The original surviving members of Dio are aiming to tour the UK in July as part of a wider European tour.
Last In Line consists of guitarist Vivian Campbell, bassist Jimmy Bain, keyboardist Claude Schnell and drummer Vinny Appice.
They’re joined by former Lynch Mob and Hurricane vocalist Andy Freeman, who’ll fill the gap left by the late Ronnie James Dio.
Campbell – who left Dio in 1987 to join Whitesnake and has been with Def Leppard since 1992 – tells BackstageAxxess: “We’re calling it Last In LIne after the second album.
“We found a terrific singer in Andy. He can totally do justice to the songs. He doesn’t sound anything like Ronnie, which is great – I don’t want to draw that comparison. Ronnie was a very unique singer but Andy is great in his own right and he sings the songs very respectfully.”
Campbell rejects the suggestion that Last In Line are any kind of tribute act. “We actually wrote the majority of that material as a band,” he says. “I feel like we’re entitled to go out and play it.
“There’s obviously a big legacy of Dio music and I think I’m right in saying that most people would think those early albums are the strongest. So we’re just chuffed to play it.”
He says they’ll play a handful of warm-up shows in California, Nevada and Arizona in June, then head to Europe for a full-fledged tour the following month.
“We just started rehearsing,” he says. “It sounds fucking amazing.”
Campbell’s departure from Dio came after he endured a difficult relationship with the frontman. In 2011 the guitarist said: “I was really proud of the music we made together – but it was tough being in a band together. But he died way too young.”
-Classic Rock Magazine
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