DERRINGER - Report On First Show In 32 Years! Page 2
Special Report by Martin Popoff

Indeed guitar duels were a big part of the show, as was a bass solo from Kenny Aaronson, who sported a cool '50s throwback look like the Dictators Scott "Top Ten" Kempner, or Eric Ambel from The Del-Lords. Vinny Appice contributed a pounding yet well-reasoned drum solo, and it was cool to see him apply his busy and edgy Dio-style fills to some of these classic tunes, no doubt tempting fate with all four of the guys nervous about remembering parts. And speaking of Dio, Rick sang effortlessly, like Ronnie, age seemingly having no truck with his style, chosen or accidental. Derringer looked young (and actually taller than his reputation as one of the tiny ones), as did the whole band. Rick sang and yelped and whooped like a bird, joked with the crowd, and played the hell out of his guitar - despite, let's face it, there really being no discernable trademark sound out of the guy like a Brian May or Angus Young or Robin Trower, he's versatile, inventive, fast, and incredibly musical. Johnson sang some of his signature songs like 'Driving Sideways' and 'One-Eyed Jack' and also looked inspiringly young and fit for his years, throwing in a few kicks and sidling up to Rick for a massive twin lead war which was the second highlight of the night, after stone metal monster classic 'Sittin' By The Pool'.

"The guys in the band? Nothing's changed. They're still a bunch of babies," laughs Danny, asked about his impressions of hanging with these traveled musicians three decades down the line. "Except for Rick. I'm just kidding. You know, we're all individuals. We've grown up. But you know rock 'n' rollers have a tendency to grow up and kind of not grow up at the same time. But yeah, what I like about this band... take Kenny Aaronson for instance. He's very adamant. He doesn't just come up and play bass and go, 'OK, whatever, that's OK.' If something's not right, he will say, 'Hey man, let's stop.' You know what I mean? He's just a good solid bass player. And that's why he's ended up in Billy Idol and Dylan and all these bands. You know, we're all different, but Rick and I are very similar in what we like. When I first met Rick, I said, 'Who are your favourite guitar players?' And he said, 'All the guys who are great.' And I said, 'You mean Hendrix, Page, BB King, Clapton, Santana?' So you know, we clicked like that. But I tend to... Rick can be very fiery and bluesy, and I can do that too, but not as good as him. So I kind of lean a little more on the kind of street-y, Aerosmith-y thing - a little darker. But Vinny being in Sabbath now... man, we've all been away from each other and we've all had a lot of new experiences and influences."

DERRINGER - Report On First Show In 32 Years! Page 3