Make that three Ronnie James Dio tribute acts featuring former members. Guitarist Vivian Campbell (now of a little band called Def Leppard) has revealed that he is planning to perform shows with his former Dio bandmates, drummer Vinny Appice, bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboardist Claude Schnell.
Campbell revealed the news in a Facebook posting made Tuesday (April 30), saying:
“I met up with the original Dio band guys, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell again last night. Now that I’ve brushed-up on how to play those solos again, we’re planning to jam some more and plan to do some gig’s, too. We found a great singer who can really do justice to Ronnie’s parts.”
The identity of the singer he refers to is still unknown. Campbell had actually mentioned in past Facebook posts (made back in February) that he had been jamming with his former Dio members. As it turns out, performing “Rainbow In The Dark” with Steel Panther is what inspired the guitarist to call up his past band mates. This may still come as a major shock to most Dio fans considering Campbell’s past comments about the singer. More recently, he even said that he wasn’t too interested in contributing to a Dio tribute album, saying “I can’t imagine too many guys can sing like that.”
While it looks like Campbell has had a change of heart and is serious about hitting the stage, it still could be a while. Not only is Campbell going to be on the road with Def Leppard for most of the Summer, but Appice has been very vocal about his new band Kill Devil Hill being his main focus as of late. Still, this is certainly one Dio tribute group that many fans would want to see.
Update: According to Classic Rock Magazine, Andy Freeman (a past member of Hurricane and Bulletboys) will be singing with the original Dio lineup. Freeman also confirmed the news via Facebook.
