Stand UP and SHOUT
after his tenures in Rainbow and sabbath ended in disarray, Ronnie James dio was determined to create his own legacy. enter Holy Diver, and Ronnie’s own chance to...
fEW PEOPLE GET a chance to make one truly iconic album. Ronnie James Dio was involved in three. The first two were Rainbow’s 1976 symphonic rock landmark Rising and Black Sabbath’s career-reviving Heaven And Hell four years later. And the third? Holy Diver – the debut from the band that bore his name.
The little man with the big voice had unceremoniously exited both Rainbow and Sabbath, and he was determined it wouldn’t happen again. With wife/manager Wendy steering his career, Ronnie decided to build a group around himself. Recruiting ex-sabbath drummer Vinny Appice, former Rainbow colleague Jimmy Bain and Northern Irish guitar prodigy Vivian Campbell, he began working on what would become the third in this holy triumvirate of legendary albums.
We’ve compiled a series of classic interviews to bring you the full story.
Ronnie James dio: “I was very angry, coming out of Sabbath. The way I saw the world, anyone who wasn’t family
“i thought people were poised to cut me open with a knife”
ronnie James dio
or a close friend was poised to cut me open with a knife.”
Vinny appice: “When Ronnie asked me if I was interested, I said: ‘Fuck, yeah!’ Ronnie was a great leader. I looked at him as a brother.”
Ronnie: “We tried a couple of guitarists in Los Angeles, but after playing with [Rainbow’s] Ritchie Blackmore and [Black Sabbath’s] Tony Iommi, everything else paled into comparison. I really wanted a British musician – the attitude was far superior to American musicians.”
Vivian Campbell: “Jimmy Bain recommended me to Ronnie. I was still living in Belfast. I flew over to London, I met Ronnie and Vinny for the first time. We started playing and Ronnie started smiling. He liked what he heard. A few weeks later I flew to LA and we started writing the Holy Diver record.”
The newly assembled band began work on Holy Diver in early 1983 in Los Angeles’ Sound City Studios. Vinny Appice and Jimmy Bain had worked with Ronnie before, but for the 20-year-old Vivian Campbell, it was a more intimidating experience.
Vivian: “It was a little bit difficult because of the respect I had for Ronnie. He was so much older than me and he was one of my heroes. The cassette that I had in my car that was on constant play was Black Sabbath’s Heaven And Hell album.”
Vinny: “We went in just having a good time. We rehearsed in the Sound City complex and then right across the parking lot was the studio, so we’d write four or five songs, drag all the stuff over the parking lot to the studio, and then we’d record.”
Vivian: ‘Ronnie would come in in the evening, and we’d play him what we had, and sometimes he would say, ‘No, I don’t hear that’ or other times he would say, ‘OK, that sounds good.’” Ronnie: “The opening song, Stand Up And Shout, was a negative statement of my own disenchantment, and I was projecting it out to anyone who’d listen.” Vivian: “Ronnie always had books with lyrics – he’d sit down and listen to what we had, and we’d play it for him a couple of times. He’d step up to the mic, and he’d start singing.”
Ronnie: “The song Holy Diver is really about a Christ figure, who on another place, not Earth, has done exactly the same as we’ve apparently experienced or were supposed to have experienced on Earth: dying for the sins of man so that man can start again and be cleansed and do it properly.”
Vivian: “It really is a simple record, there was not much going on in terms of production. It’s a very honest record in that way, and it features very raw and very real performances.”