I'll be 60 soon.. however, I was front row in Detroit for the Holy Diver Tour. I saw him coming over and I hoisted myself up so he would see me. Man, he grabbed my hand in strong (power shake). I thought he was going to pull my hand off Lol. I looked up at him and you could just see how pleased and thankful he was that I was there. Its like I could feel the vibe from his energy going into my arm! When I came down the people next to me were saying "man that was bad ass dude" and all that stuff. One of the coolest momments in my life! Just had to share that seeing you shared this. And thanks. The Holy Diver album is timeless, kick ass album.... still one of my all time favorites. jN Detroit 😜
I had the same experience in 96 on the Angry Machines tour. I was in the front row and sang along to Heaven And Hell at the top of my lungs. Ronnie leaned forward to my and shook my hand. I was absolutely stunned because he was the hero of my teenage years. I'll never forget that moment.
We're about the same age. Saw Dio 4 times live. The last being in front of the orchestra section (standing room/mosh pit). Looked at each other eye to eye. Didn't get the bro grab though. Congrad's.
I think the real issue was that Craig didn't really get along with Jimmy and Vinny. They didn't really accept him and even wanted him to assign his publishing to them. They didn't accept Rowan either. That's why Ronnie eventually fired and replaced them during the making of Lock Up The Wolves.
Music has always been important to me. I was 13 when Heavy Metal was gaining popularity in the early 1980’s. We had so many excellent bands. When I bought Holy Diver it was the vocals of Ronnie. Powerful music with lyrics that took us on a journey. Gone to soon but the music will live on. You are missed Ronnie.
Dio reminds me a bit of Bruce Lee when Bruce did in an interview with Pierre Burton, saying to be a martial artist, you must not be given over to style and imitation, but rather express yourself, which is very hard to do. Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system. Kudos to Dio. A very smart observer.
Ronnie was 48 years old here. A short 2 years later, he released Dehumanizer with Black Sabbath, a criminally underrated album (Sabbath's HEAVIEST album) and then released 2 other criminally underrated solo albums after that, Strange Highways and Angry Machines. I LOVE how brutally heavy Ronnie got starting in 1991 and sadly ending in 1999. The subject matter he wrote about became REAL and it was relatable and he was so angry and vicious on those albums and on all the subsequent tours supporting the albums. More people should revisit those 3 albums.
If it wasn't for the very poor mixing of Dehumanizer, it would have done better. The song are quite OK, but the sound really took away any inspiration and energy.
Damn shame you didn't keep Rowan because Lock Up The Wolves is one of the best Dio albums ever made and Rowan had become a mate of mine and we chat from time to time. A damn shame Ronnie but you will always be the man on the silver mountain! Rock In Peace Ronnie, Jimmy and Claude. Rowan, mate, Rock brother! From, Ogre.
At 22:25 he practically predicted the rise of the Seattle/Grunge scene. Not that I’m a fan of that scene, but it shows how much of a thinker Ronnie was.
What??? He was fantastic. He threw down some damned good guitar work on Lock Up The Wolves... especially to be only 17-18 at the time. As a life long rock guitarist myself, I was jealous of him
@@berwinenzemann3468 quite ashamed that it was, because it was a damned good album...much better than Dream Evil...the album before this one...and Dream Evil actually sold pretty good
@@shreddinjoe I agree that Lock Up The Wolves is far better than Dream Evil. But as a matter of fact Dream Evil was already underperforming. It sold about a tenth of the numbers of Sacred Heart and Sacred Heart already sold slightly less than The Last In Line which was Dio's most successful album.
@@berwinenzemann3468 I loved the Sacred Heart album. The tour was a spectacle, really badass. Personally I think Ronnie made a huge mistake by ditching Vivian...Craig was good but just didn't do much for me, and it shows on the Dream Evil record.
This has been a very creative era for Ronnie and I still remember it, as if it was yesterday. Thanks for this precious interview. The quality is awesome as well!
Actually it was a quite troubled era. He just got rid of everyone he played with before and each album sold less than the one before. It was an accelerating downward spiral.
@@berwinenzemann3468 Sadly I agree with you. I saw Ronnie in a club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 95 and only about 150-200 people. I was up against the stage close to him no problem. It was a weird dilemma even though I was very happy to see the greatest singer in heavy metal of all time. R.I.P. RJD.
@@oldschool250 I saw him one year later in 96 on the Angry Machines tour in Tuttlingen Germany. He pretty much hit rock bottom at that time. Fortunately sales went up again with Magica in 2000. Although he would never return to the success of Holy Diver and The Last In Line. I think it all could have been different if he had payed Vivian Campbell a decent salary instead of firing him and hadn't tried to be so polished and commercial with Sacred Heart. At least he has now the recognition he deserves.
@@berwinenzemann3468 Yes, you are right, it was a difficult time for Dio. Saw him on inferno tour 1998 in a small club in Karlstad Sweden. I guess 300-400 people there. A fun fact is that his Bob Daisley played bas in Dio on this tour. I think first and only time they played together after Rainbow.
@@GYX453 Really? Bob Daisley? I didn't know that Daisly ever played in Dio. I know that Daisley played on Long Live Rock N' Roll. Nice anecdote.🙂 When I saw Dio in 96 it was still Jeff Pilson on bass. I saw Ronnie again in 2000 at a festival maybe half a year Magica was released. There he had some young guy for hire on the bass. Never knew who that guy was. It was already Craig Goldy on guitar though.
Yea, it would seem that way, wouldn't it? But the guitarist and drummer of the Holy Diver album have both said Ronnie promised they would start making royalties beginning with the 3rd album, and when it came, Ronnie kept putting off the subject, and when on the Sacred Heart tour Vivian confronted Ronnie and was told no, there will be no royalties, Vivian and the rest will remain salaried employees, Vivian said "Adios, mutherfuckers". Some blame Wendy, but Ronnie had final say, because afterall, it was his fucken band! And after Viv admitted this in interviews, it hit a real sore spot with Ronnie who bared his teeth and replied with real ugly vibes & words -- really out of character for Mr. Nice Guy. Greed had gotten the better of him -- and I'm sure Wendy encouraged it and fanned the flames, but can Adam honestly blame Eve for his action? She didn't put a gun to his head....It's a hard truth but everyone has some shit in their personality. It does not stop me for a moment from enjoying Dio's work. He will always be my favorite hard rock vocalist.
I could never find any interviews with DIO during this period of the bands existence, probably because of the issues that came along with having a young guitarist like Rowan. I feel he proved to be an asset to the band and critic's who felt that he wasn't right more due to his age but Ronnie wanted him since he felt that British players have something that others didn't and yes the album isn't another holy diver or last in line but still was a great album none the less and I still listen to it as much today as when it was released in 1990. If a box set does come out I hope it will focus on this album and live shows that Rowan played on.
The issue with Rowan Robertson was neither his age nor his musical abilities. Lock Up The Wolves was a commercial failure. That's why Ronnie tossed him to give Sabbath another shot.
I hope someday we’d get a two disc set of lockup the wolves or an anniversary edition with rare tracks & the second cd would be a live concert with that dio era lineup
@@b_side8669 The Holy Diver album has a broad cult following but only real Dio fans ever listen to Lock Up The Wolves. There's not even a box set for The Last In Line yet although it was Dio's most successful album in terms of record sales. But I agree that Lock Up The Wolves is awesome and underrated.
@@b_side8669 It doesn't have to be real Dio fans. The thing is that all the others generally don't care. When it comes to Dio most rock fans are only interested in Ritchie Balockmore's Rainbow, Rising, Long Live Rock N' Roll, Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules, Holy Diver and The Last In Line. Only people who are particularly interested in Dio usually listen to the stuff that came afterwards.
Brilliant! 2:33 "If you wait long you will find the right things. Always. " Very sincere, very inspiring interview, they are talking about the things which are important for them. What a story about the little girl in black, and of course Rowan's beautiful knees 😀
Ronnie was such a cool guy. I’ve met Rowan recently and he is just as cool. I can see why Ronnie clicked with Rowan. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more from Rowan.
Great interview. I think that is great advice to give because record companies today want to dictate what bands are while other bands want to be themselves and too often they go under the radar and don't get the marketing they deserve in order to stand out and get noticed.
So glad that I came across this. Love Lock Up The Wolves. I miss Ronnie James Dio dearly 😢 💔 He was my King of Rock and Roll the man on the Silver Mountain. Rowan is awesome guitar player 👌 👏🏼
Most excellent interview. Ronnie of course as always the raconteur gentleman. And Rowan,who's speaking voice I don't think Id ever heard, comes across as an affable,honest,real kinda guy. Maybe a bit green but only just and he played like a demon unleashed. Also the fire ( burning higher trying to burn the sun,lol ) on the sides of the screen is a cool touch.
DIO Taught Me to Chase My Dreams, Believe In Myself, Anything Is Possible, Be Good To Others and Enjoy The Journey... Strength and Honor, To Be an Honest Singer, to Pour My Soul Out with Every Note and Nuance, to Be True To The Song and It's Meaning or What it Means To Me.... DIOs Silence is Deafening but He Will Always Be With Us \m/..... I have to add.... People don't want to see you trying to sound like someone else. They want to See YOU.... What is Unique About You... Because You Will Always Be the Best at Being You and What's in Your Soul, What does it Sound Like, How can You make Them Feel ???? Be Yourself and Don't Worry about what Other People think about You ... As long as Your Honest To Yourself, Thats What Counts..
Sacred Heart already sold less copies than The Last In Line and Dream Evil sold about a tenth of Sacred Heart. While the other metal bands were on the height of their success Ronnie was caught in a downward spiral. He was desperately trying to reverse that trend. He failed as we all know.
@@jockejocke1 Maybe somehow you manage to misunderstand what I m trying to say here. Essentially I said quantities being sold does not always say much about the level of quality a product offers. I here ya if you think " hey, I kinda like that stuff at that " restaurant"!" Over the years I had my share of going there, diminished it, but its really a bit silly, overpriced mediocre almost synthetic throw away stuff. Sometimes I went back after some years, thinking it would satisfy me somehow, often I felt empty and sad like after watching some heabily fabricated porn. Ok, more to the point. What did it say about the audience, considering the momentum of the musical world where loads of trash music like tap, house or grunge was chosen over a ticket for a show from a high quality classic rock band trying to tour the USA end 80s/begin 90 s? Is the audience always right? Rainbow with Dio around 77 was a topband able to match themselves with LED ZEPPELIN, according to Robert Plant who saw the DIO line up. But Blackmore broke his teeth on the tastes of Americains who felt the band was too heavy. Then he tried to adapt, commercialised the band and still did not break the USA market. After the NWOBHM metal became big in USA with much heavier music than Blackmore ever provided. Would the DIO led Rainbow become big if they had waited a few years, were they too early? I m afraid Rainbow like Deep Purple was too European, too much influenced by classical music. One of the main reasons why LED ZEPPELIN won the hearts and minds of America was, besides the role of Peter Grant and the fact people dont like changing lineups, the fact that folk and blues played such a big part in their songs. I love all these bands and dont think because LZ outsold the other bands its proof of being the best. But I wavered off, would not dare to equeal a LZ song to a Big Mac.
Lock Up The Wolves was good indeed, but not up to par with Holy Diver or Heaven and Hell of course. The tour was just amazing. Great interview by the way,
As much as I love Ronnie, I have to say he was searching for another Viv, which is an impossible task. The chemistry that lineup had will never be equalled. I did happen to see them with Craig for the second leg of the Sacred Heart tour and remember being bummed when we realized Vivian had been replaced. Word had spread already, but it wasn't certain. It was an incredible show as Craig Goldy is easily one of the best. Nobody could replace Viv.
@@elinino5275 I have to disagree. The record sales dropped significantly after Viv was gone. Dream Evil sold about a tenth of Sacred Heart. Lock Up The Wolves was such a non-seller that Ronnie decided to dissolve the band and take another shot with Sabbath. When most of the 80ies rock and metal bands were on the height of their success Ronnie was already caught in a downward spiral. It began exactly after he fired Viv. Years before Grunge hit.
@@berwinenzemann3468 and ALL the 80s hair metal bands died in the 90s. Sacred Heart was lame. On that album Dio gave Vivian more latitude in the writing process. That explains why it's weak, very weak! Dream Evil is a million times better than SH. But classic metal was already dying. Bon Jovi and company killed classic metal. I liked GnR. I give them credit for killing hair/glam metal
One of the greatest of all Rock voices of all time - right there with the caliber of Sammy Hagar, not to mention a few others. And he's STILL not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That whole awards organization is a sham anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.
I find it hard to believe he listened to 4,000 tapes of unknown guitarists but OK it's cool for the story. HD should have stuck with the Dream Evil lineup, there was nothing wrong with that album. I'd like to know why Ronnie never asked Rowan back for any of the albums after Lock Up The Wolves.
It sucks that “Dream Evil” was so unemployable to make for RJD, because it’s much better than “Lock Up The Wolves.” (although the latter has some great moments)
Ronnie was not all time nice guy as people always portray him. He was a tough businessman who hired and fired a lot of musicians. So he learned a lot from Blackmore.
It's kinda sad that Ronnie tossed Rowan Robertson and dissolved the band because the album underperformed. He was a great guitar player. From a technical standpoint maybe the best guitar player Dio ever head besides Doug Aldrich. But at the end of the day it's always about numbers and money.
Its weird Ronnie refers the first whitesnake when they knew each other since Elf and Purple were toured together Ronnie made background vocals on Northwinds album (1978), he knows that whitesnake had 10 records before 1987
Rowan influenced me so much when I was learning to play guitar he could shred but still be melodic and memorable. He should have been the next guitar hero but the shitty grunge crap happened and it was suddenly uncool to be good on guitar
I thought the Lock Up the Wolves album was blazing guitar all the way through, great riffs & solos etc, but the actual songs were not as good as the previous albums. With a different guitarist it would probably have been a turkey.
I agree. The guitar sound itself is massive, probably the best guitar tone on any Dio album. And Rowan's guitar playing is amazing, enthusiastic... but the songs themselves were quite uninspired and I think the next two albums had stronger songs
Unfortunately Lock Up The Wolves was a commercial failure. Dream Evil already sold maybe a tenth of what Sacred Heart sold. With Lock Up The Wolves it got even worse. That's why Ronnie dissolved the band and reunited with Sabbath who struggled with the same problems. But Tony and Geezer felt they could make even more money if they reunited with Ozzy. Ronnie saw that coming so he put up a new lineup of Dio with a new approach. But Strange Hingways performed even worse than Lock Up The Wolves and with Angry Machines Ronnie hit rock bottom. Magica was the first album to break the downward spiral that began in the mid 80ies. If Ronnie had agreed to pay Viv Campbell and the others more money and continued the style of Holy Diver and The Last In Line instead of the more commercial and polished route of Sacred Heart with the cheesy stage show then maybe he could have spared himself all this.
@@berwinenzemann3468 I recall Dio being in a bad mood because the Scorps asked HIM to replace Klaus. So.....?????Werent Jimmy Bain and Rondinelli involved in a certain Scorps album?
I'll be 60 soon.. however, I was front row in Detroit for the Holy Diver Tour. I saw him coming over and I hoisted myself up so he would see me. Man, he grabbed my hand in strong (power shake). I thought he was going to pull my hand off Lol. I looked up at him and you could just see how pleased and thankful he was that I was there. Its like I could feel the vibe from his energy going into my arm! When I came down the people next to me were saying "man that was bad ass dude" and all that stuff. One of the coolest momments in my life! Just had to share that seeing you shared this. And thanks. The Holy Diver album is timeless, kick ass album.... still one of my all time favorites. jN Detroit 😜
Killer share brother. Can’t imagine that as I’m half your age. Grateful for Dio’s Discography.
I had the same experience in 96 on the Angry Machines tour. I was in the front row and sang along to Heaven And Hell at the top of my lungs. Ronnie leaned forward to my and shook my hand. I was absolutely stunned because he was the hero of my teenage years. I'll never forget that moment.
@@berwinenzemann3468 "not everybody gets to shake the hand of Ronnie James Dio while he's preforming. We are of a special breed brother!" 🤘 😎
@@adamanderson8838 ..... yeah man,, he was a cool dude. He loved his fans for sure. Thanks for the reply. "Rock On!" 🤘 ✨
We're about the same age. Saw Dio 4 times live. The last being in front of the orchestra section (standing room/mosh pit). Looked at each other eye to eye. Didn't get the bro grab though. Congrad's.
Ronnie's chatty like an Italian aunt. love him
Dream Evil was a good album.
I think the real issue was that Craig didn't really get along with Jimmy and Vinny. They didn't really accept him and even wanted him to assign his publishing to them. They didn't accept Rowan either. That's why Ronnie eventually fired and replaced them during the making of Lock Up The Wolves.
Interesting 🤔. M Ames sen.
@@berwinenzemann3468 wow didn't know this. Vinny I thought got along with everyone? Jimmy, Dio has often said he was the jealous/envious type
I agree Dream Evil is one of my favorite Dio albums along with Holy Diver.
@@imnotcreative2214Once Apon a Time
A Radio 📻 DJ said we just heard ,The Last in Line Ronnie James DEVO, Because The DJ had DEVO on his Mind ❤
Crazy to hear Ronnie talk about G N R. So interesting.
Beautiful man.
RIP, Ronnie 🖤
Awesome interview. Lock up the Wolves is a super underrated album. RIP Ronnie.
Musically it's a great album but it was a non-seller. That's why people barely talk about it.
Hey Angel is my favorite.
@@adamanderson8838 What's your situation?!! 😉 👌 LUTW was the first tour I saw him so that album always has a special place in my heart.
🌈\m/💝
I got to know Ronnie and was a Dio fan since around 83. I have never seen this and I was a HUGE fan. Ronnie was such an awesome person.
🌞\m/💝
I saw that tour! It was awesome seeing a 17 year old guitarist playing with Dio as a kid. Awesome concert! Yngwie Malmsteen opened
I saw it too, in CT. It was good…but the band were all new to each other and not locked-in.
Music has always been important to me. I was 13 when Heavy Metal was gaining popularity in the early 1980’s. We had so many excellent bands. When I bought Holy Diver it was the vocals of Ronnie. Powerful music with lyrics that took us on a journey. Gone to soon but the music will live on. You are missed Ronnie.
🌈\m/💝
Ronnie James,you will live forever.......Thank YOU
U saved my soul Dio
Dio reminds me a bit of Bruce Lee when Bruce did in an interview with Pierre Burton, saying to be a martial artist, you must not be given over to style and imitation, but rather express yourself, which is very hard to do. Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system. Kudos to Dio. A very smart observer.
You deserve a 1’000 likes for what was well said. 👍🏼🤘🏼🔥🎸😎
🌞\m/💝
Great interview. Ronnie always candid about things.
Western Front News got one of the first interviews with Rowan Robertson in the States
Ronnie was 48 years old here. A short 2 years later, he released Dehumanizer with Black Sabbath, a criminally underrated album (Sabbath's HEAVIEST album) and then released 2 other criminally underrated solo albums after that, Strange Highways and Angry Machines. I LOVE how brutally heavy Ronnie got starting in 1991 and sadly ending in 1999. The subject matter he wrote about became REAL and it was relatable and he was so angry and vicious on those albums and on all the subsequent tours supporting the albums. More people should revisit those 3 albums.
Dehumanizer is a great record! All the Sabbth albums with Dio are amazing
✌\m/💝
Dehumanizer and Strange Highways for sure, with Angry Machines he went too far in a direction that just didn't suit him.
If it wasn't for the very poor mixing of Dehumanizer, it would have done better.
The song are quite OK, but the sound really took away any inspiration and energy.
Damn shame you didn't keep Rowan because Lock Up The Wolves is one of the best Dio albums ever made and Rowan had become a mate of mine and we chat from time to time. A damn shame Ronnie but you will always be the man on the silver mountain! Rock In Peace Ronnie, Jimmy and Claude. Rowan, mate, Rock brother! From, Ogre.
Lock Up The Wolves was a commercial failure. That's why Ronnie tossed Rowan. At the end of the day it's always about money.
Dio knew he was the king of heavy metal at that time and he always has been ever since then. 😎🤘
✌\m/💝
At 22:25 he practically predicted the rise of the Seattle/Grunge scene. Not that I’m a fan of that scene, but it shows how much of a thinker Ronnie was.
Outside of Alice In Chains same here. AIC does have more of a metal rooted sound then the other bands from Seattle.
@@rustykuntz94 True, they have a Sabbath vibe much as doom metallers Candlemass do, even if they sound so different.
He was so Humble! He is the ultimate voice of Metal.
Rowan Robertson is a great guitarist IMO, would have liked to see him and Dio produce a couple more albums...
What??? He was fantastic. He threw down some damned good guitar work on Lock Up The Wolves... especially to be only 17-18 at the time. As a life long rock guitarist myself, I was jealous of him
They would if Lock Up The Wolves hadn't been such a commercial failure.
@@berwinenzemann3468 quite ashamed that it was, because it was a damned good album...much better than Dream Evil...the album before this one...and Dream Evil actually sold pretty good
@@shreddinjoe I agree that Lock Up The Wolves is far better than Dream Evil. But as a matter of fact Dream Evil was already underperforming. It sold about a tenth of the numbers of Sacred Heart and Sacred Heart already sold slightly less than The Last In Line which was Dio's most successful album.
@@berwinenzemann3468 I loved the Sacred Heart album. The tour was a spectacle, really badass. Personally I think Ronnie made a huge mistake by ditching Vivian...Craig was good but just didn't do much for me, and it shows on the Dream Evil record.
Ronnie I miss you something awful everyday! I'm so glad you made so much great music for all the fans to enjoy. Cheers my man. ❤️
🌈\m/💝
I love the Dream Evil album 😢
This has been a very creative era for Ronnie and I still remember it, as if it was yesterday. Thanks for this precious interview. The quality is awesome as well!
Actually it was a quite troubled era. He just got rid of everyone he played with before and each album sold less than the one before. It was an accelerating downward spiral.
@@berwinenzemann3468 Sadly I agree with you. I saw Ronnie in a club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 95 and only about 150-200 people. I was up against the stage close to him no problem. It was a weird dilemma even though I was very happy to see the greatest singer in heavy metal of all time. R.I.P. RJD.
@@oldschool250 I saw him one year later in 96 on the Angry Machines tour in Tuttlingen Germany. He pretty much hit rock bottom at that time. Fortunately sales went up again with Magica in 2000. Although he would never return to the success of Holy Diver and The Last In Line. I think it all could have been different if he had payed Vivian Campbell a decent salary instead of firing him and hadn't tried to be so polished and commercial with Sacred Heart. At least he has now the recognition he deserves.
@@berwinenzemann3468 Yes, you are right, it was a difficult time for Dio.
Saw him on inferno tour 1998 in a small club in Karlstad Sweden. I guess
300-400 people there. A fun fact is that his Bob Daisley played bas in Dio
on this tour. I think first and only time
they played together after Rainbow.
@@GYX453 Really? Bob Daisley? I didn't know that Daisly ever played in Dio. I know that Daisley played on Long Live Rock N' Roll. Nice anecdote.🙂
When I saw Dio in 96 it was still Jeff Pilson on bass. I saw Ronnie again in 2000 at a festival maybe half a year Magica was released. There he had some young guy for hire on the bass. Never knew who that guy was. It was already Craig Goldy on guitar though.
Ronnie was a very ethical musician who knew to do the right thing, just like Freddie Mercury...miss both.
Yea, it would seem that way, wouldn't it? But the guitarist and drummer of the Holy Diver album have both said Ronnie promised they would start making royalties beginning with the 3rd album, and when it came, Ronnie kept putting off the subject, and when on the Sacred Heart tour Vivian confronted Ronnie and was told no, there will be no royalties, Vivian and the rest will remain salaried employees, Vivian said "Adios, mutherfuckers". Some blame Wendy, but Ronnie had final say, because afterall, it was his fucken band!
And after Viv admitted this in interviews, it hit a real sore spot with Ronnie who bared his teeth and replied with real ugly vibes & words -- really out of character for Mr. Nice Guy. Greed had gotten the better of him -- and I'm sure Wendy encouraged it and fanned the flames, but can Adam honestly blame Eve for his action? She didn't put a gun to his head....It's a hard truth but everyone has some shit in their personality. It does not stop me for a moment from enjoying Dio's work. He will always be my favorite hard rock vocalist.
He could have paid Vivian fairly though
Thank you for this great interview, miss you Ronald 😞😓
He hated being called Ronald.
@@berwinenzemann3468 he is family to me, so I called him by any name I wanted to.
I could never find any interviews with DIO during this period of the bands existence, probably because of the issues that came along with having a young guitarist like Rowan. I feel he proved to be an asset to the band and critic's who felt that he wasn't right more due to his age but Ronnie wanted him since he felt that British players have something that others didn't and yes the album isn't another holy diver or last in line but still was a great album none the less and I still listen to it as much today as when it was released in 1990.
If a box set does come out I hope it will focus on this album and live shows that Rowan played on.
The issue with Rowan Robertson was neither his age nor his musical abilities. Lock Up The Wolves was a commercial failure. That's why Ronnie tossed him to give Sabbath another shot.
🌞\m/💝
I hope someday we’d get a two disc set of lockup the wolves or an anniversary edition with rare tracks & the second cd would be a live concert with that dio era lineup
Will never happen. The album was a non-seller when it first came out.
@@berwinenzemann3468 okay ? But it has become popular over time so it could happen. never say never
@@b_side8669 The Holy Diver album has a broad cult following but only real Dio fans ever listen to Lock Up The Wolves. There's not even a box set for The Last In Line yet although it was Dio's most successful album in terms of record sales.
But I agree that Lock Up The Wolves is awesome and underrated.
@@berwinenzemann3468 why does it have to be real dio fans ? 😂
@@b_side8669 It doesn't have to be real Dio fans. The thing is that all the others generally don't care. When it comes to Dio most rock fans are only interested in Ritchie Balockmore's Rainbow, Rising, Long Live Rock N' Roll, Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules, Holy Diver and The Last In Line. Only people who are particularly interested in Dio usually listen to the stuff that came afterwards.
Rowan is still one of the greatest guitar players. Done some amazing music and is still doing it. Love the custard pie project.
Brilliant! 2:33 "If you wait long you will find the right things. Always. " Very sincere, very inspiring interview, they are talking about the things which are important for them. What a story about the little girl in black, and of course Rowan's beautiful knees 😀
Rowan is still doing his own thing. He's an awesome musician and an awesome guy 😄👍
They’re should’ve been at least one more album with Rowan on it he was great
Cannot be explained any better . What a legend . Long live rock an roll.
Ronnie was such a cool guy. I’ve met Rowan recently and he is just as cool. I can see why Ronnie clicked with Rowan. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more from Rowan.
Great interview. I think that is great advice to give because record companies today want to dictate what bands are while other bands want to be themselves and too often they go under the radar and don't get the marketing they deserve in order to stand out and get noticed.
Lock Up The Wolves got me into Dio is is still my favorite album 🤘
Imagine if you will a world where Ronnie James F'n Dio opens for Metallica. Humble dude right there.
One of the very best in hard rock and metal, been a fan forever
Thanks for sharing this.. Still miss him 🤘🤘
thanks for posting this
So glad that I came across this. Love Lock Up The Wolves. I miss Ronnie James Dio dearly 😢 💔 He was my King of Rock and Roll the man on the Silver Mountain. Rowan is awesome guitar player 👌 👏🏼
Great upload! Thank you brother!
Fantastic interview and Dio was an amazing singer and band leader.
DIO WILL ALWAYS BE KING! MAY HE REST IN PARADISE ❤🤘🇺🇸🙏.
I got to sit with DIO in Oklahoma City about 2001.... very humble but blunt man
I've been a Dio fan since 83 Dream Evil 😈 was a Great Heavy Metal album. What a voice!!
El más grande hasta para hablar!... LONG LIVE RONNIE JAMES DIO!!!
Most excellent interview. Ronnie of course as always the raconteur gentleman. And Rowan,who's speaking voice I don't think Id ever heard, comes across as an affable,honest,real kinda guy. Maybe a bit green but only just and he played like a demon unleashed. Also the fire ( burning higher trying to burn the sun,lol ) on the sides of the screen is a cool touch.
I noticed your Elf lyrics there ;)
I consider Rowan a friend. A good friend. I think about him quite often.
Rainbow set the bar high, but Ronnie with Vivian will always be Dio at his best.
Ronnie was not that tall. But rocked just as hard as those tall ones..
The Man On The Silver Mountain
For sure
Love them ❤❤❤
ROWAN IS BACK, HE IS RUNNING AGAIN, WISH HIM WELL
Great interview and nice to hear Master of Puppets in the background
DIO Taught Me to Chase My Dreams, Believe In Myself, Anything Is Possible, Be Good To Others and Enjoy The Journey... Strength and Honor, To Be an Honest Singer, to Pour My Soul Out with Every Note and Nuance, to Be True To The Song and It's Meaning or What it Means To Me....
DIOs Silence is Deafening but He Will Always Be With Us \m/.....
I have to add.... People don't want to see you trying to sound like someone else. They want to See YOU.... What is Unique About You... Because You Will Always Be the Best at Being You and What's in Your Soul, What does it Sound Like, How can You make Them Feel ???? Be Yourself and Don't Worry about what Other People think about You ... As long as Your Honest To Yourself, Thats What Counts..
Very passionate man here. I sense he new his greatest success was behind him. I wonder why Craig Goldie was let go.
In the sound that frees you from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
So easy to get swept up in the blessings of the sound .
sensational .
Metal trends in late 80s: Metallica is huge, Priest goes Painkiller, death metal on the rise
Dio: Let's see if they like slow blues
Strange Highways was his heaviest album.
Sacred Heart already sold less copies than The Last In Line and Dream Evil sold about a tenth of Sacred Heart. While the other metal bands were on the height of their success Ronnie was caught in a downward spiral. He was desperately trying to reverse that trend. He failed as we all know.
@@berwinenzemann3468 Whats failing in a world where most people on earth think MacDonalds is food?
@@jonblackers4339 What are McD's selling then? What's your definition of food?
@@jockejocke1 Maybe somehow you manage to misunderstand what I m trying to say here. Essentially I said quantities being sold does not always say much about the level of quality a product offers. I here ya if you think " hey, I kinda like that stuff at that " restaurant"!" Over the years I had my share of going there, diminished it, but its really a bit silly, overpriced mediocre almost synthetic throw away stuff. Sometimes I went back after some years, thinking it would satisfy me somehow, often I felt empty and sad like after watching some heabily fabricated porn. Ok, more to the point. What did it say about the audience, considering the momentum of the musical world where loads of trash music like tap, house or grunge was chosen over a ticket for a show from a high quality classic rock band trying to tour the USA end 80s/begin 90 s? Is the audience always right? Rainbow with Dio around 77 was a topband able to match themselves with LED ZEPPELIN, according to Robert Plant who saw the DIO line up. But Blackmore broke his teeth on the tastes of Americains who felt the band was too heavy. Then he tried to adapt, commercialised the band and still did not break the USA market. After the NWOBHM metal became big in USA with much heavier music than Blackmore ever provided. Would the DIO led Rainbow become big if they had waited a few years, were they too early? I m afraid Rainbow like Deep Purple was too European, too much influenced by classical music. One of the main reasons why LED ZEPPELIN won the hearts and minds of America was, besides the role of Peter Grant and the fact people dont like changing lineups, the fact that folk and blues played such a big part in their songs. I love all these bands and dont think because LZ outsold the other bands its proof of being the best. But I wavered off, would not dare to equeal a LZ song to a Big Mac.
Dream evil was best Dio album.Craig Goldy is and was best Dio guitar player. That's my 2 cents.
This is cool to see the other side of Ronnie and the business side also.
Dio predicted great bands from little towns in Texas (The Sword?) or maybe Ghost from Sweden? He truly was a Prophet!
RJD RIP 💯
Lock Up The Wolves was good indeed, but not up to par with Holy Diver or Heaven and Hell of course. The tour was just amazing. Great interview by the way,
Like a Rainbow in the Dark
As much as I love Ronnie, I have to say he was searching for another Viv, which is an impossible task. The chemistry that lineup had will never be equalled. I did happen to see them with Craig for the second leg of the Sacred Heart tour and remember being bummed when we realized Vivian had been replaced. Word had spread already, but it wasn't certain. It was an incredible show as Craig Goldy is easily one of the best. Nobody could replace Viv.
Dio didn't need Vivian ad much as Vivian needed Dio. Dio I'd a world wide mega idol. Vivian is the rhythm guitar player for Def Leppard
@@elinino5275 what's the point?
@@elinino5275 I have to disagree. The record sales dropped significantly after Viv was gone. Dream Evil sold about a tenth of Sacred Heart. Lock Up The Wolves was such a non-seller that Ronnie decided to dissolve the band and take another shot with Sabbath. When most of the 80ies rock and metal bands were on the height of their success Ronnie was already caught in a downward spiral. It began exactly after he fired Viv. Years before Grunge hit.
@@berwinenzemann3468 and how many albums did Vivian sell after he left Dio? Hint- ZERO!
@@berwinenzemann3468 and ALL the 80s hair metal bands died in the 90s. Sacred Heart was lame. On that album Dio gave Vivian more latitude in the writing process. That explains why it's weak, very weak! Dream Evil is a million times better than SH. But classic metal was already dying. Bon Jovi and company killed classic metal. I liked GnR. I give them credit for killing hair/glam metal
One of the greatest of all Rock voices of all time - right there with the caliber of Sammy Hagar, not to mention a few others. And he's STILL not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That whole awards organization is a sham anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.
I find it hard to believe he listened to 4,000 tapes of unknown guitarists but OK it's cool for the story.
HD should have stuck with the Dream Evil lineup, there was nothing wrong with that album.
I'd like to know why Ronnie never asked Rowan back for any of the albums after Lock Up The Wolves.
It sucks that “Dream Evil” was so unemployable to make for RJD, because it’s much better than “Lock Up The Wolves.” (although the latter has some great moments)
🤘🤘
🤘🤘🤘
yes....never seen this !!!!!
heaven and he'll yeh the best
22:23 Ronnie predicting the onset of grunge!
By 1990 grunge wasn't a real term, but existed.
Yeah what a tough prediction. This was 1990. Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden were already putting out albums.
Dream Evil a great album
Ronnie was not all time nice guy as people always portray him. He was a tough businessman who hired and fired a lot of musicians. So he learned a lot from Blackmore.
It's kinda sad that Ronnie tossed Rowan Robertson and dissolved the band because the album underperformed. He was a great guitar player. From a technical standpoint maybe the best guitar player Dio ever head besides Doug Aldrich. But at the end of the day it's always about numbers and money.
Very true * I'm sure the record label had a ton of influence (as always) too on sacking the band due to a poor commercial record
Most of Doug's solos sound the same.
Its weird Ronnie refers the first whitesnake when they knew each other since Elf and Purple were toured together
Ronnie made background vocals on Northwinds album (1978), he knows that whitesnake had 10 records before 1987
Yes that was very weird. He talked like 1987 was their debut album.
@@berwinenzemann3468 maybe that was a deal between them.
David was kind of doing " second youth " at the time wasn't annoyed to begin new in 1987.
Yea..he sang “baby baby baby” with The Redcaps
8:53 HAHAHA he's doing a NON-northern accent. That's funny. Hey mayun.... we need a SANGLE, DUDE!
Rowan influenced me so much when I was learning to play guitar he could shred but still be melodic and memorable. He should have been the next guitar hero but the shitty grunge crap happened and it was
suddenly uncool to be good on guitar
Good interview but not many questions about lock up -lyrics of that album -nothing !!!
Wow didn't know Godly wanted to recreate Rainbow. Thays interesting. Dream Evil KILLS! Sp much better than Sacred Heart
Who had a tenacious d moment w dio and what song was it
Mine was caught in the middle
Rien n'égalera ce qu'il a produit avec Rainbow.
I thought the Lock Up the Wolves album was blazing guitar all the way through, great riffs & solos etc, but the actual songs were not as good as the previous albums. With a different guitarist it would probably have been a turkey.
I agree. The guitar sound itself is massive, probably the best guitar tone on any Dio album. And Rowan's guitar playing is amazing, enthusiastic... but the songs themselves were quite uninspired and I think the next two albums had stronger songs
With a different guitarist it would have been a completely different album.
Rowan pulled a Peter Brady.
Well, here's the problem with that explanation, the songwriting on Dream Evil was superb, the songwriting on Lock up the Wolves was mediocre.
I love it when Ronnie cuts loose and trashes crappy bands!
Why didn’t he say Page wrote a set of rules for stealing peoples songs and getting away with it!?! lol
what the hell happened to rowan at 2:50?....high and twitching?
5:53 he does it again.
Wtf???🤣
There's Roland noodling around while Ronnie's talking. Yeah, he's 17 😀
His name is Rowan.
@@berwinenzemann3468 Lol! You got me there
@@NealVio next time..blame “speech to text”😉
The fireplace thing tells me you stole the video.
No.
The younger they are, the cheaper they are to pay. Wendy will have liked that about Rowan.
Unfortunately Lock Up The Wolves was a commercial failure. Dream Evil already sold maybe a tenth of what Sacred Heart sold. With Lock Up The Wolves it got even worse. That's why Ronnie dissolved the band and reunited with Sabbath who struggled with the same problems. But Tony and Geezer felt they could make even more money if they reunited with Ozzy. Ronnie saw that coming so he put up a new lineup of Dio with a new approach. But Strange Hingways performed even worse than Lock Up The Wolves and with Angry Machines Ronnie hit rock bottom. Magica was the first album to break the downward spiral that began in the mid 80ies.
If Ronnie had agreed to pay Viv Campbell and the others more money and continued the style of Holy Diver and The Last In Line instead of the more commercial and polished route of Sacred Heart with the cheesy stage show then maybe he could have spared himself all this.
I'd blame alot of it on Wendy
Dokken was a Scorpions ripoff?
Maybe he got the idea because Don Dokken was supposed to replace Klaus Meine at one point. But that eventually didn't happen.
@@berwinenzemann3468 I recall Dio being in a bad mood because the Scorps asked HIM to replace Klaus. So.....?????Werent Jimmy Bain and Rondinelli involved in a certain Scorps album?
The best album Dio did was "Dehumanizer" hands down
I know you know what I know!!😜🤘🏼🎸😎
WHOAAAA Ronnie has lip filler !!! It looks sexy, but wow surprising !!!
Wtf is he talking about?
So disappointed to hear Dio dis Dokken 🤷
He stole the melody line of Night People from Dokken's Lightning Strikes Again so he better hadn't been dissing Dokken too much.
Bro that's why I'm saying.. that was so low man like how can you insinuate that Don Dokken doesn't have a special voice!
Rowan was cheap too. That’s why Dio choose him.
Cheap skate Ronnie!🤣🤣