RIOT V's DONNIE VAN STAVERN On New Touring Singer VALENTINO FRANCAVILLA: He's 'Doing A Great Job'

In a new interview from Chile's PowerOfMetal.cl, RIOT V bassist Donnie Van Stavern spoke about the band's recent split with singer Todd Michael Hall and addition of Italian musician Valentino Francavilla (WHITE SKULL). He said  (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, what happened was we got hit with a blow from Todd. It was very unexpected, and it was kind of crazy. It was just a phone call, and [he told us] 'I quit.' Apparently he's having some serious family issues, and he said, 'I can't do RIOT 2026,' but we were already committed. Promoters booked shows, money exchange, and we don't like to cancel. Bands cancel all the time now, and fans hate it because some fans fly from other countries. They drive five hours [or] six [hours to attend a concert]."

Donnie continued: "RIOT is a band that has had many, many member changes. Since the first album, second album, they had different people. Second album, third album, different people. [Late RIOT singer] Rhett Forrester [came in]. When we did [the] 'Thundersteel' [and] 'The Privilege Of Power' [albums], everybody was different except Mark [Reale, RIOT guitarist and founder]. He was the only member. And then [singer Mike] DiMeo era. It gets crazy sometimes.

"As long as we're putting out good music and we have good musicians, I think people realize what's going on," Donnie explained. So we dodged a bullet because, after we got that phone call, we did try to talk to [Todd] about it, and it was just going nowhere, so we were worried. We had suggestions from other singers. We talked to Mark Boals from Yngwie [Malmsteen]. We talked to Marc Lopes from ROSS THE BOSS. He was, 'I can't sing high.' So we were looking. And then Mike Flyntz [RIOT V guitarist] suggested Valentino because... He has a solo band, and they opened for us in Japan. We're on the same Japanese record label. And he [said], 'What about Valentino?' And I said, 'Wow, that's interesting.' So I went back and watched his videos, and I said, 'Man…' He's actually a Yngwie — he's a guitar shredder. But we were, like, 'This is weird.' And we told him, 'You wanna play guitar with us, too? We'll be like [IRON] MAIDEN. We'll have three guitar players.' He said, 'No, no, no.' He goes, 'I'll just sing.' He goes, 'Maybe one day I'll play guitar.' So, we gave him a setlist, and he made videos of him singing each song for us to check out and adjust or analyze, and he was great. I said, 'Wow, we dodged a bullet.' We got him, and it was crazy. So, we were, like, 'Well, let's see how it goes.'"

Donnie added: "A lot of people were concerned. And so we ended up flying into Germany a week before the first show we did last month, and we rehearsed with him. And we were, like, 'Okay, he sounds good. He's a nice guy.' So we said, 'Okay, we dodged a bullet.' And I said, 'When people hear him, they'll like him.' Besides his voice being great, he's a guitar teacher. He's a vocal teacher. So he really takes care of his voice. When he's on the road with us, he's taking care of it and stuff like that. So he's the real deal. And when he sang, people loved him. And we've been getting a lot of great comments. They said, 'We thought Todd would be hard to replace.' They said, 'But Valentino's doing a great job.' And we agree. I mean, he lives all the way in Italy [laughs] — everybody's in America, and he's in Italy — so it's a little strange, but it's all right. And who knows what the future holds? But he is going to do all the tours this year, and then we'll decide what we're gonna do. We have a new record coming out next year, and we'll see if Valentino will be the permanent singer and continue on. But we really like [Valentino]. He surprised us. He's a big RIOT fan. He told me he grew up on 'Thundersteel'. He knows every song, and when he sang it, it was unbelievable. So we were very blessed to find someone like him, 'cause it was coming down to the wire. We had two weeks, and then one of the weeks we had to fly early to Germany, 'cause you can't get a brand new singer and just get on stage. We were, like, 'No.' So we told our booking agent, instead of flying to Germany the night before, we need a few days. And then we went to a place, and, yeah, we rehearsed with him and everything was fine. And a lot of people seem to like him, so we're very happy to have him aboard. He's a great guy — on and off stage. Really, really cool."

Asked what Valentino adds to RIOT V's sound that is different from his predecessors, Donnie said: "Well, one thing about him is that, like I was saying, besides being a guitar player and a teacher and a vocal teacher too, he has an aspect of he knows certain scales and he knows certain swagger to his voice. Todd was a great singer, but sometimes he was one-dimensional. It was just very high. He has a great voice and [it was] very high, the highest notes we've ever seen. But Valentino, he's got a more of a soulful [voice]... If you look at the post when [people] post videos of him, they say he sounds like [late RIOT singer] Guy Speranza with a higher voice. They [describe him as a] soulful Guy Speranza. So when he sings 'Swords And Tequila' or 'Altar Of The King' or 'Outlaw', they compare him to that. And so we were, like, 'Well, that's good.' He's not copying Todd, but he's got that range, but he's also able to do Rhett Forrester and Guy Speranza.' And we're doing a couple of new Mike DiMeo songs. We're adding some DiMeo era, because we only played a couple, like we played 'Magic Maker'. We're adding a couple of new Mike DiMeo era, and he sings those great too. So he's got a good style to his voice. It's a little more warm, and he can get the range though. He can sing very high, but he's still got that warm feeling. So we're very lucky to have someone like him. And chances are we will move forward with him on the 18th record."

In 2013, Todd — a former member of Jack Starr's BURNING STARR — joined the remaining members of RIOT, when they decided to forge ahead in the wake of the death of founding member Mark Reale. Out of respect for Mark and as a way to mark the fifth chapter of RIOT, Donnie Van Stavern and Mike Flyntz decide to alter the name of the band to RIOT V (pronounced "Riot Five"). Todd released three studio albums with RIOT V, "Unleash The Fire" (2014),"Armor Of Light" (2018) and "Mean Streets" (2024),as well as two live albums, "Live At Keep It True Festival" (2018) and "Live In Japan" (2019).