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Marc Storace Audition for Rainbow  You auditioned for Rainbow between Eazy Money and joining Krokus. How did that opportunity arise and what are your memories from the audition? With my band Eazy Money, we used to rehearse in this place where many bands were rehearsing there in different rooms. I was called into the office one day, and it was this guy, Bob Adcock, who was a talent scout. He asked me if I'd like to fly over to Geneva and audition for Rainbow. I thought to myself, "Well, I'm not stupid," … "Of course I will. But don't tell my band, just in case I don't get the job." And off I went. But I was unprepared; it must have been a Thursday and I flew on a Saturday or something. Anyway, I landed in Geneva and Cozy Powell picked me up. He was a racing driver; he had a license for racing. So, then he asked me, "Do you mind if I do a little bit of rally driving on the way to the castle?" And I thought, "Holy shit. Here we go." I said, "Well, you have a license, so I guess I can trust you." We got there with screaming tires; he was an incredible driver. He was sliding – you know how you slide the back into the corners? Ah, man. I got used to that; made me nervous at first. We came into these castle grounds, and I noticed there was a mobile studio there, with all the wiring going down into a cellar window. So, I thought, "Hell, they're recording everything." Roger Glover came down the steps to greet me and we walked in, and there's a couple of the others there in the sitting room. We had tea, as usual with English people and even me at the time, living in London. In Malta, we drink tea like water. The whole atmosphere was pretty intimidating. I'd never been to the USA at this point, and it was like, "Wow, this is how the real thing is," compared to our little house in Switzerland with TEA in the earlier days. So, Cozy said, "Let's go up to my room and listen to some songs and pick one up." So, I picked "Man on the Silver Mountain," Dio's masterpiece. And Ritchie [Blackmore] came in – he poked his head in with a bottle of whisky … "Would you like a shot? It's good for your nerves." I said, "No, I never drink before I sing – not whisky anyway. If you have white wine, a drop of white wine will do." We went down into the cellar, and it was Cozy and Ritchie and Don Airey on keyboards, and it was like, "Wow, is this for real?" We went through the paces and stuff, and when we went up for dinner afterward, Ritchie sat in front of me and I said, "You know, Ritchie, I didn't unpack yet." He said, "No, no. Calm down. Enjoy your food." It was the band and crew in this big room. And then Don Airey comes up and says, "I would lock your room tonight." I said, "Why? What's happening?" He said, "You know, Ritchie gets up to his pranks. So, you never know." So, I locked both sides; there were two doors to my room. I looked outside my window, and there were these nice, white horses out there on the field and I thought, "Wow, am I dreaming? Is this for real?" Anyway, I didn't get the job and I carried on with my band. © VWMusic - July 13, 2021  |