In a career-spanning interview with Andrew Daly for VWMusic, drummer Simon Wright - who replaced Phil Rudd in AC/DC for the Flick Of The Switch tour, and then went on to record three records with the band, Fly On The Wall (1985), Who Made Who (1986), and Blow Up Your Video (1988) - talks about his career with AC/DC, Dio, UFO, Queensrÿche, and more.

In the following excerpt, Wright explains what prompted his decision to move on from AC/DC...

Says Simon: "I just wanted to play more, you know? It’s a kind of a regimented style of playing with them. I found myself playing more when I was at home. I had a kid at home, and I’m just banging away to anything, and it really started to eat me. I mean, I knew I could… I’m not saying I could play better. I just wanted to play more, you know? I wanted more fills, so it started to eat away at me. I love drumming, and it wasn’t the money or anything like that, I was doing okay with the money. I didn’t care about the money. I just needed to getaway. So, I managed to jump off the ship, and I met with Ronnie James Dio, and thankfully, there wasn’t a big period of downtime for me. He was getting ready to record another album, which ended up being Lock Up The Wolves. So, yeah, it was a creative thing.

"With AC/DC, it was restricted. I have total respect for Phil, and the band, and everything they do. It’s got nothing to do with the music side of it. It’s just me personally. It sounds crazy, but, I just needed to get away, and do something else. I was lucky enough to meet with Ronnie, and I’d loved Ronnie with Rainbow, and Sabbath, and stuff. Ever since I heard his voice, I thought, “Oh my god, what a singer, and songwriter as well.” It was just incredible, my ex-wife at the time, who is passed away now, knew Wendy, Ronnie’s manager, so we kind of did some back and forth. I met Ronnie on a couple of occasions. We talked, and they like the idea, we hooked up in rehearsal, and I got the gig, and we did the album."

Read the complete interview with Simon Wright at VWMusic.