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Interview with Dio bassist’ Rudy Sarzo
By Debbie Rao
Conducted on 10/01/04
Rudy Sarzo has been a professional recording artist and an accomplished bassist for over twenty years. During that time, Rudy has toured the world with Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, Yngwie Malmsteen, and now as a full-fledged member of Dio.
During 1981-82, Sarzo toured with the Ozzy Osborne band, which also featured an exciting up and coming guitarist named Randy Rhodes. Soon after Rhodes tragic death in 1982, Sarzo went back to the band that he and Rhodes left prior to joining up with Ozzy- Quiet Riot.
During his time with Quiet Riot, Sarzo recorded the multi-platinum album ‘Mental Health.’ This album helped turn the former bar-band Quiet Riot into a household name. ‘Mental Health’ was the first heavy metal debut to reach the number one position on the Billboard Charts. Quiet Riot was also one of the first bands from the LA Club Scene to reach superstar status. Sarzo and band mates went from playing clubs on the LA Strip to headlining concert arenas across the world. Unfortunately, the members of Quiet Riot had a very turbulent relationship and in 1985 Sarzo gave his six month notice to leave the band. During his years with Quiet Riot, Sarzo appeared on numerous MTV videos, and was voted best bass player by Circus Magazine in 1983.
From April 1987- Sept 1994, Sarzo was a member of another popular rock band of the 80's, Whitesnake. Sarzo recorded the platinum album ‘Slip of the Tongue’ and headlined concert arenas across the world with this band. During the 80's, when MTV ruled the music world, Sarzo and his fellow band mates, which also included David Coverdale, heated up many television screens with their steamy, sensual videos featuring Coverdale’s wife Tawny Kittaen. Who could forget the blonde-haired Sarzo licking his bass and Kittaen doing cartwheels in the famous hit videos,” Here We Go Again,” “Is This Love,” and “Still of the Night.”
Shortly after, Coverdale put Whitesnake to rest and Sarzo reunited with Quiet Riot and played with them from May 1997-August 2003. During this period, Rudy was totally committed to Quiet Riot, but again internal conflicts took their toll and led the members of Quiet Riot to go their separate ways. Quiet Riot broke up in August 2003.
In 2004, the Cuban born bass player has finally found the respect and appreciation he deserves. In February 2004, Sarzo was asked to tour with guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen for a thirty city U.S. Tour. This was just the beginning of what was promising to be one of the most exciting years for Sarzo to date.
In April 2004, Rudy was asked to become a permanent member of Dio. Sarzo performed his first concert with Dio on July 16 in Moscow, Russia. Sarzo says, "It is a real honor to play with Dio. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He makes you feel welcome into his musical family. I am as good a musician as I surround myself with.”
I was honored to interview one of the most influential bass players in rock and roll. Rudy Sarzo is a mentor to many an aspiring musician today, a true professional to his craft and one of the most honest and real people that I have ever met. In this candid, exclusive interview for GlamMetal, Rudy talks about his new gig with Dio, his recent tour with Yngwie Malmsteen, the demise of Quiet Riot, and his new book in the works, dedicated to the memory of his best friend Randy Rhodes. For further info on Rudy check out his site www.rudysarzo.com
First of all Rudy, let me congratulate you on your new gig with Dio. I recently saw you perform with Dio in Worcester, and you were awesome. Tell me, how is the tour going? It started on Sept 29 right?
Actually, it is a continuation of the tour which started on July 16 when we started touring in Moscow.
Great, that is when you first joined the band right?
Yes and every time we go out we like to change the set list. Keep it fresh. So we are doing some minor changes to the set on this tour. We added “Master of the Moon,” “One More for the Road,” “The Eyes,” and “Killing the Dragon.”
I love the opening song One More for the Road. It has a driving guitar edge to it. Rudy, tell me about rehearsals prior to the tour. Was it hard to learn all the new songs?
Well you know Ronnie and I were talking about one of the first things that I wanted to do and it was start to familiarize myself with the songs that we were going to be playing live. So what happened was I was on tour with Yngwie Malmsteen when I got the call to go into the studio to record the album. So I had prior commitments to finish the Yngwie tour. So I was not able to perform on the record. But as soon as my commitments were done, I returned to LA and I joined the band. But in the meantime, Jeff Pilson played the bass parts. But, I got to hang out with Ronnie in the studio. So we are sitting around talking about what we are going to do. So I got the songs from all the records and started familiarizing myself with the songs that we were going to do and also there were some tracks from Rainbow. This is when I discovered “Gates of Babylon.” So I mentioned it to Ronnie and said let’s give it a shot. He said that song had never been performed live before so we included in the set and it is becoming one of the crowd pleasers.
You also are doing a new song from your new CD called the ‘Eyes.’
That song has a real heavy groove. Yes, we were doing that song in Europe. Actually it is the first song that we ever performed live for ‘Master of the Moon.’ We actually toured in Europe before the album was released and now that it is out, people are a little bit more familiar with the record.
How do European audiences differ from the American fans?
You know it is not really the audience. It is really the people that show up for the shows. There seems to be more of an acceptance to metal in Europe. In Europe the state of heavy metal is pretty much what it was in the 80's. There are more festivals. We were doing festivals all over the place in Europe. Where in the U.S., outside from Ozzfest there aren’t any festivals. With the influence of MTV and VHI, there is more hip-hop and so many more genres of music in the U.S. Where in Europe, heavy metal is still of the strongest formats.
Metal still rules in Europe. Dio, also seem to have a very strong following in Europe. I heard that Dio will be headlining the Bang Your Head festival in Germany next summer?
Yes, that is a reality.
2004 has been an exciting year for you. You also got to play with Yngwie. How did that gig come about?
Well, a friend was talking with Yngwie's wife April, who is also his manager. And she asked her “do you know of any bass players?” She said what about Rudy? So she called me up and I said I would love to do it. I have known Yngwie for so long in Los Angeles. But I have never played with him before. So I went down to Miami. We did about 4 or 5 rehearsals and we just went on tour. It was really a great musical experience.
Now was it difficult learning all the bass parts, when in fact Yngwie plays bass on all of his albums?
Yeah, it was quite a challenge. I think he is one of the most amazing bass players in rock and roll. But he is definitely known for his guitar playing. It was fun. I am only as good as the people I play with.
Now Rudy, you have been working with some of the top notch musicians in rock and roll.
Yeah, if you put me in a band with great musicians, I look good.
Rudy, you have such a professional attitude and you have worked with some of the most temperamental musicians in the business. How was it working with Yngwie?
I had a great experience with Yngwie. Nothing bad I can say about him. He loves to play and he has a God given talent.
Yngwie is a perfectionist right?
Yngwie is capable of complete perfection, but he is a rocker and to be a rocker you have to abandon yourself. A lot of nights, he would be up onstage making all the noise, and throwing his guitar around. And out of this train wreck comes the most beautiful melody and you say OH MY God! It grabs you by your heart. He rocks, he has a heart.
Rudy, now tell me about your early days with Ozzy and Randy. Was it hard to work with Ozzy?
I am writing a book about that now. The focus is on Randy. But of course, you cannot mention Randy without writing about Ozzy.
Randy got you the gig with Ozzy right?
Absolutely! He was the one who told Ozzy about me. In the book, I tell how I was the only musician who got to play with Randy in both bands. Randy had to leave the LA club scene. It was stifling him. Ozzy told him, be yourself and be the best you could be. That is when he actually exploded musically.
How difficult was it to make the transition from playing the LA Club scene to playing huge arenas across the world?
It was a transition. You just adapt to it. The wild factor plays a lot into it. You get use to it.
Rudy, now let's take a trip back to the 80's, my favorite in time when you played with Whitesnake. Tell me your favorite experiences with the band. MTV really ruled the world then.
It was exciting. Any time you are with a band like Dio, who is a wonderful man, the way he looks at the band is it is Dio, not Ronnie James Dio, and with David in those days, it was also a band. Anytime that anyone welcomes you into their home that they have built, the band which is their home, which is special. At the same time I respect that and I try not to decorate my room to upset the house.
Now Whitesnake recently got back together, but you were with Quiet Riot at the time. Did you want to rejoin Whitesnake, or was that era over for you?
Well after I left Quiet Riot in the 80's, no matter how successful I had become with Whitesnake, there was always that question in the back of my mind what if I had stayed in Quiet Riot or what if I had done this? Instead of just walking away, which I did, and when I came back I was resolved to stick with it. If I would have been asked to rejoin, which I was not, I can tell you right now, I would have said NO, because it was very important to me to stay in the band. It would have defeated the purpose. I stayed in Quiet Riot and it fell apart, but it was not because of me.
Now, I can remember seeing you play all the time with Quiet Riot at the Station in RI. What are your thoughts on the niteclub tragedy?
I do not want to make a statement, but I played there and I saw what that stage looked like and I would have not lit up a cigarette in that room.
I saw one of your last shows with Quiet Rio in Leominster. I really enjoyed your shows with Quiet Riot. Why did you guys break up?
Kevin just stopped showing up. Let's put it this way, if you want to get out of the band there are better ways to do it than not show up and leave everybody hanging. When I first left Quiet Riot, I gave everyone six months notice. I made the announcement before the tour began in 1984. I would have made more money if I had not done the tour. We lost money on that tour. We actually put the money that we earned with royalties and put it back in the tour. Something very common. You have to be a professional and make a commitment and not showing up is not the way I would have left the band.
Now let’s talk about your musical roots. You are from Cuba right?
Basically, when I was a kid in order to get girl's attention you had to be either jock or musician. I was not much of an athlete. So I said you know what I am going to be a musician. I thought I would get more girls as a musician. It is like salmon swimming upstream, you become a musician, you play all the parties, then you get the girl, and the girl says it is me or your music, and usually the musician says oh I love you honey, but with me I stuck with it.
Rudy, I am glad you did. Tell me about your solo album ‘Digital Prints.’
It was a collection of songs that I did a tribute to my Latin roots for my parents. They have not heard me do anything Latin. I did all the playing myself. It is not a career change. People think Rudy is going Santana on me. It is available thru Weed Music. You can download it before buying it. All the info is available at my website www.rudysarzo.com I am looking forward to doing a metal record soon, but first I have to finish the book, it consumes all my free time. Then we will be working on new songs for Dio's next album.
You also have put out a computer savvy DVD called A.C.I.D.
It is a linear library of bass roots that I put together for A.C.I.D., a program from Sony Software. My library was the first base library for that program. I have done training in South America and the NAMM show.
At the Namm Convention, you have so many endorsements.
Bu t this is actually me going up in a booth talking about the product. Being a bass player, I do my talking thru my instrument. I am so passionate about Digital media, working with audio and video. I have also put a DVD out for people that want to create a nonlinear editor and want to create a non-royalty soundtrack. I also have an instructional bass DVD that I am selling at the shows. You can go anywhere in the lesson, beginning or intermediate level.
In 2004, with all the great music coming from Dokken, Tesla, and Dio, do you see a trend going back to the 80's style of metal?
I am beginning to see a lot of younger fans in the audience. I was speaking to a few of them and they were talking how they were a minority in their school, because they liked that type of music. I said, you know when I was a kid your age, I discovered bands like Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, ELP and I was a minority too. It only matters what you like and not what anyone else likes.
Rudy, you have such an extensive, blessed career. Let’s talk about your dear friend Randy Rhodes, who passed away in a plane crash.
You know it is such an emotional thing. You will have to read the book. I start at the beginning, go to the middle, and tell what happened that day. I don’t want to relive it. The book is way overdue. But I have to be clear about all the details. It is like a house of cards, if there is one error the whole thing falls apart. All of the information that I took is from a journal from that time. Where we played, hotels, clubs, etc.
Rudy, how long is the Dio tour running?
It ends on Oct 30 in LA at the Greek Theater.
It would have been great to see Dokken on that bill. Two great 80's legends together. Absolutely, I know there was talk of it. It is up to management.
Thank you so much Rudy for doing this exclusive interview for Glam-metal. Best of luck on your new gig with Dio.
Thank you Debby, tell everyone to drop by www.rudysarzo.com
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