Summer 1980: I was at DAWK’s house one day late in the afternoon. I remember this so clearly, and I always will. I was no longer in a band, I was alone. It was my time to plan a new life and to reflect on the painful lessons I had learned up to this point. One thing was for sure: I had found my fire; I had finally arrived at the point in my life where I had cast off any fear or doubt about life or death. I was free after many years of jealous comments from assholes at school, students and teachers; assholes at the various shit jobs I had worked at, co-workers and bosses; assholes in my family and their loser friends – they all had a lot to say about my choice to be a musician, (funny how the real losers in life are the first to give advice to others), “being a musician” to all these fuckers meant “loser”, “millstone”, “bum”. I had finally realized that their lives were truly fucked and they had given up on their dreams, so the only way they could escape their own misery was to bring others down; far easier than looking in the mirror.
So what, if I died broke? I had been broke all my life and by this time, being broke was natural; I felt no shame in it. Even if I had money, I would (and still do) spend it immediately on equipment. I did not choose music, it chose me. And so I had burned it into my heart, mind and will: “I will have my say and I will have my day!” I just did not know when or how… So, fuck it and fuck everybody… I didn’t need them, I would find my way and while I am at it, Fuck The World as well!
NO MORE FUCKING OPINIONS OR ADVICE FROM ANYONE WHO NEVER HEADLINED MASSIVE SHOWS OR SOLD MILLIONS OF RECORDS (basically everyone I knew). That was my new mantra!
I had made up my mind never to compromise my music and career in any way or take shit from anyone who tried to stop me. I said I had found my fire (“how so” is another story that I will one day tell). I just want everyone to know my frame of mind while I was in the house (actually a house trailer) of my true friend, my teacher, my partner, DAWK. He was also the greatest supporter of our cause and of my vision of what would one day be MANOWAR.
The phone rang while I was walking from the back room towards the kitchen/living room (trailers share both sometimes). I heard DAWK say “Hi Ronnie! … Florida, huh?… Miami, great! … Ah, never heard of them, makes no difference … when?… Ok, book my fight. … I’ll bring my tools and take care of it. … Joey’s here, he says hi. … Ok!”
The other side of the conversation was Ronnie James Dio, saying something along the lines of: “Hello DAWK, I am in Miami, Florida… We are getting ready to record an album with Black Sabbath – I am the new singer, and we need you to come down here to get Tony’s guitar sound happening… Can you come asap? … Great! It will be great to see you… Say hi back to Joey. Heard he was in the hospital! Hope he’s feeling better.”
DAWK explained all of the above to me and then said: “Who is Black Sabbath?” I nearly died! I said “They are godlike heroes of mine! They play loud, heavy music with a dark image and they are fucking massively great! I am so happy for Ronnie!” I had known Ronnie since he first played at our high school.
I will fast forward now to get to the point of the picture you see here.
DAWK flew to Florida with his tools, bought a Marshall amp at a local music store for Tony and modified it, went over his guitars and did his magic… and what you hear on “Heaven and Hell” is the result. Of course, I am biased, but for me, “Heaven and Hell” is one of the very best, if not the best sounding metal album of all time.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that while DAWK was down there working on Tony’s gear he called me, and he actually put me on the phone with Tony!
DAWK treated everyone the same. People were people. He spoke to the biggest stars in the world like they were his neighbors (neighbors he liked, that is). I cannot tell you what it was like to be speaking to my high school hero, Tony Iommi! I had seen Sabbath on their first U.S. tour, supporting Mountain.
When I heard Tony’s Birmingham accent on the phone saying “Hello, nice to meet you” I was completely in shock! I asked him about the new album and whether it was going to be heavy, and he said: “Yes, but also very melodic.” I just could not get over the joy of Ronnie’s voice now with the heaviest band in the world! I spent that night trying to imagine what it would be like.
So, based on that, Ronnie calls DAWK again a few months later and says: “We want to be the loudest thing in the world. Build us a backline in the U.S. and then bring it over to England. Tony needs an arena rig and so does Geezer and by the way, what is the best stuff for bass?” (Ronnie was not only a bass player but an excellent one).
DAWK says, “The best preamp in the world is the one I built for Joey.” Ronnie says “Ok, build one for Geezer!” and DAWK responds “Forget it! It took me a year!” Remember, I was not in a band at the time, so I gladly offered to let Geezer borrow mine (he ended up wanting it, so I sold it to him after he tried it on tour). DAWK told Ronnie that he wanted me to come with him to Europe to assist and Ronnie said: “Ok, bring the preamp and set it up, so we have no problems on our first tour with new gear.”
We bought the gear, and I assisted DAWK to modify it to his specifications. We then shipped it to England.
It was now the winter of 1980 and DAWK and I flew to London; our first time out of the country! DAWK and I worked on the backline all night for three weeks during the band’s rehearsals in London. Then rehearsals were over, and it was time to try it for real on stage… and where else than in Germany?
And that now brings us to the photo: There we are, riding in the band’s tour bus! It had a back lounge where the band rode, with really nice high back “captain chairs”, we crew members all sat upfront. Often one of the band would come up front and sit and talk and have a laugh with us. It always made our day.
As for me: There I was… no band, no preamp, no money, no respect, no shows, no record deal, no manager, no agent, no girlfriend… but I did have my one true friend who was the greatest analog electrical genius ever, and he believed in me and told everyone until his dying day that I would change the world of metal.
Little did we know at the time, both of our lives were about to change.
Fate and Destiny awaited us…
At that moment, one thing did dawn on me: I was on Black Sabbath’s tour bus! In Germany with Black Sabbath! I was happy, I was where I belonged. The assholes I spoke about earlier were no longer near me, they were where they belonged, where they have always been and still are: NOWHERE. And I was on my path. Unstoppable.
Joey
