SIMON WRIGHT Remembers RONNIE JAMES DIO - "When I Got The Opportunity To Join His Band I Jumped At The Chance"
May 15, 2013, 11 years ago
On the eve of the anniversary of the death of metal legend RONNIE JAMES DIO, Metal Shock Finland's Blackdiamond caught up with DIO DISCIPLES/QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Simon Wright, who shared his memories:
“I always found him to be a real gentleman, really smart, a really funny guy. When I got the opportunity to join his band I jumped at the chance. I was in AC/DC at the time and on the verge of leaving. He was a fantastic person, not only a brilliant singer and songwriter, but just as a person as well; very considerate and humble. He was the boss as well and could crack the whip when he wanted to!It just got better every year, making albums together, we were very tight. It was some of the best years of my career. I’ll never forget him, I think about him every day.”
Discussing Queensrÿche, and there being two versions of the band, Simon expressed: “It’s going really well – I wasn’t sure I must admit, ‘cos there’s a lot of controversy going on at the moment, ‘that name'. We make a pretty good team, we were on the road for about a month in America , doing the whole Operation Mindcrime album and our interpretation of it. Everybody seemed to like it, it went well.
It’s about the music for us – we’re not really involved in the politics, we’re just there to play the music. I guess the legal wranglings of it all will be sorted out in November, so it’ll become a bit clearer.”
Read more and listen to the audio interview at this location.
