VIXEN Singer JANET GARDNER Recalls Meeting RONNIE JAMES DIO

Meltdown of the WRIF radio station recently conducted an interview with VIXEN frontwoman Janet Gardner. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Speaking about the first and only time she ever met legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio (BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW, DIO), Gardner said: “I met Ronnie James Dio at a show in L.A. on the Sunset Strip back before we got signed. He took the time to sit me down — I told him I was a singer, I was a big fan — and talked to me about singing and music. I couldn’t even believe it. I’m, like, ‘Wow!'”

She continued: “That was a long time ago. I’ll never forget it, because at the time, we were nobody, we were nothing, and he found out that I was a singer and he was willing to share his wisdom. I was blown away.”

Janet also offered an update on VIXEN‘s current status. She said: “We just did a live capture in Chicago at the Arcada Theatre. It was a great show. So that’s gonna come out. It’s the first time we’ve ever done a live release — believe it or not — in all these years with Roxy [Petrucci, drums] and Share [Ross, bass] and myself, and Britt Lightning on guitar. And it’s gonna sound awesome, so we’re excited about that. And we have a couple of bonus tracks we’re working on for that. And then we’re gonna start working on new material.”

Asked if fans can expect to see a new VIXEN studio album in 2018, Janet said: “We got a new member — Britt Lightning is a new member — so as of now, we have just little baby ideas floating around on e-mail; we haven’t even really gotten in a room yet. So we have a long way to go, but I think we’re gonna be playing more, so we’ll have lots of soundchecks to screw around with new ideas. So that’ll help.”

Gardner‘s self-titled debut solo album was released on August 18 via Pavement Entertainment. The disc is a collaboration between the singer, who works days as a part-time dental hygienist, and her husband, guitarist/producer Justin James, who has previously worked with STAIND, COLLECTIVE SOUL and TYKETTO.

Interview (audio):