Former Dio guitarist Rowan Robertson has an unheard recording of his boss in action – but he’ll never release it from his private collection.
He worked on the 1990 Dio album Lock Up The Wolves as an 18-year-old prodigy, before the singer returned to Black Sabbath for a second stint. And because of the way Dio approached writing, there are full songs which have been completed, but will never see the light of day after his death earlier this year.
Robertson, now with DC4, tells RockStarWeekly: "
There were two songs at the rehearsal stage. We decided they weren’t good enough to make the album, so they weren’t recorded. I have a tape of one of them somewhere but I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving it out. I wouldn’t do that without his permission.
"But there’s nothing recorded properly. We spent ten months writing then recording everything that was written. Ronnie wasn’t the type who would write 20 or 30 songs and pick the best ones. He’d start on a song and finish it, then look at new ideas until he found the right idea to work on.
"I listen to Ronnie’s writing now, like in Rainbow or Dio, and I listen to the craftsmanship, the high standard. He managed to maintain a high standard of writing that was out there by itself. He wouldn’t approach a song like a jam – it was crafted from the beginning."
Thanks for the report to RockRadio.
