CRAIG GOLDY: 'I Too Think That VIVIAN CAMPBELL Is The One And Only DIO Guitarist'

Former DIO and current DIO DISCIPLES guitarist Craig Goldy says that he was "misquoted" in a recent interview where he allegedly implied that Vivian Campbell's LAST IN LINE project was far inferior to the first DIO three albums in terms of quality.

Earlier in the month, All That Shreds published an interview with Craig in which he seemingly threw shade at LAST IN LINE, saying that the Andrew Freeman-fronted group is "nowhere near" what Campbell and the other members of the original DIO band "created on those first three albums" with Ronnie James Dio. "[The DIO albums] were produced under Ronnie's guidance," Goldy was quoted as saying. "That's what made them so great. Ronnie knew how to pull the best out of people."

After some of Goldy's comments created an uproar on social media and in the BLABBERMOUTH.NET comments section, the guitarist reached out to this site with a lengthy clarification about his opinion on LAST IN LINE's musical output and Campbell on a personal level.

Craig wrote: "I would just like to say that, first of all, I've been misquoted and that I was recently asked about what I thought about Vivian's comments regarding Ronnie, the DIO DISCIPLES and them having zero credibility, and what I thought about his band LAST IN LINE.

"What I said and what was utilized in the interview that [BLABBERMOUTH.NET] picked up on was a poor representation of what I actually said.

"I have nothing against Viv. And I just wish that this 30-year grudge would just finally resolve itself.

"Once and for all, for those DIO fans out there, I too think that Vivian is the one and only DIO guitarist.

"Those first three albums have some of the best music and performances ever captured.

"I too agree with one of the comments made in regards to [the BLABBERMOUTH.NET] article, that just as Ronnie pulled the best out of his band members, so did [Ritchie] Blackmore and [Tony] Iommi pull the best out of Ronnie.

"I like the LAST IN LINE album and I have always loved Andrew's voice.

"Vivian was and has been a gentleman to me. I loved working with Jimmy [Bain, original DIO and LAST IN LINE bassist] with the HOLLYWOOD ALLSTARZ, which is where Jimmy found Andrew. I love working with Vinny [Appice, original DIO and LAST IN LINE drummer]. He has become a very dear friend. We also do the Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camps together. As does Rudy Sarzo.

"When I said that the LAST IN LINE album is nowhere near the first three DIO albums, I was talking about all of us and not just singling out [LAST IN LINE]."

Goldy also addressed the fact that his new band DREAM CHILD has been accused of sounding too much like Dio-era BLACK SABBATH and RAINBOW, with singer Diego Valdez bearing an uncanny vocal resemblance to Ronnie James Dio.

"The band DREAM CHILD was born from the comments made about the 'Rainbow Rising' days and how so many comments were that 'they don't make music like that anymore,'" Craig explained. "And as far as DREAM CHILD trying to sound like DIO, it's not at all what we are trying to do. I'm just trying to recapture an era that was thought to be long gone and somehow make it new.

"Diego Valdez sounds a lot like Ronnie in these first two songs that were released, but there are 12 songs on this album where Diego is just doing what Diego naturally does. And just like I am influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, my playing will have a Blackmore-like influence, but I'm not trying to sound like Blackmore.

"I posted a version of [DEEP PURPLE's] 'Mistreated" with Vinny and I where I was clearly trying to sound like Blackmore, because I have always wanted my 'Blackmore impression' to be heard as my tribute to him, the master!

"Diego has a very similar respect, honor and love for Ronnie's voice, and so because he was so inspired by Ronnie's voice and because Diego's been blessed with a God-given talent that gives me what I've been looking for even before I was ever in the band DIO, and that is a guy who can sound like Ronnie! I'm just trying to make music like the music that I loved and what got me to start playing guitar in the first place, and that was first DEEP PURPLE and then RAINBOW. I loved the SABBATH stuff with Ronnie."

Goldy then circled back to the fact that Vivian has been very vocal about his disagreements with Ronnie James Dio, with Campbell claiming that finances played a major part in the bad blood that preceded his split with DIO more than three decades ago.

"All this hate started between Ronnie and Viv," Craig wrote.

"It was a dream come true for me to come from living in a car on the streets to avoid the abusive family that I grew up with in order to further avoid the hospital visits, surgeries and stitches and just live without hatred, pain and injuries caused by the hatred in other people's hearts that took it out on me! And now the hatred is starting all over again.

"The band DIO was a family! So I guess there will be family squabbles, but this has got to stop. And what I was trying to do was set the record straight once and for all, and it got misquoted!

"Also, people are always comparing me to the other DIO guitarists, and I myself know that I am not every DIO fan's favorite guitarist. Unfortunately, some of my best playing and writing has never been captured. My first solo album, 'Hidden In Plain Sight', on the song 'In Over My Head', came close.

"There were so many times where the promoter for a DIO concert was trying to cut corners to save money and I was provided with a crappy amp — sooooo many times — and those nights are the ones on YouTube. If that were the very first time that I heard this Craig Goldy guy, I would've thought he sucked too.

"The RESURRECTION KINGS album has a bit of my best playing on it, the EISLEY/GOLDY album has about four songs on it that come close, and this DREAM CHILD album comes even closer. So those comments on my soloing being so much less than Vivian is a bummer, 'cause I know it's true. For now! But I also know that those amazing and iconic solos on the first three DIO albums were also under Ronnie's guidance, and that Viv hasn't created anything near that since. Not taking a shot at Viv, but trying to get him to admit that just maybe — just maybe — Viv didn't create as much as he claims to have had created all on his own and that the collaboration with Ronnie was what brought out the magic in him, like everyone else Ronnie has guided. Viv did get close to admitting that recently.

"I just want this to stop. That's all. And I hope one day soon he can let it go. He has so much hatred for the man that put him on the map in the first place. And I just know from firsthand knowledge that it wasn't a broken promise that pushed Viv out of the band and that if they are going to tell the story, tell the whole story. But most people only want themselves to come out ahead in these interviews.

"I don't mind discussing my shortcomings, but at least I'm not blaming them on someone else."

Two years ago, Campbell told BigMusicGeek.com that he didn't think LAST IN LINE was "even in the same league as the DIO DISCIPLES," which is made up of former members of DIO, along with a rotating lineup of singers, including former JUDAS PRIEST frontman Tim "Ripper" Owens. "None of those guys were original members of the band DIO," he said. "We're the original band. We're the guys who formed the band with Ronnie. Not only were in the band, but we wrote all the songs with Ronnie. If you look at the writing credits on the first three records, it was very, very much a collaborative creative venture. That's what made the early DIO records so strong. The guys in the DIO DISCIPLES... As far as I'm concerned, there is zero credibility with the DIO DISCIPLES."

Vivian went on to say that he didn't know about DIO DISCIPLES' existence until 2012, almost two years after the band first started playing shows as a tribute to Ronnie. "It was around the time that [LAST IN LINE] got together to jam that I had first heard of the DIO DISCIPLES," the guitarist said. "I wasn't even aware of them. It was actually Vinny who told me. I couldn't believe that these guys were going out and playing songs that we actually wrote with Ronnie. I thought, 'Well, if they're doing it, then why shouldn't we do it?' With us, there is a legitimacy to what were doing, ya know? I doubt that there is a real legitimacy in the DIO DISCIPLES."

DREAM CHILD's debut album, "Until Death Do We Meet Again", will be released on September 14 via Frontiers Music Srl.