Drummer Vinny Appice had a recent conversation with Backstage Pass where he discussed his recently completed Brazilian tour in which he paid tribute to Black Sabbath and Dio.
During the interview, Appice said:
“I’ve got a great band down there. I’ve done it three times down in South America. And what we play is a lot of stuff from ‘The Mob Rules’, ‘Dehumanizer’ and some old Sabbath, ‘Heaven And Hell’, all that, and a little bit of Dio. And they just go crazy. I played five shows. They were all pretty much sold out, smaller places, but packed. And they know all the words. They know all the melodies.
”They’re so passionate about their music. It’s incredible. So I had a great time. And 40 years later, they just love this stuff. And I’m doing them in the States now as well. I did five shows a couple of months back. And as we have time off with Last In Line with Vivian Campbell, I’ll be booking these shows.
”And it’s a fun thing for me playing all this old stuff. It’s low-stress. We’re not trying to sell records. We’re not trying to become a big band. It’s more of a tribute, to me. So I call it like a ‘tribute plus’ to Black Sabbath, Dio. I’m the ‘plus’.”
Adding why he thinks there’s a huge interest in seeing himself perform Black Sabbath and Dio classics, Vinny Appice said:
”When I played here (in the U.S.), places were packed and people loved it as well. Because I’m the only guy now from the original (Black Sabbath) band that’s out there. Tony (Iommi) and Geezer (Butler), no more. Ozzy (Osbourne), it seems like no more.
”And I was the only other drummer in the beginning; I made some of the albums with them. So I think that the time is perfect now for me that I still wanna do this, go out and play, play this stuff. People wanna hear it.”