Dio's Jimmy Bain interviewed
 

Story and Photo by Jimmy Church

Total Access Studios, Redondo Beach, CA  

I arrived at the studio and found Ronnie watching an NBA game in the lounge with fellow bandmate and newest member, guitar player Doug Aldrich. As
we sit and watch the game, one can see that Ronnie is a very serious sports fan.
He knows every name and statistic of every player on the screen...if Ronnie didn't sing, he obviously would have been a sportscaster...

Then Jimmy Bain strolled in. Jimmy was in the original lineup of Richie Blackmore's Rainbow, along with Ronnie, which was one of the most
successful rock acts of the 70's. Later, Ronnie would join Black Sabbath, replacing
departing singer Ozzy Osbourne. After he left Sabbath, he formed Dio in 1983, releasing the now classic Holy Diver album. The band consisted of
Bain on bass, Vinnie Appice on drums and a then unheard of guitar player, Vivian Campbell, who was recommended to Ronnie by Jimmy Bain. Vivian
eventually left Dio for Whitesnake and is now playing guitar for Def Leppard.
Then the owner of Total Access, Wyn Davis, who is also engineering the CD,stopped by the lounge to say that he was ready to start mixing and off
went Ronnie and Doug...leaving Jimmy Bain and myself to have a little talk...

Jimmy Church: So, how's the mixing coming along?
Jimmy Bain: So far, so good!  It's a great album. It's getting back to the basics...straight forward...great songs. It's pretty straight forward for the band,
compared to what we've done in the past, which is really good for us to do.
JC: On this record, you used the Ashdown ABM C410-500 combo...
JB: (interrupting) Yes, I did!
JC: (laughing)...which isn't what you use on the road...before Ashdown,
what did you use?
JB: (laughing)...well, I've used everything.  Amps with SVT 810's, Yamaha 115 combos, Gallian Krueger and until I played Ashdown I was using an
SVT II with an older 810 for the studio. On the Holy Diver album I used an old, original SVT.
JC: This time out, what was different about the Ashdown combo?
JB: Well, first it gives me a more ballsy sound...more of an edge. See, I play with a
pick and the Ashdown gives me much more variance in tone than I can get with tweaking the knobs of an SVT forever, and getting nothing from it. With
the Ashdown, I can just sent the thing up and plug in. Pretty much it's got great tone right out of the box. The eq controls are layed out so that I can dial it in very fast and leave it.  I think we used the same sound on every track...on a couple of things I changed tones for the song...small things...but pretty much the same eq from the first song.
JC: How long did it take for you to dial your sound in?
JB: Well, I was using the combo, not my big Ashdown rig, for rehearsals for the album...so, it was set up with the eq from that...then they...
JC: Who is 'they'?
JB: Ronnie and Wyn Davis. Wyn owns the studio and is engineering and co-producing the CD...so, they wanted to put up some Ampegs next to the
Ashdown and listen. They wanted to make sure the Ashdown would cut through on a rock record like this...and it did! So, it took about a day of screwing around to find sounds. I really love the tone of the Ashdown. I really do. You can crank it up and get this sort of nasty thing going on, which I love, and it's always warm with this edge. It's got a lot of tonal diversity, which is great.
JC: Did you use the sub-harmonizer on anything?
JB: No, I didn't get a chance to use it. I wanted to. We had a few ideas where we wanted to get it in there, but the songs are so straight ahead that it just didn't feel right for this record.
JC: How many songs made it to the mix?
JB: Ten. We're on our fifth mix...
JC: And, how's your bass sitting in the mixes?
JB: It's loud! (laughter) The way it should be!
JC: Did you use both a D.I. and a mic?
JB: Yes, we used both...an RE-20 along with the D.I.We also used the D.I. post eq!
JC: What bass did you use?
JB: A 65 Fender Jazz for most of it. I also used a Yamaha Motion bass,
which I don't think they make anymore...but, it was the Jazz on almost everything.
JC: Did the band set up live?
JB: Well, we did only when we cut the drums. Doug and I set up just enough for Simon to play along with...then after that I set up the bass rigs and cut the bass alone, in the control room. We've done it that way for a long time...
JC: So, you've got a new guitar player...
JB: Doug Aldrich.
JC: Yes, and Dio has always managed to start the careers of many great players...like Vivian Campbell...what's it like working with Doug when
you've got such a heritage in the past of finding these guys?
JB: Doug is the best. He's the best guitar player I've ever worked with. I did a session with him eight or nine months ago on a tribute record, and I was so impressed. He tried out for Dio once before about ten years ago, and we really wanted him in the band but things just didn't work out. This time around, though, everything was right. The guitar player we had just wasn't into being in a band anymore and the timing was perfect to work with Doug again. We all felt it was fate that this was supposed to happen. It was definitely worth the ten years. Doug is an amazing player. The best.
JC: What do you think your fans are going to make of this album?
JB: I think they'll be impressed...it's um, such a kick-ass record. It's got up-tempo songs on it. It doesn't have a hidden agenda or theme to it,  just straight-ahead rock and roll.
JC: It's almost 20 years since the Holy Diver album was released...how has the band progessed?
JB: Well, it seems we've come full circle! We're actually back to where we started. Holy Diver was a collection of great straight-ahead songs as well.
All of the songs on this record were pretty much writting by Ronnie and myself. I'm sort of a guitar player...I play bass...but, I can play guitar good enough to write a song. Which I think make the songs more basic...I mean, they have interesting parts in them, but I think they rock like they do because of the limited talents that Ronnie and I have at playing guitar.
JC: Don't you have a little Ashdown Kidd 2008 amp at home?
JB: Yes, I do. I didn't write much of this record with it...I didn't get it in time to
do much, we wrote a two songs while we were here that I wrote with it, though, at home at night after we left for the day. But, I've already written of bunch of songs for the next record with it. Great sound. It's a great amp to have at home when you need a real sound, you know, in the bedroom. Great overdrive sound. Very tasty and condusive for writing and being inspired.
JC: You could almost record with it...
JB: I'm sure you could...in fact, you could definitely record with a Kidd.
I most likely will. We are planning on taking some recording gear on the road...Doug and I will have the next record written by the time we get off the road next year. Most of the time we'll get off the road and write for the studio. The plan this time around is to have 30 or 40 songs ready to go when we are done with the tour a year from now.
JC: What's the first tour to support this record?
JB: We're actually going out with Deep Purple
and the Scorpions for ten weeks here in the States, starting at the end of May and ending in August. Then we're going over to Europe to do the same thing.
JC: What do you use for a live rig?
JB: I'm using four ABM 900 heads with four ABM 810's and four 410H cabs.
JC: That's gotta be almost ten feet tall!
JB: Yeah, well...(laughing)...usually what I do is, well, I most likely
won't have them all cranked...what I do is I have the two outside stacks
turned up, and the two in the middle turned down about 10db and it
sounds great on the stage.
JC: Well, Jimmy, I'd like to thank you for taking the time during the
mix to sit down with me...

JC: Thanks, Jimmy.
JB: No, thank you, Jimmy!