| HOST EMC Wasp: | Hey! |
| Doug Aldrich: | Hello you all!!! |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Ready guys!? |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Get those questions for Doug in! Can't have
enough! :) |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Welcome everyone!! |
| Doug Aldrich: | Hello all I am so glad to be here!! |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Tonight we're proud to have with us guitarist
extraordinaire Doug Aldrich!! |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Doug is currently enjoying the lead guitarist
role in Ronnie James Dio's band but you also
may remember Doug from his work with House
of Lords, Hurricane and his own band Burning
Rain. Doug recently spent the summer on tour
with Deep Purple and the Scorpions and is
gearing up for a trip to Europe with Dio
that will be starting next week. You can keep up with the latest on Doug by
checking out www.DougAldrich.com. Now
without further delay, please welcome
Doug
Aldrich! |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Hey Doug, very happy to see you
in Dio. I like your Burning Rain releases,
particularly Pleasure To Burn.
Stone
Cold n Crazy! How do you see a third
release
from this group effecting your time
in the
band Dio and THEIR next album? |
| Doug Aldrich: | Thanks for checking that stuff out.....it
is pretty much on hold for a while
just because
of scheduling problems and at this
point
Dio takes preference with me. Some
point
next spring as soon as my commitments
with
Dio are fulfilled I am hoping next
year to
have a Burning Rain ready but Dio has
the
priority. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Hi, this is the question from Yuki.
How do you feel to be here? |
| Doug Aldrich: | it is great to be here it got me out of rehersal
and I am very excited to be here this
is
my first one |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: What can you tell us about the first
time you almost hooked up with the
band Dio?
Any regrets for not taking it? Or do
you
feel you had a chance to grow as an
artist
and a person in that time? |
| Doug Aldrich: | I was very excited about it at the time and
that was in 1990 but I was in a band
called
Lion and I just felt and I felt I was
on
the verge of something really cool
and I
thought my loyalty should stay with
Lion
.... there was a lot of regret after
that
point and I felt that I had made the
wrong
choice but I felt it was the right
thing
to do ....I was a lot younger at that
point
and made a choice to be loyal to the
band.
That is the good thing about
not taking
that job at that time it gave me a
chance
to mature as a musician and a guitar
player. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Doug, you have worked with a lot
of great musicians. How does it compare
working
with the guys in Dio (many have been
around
for a VERY long time) and what do you
think
you might glean from their experience? |
| Doug Aldrich: | It is great working with Dio it is like family.
It is the first time in maybe 5 or
6 yrs
that it has really felt like 100%..
you know
where your band members are like family
members.
Everybody in Dio has been very supportive
especially Ronny and Jimmy and even
now they
are giving me an opportunity to be
a better
musician thank I have ever been. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Dio's tour is the biggest one for
you? What is different from Burning Rain,
BMR, or Lion?(from Yuki) |
| Doug Aldrich: | Yes this is the biggest tour that I have
ever done and it is soooo cool to play
that
many shows in a row....it really gives
a
band the chance to be very tight on
stage
and tobe able to read each other. The
difference
with those bands is that we were limited
to very short tours oftwo weeks or
a month
here or there and just when the band
is getting
together on all cylindars and you canget
to read each others playing without
looking
at each other and the tour ends.....with
Dio it is to the pointwhere we are
just tight,
and can relax and enjoy and put on
a great
show. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Since you have had a good measure
of popularity and experience in Japan
with
your other bands, how would you say
metal
(or rock and roll in general) in America
compares on a fan passion level? |
| Doug Aldrich: | I think in Japan the fans are very similar
to Dio fans. What I mean is, with my
bands
that I have had success with in Japan
such
as Burning Rain the fans have been
very very
dedicated to that band and the interesting
and really cool thing is that Dio fans
are
the same all over the place. They are
very
passionate about Ronny and I think
that is
so great. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Doug, I am really looking forward
to seeing you craft on some of the
earlier
Dio material with seeing how well you
have
handled what has been in the set thus
far!
Any chance Ronnie permited you
to leak
out a bit of what the set list for
the Euro
tour will be? |
| Doug Aldrich: | Ronnie is still making final decisions about
that and we are in rehersals and we
speak.
We are trying out various songs
from
Dio, Blask Sabbath and Rainbow and
we haven't
quite commited to an actual set at
this point
yet. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Doug, I have enjoyed your music
with Dio on KTD and the summer tour.
What
are some of your musical influences. |
| Doug Aldrich: | I am more old school than a modern efficianado
as far as guitar players go...that
would
include in my opinion the great 4 which
is
Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton
and
especially Jeff Beck. Later I was influenced
by Richie Blackmore, Tony Immoni, Michael
Schenker, Gary Moore, and later after
that,
Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, and
the list
goes on...............and Pat Travers
I have
always loved his guitar playing. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Was it more difficult stepping into
a project (KTD) that most of the songs/music
were already written. In other words,
how
versatile are you and was it more difficult
to put that wonderful Doug Aldrich
flavor
into the songs that weren't originally
started
with your input? Thanks for coming
tonight and for adding a VERY EXCITING
new
spark to an already legendary, great
band!
Looking forward to much more
from you. |
| Doug Aldrich: | It was difficult because I was in the recording
studio 4 days after joining the band
and
most importantly I wanted to maintain
the
integrity that Ronnie, Jimmy and Craig
had
started with. Then slowly infuse what
I could
into their songs. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: I have followed you career since
Lion. Where do you find your motivation
for
your solos? |
| Doug Aldrich: | I try to play what is right for each individual
song and sometimes I can rattle off
an idea
that just after listening to a song
or playing
it seems to fit. There are other times
when
I really need to experiment with my
options
for a solo. For example, on the song
KTD
I experimented with spots on the guitar
neck
that would sound good to start the
solo.
Once I figured out where I wanted to
start
from or basically the opening lick
I was
able to then build on it from there.
At that
point, I would experiment with different
endings with ohow the solo would end.
It's
kind of like a jigsaw puzzle sometimes
in
that you find a couple of pieces that
feel
really good and then you keep trying
different
ideas around those parts that fit already. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Doug, how was the tour with Dio
for you this summer? Was it what you
had
expected? |
| Doug Aldrich: | It was great. It was a really really big
family on the road. All of the
band
members in Deep Purple and Scorpions
are
close with the guys in Dio especially
Ronnie
and Jimmy since they have worked together
many times before and everybody was
super
cool to me! watching Steve Morris and
Roger
Glover as well as the Scorps kick ass
every
night inspired me to work harder. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Doug, your guitar tone and style
seems to fit so well into Ronnie's
vocals
and writing--seems so 80ish, if you
will--what
do you attribute this to? Was it a
natural
chemistry fit or did you change your
style
to fit Ronnie's writing? |
| Doug Aldrich: | Yes thank you, it is pretty much an easy
fit, my guitar sound in the band Dio.
I did
not really change anything in particular
although my guitar playing is more
on the
aggressive edge with Dio. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: As I mentioned Iike the Burning
Rain releases, particularly the second.
But
I was wondering how did you come up
with
such an unusual name for the band?
Sort of
a dichotomy! |
| Doug Aldrich: | well that is how I came up with it....it
is just a name that means something
to me...Burning
Rain encompasses the heavy fiery side
as
well as the moody delicate side. I
just thought
I had a nice ring to it. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: When did you start playing the guitar
doug |
| Doug Aldrich: | at age 11. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: What's the biggest thing you've
learned about music or the industry
since
working with Ronnie? |
| Doug Aldrich: | That is a great question....I am stumped
there are so many things......I am thinking
hold on I think one of the most important things Ronnie has taught me is where the best Indian Restaurants are in the country...Ronnie loves Indian food and many times after each show we will order out for Indian food for our dinner.....but seriously, there have been many things that Ronnie has helped me with nd it is hard to pinpoint just one but he is definitely making me in to a much better musician by being around him. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: Prior to joining DIO, were you more
of a Dio-era Sabbath fan or a Dio-era
Rainbow
fan? Which songs do you enjoy playing
live
most (aside from the DIO songs, of
course)
-- the Rainbow or Sabbath songs? |
| Doug Aldrich: | That is tough I love playing both for different
reasons. I think my style lends itself
more
naturally to the Black Sabbath but
I love
both eras and I think being able to
play
both styles is a good learning experience
for a guitar player one being with
Rainbow
absolutely very musical and melodic
and on
the other end with Black Sabbath and
Ronnie
it was a sheer heaviness that has influenced
many of todays current heavy rock bands.
I would like to add Doug Aldrich:
take
Creed for example I know that may seem
a
bit lighter but I still hear influences
of
certain Sabbath tunes in their music. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: What do you think you would have
done if you hadn't become a guitarist? |
| Doug Aldrich: | I can't imagine that!!! I only can say that
I love sports and I played sports a
lot growing
up so I would have loved to have been
a baseball
player or a football player but really
I
feel that this is the best thing for
me to
do is be a musician. |
| Doug Aldrich: | adding again ... if I can get my jump shot
together and if the Lakers can use
my skills
then I might decide to quit music! |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | **We've got time for one more question for
Doug tonight but we hope to do this
again
with Doug when Dio comes back to the
US this
coming fall! |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Q: What does the future look like for
you with Dio? After this European tour
will
you be back in the US again and do
you plan
on working with Ronnie for a long time
to
come? |
| Doug Aldrich: | yes we will be back in November there is
headline dates. I completely plan on
working
with Ronnie in the future. The cool
thing
is that Ronnie knows about other commitments
that I may have put on hold in joining
Dio
so abruptly and I think he is supportive
of me continuing to pursue any of those
projects
such as solo records and a third Burning
Rain record and I value his input and
direction
regarding my career. Lastly I would
love
to work with Ronnie as long as he will
have
me. He is in most peoples opinion one
of
if not THE greatest hard rock heavy
metal
singers that has ever worked and I
very much
enjoy working with him. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | That just about wraps things up for tonight.
Thanks to everyone for coming out tonight
and being so cool! A very special
thanks
to Doug for taking the time away from
rehearsal
tonight! Any last comments Doug? |
| Doug Aldrich: | You know there are many things and many situations
in the music business that either deter
or
promote the longevity of a band these
are
things that are unaware to the fans
and sometimes
it makes it apparent that a band member
may
be replaced or that a popular band
need to
take a hiatus or break up entirely.
This
has nothing to do specifically with
Dio or
any other band I just wanted to say
that
when people get disappointed if there
are
changes to their favorite band or line
up
that sometimes for whatever private
reason
those thing need to happen. I wouldn't
be
here in Dio right now if it wasn't
for one
of those situations. |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Once again, thanks to everyone for coming
out!! Keep up with the latest
on Doug
at www.DougAldrich.com! |
| Doug Aldrich: | I want to say thank you to everybody who
came to the chat tonight |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Goodnight, see you all next time! |
| HOST EMC Wasp: | Thanks Doug!! |
| Doug Aldrich: | I really appreciate all the support from fans of mine as well as all the great Dio fans. It has been a really fun time for me after joining Dio. I have made many new friends and I want to say thanks to those new friends who have supported me as well......Goodnight. |
The questions from me
The chat was held on America Online at Keyword:
Rock Chat
August 19, 2002 -- 9PM ET