RONNIE JAMES DIO Explains Why WARREN DEMARTINI Wasn't Right For His Band

DIO mastermind Ronnie James Dio recently spoke to ElectricBasement.com about the group's numerous changes in the guitarist department since the release of their last album, "Killing The Dragon". While the CD featured Doug Aldrich (now in WHITESNAKE),an announcement was made earlier this year that ex-RATT axeman Warren DeMartini would be touring with the band during the summer. However, before Warren even got a chance to set foot on stage with the band, he was replaced by former DIO guitarist Craig Goldy.

"Well, we had already committed to the [IRON] MAIDEN tour and for the festivals," Dio explained. "Having committed to something, I'm never one to say, 'Oh we just won't do it.' Well we thought we had a few months to put this together and play some of these songs we haven't played before and I was thinking, 'I hope we get the right player.' The hardest part is working with a guitar player who hasn't played the songs before, while we've been playing some of them for 25 years now. That becomes difficult. We like to rehearse, but we don't like to nitpick and teach somebody every little nuance of the song, and that's really what happened with Warren. Warren came in and he had to learn all these things. He was just the wrong player for the band. He doesn't work in the same way that we do. None of us felt that he was giving to what these songs are all about. Certainly not from a solo perspective. He didn't really have a handle on what was going on. That's not to take away anything from his talent. In a different band, his talent will shine, in this band, it will not.

"It made life very difficult for us. We tried to deal with it for three weeks actually. It just didn't work and none of us were very happy about what was going on. I couldn't speak for how Warren felt about it, but it wasn't down to him, it was down to us. We're the ones who created these things and we are the ones who had to carry on. Luckily for us, Craig had his things sorted out and it made life much easier for us. We sorry for Warren that it didn't work out, but we are very happy to have Craig back with us.

"Once you're so comfortable with the people in a band, you can take those other chances [when performing live], and that's really what happened. With Warren, I think we always kind of would've been on the razor's edge thinking, 'Well, is this working?' 'I don't like what's being done.' This way it's just so easy. You can let your guard down. You just go out and play and do some things we've never done before." Read the rest of the interview here.