Vinny Appice was the drummer for two of the biggest names in heavy metal, Black Sabbath Dio 's band , as well as other groups such as Heaven And Hell , WWIII , Axis , Rick Derringer , and Kill Devil Hill . He is currently involved with his project Last In Line .
The drummer returns to Brazil for a tour featuring Black Sabbath classics, as well as songs from his time with Dio. It will be a series of shows across the country: Sorocaba (October 25th), São Paulo (October 26th), Santo André (October 27th), and Curitiba (October 29th).
Appice will be accompanied by a band formed by Brazilians Edu Ardanuy on guitar, Nando Fernandes on vocals, and Fernando Giovannetti on bass. “I don’t know these guys. No, I’m kidding. I met them through Felipe, who is my connection in South America, in Brazil, to do a tour, and he found these guys. He said they were great, excellent musicians, and knew Sabbath and Dio songs. So I went there and, let’s see, I don’t know how long ago, but I came to Brazil, we rehearsed, and it was fantastic. I met them through Felipe, our agent,” he said in an exclusive interview with Wikimetal .
The drummer played on a number of albums, but when asked about his favorite songs to perform live, he cited Sabbath classics: “I don’t know about favorite songs. There are so many good songs. I like 'War Pigs', I like 'Children of the Sea', 'Mob Rules'. Those are my top picks. They’re all fun to play.”
However, to decide which songs will be included in the setlist, he talks about his experiences: “Well, I’ve been doing a few of these shows. I just did four shows on the East Coast of the United States, like in Boston, New York, and we had a good setlist, it worked really well. So I used that as a model and we added one or two more songs. We’ll try that in rehearsal. So I use that because it works and they’re really good songs.”
The musician also spoke about the affection fans have for songs that don't always receive as much attention: "We call them deep cuts, the songs you don't always hear all the time. People like that, fans love that stuff. The combination works, so we'll do that set."
Vinny Appice also has a band with musicians who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Dio, called Last In Line, “The band I’m playing with, Last in Line, is with Vivian Campbell , who plays with Def Leppard and he was in Dio’s original band, and we have Phil Soussan on bass, he played with Ozzy, and Andrew Freeman on vocals. We just released an album, about four or five months ago, and it’s all original. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Vinny also commented on his tribute band: "So I've been playing, touring, and we call it Sabbath Knights . I don't know what we call it in Brazil, but it's all old Sabbath and Dio songs."
Dio: Dreamers Never Die was released , and recently, the DVD version was made available: “It’s like a documentary about Ronnie James Dio, his life, which was released about six months ago and now the DVD has just come out. So, a lot of things are happening.”
The musician played on some seminal heavy metal albums, such as Mob Rules , Dehumanizer , and Holy Diver . When asked about his most challenging work, he replied: “Well, I would say Mob Rules because that was the first album I did and recorded with Black Sabbath, and I had to fit into Black Sabbath. 'Like Black Sabbath, how would Bill Ward play this? What would the sound be like?' I had to stay within the boundaries of Black Sabbath's sound and how to play in that way.”
He recalled the early days when the band Dio was starting out, with Holy Diver : “It was a new band and it was fun, there were no rules. Anything could happen, so musically there were no rules.”
"With Sabbath, you had to stay inside Black Sabbath, in the Black Sabbath square. So I would say that was the most challenging," he concluded.
This isn't Vinny Appice's first time in Brazil. Between 2018 and 2019, he was in the country for a series of shows playing Mob Rules , and he also came in 2015 for a drum workshop. “It's been a while since I've been there, and the last time was fantastic. I love coming to Brazil, and like I said, the fans are so cool, and they love the music, and that's incredible. It's amazing to me how much they love the music, and sometimes I get emails from Brazilian fans. So it's really, really good. It's really a place I'm looking forward to visiting.”
He also said that there's no one like Brazilian fans: “You know what I always tell people? That people in Brazil are really cool and the fans are so passionate about music, more than in the US and more than anywhere else. They especially love Black Sabbath and Dio. When I go there and talk to the fans, they are so passionate and simply love the music, it's like nowhere else in the world.”
The drummer finished by sending a message to all Brazilian fans: “Come see us, it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be great! Black Sabbath and Dio. You know it will be.”