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Two colours of the rainbow
A couple of recent interviews with ex-Rainbow people.
Ronnie Romero talks to Barstools & Bandtalk:
Bob Daisley has appeared on the Talk Louder Podcast, and it was a protracted conversation, so buckle up!
Despite repeated efforts to scrub his name from the history books, bassist, composer and lyricist Bob Daisley is universally celebrated (and rightfully so) as a creative force behind some of heavy metal’s most defining songs and albums (you’ve heard of ‘Crazy Train,’ eh?). He joins us to discuss the writing and recording of Blizzard Of Ozz, Diary Of A Madman, Bark At The Moon and other albums that made Ozzy Osbourne a superstar. We also discuss his theory behind the fatal Randy Rhoads plane crash; the inspiration of Jimi Hendrix; his time in Rainbow and Uriah Heep; his book, For Facts Sake; and that time Bon Scott bummed a beer, but left behind some cash like a gentleman.
Thanks to Blabbermouth and BraveWords for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Thanks for the Bob Daisley interview, very enjoyable & two good presenters too which always makes it much more worthwhile. No doubt Uwe will enjoy the bass guitar section, the pick versus fingers comments were along the lines of what Uwe has mentioned here before, if my memory serves me well. Cheers.
January 30th, 2025 at 05:32About me Rainbow exist until “Stranger in Us All” included..
January 30th, 2025 at 09:21what came was a pitiful operation to put your hands in your hair. 😱
I don’t care much for Ronnie Romero’s vocals, they sound to generic to me.
January 30th, 2025 at 12:43A feature about an Australian talent – a rare enough combination and therefore most commendable …
😂🤣😁 (Now that was mean and I apologize!)
It’s too long to listen to in full right now, but the statements of pick player vs finger player by the one interviewer are of dubious nature. Stating that Bob doesn’t sound like a pick player? (Even Bob seems genuinely surprised by that.) He has “pick player” written all over his style, much like Glenn Hughes!
For some reason, within the Purple Extended Family, nearly all bassists in the 70s pretty much up to 90s were completely or mostly dedicated pick players: Nick Simper, Roger Glover & Glenn Hughes of course. The Rainbow guys Jimmy Bain and Bob Daisley because Ritchie wanted it that way. But also people like Paul Martinez (PAL), John Gustafson (IGB), John McCoy (Gillan), Chris Glen (Ian’s Naked Thunder Tour) and Colin Hodgkinson (Whitesnake).
The really notable finger player exceptions were Neil Murray of Whitesnake, Rudy Sarzo of same, Reggie McBride from the Tommy Bolin Band, Brett Bloomfield (Ian’s Toolbox Tour) and Gregg Smith (Doogie era Rainbow).
Craig Gruber of Elf played there and with prototype Rainbow with his fingers, but had converted to pick playing by the time he joined Gary Moore in the 80s. Marco Mendoza of latter day Whitesnake switched between fingers and pick (originally a finger player, he learned pick as well while he was in Thin Lizzy to emulate Phil Lynott’s pick driven sound) and most of the WS guys (& gals) who have followed him were finger players with the exception of Michael Devin I think.
Irrespective of whether pick or not, they’re all good players. There are strengths and drawbacks to both styles.
January 30th, 2025 at 13:57I thought it was good that the interviewer brought up the subject of Daisley’s technique, also to get away from all the ‘Ozzy’ talk. As one of them stated, it would be good to do another segment without any Ozzy talk. I noted Daisley sounded and rightly so a little surprised that they didn’t have his book or at least had read a copy of the For Facts Sake book. That was a little bit embarrassing looking there for those two. In regards to the Australian talent pool being drained a little, yes indeed. However we have had Kylie, so all wasn’t lost there is the unique high quality songwriting & performance pool. Cheers.
January 30th, 2025 at 22:28I’ve now heard most of it. I’d have preferred a bit of history on his bands in Australia, Mungo Jerry, Chicken Shack, Widowmaker and Mothers Army, his time with Ozzy is a well-ploughed field. And no one ever asks the obvious question: Why didn’t you continue with Rainbow, was no offer made or didn’t you see a perspective? I still don’t get it why Ritchie, who supposedly got on like a house on fire with Bob, let him go and then spends months and months searching for an equally good pick player, never finds one, and in the end settles for Roger after all other band members, by now desperate for a bass player, have spoken out for him. Doesn’t make sense from Ritchie’s vantage.
Ronnie Romero’s English has gone a long way since he became known with Reunionbow, it also shows in his singing on more recent albums. I thought he was a good fit with MSG, but Michael Schenker is fickle. Doesn’t really sound like he’s in the band anymore.
January 31st, 2025 at 00:08Hasn’t Daisley commented on his Rainbow departure in his book, I have not read it. Maybe one day I will order it from the local bookstore. I have read & also listened to an interview or two online over the years where he mentions it. That he doesn’t really know why and he wasn’t told anything etc. It was all a bit vague and he and Dio were then playing around with the idea of getting a band together, then Dio went off & joined Sabbath and left Daisley hanging out to dry. Words to that effect anyway. Regarding Daisley’s other bands, yes I agree, however as the two interviewers are into ‘metal’, I cannot see them being that interested in that. I could be wrong though, but I think the hard rock and metal and the O$Bourne circus ‘soap opera’ was what they were predominately there for. Cheers.
February 1st, 2025 at 04:16Now, now, don’t undersell Australia, Herr MacGregor, considering it’s geographical remoteness and less than large population, I truly believe that Australia’s music and film culture is highly influential on the rest of the world. From eternal crowd pleasers like AC/DC and the Bee Gees to more cerebral artistry like Nick Cave you offer everything. With lots of noteworthy bands and solo artists like Rick Springfield, Olivia Newton John, INXS, Keith Urban, Midnight Oil and Crowded House (let’s count NZ in for a moment even if they don’t like that there) in between. And within her own dance pop culture, Kylie is of course a hugely influential icon with a half-century longevity, give the sheila some credit!
https://au.rollingstone.com/50-greatest-australian-artists/
Name me another country with a population less than 30 million today, a not much more than 200-year nationhood building history and located at the far-end of the world that has wielded a similar cultural clout. Cue in the music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl8eKxI-zeU
(Yeah, your national anthem is nice too.)
February 1st, 2025 at 15:07In his book, Bob just says he had a temporary contract for the album and the tour and that was finished by late summer 1978. So he was shuffling his feet a little, but he does not mention any offer by the Rainbow management for him to continue.
Now you might think that Ritchie simply didn’t want the continued cost exposure of paying Bob while he thought hard about whether or how to continue with RJD after all hopes of cracking America with the REO tour had been dashed (LLRnR did not pick up in sales during the tour and remains the worst-selling Dio era album in the US), but then why – David Stone was still in the band – always immediately start looking for a new bassist? They didn’t find a suitable one while David Stone and RJD were still in the band.
Bob doesn’t mention any criticism of Ritchie regarding his bass playing (and why should there have been, no one ever had issues with Bob’s precise and disciplined, but creative if need be bass playing) nor did he butt heads socially with him. Their relationship was so cordial that Bob could even make jokes about Ritchie’s only recently replenished hair in front of him (they would banter before a wig shop) and Ritchie had called Bob both “the best bass player we could get and we looked for ages” and “certainly the best-looking bass player we’ve ever had” in interviews around the time of LLRnR. Bob was vain about his indisputably good looks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1dsmZUc84I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZPh8SMiNLk
and Ritchie – a vain man himself – appreciated that, he always liked his musicians “to look the part”. Bob no doubt did:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/music/images/1/12/Bob_Daisley.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180616230800
https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/bob-daisley-unknown-legends.jpg
https://zrockr.com/user-files/uploads/2014/09/BobDaisley-1.jpg
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ozzyosbourne/images/1/12/Bob_Daisley.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180625024133
February 2nd, 2025 at 22:40