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I have also heard that Ritchie Blackmore invited you to join Deep Purple. 
Dan McCafferty: Ritchie did that when he and Ian Gillan had a falling out. Ritchie can be a naughty boy. I think he was trying to mix things up but I told him that I already had a band. We got on fine with Deep Purple. They got along fine with everyone but him. Deep Purple came to Glasgow last year and it was great to see them back together again. Steve Morse is really a nice guy and he really knows what he is doing.Jeb Wright, Classic Rock Revisited, February 2005  Razamanaz actually borrowed a lot from Deep Purple’s "Speed King."
Dan McCafferty: Very much so. Roger Glover said to us, "That is really a bit like "Speed King." I said, "Well, it should be. We don’t steal rubbish, son." When we saw Purple open with "Speed King" we knew we needed a song like that to open with. If you are going to do time then do the crime.Jeb Wright, Classic Rock Revisited, February 2005 Why did you decide to use Jimmy Bain and Bobby Rondinelli for the 'Love at first sting' recording. Jimmy himself admitted he is on the album in a Q&A with us a while back. I was wondering what your thoughts on it all were? 
Rudolf Schenker: This was in 1983, I remember we booked Polar Studios in Sweeden. We had
a feeling we needed somebody fresh to play, which was Jimmy Bain because we knew him from the old days. Herman was the one who came up with the guy... he said "look I know one person I can play with very well, that Is Jimmy Bain." So we went to the studio in Sweeden and we played and then somehow Herman got sick. With the studio booked we wanted to finish recording. The first person who came to mind to fill in for
Herman was Bobby Rondinelli. We called him and asked him if he was available to record with us, he said "yeah, ok, when?". I told him the plane is ready and will be there in five hours. He said "You are crazy!" and I replied "Yeah, Rock'n'Roll is crazy!" He actually made it, he came over and recorded the whole thing.After we finished recording we had this tour coming up, two week tour in America which included the "US Festival". We played the tour, the original band, and the tour was very successful especially the "US Festival". The band talked things over and everybody said "look we feel great now and let's do the whole thing again". Then we went back into the studio and recorded again the whole "Love at first sting". So nothing was left from the Polar Studios recording. Everything was redone with the original band. The Dio Message Board, August 21, 2005 Does Ritchie Blackmore use plectrum or fingerstyle on his electric guitar runs? How did he obtain the whizzing effect in "Fireball"? Did he Lammer the notes in the fast guitar and organ passage in "Child In Time," because it sounds as if each note is plucked individually, which I have found difficult. - Kevin Oliver, Catford 
Ritchie Blackmore: I use plectrum on my runs. The whizzing effect was obtained by running the plectrum down the strings. Some notes were hammered and some played straight on "Child In Time." It depends where you mean. A lot of guitarists tend to play just down strokes but you should learn from the beginning to use the up stroke as well. That makes it much easier. In the time it has taken for the hand to come up and do another down stroke you could have done art upstroke of the same note or another note of the run to make It faster. It sounds longwinded, but it's quite simple, really. Also, if you want to play faster, you can use your little finger as well. Hammering the notes is very Important when playing fast. A hammer note is a note which is plucked by the right hand, but two notes are obtained by the plucking of the first note and the hammering by the left hand of the second note.Any Questions, Melody Maker, December 18, 1971 Which strings would Ritchie Blackmore suggest for a teenage club hand guitarist? What effect pedals does he use on stage and does he play with a plectrum or finger-style? - (Paul Fitton, Nuneaton). Could Ritchie give me any hints on increasing my speed and fluency of playing? Does he use a fuzz unit, and if not, how does he obtain his slightly distorted sound? What does "original contour body" mean on the Stratocaster? - (David Wilson, Bearsden, Glasgow).
Ritchie Blackmore: For a teenage club band guitarist I would recomment a new set of strings called Wallace Round Bead, which are obtainable from Modern Sound, 128 Charing Cross Road, London WC2. I play plectrum style and hold the plectrum between the first and fifth fingers, which is rather unusual. To increase speed, just keep on practising and make sure that you use all your fingers. Some guitarists use only three fingers instead of using them all on certain runs. I don't use a fuzz unit -the distorted sound resuits from playing at 400 watts through a 300 watt amplifier! "Original contour body" means the original shape Fender have always had.Any Questions, Melody Maker, May 5, 1973 When you first met Ritchie Blackmore what was your impression? 
Doogie White: Fuck - that’s Ritchie Blackmore!Working with so many great guitar gods, is there any other guitarist you would like to work with? Doogie White: I think Tony Iommi would be interesting to work with. I’d quite like to write and record another album with Ritchie Blackmore but he is not talking to me at the moment. Brian Rademacher, Rock Eyez, August 2, 2005 Has there ever been a song where live, you've been like "Oh God I don't want to play this again"? 
Bobby Rondinelli: No, but a funny story, when I was in Rainbow, we used to play a song called "All Night Long". I used to play that in a cover band, and we did it wrong. We did the intro wrong, the timing of the intro we did different than Rainbow. So, I couldn't get that out of my head. So, everytime Ritchie would start that song, I'd start sweating, because I'd have to remember the timing on when to come in, because we used to play it for a couple of years in a cover band, wrong. Now I had to do it right. I didn't realize I was doing it wrong until I was playing it with Ritchie. (Laughs) That kept me on my toes. But, I didn't really hate playing any songs.Rock'n'Roll Universe, August 2005 It's pretty well documented that Ritchie has had a strong interest in supernatural matters and also quite a practical joker. Did you ever fall victim to any of his mischief?
Bobby Rondinelli: There was always weird shit, but with Ritchie you could never tell whether it was a practical joke or you were possessed by the devil. (Laughs) He was a practical joker, too. He'd always pull stuff. He hated that I could sleep. I was one of the few guys on the road that could sleep like a log. So, when we were doing the 'Straight Between the Eyes' tour, he made a cassette loop of Kate Bush's "Rolling The Ball", it would just say "Rolling The Ball...Rolling The Ball", he got a boom box and put it outside my door every morning, whenever he woke up. He figured if he couldn't sleep, nobody should sleep. (Laughs)Rock'n'Roll Universe, August 2005 What prompted your departure from rainbow? And what would you do if Ritchie were to call you and say, "Hey I'd like to put Rainbow back together"?
Bobby Rondinelli: I would've probably got thrown out if I didn't leave. We just stopped getting along. Things changed. Rainbow went through a lot of people. (Laughs). I don't know, I'd have to see what I'm doing at the time. I didn't get that close so I don't have to worry about it. I'm really not a good "What if?" kind of guy. I'm like, when it happens, it happen. To be honest with you, I like the earlier stuff better, even though I wasn't on it. I know the stuff we did was great, but I liked the heavier edge of the Dio, Cozy era.Rock'n'Roll Universe, August 2005 Will there ever happen anything with Rainbow? 
Ronnie James Dio: We had a great offer from Japan some time ago. It involved one show which would be filmed for a DVD-release. I opened all doors. I liked the idea, because who knows what else could have come of this. To me it would have been the ideal gift to the fans from back then. That was the single most important reason for me to get on board. Not because of the way Ritchie Blackmore treats his singers. I know that by now.There were talks between labels and managers but those negociations got completely stuck. Then I thought there was no fun to do it anymore. We would have had to put everything aside, but it ended in arguing about money and other terms and conditions. I cut the chord then. Rainbow is past tense for me. Write this down good: Ronnie James Dio will NEVER ever be part of Rainbow anymore. Dio is my priority. I'm sorry for the fans, but that's just the way it is. Aardschok, The Netherlands November 2004  |