eonMusic’s Eamon O’Neill recently spoke with Def Leppard / original Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell about a number of topics including life, music and why the next Last In Line album won’t be a prog rock affair. He also discussed Dio Returns: The World Tour, which will feature a hologram of his former bandmate, Ronnie James Dio. An excerpt from the interview follows:

Q: You and (drummer) Vinnie (Appice) are literally the last in line of the original Dio band; is it strange to find yourselves in that position?

A: “Well, we all have a shelf life. When you’re younger you don’t think about it, so it’s kind of sobering as we get a little older to be reminded of that a bit too frequently. It was really sad to loose Jimmy [Bain, Dio and Last In Line bassist who passed away in January 2016]. This band really meant a lot to him; he was really, really excited about it and very inspired, and he went out and got a tattoo; it was his only tattoo he had ‘Last In Line’, and he didn’t quite see the finish line. That really knocked us back, and we didn’t know what we were going to do, but we decided we owed it to him and ourselves, and we’d come this far, so we were very fortunate to get Phil Soussan in the band. Phil was also a friend of Jimmy’s, and definitely cut from the same cloth in terms of the playing style, so it’s a good fit. We all miss him, and before we play ‘Starmaker’, we always pay tribute to Jimmy. I know that we’re a nascent band and it’s early days yet, but it’s become an early tradition with us.”

Q: Is it nice to be playing together with Vinnie again, after years apart?

A: “I love playing with Vinnie. I’ve been fortunate to play with so many great musicians through the years in various bands, but Vinnie is just such a unique drummer, and such a powerful drummer, as well as being a great person to be around. He’s a very positive person, and that’s always a good energy to be next to. But he constantly moves the goal posts. Vinnie never plays the same thing twice, and I love that. It keeps me on my toes, and I like to think that when I go out on stage with anyone – with Def Leppard or Last In Line of whoever – I always go with 100% commitment. I take great pride in my work and what I do, and I want to do it as well as I can, so I go out on stage aiming to play 100%, but when I play with Vinnie, I play 110%, because he inspires me that much. I love writing with Vinnie too, because even when we’ve gone in to write songs for Last In Line, or Dio, when no one’s had an idea sometimes Vinnie just plays a groove, and it’s so monstrous and so inspiring that something comes out of it, and you start playing and you find something. So it’s great, I really do love playing with him, and you’re right; he and I are the last in line, we’re the last two standing.”

Q: Have you heard that it’s recently been announced that Dio will be touring using a Ronne James Dio hologram?

A: “Well, I don’t actually know anything about that except that Vinnie pointed it out to me yesterday. He showed me an ad for it that said that it was coming. I’ve never seen the hologram. To each his own; the way I look at it is, if that goes on tour, that will raise awareness of Dio and the catalogue, and by virtue of that, we will benefit because we’re associated in some way, and they will benefit from what we’re doing, so it’s a very reciprocal kind of thing, and it’s all good. Like I say, I haven’t seen it, so I’m not going to pass judgement on it.”

Read the full interview at eonmusic.co.uk.

Live music’s premier hologram production company, Eyellusion, recently revealed initial dates for Dio Returns: The World Tour, featuring a hologram of Ronnie James Dio reunited with the late rock star’s former bandmates from the Dio band. The tour will make more than 80 stops around the globe, kicking off in Helsinki, Finland on November 30th. It marks the first tour of its kind, breaking new ground just as Dio did throughout an accomplished career as a lead singer and songwriter in defining bands such as Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio.

Initial tour dates:

November
30 - The Circus - Helsinki, Finland

December
3 - Fryshuset - Stockholm, Sweden
4 - Rockefeller Music Hall - Oslo, Norway
6 - Progresja - Warsaw, Poland
13 - Bikini - Barcelona, Spain
15 - Escenario Santander - Santander, Spain
17 - Arelene Romane - Bucharest, Romania
20 - Trix - Antwerp, Belgium
21 - 013 - Tilburg, Netherlands

The Dio Returns tour will also make stops throughout Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Venezuela and other countries, with dates to be announced. The tour is expected to come to the United States in spring 2018 and play festivals globally during the summer.

The Ronnie James Dio hologram will perform for the majority of the show, treating fans to an alternating set list that will feature songs such as “Rainbow In The Dark”, “We Rock”, “Neon Nights”, “King Of Rock & Roll”, “Man On The Silver Mountain”, “Heaven & Hell”, “Holy Diver” and more.

In August 2016, Eyellusion surprised fans when it debuted the Ronnie James Dio hologram at the Wacken Open Air heavy metal festival in Germany. The hologram was also tapped to open the 2017 Pollstar Awards, wowing bookers and promoters in attendance and creating excitement for the forthcoming tour. The Dio Returns tour will feature Dio’s actual live vocals, with the Dio band playing live, featuring Craig Goldy on guitar, Simon Wright on drums, Scott Warren on keyboards and Bjorn Englen on bass. Veteran metal vocalist Tim Ripper Owens will also perform, with singer Oni Logan also joining on select dates.

“Working with Eyellusion over the past year and a half to turn our dream of this tour into a reality has been absolutely incredible,” said Wendy Dio, who managed Ronnie James Dio throughout his career and is overseeing every aspect of the Dio Returns tour. “No one has ever been able to put together a show and tour like this and we like to think of Ronnie smiling down as we continue to find new ways to share his music with all generations of fans. We cannot wait to be able to finally bring this incredible experience to Ronnie’s fans around the world.”

“We’ve really only given Dio fans a small taste of what they’re going to see on this tour,” said Jeff Pezzuti, CEO and founder of Eyellusion. “We are creating a completely new hologram of Ronnie, designing an amazing light show and continuing to add more dates around the world to make sure that as many fans as possible get an opportunity to take part in this experience.”

Eyellusion’s holograms and live productions are supported by a team of live music and special effects veterans, including Wendy Dio, who leads industry relations, veteran rock manager Todd Singerman, who supports artist relations, and Kenny Aronoff, world renowned live and studio drummer, who supports business development and technical live production efforts. Chad Finnerty at Digital Frontier FX is Eyellusion’s exclusive content creation partner, working directly with clients to bring every project vision to the live stage. Legendary Hollywood digital effects executive Scott Ross advises Eyellusion on overall content creation for all productions.