10 Quick Ones with CRAIG GOLDY – January 2018
According to a recent press release: “Singer David Glen Eisley and guitarist Craig Goldy (ex-Dio), both formerly of GIUFFRIA, have joined forces again in EISLEY / GOLDY, a partnership which sees the two artists bring back the signature sound that launched their careers in the early ’80s.” We get Craig to answer to our 10 Quick Ones about new music, his influences, and more…
1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?
Good question! Yes, there are quite a few special bits that might not be fully absorbed upon the first listen – especially on “Life (If Only A Memory)” and “No More Prayers in the Night”!! I can draw like a photograph and also paint – my family wanted me to be a professional artist instead of a musician, but once I got a job as a professional artist it just gave me migraines!! But then after recording for the Frontiers Record’s album The Resurrection Kings, I was able to learn how to “paint” with my guitar! And this changed things ever since then! Ronnie James Dio and I did all the keyboards for the albums Magica and Master of the Moon and I learned how to shade, develop atmospheres and textures that often are mixed lower in the mix that aren’t so much heard as they are felt!! That sort of thing!! But I got a lot of push back from Dave in this department cause he thinks so simple – and that’s not always a bad thing, cause too much is just as bad as not enough – but eventually Dave gave in on certain songs, with these being a couple of them!! But the album I’m working on now is full throttle on all counts!!
2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?
I’ll never forget that moment and why I wanted to become a musician. I was at a friend’s house listening to the radio and the song “Burn” from Deep Purple came on. I had to check out that album!! So I did and every song was just amazing to me! Just prior to that, I was listening to the radio at home and would often stay on one station for a bit and then have to move onto another cause I couldn’t just stick with one genre! Jazz was cool, Blues and R&B, Rock, Classical all became my favorite for a short time, then I heard the whole Burn album and there it was, and that changed the very course of my entire life!! Ian Paice was jazz based, Glenn Hughes sounded like a white Stevie Wonder and his bass lines were so different, Jon Lord was more classical based, Coverdale more bluesy/Rock and gruf and then there was Ritchie Blackmore – the most amazing guitarist that I had ever heard and still is to this day as far as I’m concerned! But it was that album and line up along with Stormbringer that got me into Deep Purple and became my favorite band and still is! I just HAD to try and learn how to play like Ritchie Blackmore! I spent soooooo much time hour after hour, day after day trying to learn his solos note for note the old fashion way with a tape recorder! So that meant a lot of stop, rewind, play, stop, rewind and I’m still noticing things that I had missed in his solos to this very day! Trying to play a Blackmore solo is like trying to quote Shakespeare!! And I’m still that fan trying to learn Ritchie Blackmore solos note for note, but able to do my own albums now trying to do my thing more than his!!
3. Who would be your main five musical influences?
Guitarists: Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Neil Schon, Al Di Meola, Jeff Beck!!
Bands: Deep Purple, Rainbow, Black Sabbath with RJD, Ozzy’s stuff with Randy Rhoads and Genesis
4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?
That’s like me asking you if you could only pick between one: inhaling or exhaling. Which one would you choose? I would love to write with the Deep Purple guys or Whitesnake. I did get a chance to work with my favorite singer in the entire world, Mr. Ronnie James Dio, and then with David Lee Roth and Joe Lynn Turner. Maybe the Scorpions!! That would be cool too!! I would’ve loved to have written with Jon Lord before he passed!!
5. What’s the best thing about being a musician?
The creativity!! Writing songs that could potentially have the same affect on someone else as Deep Purple and Rainbow did on me! Meeting the fans face to face and trying to be as good to them as Ronnie was!! And the loud playback once you got the album mixed correctly!! Concerts are cool too cause there is something that comes over me that is unexplainable and it’s like being a totally different person, but yet the same person all along!! Every note, every chord matters and playing music that has been such a big part of my life is very emotional and I try and give it my all!! Trying to be album quality playing-wise – live is also something I strive to achieve each night now more than ever! Gonna be doing some more Dio Disciples concerts soon and a couple of concerts with Joe Lynn Turner and those are always such a big deal for me because that music was and is such a big part of my life!!
6. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?
Creature designer for sci-fi and horror movies!!
7. How different is the process of writing and recording music with your former Giuffria band mate in 2017 than it was in the early 80’s?
Dave thinks in more “Commercial” terms when it comes to song writing and I think in more “obscure” terms when it comes to song writing! This on the surface can seem like oil and water – and if it was with any other person other than Dave, it would’ve been oil and water! But he gets me thinking in more “Commercial” terms while I get him thinking in more “obscure” terms and the mixture can often be magical!! This was present in the 80’s, but Dave and Gregg selfishly kept to themselves when it came to writing songs and my parts were utilized, but much like this new album, I didn’t get writer’s credit for that 1st Giuffria album then either other than 3 songs. This time I was given 4 song writing credits, even though I completely re-wrote so much of the songs Dave had started that sounded so generic, which called for a re-write in every song and so many new musical parts added to bring them up to date on every song that he had started and I had finished!! I even had to go head to head with him on these re-writes cause my parts were so different, but eventually he gave in but took the credit! So that part was just like the 80’s, but the material on this album is indeed 80’s-ish, but with a lot of twists and turns and odd drum patterns that I had Ron play!!
8. What track(s) on the 2017 release Blood, Guts and Games do you feel rests best alongside other tracks from your catalog as a guitarist?
Well, the two previously mentioned – “Life (If Only A Memory)” as a writer, “No More Prayers in the Dark” as a writer, “Wings of a Hurricane” both writer / player and I played the keyboard solo on that one too, and the solo in “Believe in One Another”!
9. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”?
At one point there were a few things that I would’ve done differently, but looking back I can see how those things played a part in my growth and experience that made me who I am today. Often some of my worst failures became my greater accomplishments and I learned how “trouble” can be “transportation”. For example: I did a demo for a record company that was interested in me and paid to put me into the studio. That demo got turned down, which at that time was such a bummer. That was packaged as a “trouble”, but that demo got into the hands of David Lee Roth and he called me at home asking me if I’d like to write with him, which is how I got my first Gold Record! So that “trouble” was my “transportation” to a Gold Record from working with one of my favorite singers!! Everything works together for those who believe, and wish from a pure heart without any selfish hidden agendas!
10. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?
Even though I love the Deep Purple album Come Taste the Band with Tommy Bolin, I would’ve loved to have been the guitarist to take Ritchie’s place!! There was a time where I almost was in Deep Purple for a short time there were a couple of concerts that Steve Morris couldn’t make, and since the Deep Purple guys are such good friends with Ronnie and Wendy, there was talk about me sitting in for those concerts but it never panned out!! That would’ve been the ultimate!! But that album “Come Taste the Band” is loaded with such great songs and guitar playing that did in fact influence me and has had an impact on me to this very day – thank you Tommy Bolin!!!
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Category: Interviews