It was absolutely heartbreaking to hear that Ronnie James
Dio passed away earlier this week. The bands's sincerest
and deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.
To us, he was and always be one of the greatest singers in
metal. All week, I have been reminiscing about the past
and thinking how much Dio was a huge influence on me, both
musically and lyrically. To me, his music, imagery, aura,
and showmanship was simply true metal at its finest. Back
in the day, I used to buy his albums on cassette and vinyl.
I kept listening to the cassettes over and over, so many
times that I kept wearing out the tapes and rebuying them
them. I played the vinyl on special occasions as I didn't
want to scratch them. Plus the album covers were pieces of
art to me. I remember the days back in high school when I
used to draw out the Dio logo down to the detail on every one
of my blue canvas binders. My wife too is a huge Dio fan.
In fact she is a HUGE Rainbow fan to say the least. She
told me the other day when we were listening to Rainbow
Rising, that she feels so sad that she lost her Elvis.
She so is right, we lost our Elvis.


John Tsantakis, guitarist of Gothic Knights

April 23, 2010