VINNY APPICE Looks Back On Formation Of DIO Band

On July 19, Lance Hall of the "Silk And Steel Power Hour" conducted an interview with legendary drummer Vinny Appice (BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN & HELL). You can now listen to the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the early-1980s formation of the DIO band, led by iconic heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio:

Vinny: "The interesting thing about that time period is Ronnie had a solo deal while he was in BLACK SABBATH. And his first plan was to, obviously, stay with BLACK SABBATH and then do the solo record with all his friends on it. And he wanted me to play on it, Cozy Powell and… all his friends that were in different bands, and it would like an all-star album; that was the original plan. But then when things soured up with SABBATH, things got a little bit funky, and he decided, that's it, he's leaving, then it became he's going to use that record deal to launch a new career, part of his career, and a new band. And that's when he asked me if I wanted to join, and I said yes. And then we teamed up together and started playing. Originally, it was just me and him playing. We would go in the rehearsal studio and play parts of 'Holy Diver' and parts of different songs that Ronnie had some riffs for, and that was it. Then we eventually auditioned guitar players and went over to Europe — England — to find somebody."

On whether Ronnie was well prepared for his solo career:

Vinny: "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't think… He might have had a vision of what he wanted, but he… You know, both of us together were playing in the same vein, even though it was just bass and drums; we were playing kind of heavy and dark. And it never was planned out what the band should sound like until we auditioned [guitarist] Vivian Campbell and [bassist] Jimmy Bain at the same time, and then it just gelled. We just went, 'Damn, this feels right. This sounds great.' And then we got together a month later back in Los Angeles with Viv and Jimmy and started writing and jamming, and it just went the way it went. And the band created its own sound. It was never really perceived as… beforehand, you know, what it should sound like."

Appice joined BLACK SABBATH in 1980 during the "Heaven And Hell" tour and appeared on the albums "Live Evil" (1982) and "Mob Rules" (1981) . In late 1982 he left BLACK SABBATH with vocalist Ronnie James Dio and formed the band DIO. They recorded "Holy Diver" (1983),"The Last in Line" (1984),"Sacred Heart" (1985),"Intermission" (1986),and "Dream Evil" (1987). In December 1989, Appice left DIO. In 1992, he returned to BLACK SABBATH for the "Dehumanizer" album and tour. He then rejoined DIO and they recorded "Strange Highways" (1994) and "Angry Machines" (1996).

Appice rejoined his BLACK SABBATH bandmates Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi in 2006 as HEAVEN & HELL, touring and releasing one studio album, "The Devil You Know", before Dio's death in 2010.

In April 2014, along with former members of DIO (Vivian Campbell and Jimmy Bain),Vinny began recording tracks for his new band LAST IN LINE along with Andrew Freeman on vocals.

LAST IN LINE released its debut album, "Heavy Crown", on February 19 via Frontiers Music Srl.