One Time Dio Bandmate Doug Aldrich Says He Has an Unreleased Ronnie James Dio Demo Tape That Has Only Ever Been Heard By Those Who Laid Down The Track.
The former Dio Guitarist, who was a member of the band for a short period between 2002 and 2006, has revealed the existence of an unreleased Ronnie James Dio demo recording.
The track was written during the sessions for Dio’s “Magica II”, a sequel to 2000’s “Magica” that was left unfinished when sadly, Ronnie passed away in 2010.
A “Magica II” track titled “Electra” made it on to 2012’s “The Very Best of Dio Vol 2”, but Doug Aldrich says “More material may soon surface from the sessions.”
Doug Aldrich hopes that one day, the track he describes as “Haunting and Trippy” can be heard by everyone.
“I offered a copy of the tape to Wendy [Ronnie’s widow] and, I don’t know, maybe she forgot about it.” – Doug Aldrich
Doug explains: It was during that time… Ronnie wrote ‘Electra’. I just played on it. We were kind of bouncing around some of his ideas and working on some of them. Before we did ‘Electra’, Dio had this other one that he said ‘Can you put a solo on this?’ and he gave me the track. I had put a solo on it and then when I brought it to his house, he goes ‘No, no, no. I’ve got this new idea called ‘Electra’.
We didn’t even listen to it. I don’t think he ever heard the solo because we were so focused on promoting the upcoming tour. I was still a member of Whitesnake but I said to him ‘If you work it out with David, I would love to go out on the road with you.’ Because he had asked me to go.
“He worked it out and then he got sick. But there is this one track that is haunting, because the lyrics are… And he doubled his voice, it’s just really trippy.
Listen: Dio – ELECTRA
At some point it will have to come out. I got it, got the mix, I actually have the recording session, which has got Ronnie playing bass, rhythm guitar and vocals. And then a drum machine. “One day.”
DIO – Holy diver (live holland 1983)
