QUIET RIOT To Celebrate 40th Anniversary Of 'Metal Health' In 2023

In a new interview with "Diary Of The Madmen - The Ultimate Ozzy Podcast", bassist Rudy Sarzo, who recently rejoined QUIET RIOT after an 18-year absence, was asked if there are any plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band's classic third album, "Metal Health". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[Next] year we're gonna be celebrating the recording of the album, 'Metal Health'. But the following year, in 2023, we're going out promoting 40 years of 'Metal Health'."

As for whether fans can expect QUIET RIOT to perform "Metal Health" in its entirety from front to back, Sarzo said: "It's an interesting thought. I guess if you're gonna present it as performing it front to back and it's not sequenced properly from front to back, even though we'll probably wind up doing that and we do kind of like an arrangement of… For example, we do — we have been doing this for over 20 years now — starting with the riff to 'Metal Health'; that's how the set begins. We started doing that way back — kind of like a teaser. Then we go into the first song of the set. And then at the end we do [the song] 'Metal Health'. It's kind of like what they call an 'overture,' except the overture is bits and pieces of all the music in a classical performance.

"I did something like that [when I was playing with DIO]," he continued. "It was a 'Holy Diver' celebration — either a 20th or 25th anniversary. ['Holy Diver - Live'] was recorded in 2005, so I think it was the 20th anniversary [of the original album]. But anyways, it was an anniversary. And with DIO, we did play 'Holy Diver' from front to back. So we did do that. And it was interesting, because we went into it, we actually played a lot of RAINBOW. We opened up with 'Tarot Woman' from RAINBOW. And then I believe we did some BLACK SABBATH — maybe, maybe not. But we definitely then, after we did the last song of the record 'Holy Diver', we finished it off with more material."

Rudy was one of the members of QUIET RIOT's "Metal Health" lineup. He played bass on the classic LP, which sold over ten million copies and spawned the hits "Cum On Feel The Noize" and "Metal Health" and on the follow-up record "Condition Critical".

Sarzo appeared in the most notable music videos in the MTV age and toured with the band until 1985 and again from 1997 to 2003. During his years out of the band, Sarzo was a member of OZZY OSBOURNE, WHITESNAKE, DIO, BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, QUEENSRŸCHE and THE GUESS WHO.

Joining Sarzo in QUIET RIOT's current lineup are guitarist Alex Grossi, vocalist Jizzy Pearl and drummer Johnny Kelly.

Drummer Frankie Banali, who joined QUIET RIOT in 1982 and played on "Metal Health", died in August 2020 after a 16-month battle with pancreatic cancer. A month after Banali's death, QUIET RIOT announced that it would carry on.

Grossi was in the last version of the band, from 2004 through 2007, before founding singer Kevin DuBrow passed away, and was asked by Banali to return in 2010.

QUIET RIOT went through two vocalists — Mark Huff and Scott Vokoun — before settling on Pearl in 2013. Pearl announced his exit from QUIET RIOT in October 2016 and was briefly replaced by Seann Nichols, who played only five shows with the group before the March 2017 arrival of "American Idol" finalist James Durbin. Pearl returned to QUIET RIOT in September 2019.

For a list of upcoming QUIET RIOT shows, visit QuietRiot.Band.

Sarzo discussed his return to QUIET RIOT in a recent interview with Adika Live!. He said: "My decision, in addition to [it] being Frankie's request that I return to the band, was a decision that I had to meditate on it, because it is that important. Not meditate whether it was the right decision to make or not — no, that wasn't the point — it was to meditate about the timing of it. Because it could not be an abrupt decision that you drop everything you're doing and you change the band.

"Regina [Frankie's widow] and I, we sat and we talked about it, and we said, 'Okay, the best thing to do is to let everybody fulfill their commitments.' Because I have commitments to the band that I've been playing in for the last five years, THE GUESS WHO. And I wasn't about to tell them, 'Hey, I'm outta here, guys. Good luck.' I've never done that. So I have commitments with them. And QUIET RIOT has commitments with [longtime bassist] Chuck Wright. And we felt that the only thing that we can do, really — [we felt] that all these commitments must be fulfilled so our agreements with everybody is fulfilled."

Rudy went on to say that he has been "making the transition" and "embracing again the whole QUIET RIOT consciousness" by going "back and playing the songs" again. "And actually, it's been wonderful because, I've gotta tell you, to be able to go back to something that you did 40 years ago with the musician I am today, I'm looking at the songs a little bit different, as far as my own contributions," he said. "Of course, it's not gonna be something that is gonna turn into completely something else, but there are certain note choices that I can improve on."

Prior to his recent exit from the band, Wright had served off and on with QUIET RIOT for nearly 40 years, appeared on nine albums, and is known as the bassist for QUIET RIOT's mega-hit "Metal Health" (Bang Your Head) and "Don't Wanna Let You Go". He was a contributing songwriter on 1986's "QRIII" and appeared in the band's video for "The Wild And The Young", among others. Wright had been one of the band's longest touring and recording members.

Photo credit: Ron Lyon Photo