By Robert Gray

A dark cloud hangs over the lyrical content which permeates Bitten By The Beast, but this is understandable of course: a nine-track deluxe digipack solo effort, Bitten By The Beast’s tracks were penned by DAVID "ROCK" FEINSTEIN, original Elf guitarist and leader of New York outfit THE RODS. David was the cousin of legendary vocalist RONNIE JAMES DIO (of BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL, RAINBOW, ELF fame), and the pair were erstwhile band-mates in the groups Elf and RONNIE DIO AND THE PROPHETS. Ronnie James Dio passed away at 7:45am CDT on May 16th at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas from stomach cancer at the age of 67, something that obviously rocked the New Yorker’s emotions. “There was a lot of emotion involved in some of these lyrics, because during the time I was writing and finishing this record was the time that Ronnie had been diagnosed with being ill” David discloses. “There was a lot going on with me as far as my emotions were concerned, and there were some other personal things too as well. When you listen to the lyrics to some of the songs, you’ll be able to tell the relation of being distraught by the fact that Ronnie was ill, and the other songs that I had written... There’s a song on there called 'Rocks Boogie', which is basically a good-time, rock ’n’ roll type of song, a traditional Rods style song. During that time though, I’d say a lot of my feelings had to do with some of the lyrics that are on that record.”

Featuring amongst the solo effort’s nine compositions is 'Metal Will Never Die', a track that Ronnie fortunately lent vocals to prior to his passing. The Rods members Carl Canedy and Garry Bordonaro contributed drums and bass to the song, respectively. “I did a solo album called Third Wish back in 2004, and shortly after that, Carl and Garry and myself – the original members of The Rods – decided to get back together, and maybe do some recording as well as some more shows,” David reveals. “I had seen Ronnie a number of times during that time while working on some of the material of course, and he mentioned 'I’d like to sing a song; I’d be happy to sing a song on either a solo album of yours, or maybe a new Rods album.' I said 'that would be great.' I really loved the idea of it because Ronnie and I spoke about doing something together for quite the last few years; we spoke about maybe doing an Elf reunion or doing something new together, but because of our schedules – his was very demanding – and because we lived three thousand miles apart since he lived in California and I live in New York, it was difficult finding the time.”

“About a year and a half ago, Carl and I were working on material in my studio for a new Rods album” David continues. “Of course, Ronnie was coming back home quite often to visit his parents. He called me two to three days before he was to arrive home here, and said 'When I’m in town, I think I’ll take the time to sing two songs.' I thought 'that’s really great,' but we hadn’t really prepared anything, so Carl and I started looking through some of the material we were putting together for the Rods album, just trying to pick out two songs for Ronnie to sing. As it turned out, I had just written a song a day prior to that that was called 'Metal Will Never Die', and I didn’t even have a rough version of it put down. The next day, I went to the studio with Carl, and I said to Carl, 'I’d like to put a demo down of this because I don’t wanna forget it with Ronnie coming in and everything.' Carl took a drum machine and put a drum track down, and I put down a lead guitar, a rhythm guitar, bass guitar and a vocal track. Once we heard the song in a rough version, we both looked at each other and said 'This song is perfect for Ronnie to sing – a perfect song.' It was kind of an unusual situation, because usually, it takes me longer to come up with a song. 'Metal Will Never Die' just came out like it was nothing, though.”

“When Ronnie arrived, I went to the airport and picked him and Wendy up, and I gave him a copy of the CD with the two songs on it. He took it back to the hotel, but he didn’t really listen to the CD that night. Then the next day, he came and sang one of the songs, and on the following night, he came and sang on the other song. He came in and basically just listened to the version that I had laid down as a demo, and performed his magic on the song. Ronnie’s talent was so incredible that he could just listen to something in an instant, and then just perform his magic on it. As it turned out, he sang the two songs, and that was about a year and a half ago that that happened. At the end of last year, I finished working on a new solo album, and The Rods are currently finishing up their new album. We decided that I would put one of the songs – 'Metal Will Never Die' – on my solo record, and the other song that Ronnie sang will be on the new Rods record that will come out sometime in the spring. Ronnie and I spoke about doing something together for a long time, and I really feel fortunate that we had the opportunity to finally do something musically together.”

Naturally, the mention of Ronnie supplying his vocals to a track for The Rods’ forthcoming spring 2011 effort leads BW&BK; to press for further details. “The title of the second track is 'The Code', and the song was written by Carl Canedy. When Carl and I were preparing songs for The Rods, Carl brought that song in. We listened to it, and it’s really a great song. We both said 'this isn’t really a Rods style song, but boy, Ronnie would really sound great singing this song.' 'The Code' was really up his alley, and really sounds like a Dio or a Sabbath type of song. Of course, Carl sang on the demo version because he wrote the song and brought it from home. When Ronnie sang the song, it was like light years... I mean, he just took the song and did amazing things with it. 'The Code' is really great, really a great song; I think everybody’s going to love that song just as much as they do 'Metal Will Never Die'.”

Witnessing Ronnie cut his vocals for the songs 'Metal Will Never Die' and 'The Code' was surely a majestic experience, but for David, the experience wasn’t an entirely new one. “I had worked with Ronnie being in the Elf band and before that as well, so I knew what it was like to work in the studio with him,” David emphasizes. “I always told Carl and Gary; I said 'you won’t believe the way Ronnie is in the studio, because he comes in and sings the song. He doesn’t say, 'let me do another one – this part was flat, this part was sharp, or that wasn’t quite right.' Ronnie would get up and he would sing a version of the song that was great, and the only reason he might’ve done another take would’ve been because he wanted to try something different, or he wanted to try something new with it. He was amazing in the studio, and after the recording of these two songs, Carl said 'now I see what you’re talking about.' He just didn’t realize how amazing Ronnie was, especially in the studio because a lot of people go in the studio, and they spend hours and hours and hours recording one little piece, trying to get it perfect and trying to get it right. Ronnie would go in there, and he would just nail it the first time. It would have everything right with it; the right feeling, the right atmosphere, and the right everything to the song. It’s pretty amazing; he was amazing to watch live, and totally amazing the way he recorded in the studio.”

Bitten By The Beast’s closing track – 'Gambler, Gambler' – originally appeared on the August 1972 album Elf, an album David “still thinks holds up over time.” “I did an interview with this person that was in Oregon, which is quite a long way from where I am in the United States” the man explains, who played on the tune in its original form. “He mentioned some of the other songs that are on the Bitten By The Beast album. He said 'there’s one great song that I really like – 'Gambler, Gambler'. Is that a new song you just wrote, or is that something you’d written before?', and I told him 'that song I wrote, and it was on the first Elf album forty years ago.' 'Gambler, Gambler” was written back then, and I just think it’s a great song so I decided to put it on this new solo album. He said 'oh, I didn’t know that. I’ll have to listen to the old Elf album to see how it sounded.' When somebody compliments me by saying that, and they’re hearing that song for the first time and really liking it... I mean, it was a song that was recorded nearly forty years ago.”

An Elf reunion was sadly never to be, but David has fond memories of the group. “The Elf band was a great band” he exclaims. “We were a group of people that were together because we wanted to be together, and because it was a natural thing to be together. We were all striving for the same goal. We had a certain magic onstage, and it was a great experience. That band worked a lot; we started out playing in a lot of small clubs, bars and so on, so we got to really communicate with our audiences because the audiences were close to us. They were bars that might’ve held 200 to 500 people, so we got to make a lot of friends with that band, and played a lot of places and went through a lot. Those were days when we were pinching pennies, and we all rode together and slept together. We just spent a lot of time together, and really built up great camaraderie between everybody that was in the band and also - along with that - made some great music, especially the first Elf album which is an album that musically holds up over time. When you listen to the record today, people still love the songs and they still sound great. We had a lot of great times, you know? It was a typical band situation, but we had very good times, a lot of laughs and a lot of fun, stuff I’ll never forget.”

Bitten By The Beast will be released on November 23rd through Niji Entertainment.