitments that we had, and then we decided to do another record. 'Okay, we'll do another record.' Well, we did that record, did a tour with that, toured that record for a few years, and then, 'Hey, do you wanna do another [album]?' We changed labels, and we did 'Jericho'. So we did 'Jericho', and we thought this was gonna be where we would take off. But honestly, since the pandemic, we haven't done really anything besides put that record out. I mean, we've done a handful of shows. So you're talking six years now of really doing nothing. So, what else are we gonna do?"

Circling back to the way he was fired from LAST IN LINE, Andrew said: "For me, personally, I think it's completely asinine, the decision they've made what to do. Straight up, it's asinine, because we have business together. [It's asinine] to get rid of me — to get rid of anybody at this point, because basically you are trying to win your audience over, and you've won your audience over to a degree. because we tour and people show up. And people get the records, and they know the songs, blah, blah, blah, all of that. So it's an international touring act. You've established yourself over 14 years with a guy who's replaced [Ronnie James Dio], one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic singer in the history of rock music. And he's been accepted by the majority of the people that come to see you. Because I'll tell you, I don't get booed off. I don't get death threats. I don't get any of that stuff. People, they like the band. There's some people who don't, and you'll hear them and see them online or whatever. So you get rid of that guy, and then after you've done three records already, and 14 years in, now you're gonna establish a guy to maybe go on the road and maybe to do some touring? Because I'm telling you, ever since we released 'Jericho', ever since the pandemic and touring started again, [in] 2023 [they said], 'Yeah, it looks like we're gonna go big in '24.' And then '24 would come, and LEPPARD would tour, tour, tour, tour. And we were, like, 'You know what? We're gonna look in '25, and in '26, and in '27.'"

Asked if he thinks he could ever go back to LAST IN LINE or if that door is now permanently closed for him, Andrew said: "To me, it doesn't really matter if it happens, if I go back to the band. Would I go back to the band? I mean, never say never. If they wanna do another record, we've got, like, four songs already done. So why not? I mean, let's just finish it out. But for me, it's more of a pain in the ass than anything else because this band that I've committed to over the years has blocked me from… I had a really great gig with GREAT WHITE, and I got replaced in that because they didn't wanna deal with LAST IN LINE's schedule, and we had, like, four shows. So I couldn't cancel those shows, 'cause those guys would [get] upset. And when I got that [GREAT WHITE] gig, two of the guys in [LAST IN LINE] were pissed, were pissed that I got that gig, and didn't want me to do anything because we had the 'Jericho' record and we had to promote it, but, again, we only did, like, five or six shows. So at times, when I've had other gigs come to me that were bigger-name gigs, I wouldn't get them because… One time, one of the guys called the agent up and said, 'Why are you trying to poach our singer?' So when you call somebody like that, it's, like, what do you do? So it affects my career. It affects my income. So I don't want it to affect my income and my career anymore. I would love to get out there and tour with a big-name nostalgia band… But I don't even have to do that, because the money I make with the tributes is exactly the same as what I make with LAST IN LINE."

Freeman added that he was never earning enough money from LAST IN LINE to be able to survive without taking on other gigs.

"I can support myself doing this [playing music], which says a lot," he said. "My kid's in private school. I have a mortgage and a car payment and all that stuff. Not money to burn, but I can support myself. I mean, you see me around town. I have beautiful hair. [Laughs] I buy drinks. I buy rounds for people… I'm not like a lot of these guys are, where they don't have a pot to piss in. I actually have planned my future. But I do this for a living, and if I'm not making enough money to sustain my life, then I take that seriously anymore. But this [LAST IN LINE], I took very seriously because there was always that dangling carrot saying, 'Hey, next year's the year. We're gonna go out. We're doing a full run. We're going out with this band. We're going out with that band. We got a full summer of touring.' Eddie, we haven't had a full summer of touring in our entire 14-year existence."

After Trunk said that Freeman probably took LAST IN LINE more seriously because the band was playing a lot of original music that Andrew had a hand in creating, Freeman said: "I guess that's where the loyalty comes, because this is my band. This is my band. I've written 50% of every song, and that's being kind. 50% of every song that we've done. There's maybe one or two songs that one of the guys came up with a lyric here, one of the guys came up with a couple of lyrics here. But I sit in my room in my studio, and I just work, work, work, work, work. And that's the frustrating part, because I put a lot of work into these records, a lot more work than those guys have.

"Quick story. We were doing the 'II' album, and Vivian was on the road somewhere with LEPPARD, summer tour. And there was a break in the '[Raiding The] Rock Vault' show, so I had him the entire month of August to work on the album. So I'm in the studio working on the album every day, every day, every day. And you get into that mode — you're not showering. You're in this crazy woodshed mode. So every morning I get up, I go to Starbucks to get coffee up the street, and I'm in the Starbucks line and I'm listening to the radio, and I hear how much the DEF LEPPARD tour had grossed, and it was some ridiculous amount of money. And good for them — like in the millions, like tens of millions of dollars. And I was, like, 'Wow, I'm sitting here doing this guy's record for free — for free — and not getting paid a dime, while he's out making millions of dollars.' And then when the record comes out, it's all about the genius of Vinny and Vivian. And that's cool, totally fine, because I know exactly what my position in a a band like this is. I'm to facilitate, but I'm doing a lot more than facilitating on these records. I'm top-lining, if you will."

Vinny first brought up the fact that LAST IN LINE was looking for a new vocalist during the aforementioned March 2026 appearance on "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". He stated at the time about LAST IN LINE's current status: "We parted ways with Andy Freeman, the singer, and we're looking for singers, actually, right now. So we have a deal in place. And Viv's busy — he was busy with LEPPARD and he's doing a lot of rally racing, so we're trying to schedule finishing our next record and then playing some dates. 'Cause we have a lot of fun playing. It's great to play with Viv again. It's awesome. So that's what we're doing right now."

After Trunk brought up the fact that Freeman is busy playing with "a couple of tribute bands", Vinny said: "He's playing a Dio show [with a band called] DIO RULES. He didn't really wanna play that stuff with us, which is — go figure — and now he's doing all Dio stuff. Crazy."

Asked what happened between Freeman and the rest of LAST IN LINE to cause the singer's departure, Vinny said: "Yeah, [there was] a lot of tension between us, and the last show, one of the last shows [we played], [at] the M3 [festival in Maryland in 2024], there were things he commented to the audience, and people were scratching their heads, going, 'What's up with that?' He's his own thing. So finally we just said, 'It'd be a lot smoother to find another singer.' So that's what we're doing."

As for whether LAST IN LINE already has "any prospects" in mind as a potential replacement for Freeman, Appice said: "No, we don't have any prospects. If you know anybody, you could text me, that might fit the bill. We're gonna have to set something up. Maybe we can get some videos and stuff. Kind of like SKID ROW did — they set something up, and people are sending in videos, singing and all that. We have a couple of guys, but we're waiting to see if that's gonna work out. But we'll see."

LAST IN LINE's debut album, "Heavy Crown", was released in February 2016 via Frontiers Music Srl, landing at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Initially, the release had been preceded by tragedy when Bain unexpectedly died at the age of 68 on January 23, 2016. LAST IN LINE, honoring what they knew would be Bain's wish to keep the band moving, brought in Phil Soussan and committed to sustained touring in support of the album before beginning work on the follow-up release, 2019's "II", which was also made available through Frontiers Music Srl.

LAST IN LINE's latest album, "Jericho", came out in March 2023 via earMUSIC. It was helmed by Chris Collier, who has previously worked with KORN and WHITESNAKE, among other bands. LAST IN LINE's first two albums were produced by former DOKKEN and current FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson.

In 2022, LAST IN LINE surprised fans by releasing a unique version of THE BEATLES classic "A Day In The Life", which was made available on the limited 12-inch silver collector's EP with the same name.

Photo credit: Jim Wright (courtesy of earMUSIC)