Loud? On Scale of 1 to 10, He’s 11

While not faster than a speeding bullet, Ronnie James Dio has a voice more powerful than a locomotive, and he’ll make livers quiver during a heavy-metal onslaught Tuesday night at the Ventura Theatre. Opening will be Armored Saint and George Lynch’s Lynch Mob.

In the fall of 1983, Dio opened for Aerosmith at the Ventura Raceway.

He was louder than a freight train passing by less than a block away. Aerosmith--a band that still owes Ventura a concert--suffered a meltdown after just five songs, leaving amid a chorus of boos.

Dio, meanwhile, continues to sail along as a true heavy-metal god after roughly 30 years fronting bands such as Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and, for the last several years, being his own man as the eponymous Dio.

This headbanger legend has an imposing resume that includes three albums with Elf, four with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, four with Black Sabbath and 10 more under his own name.

Dio doesn’t vary his wardrobe a lot--he’ll be the short guy dressed in black, threatening the very existence of the glasses at the bar at the back of the venue when he sings.

Do you remember the gig at the Ventura Fairgrounds in 1983?

Oh yeah, I remember that show. We had done just 10 days with them when they completely melted down. I love Aerosmith and I’m glad they got it back together, but Steven Tyler was blotto that night. He attacked the bass player, then passed out. They broke up for quite a while after that one. That’s the only time I ever saw them like that.

You began your career as a trumpet player?

That’s right. It’s just all a matter of technique. I just learned how to do it and applied the trumpet technique to singing and it was really, really easy. You play a horn from your diaphragm; otherwise, you don’t play it properly. And you sing the same way--from your diaphragm. Even though singing was very easy for me, I never wanted to be a singer. I was just a bass player in a band before Elf, and that’s all I ever wanted to do. But the rest of the band wasn’t very good, so each one of them tried and after about six months, it was my turn, so I did it.

How did Elf get that gig opening for Deep Purple?

We were auditioning for a very famous man, Clive Davis in New York, who was at Columbia at the time. At the same time, Deep Purple was on tour and Ian Gilliam came down with hepatitis, so the rest of the band was just hanging out. Our manager, who was their booking agent as well, invited them down to hear us, and Roger Glover ended up producing three Elf albums. We signed to their record label in England, Purple Records, and opened up for them on eight world tours.

Tell me some Rainbow stories--how did you end up in that band?

Playing with Purple so much, Ritchie Blackmore came to really like our band; he liked our attitude and he liked me as a singer. When it came time for Richie not to be in Purple anymore--it was because he thought they were becoming too funky, maybe, and he didn’t like that kind of music--he came up to me one night after a gig in Germany and asked if I’d like to put together something with him. I said, “Sounds good to me, but only if you take the guys in my band to do it.� These were the guys I grew up with, and I wasn’t about to leave them alone, and I didn’t. So the first Rainbow album was all the people in my band and Ritchie.

What was it like taking over for Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath?

My talent has nothing to do with his, and I didn’t have to fill his shoes. I carried on and did what I did and made Sabbath a different kind of entity, which I thought was a bit more important than being what they were. I don’t find it difficult writing or singing, so it was very easy for me. But Ozzy had a lot of fans, and when you call yourselves Sabbath and Ozzy’s not there, you get a few fingers chucked at you, but that didn’t last too long, and besides the fact that “Heaven and Hell� was such a great album erased all that pretty quickly.

What’s the state of metal music these days?

For me, it’s just a matter of my own likes and dislikes--the same kind of music I’ve always made, the same that Zeppelin’s made, the same that Purple’s made--those kinds of things that I grew up with, are the things I’ll always be attracted to. I do think metal is getting stronger again, although I don’t think it’ll ever be what it was before, but it’s nice to know it has its base audience that will always be there. And maybe because this music hasn’t had a lot of attention during the last 10 years, people are beginning to rediscover it because it’s fresh to them.

What about all the other nonmetal bands?

Even though some of the rhythm sections are good, I don’t really have a lot of time for people who don’t sing. I don’t consider moaning and groaning and being Mr. Gruff--that’s not what a vocalist is to me. That’s not where I came from. Music is a generational thing, and that’s not my generation of music. There’s nothing wrong with the generation of music that’s out there today. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not viable and doesn’t mean it’s not good. I just have a choice now and I don’t have to listen to it.

Discuss the sword and sorcery images in your songs?

It’s the stuff I grew up reading as a child--I was a voracious reader and I still am--and I read a lot of fantasy-based things. I started out reading about knights and dragons, then discovered the great science fiction writers from Azimov to Clarke to Moorcock and all the rest. One of my favorites was Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote the “John Carter of Mars� series.

The reason I liked all those things is because it made me use my imagination; it made me think and put myself into those places that were not real. When I started, I wanted to write in that style because at the time, no one else was doing it. I wanted to put people in the place where they had to do what I did--use their imagination. So people tend to think that I walk around with a sword and have a pet dragon and ride a horse--obviously untrue . . . well, except for the pet dragon.

What’s the worst advice you were ever given?

Go to school because you’re never going to make it doing this.

What advice would you give to an aspiring vocalist?

Make sure you have some talent. If you don’t have any, don’t do it. It’s a hard game--not just singing, but anything musical. The advice I would always give to a singer is learn how to do it properly. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go to a voice teacher, because a lot of times the coach will try to make you into what he or she couldn’t be, and that takes away your naturalness. Rock ‘n’ roll is a very natural medium, and I think you have to be unique to be successful. Sing from your diaphragm, not your throat, don’t scream unless you have to, and don’t drink and don’t smoke.

What’s the most misunderstood thing about you and your music?

Well, I think it’s always been the same--that we’re a bunch of devil worshipers and we’ll probably sacrifice your children when they come to the show. When I played with Sabbath in the Bible Belt, we’d get picketed.

Why does rock ‘n’ roll never start on time?

We do. We always do.

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DETAILS

Dio, Armored Saint and George Lynch’s Lynch Mob at the Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St.; 8:30 p.m. Tuesday; $38 or $28; 653-0721.

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It seems difficult to get the blues in Thousand Oaks, but that will change, albeit temporarily, when the 70-something B.B. King plays the Civic Arts Plaza on Sunday night.

The most famous living blues man, King has recorded more than 50 albums, won eight Grammys and been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

When he was a young man, King left his home in Mississippi, bound for Memphis with his guitar and liquid assets of $2.50. He’s been a relentless road dog ever since, still doing about 300 gigs a year, playing everywhere with everybody.

“I do it now because I want to, but there were years and years of working because I had to,� King said.

“Would you enjoy working every day? We have no Sundays, no holidays. Christmas? Who had Christmas? That was just Dec. 25, that’s all. I’m getting a good salary now, but I didn’t up until a few years ago.�

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DETAILS

B.B. King at the Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7 p.m. Sunday; $62, $47 or $32; 449-2787.

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If your favorite holiday is Halloween, then Fangboy & the Ghouls could be your favorite band. They’ll be bringing their souped-up monster music to several venues this week, including Nicholby’s in Ventura on Thursday, A&M;’s Roadhouse in Oxnard on Friday and Bubba’s Lounge in Ventura on Saturday.

After five years together, Fangboy remains front man Jason “The Wolfman� Amelio, drummer Talon “The Count� Klipp and bass player Chris “The Monster� Savoy.

They released an album a few years back, “Welcome to the Chamber of Thrills,� which has since been downloaded to the MP3 format along with some live tracks and lots of free advice on making an album independently.

The band has plenty of originals, mostly loud and fast, plus they even take requests from the audience during one of their unpredictable and fun sets.

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DETAILS

Fangboy & the Ghouls at Nicholby’s, 404 E. Main St., Ventura; 10 p.m. Thursday; $3; 653-3220. Also at A&M;’s Roadhouse, 2515 Ventura Blvd., Oxnard; 9 p.m. Friday; free; 983-2787. Also at Bubba’s Lounge, 1664 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura; 9 p.m. Saturday; $3; 653-2815.