Turning The Clock

By Ken Boyd

It’s always interesting to follow what the prior band members of a rock group are doing these days—especially when they are of the caliber that work with Ronnie James Dio.

Vivian Campbell is no exception.

As most are aware this freshman Dio axe slinger is currently with the mega pop band Def Leppard. But what many do NOT know is that Vivian also has a nice little (very little) side project called CLOCK.

I caught the only public interview that this talent filled little band took part in with a great new on line Internet Radio source: RockNRollStation.com!

There were some REALLY interesting topics broached and I felt worth passing along to the fans here at The Man On A Silver Mountain.

I dropped in a little early—just to make sure the stream was clean—as I had never been to this station as yet. I have to tell you these guys really have a great on line station going. I first ran into Brenden—the jock on the board just before the interview and acoustic show was to kick off. Right away, seeing my log in, Brenden proclaimed himself a Dio Fan as well and put on some Children Of The Sea while we talked a bit about the Last In Line album.

I also have to say that the other rockers in the chat room there were VERY friendly and welcoming—it was obvious many of them hung there on a regular basis.

The CLOCK interview was supposed to begin at 3PM PST, but was held up almost exactly 30 minutes due to the guys getting caught in traffic. In the mean time the DeeJay—one Mickey—played a good measure of Clock and Def Leppard tunes while we waited.

When all the guys finally made it through traffic to the studio, there were no introductions, but I was already familiar with all the players. They are: Viv Campbell; Mark Schulman; Sasha Krivtsov; and PJ Smith.

The interview kicked off with the mention of the fact CLOCK has not been working on anything in nearly two years, but they are back together for at least five scheduled shows in the coming couple of weeks.

Start of the Interview

Talk naturally turned to band founder and impromptu leader, Vivian Campbell. When asked about his past associations, Viv started by mentioning the band that kicked him off and landed him in the career he has build today. SWEET SAVAGE. “Patty Metal,” he termed it, due to it being a band based entirely in Ireland and being heavy metal in nature. Interestingly enough, at this time Leroy and Lenny from Sweet Savage were put through on the phone. It was pretty cool to hear all these guys talking and getting on.

 Viv Cambpell when in Sweet Savage c. 1980

Sweet Savage, Vivian's first band

Mickey talked to Viv about his time with Phil Lynot and Thin Lizy and then they came to Dio—of which Mr Campbell had this to say right off: “There were a couple o’ good ones,” referring to the first three Dio releases, before adding, “I guess”

The second thing Viv seemed intent on mentioning was some writing claims concerning the first Dio release, Holy Diver. Particularly, Vivian claims that HE in fact wrote almost HALF of the established album. Further claims were made that Rainbow in the Dark was actually a Sweet Savage tune called Lady Marion; Invisible was another Sweet Savage tune called Queen’s Legend; and of course the one we are all familiar with already, Caught In The Middle riff initially originating from the Sweet Savage tune Cloak & Dagger.

Vivian talks about HIS creation of the Holy Diver tunes

Talk then moved to what some of the other players had done in the past, or what current band associations they are affiliated with.

I was delighted to discover Mark Shulman (Drummer) will be on tour with Stevie Nicks—her new Trouble in Shangra La album is really quite remarkable. Mark has worked in the past with Cher, and fairly recently Billy Idol.

Mark Shulman Boston show w/ Stevie Nicks

Mark Shulman talks about on tour with Stevie Nicks

Sasha Krivtsov has worked with a Russian rock band (whose name is unpronounceable to most of us—including myself, LOL!) as well as spending some time with a band called Dove in addition to also working with Billy Idol and the son of Randy Bachman (of world famous BTO), Tal Bachman. This guy also paints—you can see some of his art here at this web site: http://www.DesaArt.com Drop by and check it out if you are into that.

PJ Smith, once with a band called No Sweat, is currently working on some solo projects at this point.

In addition to CLOCK and the Def Leppard band, Vivian is also doing some work again with Riverdogs. “The timing has been tight, but we are working on a four track EP for the internet,” Viv informed the listeners of RockNRollStation.com. “I was the last one to come to the party, computer-wise.” He added, mentioning Vinny’s new career as well as Ronnie’s interest in on-line environment.

Viv on Riverdogs and Internet

At this point, the station turned to answering some incoming questions from the listening audience.

The question that I asked (Though I did not get an answer) was:

Vivian, Since you were one of the moving factors in initiating the Hear N Aid project with Jimmy Bain back in 1984, will you be participating in the follow up project Children Of The Night?

In a nut shell here are many of the topics covered during this Q&A session.

Q&A

Q: What equipment are you running now, Vivian?

A: “Telecaster and Les Paul, though I looked at Jackson a few weeks ago, but don’t like them.”

Q: Where did the name [Clock] come from?

A: Vivian, “I couldn’t think of anything. My wife was the one who thought of it.”

Q: What about a new album?

A:  Mark, “[We] have to balance clock and all other projects. Clock is love and [the] other bands are work.”

Vivian, “We have a bunch of new songs, but it’s hard to get everyone together in LA.”

Q: Don’t you already have a release?

A: Vivian, “It’s already out there, [Clock Demo] but it doesn’t really represent Clock. I want to clean it up and add some new ones. That was ’97 or ’98 when that demo was done.”

Q: Where did you do the writing for that first Demo?

A: Vivian, “We wrote most of that stuff in my living room.”

Vivian further elaborated, at this point, more about his associations with the Dio band—as well as some things about Ronnie himself. “In Dio,” Viv told the listeners, “He [Ronnie James Dio] and I never talked. It was strange. It was more like a father and son relationship.” He went on to make some comments and jokes about asking dad for the car keys and if he could stay out late.

“The original [Dio band],” Viv went on, “was smokin’!” He went on to talk about the Rock Palace video of the Holy Diver line up. Any of you who have also seen this, know it REALLY was a\rockin’ demonstration of just how rock music is played well!

“I was fired from that band,” Mr Campbell went on to say of his Dio affiliations, “I did NOT leave on good terms.”

“I do still talk with Jimmy,” Viv went on, “I like him very much…he is back with Ronnie I understand.” Further he mentioned, “I also talk to Vinny. He is doing programming, but still plays some.”

Viv's final words on Dio

As everything closed up Vivian mentioned that the new Def Leppard album would be started in the studio in Dublin around mid-July. So, keep a look out for that.

As for Clock, keep an eye out for an official release, perhaps, sometime in the not so distant future, but don’t expect a lot of band activity due to the busy schedules of all the members in the line up.

Check out RockNRollStation.com

“WE FUCKIN’ ROCK”