Vivian Campbell

Re: Vivian Campbell

I'm sorry to Rick for aiding the change in topic of his thread but some people definitely have a lack of understanding here. I have no credibility to lose....this is an internet discussion board. I never said people couldn't voice their opinions either...seems some of you guys really can't read.
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

I like Phil Collen. I think he is a great guitarist. He has a great sense of melody and rhythm. He is not a metal head but he is very well refined and balanced guitarist. He makes me groovy anyway ..
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

No sweat Jason !


What I beleive Jason was trying to say was that Phil Collen smokes as a guitarist, not that Def lepard Albums have this Blazing Guitar work on them. What you hear on the record isn't always all that a guitarist is capable of.

I have seen live clips of him and he can smoke when he wants to, that said, I'm not a big Def Leppard fan.

I'll tell you what, If I ever meet Vivian Campbell , there are two things that I'm gonna ask, one What happened to his Charvels from his Dio days, and that Just may piss him off since he doesn't like to talk about those days, and the second is whether it is true what was said about him thinking people who like metal nowadays are idiots and whatever.

If he did say that , then I will let him know just what I think of him, spending all my time trying to figure out his licks and being influenced by him for the first half of my guiiar playing life :)
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

"Campbell has gone on record saying he wasn't paid as much as he'd expected and that he strongly disagreed with Ronnie James Dio's band leadership style. Dio has generally not commented on the specifics in recent years, but has tended to be respectful of the guitarist when doing interviews"
That's from a more recent interview with Claude Schnell, which is on the DIO message board. I'm searching for the other one I mentioned ...
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

Found it!

"In a recent interview posted on DEF LEPPARD's official web site, current DEF LEPPARD/former DIO guitarist Vivian Campbell talked about his disdain for hard rock. "The real irony of that is I actually don't like hard rock music," he said. "I know it's a strange thing to say, but I don't really care about my past contributions. Even now I still get these guys coming up to me going 'Duuuuuuuude!', giving me the DIO devil sign and yelling 'Holy Diver!!' and 'Rainbow In The Dark, whoo hoo!!' and it's cool that they remember it, but that music never mattered to me — and still doesn't." Campbell went on to praise and rip Ronnie James Dio, with whom he had an acrimonious split in the mid-'80s, "Oh yeah, night after night, [Ronnie] was absolutely on the money," Vivian said. "An incredibly strong voice and within that niche genre of dungeons and dragons and rainbows and midgets... You know, the sorta old school heavy metal, he's an incredible talent. But he's an awful businessman and way more importantly, one of the vilest people in the industry."

You can read the whole thing here:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=16317
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

I liked the Viv Dio and Vivless Def Leppard. I don't think the union of Def Leppard and Viv was a good match. They were all from the same island, that's it. Musically, no one gained.

I find it hard to believe that Viv would turn his back on what he was good at and made him famous, not to mention all the fans like me that were amazed at what he could do.
Maybe he just got lazy? It takes alot of practice to polish and keep chops like he had back in the Dio days. He used to be noteworthy, now he's notworthy.

I don't say this just to bash Viv, but I realy loved his old stuff, and then he takes a crap on me. Hey Viv, WTF!!!!

Def Leppard was a great band, not excessive talentwise, but a great band.

What is it with bands that "sober up" that makes them so commercial? Aerosmith, Metallica, Def Leppard, come to mind. Maybe that's what happened to Viv. Maybe he just gave up on music, but had no other skills, so he just "halfasses" it enough to get a paycheck.

Sorry Viv, but your comments really struck a chord with me. (a chord you most likely have forgottten how to play)

I still appreciate and listen to the Viv Dio, for the music, but not the man.

Was a fan,

Scott
 
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Re: Vivian Campbell

brisk said:
BTW, I always wanted to ask this.

Isn't "Vivian" women's name?

:laugh2: :laugh2:

Well, I suppose I have to come clean and apologize for hijacking this thread, which started out as a simple pup question. I went on about what happened to VC. Well, I apologize to whomever asked the original question and to whatever the answer was.

But, I really did dig Vivian's playing, and his playing in Dio inspired me to want to buy a guitar, and more importantly to listen to other bands that were up and coming in the day (Maiden, JP et al).

The day I installed my very 1st tape deck in my very 1st car, I went out and bought Holy Diver and played Rainbow to test out the stereo. I can still smell the rain in the air on that cold September evening on the Oregon coast, the first day I ever listened to "metal" with nobody around in my very own car. I later went on to go out with my very first high-school girlfriend, etc etc, while that tape was on. So, you see I have a little of history with Vivian.. I played that tape zillions of times, and still love it. I liked his others with DIO as well, and it was a sad day for me to pick up "Riverdogs" and to hear (like TO mentioned) that VC basically wasn't into the whole scene, and that his style, which was so special to me, basically meant zilch to him. Just saddened me. I went to see Def Lep about a year ago. Collen sounded fantastic, and I could barely hear Viv.

So again, sorry to hijack, but it's a tender subject for me I guess (and for a few of you others as well so it seems).

-Matt
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

brisk said:
BTW, I always wanted to ask this.
Isn't "Vivian" women's name?
Heh, that's what Rick asked Vyvyan's mother in The Young Ones.
Vyvyan's mother replied, "He really is a complete bastard, isnt' he?!" :D
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

wixomwhat said:
Wasn't this topic originally about pickups?
:)
Yes, it was. Since then it degenerated into b!tching about Vivian and arguing about the merits (and lack thereof) of his current band, what's-it's-name.
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

Hey guys , you don't have to appoligize to me for Hijacking this thread, I was a Major VC freak up until I readd somne of this info and I ajm more than glad to hear all the stuff about him good and bad. I really wish though that someone could chime in and tell me what the heck happend to his white skull guitar and his holy diver and last in line graphic guitars.
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

Sykes said:
I liked the Viv Dio and Vivless Def Leppard. I don't think the union of Def Leppard and Viv was a good match. They were all from the same island, that's it. Musically, no one gained.

I find it hard to believe that Viv would turn his back on what he was good at and made him famous, not to mention all the fans like me that were amazed at what he could do.
Maybe he just got lazy? It takes alot of practice to polish and keep chops like he had back in the Dio days. He used to be noteworthy, now he's notworthy.

I don't say this just to bash Viv, but I realy loved his old stuff, and then he takes a crap on me. Hey Viv, WTF!!!!

Def Leppard was a great band, not excessive talentwise, but a great band.

What is it with bands that "sober up" that makes them so commercial? Aerosmith, Metallica, Def Leppard, come to mind. Maybe that's what happened to Viv. Maybe he just gave up on music, but had no other skills, so he just "halfasses" it enough to get a paycheck.

Sorry Viv, but your comments really struck a chord with me. (a chord you most likely have forgottten how to play)

I still appreciate and listen to the Viv Dio, for the music, but not the man.

Was a fan,

Scott


I pretty much agree with this whole post. Viv's pre Def Lep playing was great and pre-Viv Leppard was great IMO. I just don't think the match was good at all even though Steve Clark was near impossible to replace anyway IMO.

What I believe makes bands "sober up" IMO and become commercial(if that's what you want to call it) is they get a taste of being able to reach a wider pop oriented audience which is the biggest audience and they don't want to let go of that hold and be pigeon-holed again into a certain genre.
 
Hey Jason....

Hey Jason....

Jason,

Do you think I could have replaced Steve Clark :laugh2:


After Reading the whole interview from the link above , it sounds to me like there is no wonder Viv doesn't like Ronnie Dio. I mean if he wasn't paid any Royalties for any of those albums then that is just plain wrong and Like I said I can see where he has a lot to say about Dio and wouldn't blame him.

But to dis all the fans who he Had\has because of that stuff isn't right and to me that is one of the prices of fame that you HAVE TO LEARN TO DEAL WITH, and be professional about.

As far as the whitesnake thing goes, it didnt work out and I don't hear him bashing Coverdale, so that leads me to beleive that Ronnie is as Viv says.

IMHO it doesn't sound like Vivian is happy in Def Leppard either, he is whinning about being on tour and not being at home and saying that the band is selling NO records, then later in the interview he was talking about the way that his songs don't always fit in with DL and that he didn't agree with the way the Slang album was made...BLA BLA BLA


I just don't know what to think anymore to be honest, I have my own problems, my band sucked so I left and now I have noreason to lear n any more of Vivs solos cause theres no one to play with, and he is upset cause he is out on tour :( Well he chose that llifestyle when he decided to join Dio!
 
Re: Vivian Campbell

I liked pre Phil Collen Deff Leppard. They were an honest if cliche'd hard rock band. Everything after High and Dry was far to sacharine for me.

Snowdog
 
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