4/27/00 - If you've never had the privilege of speaking with Mr. Ronnie James Dio, he may catch you off guard the first time around.  Unlike many "rock stars" who wander about doing interviews half awake and even less articulate, Dio has a way making the interviewer feel as if he's doing a bit for masterpiece theater rather than testosterone rock n' roll.  Dio is highly focused, intelligent, articulate and candid.  He is also very proud.  Best put, it's hard to leave an interview the gentleman and not wish for at least another two hours.  It's hard to get it all in amongst 30 minutes,  Dio's career and ideas are epic.  

The again, never before has the golden throated veteran had so much to talk about.  Magica, both the CD and tour, has been getting rave reviews.  The conceptual record, which mixes aliens (weird electronic voices that dot the album) and medieval sensibilities ("Losing My Insanity", "Fever Dreams"), is a first for Dio.  Despite his long history of fantastical lyrics, Dio had not put all 9 or 10 tracks on a CD with a cohesive storyline, instead allowing each song to stand on its own.  Of course, Dio will be quick to point out that each track, "does stand on its own", yet also works for the whole piece.

Tackling a concept album proved quite a task for Dio and company.  Dio, with the mindset of not sounding trite, avoided the usual between song narration because "It has been so many times before."  Instead, he included an 18 minute narrative at the end of the disc, explaining the story in detail.  "It was nice because people would say to me that they thought I had a great speaking voice.  I knew I could sing, but I wasn't sure how I sounded in narrative.  One thing I had to do was not talk as fast as I normally do.  When I first read through it, it was only about 15 minutes.  When I learned to slow down, it stretched out to over 18 minutes."  He went on to say that he recorded the narrative in full takes, except for one line "that sounded too much like William Shatner. (laughs) When Craig [Goldy] and I were listening to the narrative and it came up to that part, we both were rolling on the floor.  I tried to redo it, but it never came out any diffeent, so we left it!"

Although the album includes synthetic orchestral bits, Dio shied away from using a full orchestra.  "It wasn't a budget thing, because if your going to do something, you should do it right.  It was just that it has been done.  Plus I didn't want to come off as pompous."  He even questioned the artistic validity of Metallica's S&M release, siting that "If they were going to do it, they should've done it all the way. I just think more could have been done with it."  When asked if he thought Michael Kamen was a tad slick, "Yes, I know what you mean!"  

Soon we got on the subject of classical music meshing with metal and he perked up mightily.  "Metal is a lot like classical.  They are both very dramatic."  When asked if Johann Sebastian Bach would've been a metalhead if he lived today, he seemed delighted at the idea.  "I do wonder what he'd compose if he had the modern instruments and equipment we do now. I'm sure it would be amazing."  

Since classical goes with film readily, did he think of Magica cinematically? "To tell you the truth Brian, when I write I'm always thinking cinematic.  So yes, definitely...Magica is actually a trilogy I have in my head."  Like Star Wars I thought!  "Yes!  There's talk of making Magica into a full length animated film...Also, I'd like to take it into medium size, 2500 to 3,000 seat venues and have a whole theatrical production with costumes, sets all set to the music."  

Of course, Dio and company are already playing the ENTIRE album live, from beginning to end, which is also a first for him.  "Yeah, it is a brave thing to do.  But if you have the material and quality to like on Magica, then you [can do it]." 

As far as topping Magica next time around, Ronnie admits doing another concept album right after this one would be bad for comparison.  "The next one will be an all out, straight ahead rocker.  Something different.  Otherwise it won't standout.  It'll be compared to this one and all that." With a veteran lineup and new energy it would appear that the "magic" may strike again.