Former DIO Guitarist TRACY G Talks About His Years With The Band

The Dio Message Board recently conducted an inerview with former DIO guitarist Tracy "G" Grijalva. A couple of excerpts from the question-and-answer session follow below.

Q: While you were working with Ronnie James Dio, how much input did you actually have as far as to the direction of the songs?

Tracy: I wrote all of the guitar parts. Maybe I would start a riff and the rest of the guys would join in. Or Jeff [Pilson, bass] would start with a bass line, or Vinny [Appice, drums] would play a beat. We would just jam until Ronnie liked what he heard. Then he would guide it where he wanted it.

Q: Your playing on [DIO's "Strange Highways" album] is very gutsy, in that I mean there is a very full awesome sound surrounding the whole album. I love this album very much, and I know many DIO fans here also love it. What's your opinion on that album and how did you and Ronnie and the rest of the guys approach it before writing it and recording it?

Q: I love the album. The way it was written is that we got together and just started jamming...not much talk or thinking. We all just did what we did at that point. Ronnie was not in the room when we jammed all of the time. He was out in the hallway playing pinball mostly, and when he heard something that caught his ear, he would come in and stop us and say, "Do that again." We would record it with Vinny's little tape deck. Ronnie would take it home and the next day he would sing to us what he wrote to it, and always whatever he came up with to me was amazing. To record the CD, he hired a outside producer named Mike Fraser. He just worked on the new AC/DC CD. I loved him, he just let us do what we do. He did not make any changes, he just captured what we were and how we played. Awesome to me; that's the way a great CD should be written and recorded. Just do it and let the musicians be thereselves and it will flow better, I think.

Q: And how do you feel about "Angry Machines", again I love it,

Tracy: I think there are some cool parts on the CD, but again too much talking about it, too much thinking. Too many changes, all of that recked the magic of letting the music be what it is.

Q: But what was very interesting on that album is the co-written track with Ronnie on "This Is Your Life". A beautiful vocal/piano ballad. Where did the inspiration come from on this very different DIO recording?

Tracy: I have a guitar that Dave Cevantez made for it. He calls it a baritone because it's a six-string but tuned down to low b so it's really low and heavy and dark-sounding. I was jamming on it one day with a clean sound and I played the opening chords for Ronnie and off he went. That sound of that guitar and the chords I played inspired the rest of the song. I was hoping it was just that guitar and Ronnie singing with some violins and cellos stuff. Sounding very dark but cool, because the sound was so different.... Ronnie ended up stripping it all down to just piano and him...again, he has the last word. I still think it's a great song and very emotional. Ronnie sings it truly amazingly.

Read the entire interview at The Dio Message Board.