VINNY APPICE Says 'The Time Is Right' For Him To Pay Tribute To BLACK SABBATH With His Touring Project

Vinny Appice spoke to Backstage Pass about his recently completed Brazilian tour during which he paid tribute to the music of BLACK SABBATH and DIO. The legendary 66-year-old drummer, who has played with BLACK SABBATH, DIO and HEAVEN & HELL, was backed during the trek by Fernando Giovannetti (bass),Nando Fernandes (vocals) and Edu Ardanuy (guitar; ex-DR. SIN).

"I've got a great band down there," Vinny said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I've done it three times down in South America. And what we play is a lot of stuff from 'The Mob Rules', 'Dehumanizer' and some old SABBATH, 'Heaven And Hell', all that, and a little bit of DIO. And they just go crazy. I played five shows. They were all pretty much sold out — smaller places, but packed. And they know all the words. They know all the melodies. They're so passionate about their music. It's incredible. So I had a great time. And 40 years later, they just love this stuff. And I'm doing them in the States now as well. I did five shows a couple of months back. And as we have time off with LAST IN LINE with Vivian Campbell, I'll be booking these shows. And it's a fun thing for me playing all this old stuff. It's low stress. We're not trying to sell records. We're not trying to become a big band. It's more of a tribute — with me. So I call it like a 'tribute plus' to BLACK SABBATH, DIO. I'm the 'plus'."

Elaborating on why he thinks there is a renewed interest in seeing him perform classic songs from SABBATH and DIO, Vinny said: "When I played here [in the U.S.], places were packed and people loved it as well. Because I'm the only guy now from the original [BLACK SABBATH] band that's out there. Tony [Iommi] and Geezer [Butler], no more. Ozzy [Osbourne], it seems like no more. And I was the only other drummer in the beginning; I made some of the albums with them. So I think that the time is perfect now for me that I still wanna do this, go out and play — play this stuff. People wanna hear it."

Professionally filmed video of Appice's entire October 26 concert at Café Piu Piu in São Paulo, Brazil can be seen below.

Featured songs:

01. Turn Up The Night
02. The Mob Rules
03. Children Of The Sea
04. The Last In Line
05. The Sign Of The Southern Cross
06. Computer God
07. Voodoo
08. Stand Up And Shout
09. Holy Diver
10. War Pigs
11. Neon Knights

Encore:

12. Caught In The Middle
13. We Rock
14. Rainbow In The Dark

This past February, Vinny was asked in an interview with Paul Rogne of the Drumming News Network why he doesn't play double-bass drums. He responded: "Well, because Carmine [Appice, Vinny's brother] went over to double bass; he started on single bass. Then at one point I got another bass drum and I played it, and I guess I didn't like it at that point. And I thought, 'Carmine's doing all this stuff. He's been using it for years now. I'm just gonna stick with one bass drum.' And seeing how some of these drummers with double bass are amazing, I just thought, 'I'm gonna stay with one bass drum and not do the double-bass thing.' And that kept my foot strong. Actually, my right leg, my calf is bigger than the left leg. When I put on tight pants, the right leg, getting it back off, it's harder to get off than the left leg, 'cause the muscle built up so much. It's crazy."

Vinny previously discussed his preference for a single-bass setup during an interview with Metal Edge more than a decade and a half ago. At the time he said: "Both Carmine and I started with a single bass. Then he moved over to double bass, so I thought I'd see if it was for me. It didn't blow me away, so I just kept the single bass. I never used a double pedal either, so I'm known as 'Mr. Single Bass.' The good thing is that with a double bass your foot can't get lazy, so I've got a lot of power with one foot and it's fairly fast from playing with one just bass drum."

Back in December 2021, Vinny spoke to the "All Access Live! With Kevin Rankin" podcast about his unique and powerful drumming style which has anchored the rhythm and power live and in the studio for the music of DIO, BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL, LAST IN LINE, AXIS, Rick Derringer, John Lennon and more. He said: "I always say 'I go where no man has gone before' where some of these fills start. See, I play in the song. Whatever I do, I get into the song. I don't play on top of the song. I hear a lot of drummers can play on top of the song and they're just playing the song. I'm inside of that song, and that's the way I hear the stuff. It's kind of like an artist painting pictures, and I'm in there putting the colors in it. And I just hear it like that — fills that could go over the bar, maybe a bar and a half. And they start in an odd place. And luckily, that worked for me with SABBATH. SABBATH, I didn't do quite as much because SABBATH was so legendary, you had to keep that in your mind that this is BLACK SABBATH and there's a certain way to play fills that are a little darker maybe — not so much snare drum; more dark stuff. And then with DIO, anything went. And Ronnie [James Dio] never had a problem with me playing… nor did SABBATH; they never said 'don't play a fill there' or anything like that. And Ronnie, I'd play over his vocal line. We kicked each other in the ass. When I hear him starting to go, I go, 'Woah, dude.' Now something comes out of me that got inspired; he inspired me. We fed off each other, absolutely."

Appice went on to say that his recorded parts change and evolve when he is performing the songs live. "Like one night, [DIO] played 'The Last In Line', and at the third verse, [Ronnie] goes, 'And you never, never, never come home.' And then one night, he kept it going. He went, 'Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never…' He kept it going. And I just heard that and I followed him," Vinny said. "And we went, 'That was cool, dude.' And we still do that. I'm playing with LAST IN LINE now with Vivian [Campbell, former DIO guitarist]. And we do that. Andy Freeman [LAST IN LINE singer] and I, we worked it out so that part's in there.

"See, I'm always listening," Appice continued. "Drummers, you've gotta listen to what's going on on stage. I don't close my eyes and space out. I look around. I'm scanning the stage. If I'm hearing somebody playing something, maybe I'll jump on it. And that keeps it really exciting. That's why I don't play the same stuff every night. Certain fills are the same. But then I go kick in the ass as much as I could."

Vinny has recorded and co-written songs on several dozen albums and CDs, including many multi-platinum records. Vinny's drumming can also be heard on numerous movie soundtracks, including "Wayne's World 2", "Heavy Metal", "Iron Eagle" and "Bedazzled". Vinny, the author of drum instruction book "Rock Steady" and DVD "Hard Rock Drumming Techniques", has performed incredible powerhouse drum clinics around the globe. Numerous books have been written about BLACK SABBATH and DIO with the authors always mentioned Vinny's drumming style.