Simon Wright

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Drummer SIMON WRIGHT Talks About Recording With HELLION (Video)

Posted by tarjavirmakari on January 1, 2014
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

SimonWright

Source: Blabbermouth

A four-minute video clip in which drummer Simon Wright (AC/DC, QUEENSRŸCHE, DIO, DIO DISCIPLES) talks to Reality Check TV about recording new music with Los Angeles-based female-fronted metallers HELLION can be seen below.

The first set of HELLION‘s new tracks was produced by legendary British studio icon Ken Scott, who has helmed iconic albums, including DAVID BOWIE‘s “Hunky Dory”, “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars”, “Aladdin Sane” and “Pinups”.

A top producer at Abbey Road Studios, Scott is also acknowledged as one of the five principal engineers for THE BEATLES. He has engineered countless classic works, including GEORGE HARRISON‘s “All Things Must Pass”, ELTON JOHN‘s “Madman Across The Water”, “Honky Chateau” and “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player”. Other credits include gold and platinum albums by SUPERTRAMP, DAVID BOWIE, MISSING PERSONS and KANSAS.

In 2012, Scott released his autobiography, entitled “Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust”, co-written with Bobby Owsinski. Promotion for the book included a high-profile event at the Los Angeles Grammy Museum.

The musicians enlisted by powerhouse vocalist Ann Boleyn for the new HELLION include drummer Simon Wright (AC/DC, QUEENSRŸCHE, DIO, DIO DISCIPLES), Swedish import bassist Bjorn Englen (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, DIO DISCIPLES), and up-and-coming lead guitarist Maxxxwell Carlisle. Keyboard player Scott Warren (DIO, HEAVEN & HELL, DIO DISCIPLES) has also been enlisted.

Scott recently said of the comparison between working with David Bowie and Ann Boleyn: “Working with Bowie or working with Ann of HELLION, you’ve got sheer talent.”

Acknowledging Boleyn as the driving force propelling the band, Scott noted: “HELLION was a group of musicians, and over the years, the musicians have changed. The one musician that has always been the same is Ann. So once again, it’s new musicians. The one constant thing about HELLION is Ann, and her incredible voice.”

Said Wright of working with Boleyn and HELLION: “She’s tried to stay true to that heaviness and a certain darkness. She’s sticking to the same formula, just different musicians though.”

HELLION‘s new tracks are being recorded and mixed at Total Access studios in Redondo Beach, California. Engineer Wyn Davis (HEAVEN & HELL, FOREIGNER, DIO) is mixing.

HELLION is set to release a two-disc anthology entitled “To Hellion And Back” in March 2014. Earlier this year the band held a contest to name the album. In addition to music that HELLION has put out throughout their 30-year history, the anthology will also include one new song with the band’s current lineup. A mini-LP of new HELLION music is also to be released in the spring.

HELLION will tour in North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom in 2014 and is expected to appear at a number of major festivals.

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Drummer VINNY APPICE Performs With DIO DISCIPLES For First Time; Video Available

Posted by aliblackdiamond on July 21, 2013
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Source: Blabbermouth.net

Legendary drummer Vinny Appice (DIO, BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL) played his first show with DIO DISCIPLES this past Thursday, July 18 at The Rockpile in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

Vinny is filling in for DIO DISCIPLES‘ regular drummer, Simon Wright (DIO, AC/DC, UFO), who was unable to make several of the band’s gigs this month due to scheduling conflicts.

DIO DISCIPLES, which pays tribute to legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio (BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW, DIO, HEAVEN & HELL) and is fully supported by Dio‘s widow/manager, Wendy, currently consists of the following musicians:

* Tim “Ripper” Owens (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH) – Vocals
* Oni Logan (LYNCH MOB) – Vocals
* Craig Goldy (DIO) – Guitar
* Bjorn Englen (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) – Bass
* Scott Warren (DIO,HEAVEN & HELL) – Keyboards
* Simon Wright (DIO, AC/DC, UFO) – Drums

During an April 2011 appearance on the “All Hail Hair” show on Fightin’ Words Radio, Vinny Appice was asked what he thought of DIO DISCIPLES going out on the road and paying tribute to Ronnie James Dio. “I think it’s disgusting,” he said. “I mean, why are they even doing it? Plus, [Ronnie has] not even been passed away for a year. And, you know… It’s kind of… I don’t know. It’s kind of weird, man. It’s weird.”

Vinny last year teamed up with fellow original DIO members Vivian Campbell (guitar), Jimmy Bain (bass) and Claude Schnell (keyboards), along with singer Andrew Freeman, in a brand new DIO tribute band called LAST IN LINE.

In a recent interview with BackstageAxxess.com, Vinny stated about his involvement with DIO DISCIPLES: “Just because I said it was disgusting at one point, now it’s all over Blabbermouth. ‘To Vinny Appice, it’s not disgusting anymore.’ The problem was they did it a couple of months after Ronnie passed, and then I thought it was awful; it wasn’t the right time. Now they can do whatever they want; it’s cool. I mean, we’re playing DIO songs [with the ‘Drum Wars’ project] tonight, so I was a big part of it. It was just that, at the moment, it didn’t seem like the best time to do it. I’m just doing a few dates with them because they needed a drummer.”

 

Original DIO Drummer Vinny Appice To Fill In For Simon Wright On Upcoming DIO DISCIPLES Shows

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 13, 2013
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Source: Bravewords.com

Original DIO drummer Vinny Appice will be filling in for Simon Wright at the following upcoming DIO DISCIPLES shows:

July
18 – Toronto, ON – The Rockpile
19 – London, ON – Eastside Bar & Grill
20 – Silver Creek, NY – Willow Creek Winery
21 – Poughkeepsie, NY – The Chance
22 – Teaneck, NJ – Mexicali Live!

Dio Disciples

Dio Disciples

Dio Disciples vocalist Oni Logan (LYNCH MOB) was recently interviewed by Kris Engelhart of BackstageAxxess.com; an excerpt follows:

Since Dio Disciples tours with two vocalists, both you and Tim “Ripper” Owens (formerly of JUDAS PRIEST and ICED EARTH), how are you sharing vocal duties for the tour?

Oni: “Well, there are specific songs that work better and lend themselves vocally to each of our voices better than others. Well let me rephrase that, basically what happens is that our tonalities, our quality of voices, whatever suits us as far as what the catalog that Ronnie (James Dio) has being there in front of us, we pick and choose. And we also, when we’re onstage, we share a couple of songs together, some of the classic songs from RAINBOW, from BLACK SABBATH and also we sing a few on our own. And they’re all designed for our voices.”

Ronnie was known for putting on such elaborate shows, very theatrical. What can fans expect to see at a Dio Disciples show?

Oni: “Well as far as production, there is not the production that Ronnie took out on the road with the dragons and everything.That you won’t see, but you will see a quality show with regards to the lighting as well as the participation and how the band delivers onstage and how we perform the songs. It’s quality, it’s the best (I would say) band out there portraying Ronnie’s legacy. With respect.”

To read the interview in its entirety, click here.

Oni Logan

Oni Logan

Drummer SIMON WRIGHT Featured In New Video Interview

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 6, 2013
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Source: Bravewords.com

Drum-line.net’s Camadian editor Evil Ed Nijjer recently caught up with Simon Wright (DIO, AC/DC) following the Geoff Tate-fronted incarnation of QUEENSRŸCHE‘s performance in Seattle. Check out the interview below.

Lucky fans were thrilled when Wright joined Brian Tichy on stage for a lengthy encore set featuring both iconic drummers on side-by-side kits.

On the eve of the anniversary of the death of metal legend RONNIE JAMES DIO, Metal Shock Finland‘s Blackdiamond caught up with drummer Simon Wright, who shared his memories:

“I always found him to be a real gentleman, really smart, a really funny guy. When I got the opportunity to join his band I jumped at the chance. I was in AC/DC at the time and on the verge of leaving. He was a fantastic person, not only a brilliant singer and songwriter, but just as a person as well; very considerate and humble. He was the boss as well and could crack the whip when he wanted to!

It just got better every year, making albums together, we were very tight. It was some of the best years of my career. I’ll never forget him, I think about him every day.”

RonnieJamesDio

Discussing Queensrÿche, and there being two versions of the band, Simon expressed: “It’s going really well – I wasn’t sure I must admit, ‘cos there’s a lot of controversy going on at the moment, ‘that name’. We make a pretty good team, we were on the road for about a month in America , doing the whole Operation Mindcrime album and our interpretation of it. Everybody seemed to like it, it went well.

It’s about the music for us – we’re not really involved in the politics, we’re just there to play the music. I guess the legal wranglings of it all will be sorted out in November, so it’ll become a bit clearer.”

Read more and listen to the audio interview at this location.

Interview With Simon Wright: “Ronnie was a real gentleman, really smart, a really funny guy,”…”I wasn’t sure how things would go with Queensryche with all the controversy at the moment – ‘that name’.”

Posted by aliblackdiamond on May 15, 2013
Posted in: Interviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

163307_239739126163732_1780776823_nDrummer Simon Wright is best known for his work with the bands AC/DC and DIO. He currently plays with DIO DISCIPLES and has also recently joined Geoff Tate’s QUEENSRYCHE.

Simon joined AC/DC in 1983 and recorded three of their classic albums – Fly On The Wall, Who Made Who and Blow Up Your Video. Simon left in 1989 to join DIO. He was with the band twice, the first for a short period; 1990-1991, the second stint from 1998-2010. Simon recorded four studio albums – Lock Up The Wolves, Magica, Killing The Dragon and Master Of The Moon, as well as two live albums – Evil Or Divine – Live In New York City and Holy Diver Live.

Metal Shock Finland‘s Blackdiamond recently had a chat with Simon and of course as it is nearing the anniversary of the death of the legendary Ronnie James Dio, there were some lovely memories shared by Simon.

You can read some excerpts from the interview below and listen to it in full on the player:

Memories of Ronnie:

“I always found him to be a real gentleman, really smart, a really funny guy. When I got the opportunity to join his band I jumped at the chance. I was in AC/DC at the time and on the verge of leaving.

He was a fantastic person, not only a brilliant singer and songwriter, but just as a person as well; very considerate and humble. He was the boss as well and could crack the whip when he wanted to!

It just got better every year, making albums together, we were very tight. It was some of the best years of my career. I’ll never forget him, I think about him every day.”

Discussing the classic DIO album, Holy Diver, Simon expressed the following:

“I think I heard some of it on Tommy Vance’s radio show and it just threw me to the wall! I was like ‘Good God what’s this?!’ Every song is killer, it just blew my mind, what a brilliant album. Great songs, great playing, great lyrics, incredible album.

I always like the song Invisible; I thought that was a great song, a great intro and lyric at the beginning and the riff was a bit different to the norm too.”

Simon spoke of his thoughts on joining QUEENSRYCHE and the current situation:

“It’s going really well – I wasn’t sure I must admit, ‘cos there’s a lot of controversy going on at the moment, ‘that name.’ We make a pretty good team, we were on the road for about a month in America , doing the whole Operation Mindcrime album and our interpretation of it. Everybody seemed to like it, it went well.

When asked about there being two versions of QUEENSRYCHE, Simon continued:

It’s about the music for us – we’re not really involved in the politics, we’re just there to play the music. I guess the legal wranglings of it all will be sorted out in November, so it’ll become a bit clearer.”

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WOLF HOFFMANN And SIMON WRIGHT: To Feature On Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem “Holy Diver” Special Show

Posted by aliblackdiamond on May 12, 2013
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

On Tuesday 14th May from 10am GMT, Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem  on http://www.bloodstockradio.com will be presenting a tribute to the legendary Ronnie James Dio: a Holy Diver special show.

The whole two hour show from 10am – 12pm will be dedicated to Ronnie: the Holy Diver album will be played in full, as well as  interviews with drummer Simon Wright, who worked with Ronnie and guitarist Wolf Hoffmann from the legendary ACCEPT. They will be sharing their thoughts about Ronnie and his work.

It will be three years on 16th May since Ronnie tragically lost his life after battling  stomach cancer. We lost an amazing person and arguably the best metal voice ever.

Tune in for this special celebration of the life of Ronnie James Dio.

For more information see http://trueblackdiamond.wordpress.com/

Also check out Blackdiamond‘s official facebook page at this location

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