Ultimate-Guitar.com recently spoke with THE RODS frontman David "Rock" Feinstein about the band's new album, Vengeance, and working with RONNIE JAMES DIO. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

Q: The late, great Ronnie James Dio sings on 'The Code' as well as a track off your solo album, how did Ronnie come to sing on the tracks, which are now, some of his last ever recordings.

Feinstein: "Ronnie and I had, in the last few years, talked about doing something together again. We talked about the possibility of having an ELF reunion at one point, and of doing a song on my solo album or The Rods album or something DIO related. But we didn’t really know what actually, except that we wanted to something together. Logistically though because he lived in Los Angeles and I live in New York, it was very difficult to actually get together and do it, so every time we saw each other, we talked more about it, but it was difficult to actually do it. About two years ago, his mother had taken ill and so Ronnie was coming back here [New York] more frequently. During a period where he was here for a few days he offered to sing on a couple of songs. I had just written a song ‘Metal Will Never Die’ and chose that song for Ronnie to sing, which was perfect. And then we chose another song for him from one of the songs that Carl and I were putting together for The Rods album, called ‘The Code’."

Q: How did Ronnie approach laying his vocal down for the recordings in the studio?

Feinstein: "Ronnie just came into the studio, and basically listened to two demo versions of the songs, and then went into the recording room and put down world class performances of each song. And at that time we didn’t know which song would go onto The Rods record and which would go on the solo record or elsewhere actually. We recorded them and they then sat there for the last couple of years. And then, with the sad turn of events the past year with Ronnie getting sick and passing away, ‘Metal Will Never Die’, all of sudden became to me the most important song I’ve ever written. It is now part of his legacy and a tribute to him. And ‘The Code’ is just as important because Ronnie sang on it too."

Q: How will you remember Ronnie?

Feinstein: "I will remember Ronnie as being a great person and not just one of the best vocalists of all time. As a person he very much cared about people. He cared about the fans, and he really took the time to listen to everyone that wanted to talk to him. He always went out of his way to sign autographs and he was a very caring person."

Q: Could you see back in those early days how successful Ronnie would become?

Feinstein: "Ronnie had enormous talent. He was so capable of singing anything. He could have chosen a career like, chosen to become a commercial type singer like Tom Jones or something. Ronnie’s voice was such that he could have followed any path that he chose. He chose the hard rock, heavy metal path but no matter what type of path he would have chosen, he would have been a huge success in it, because his talent was such that it would have propelled him. But early on, you knew that no matter where he went or what he did, he would be a success because of the talent that he had with his voice."

Go to this location for the complete interview.