David Stone

A Very Candid Conversation with David Stone


Jeff Cramer did already several interviews with Rainbow members like Craig Gruber, Greg Smith and Joe Lynn Turner. Now he told us: "Today, I found probably the most elusive of Rainbow members: David Stone. It took me several years to find him but I got it and here is the interview and boy, does he have some stories about Ritchie."

David Stone tells many stories about his auditions for Rainbow, the European Tour in 1977, his full story of the Vienna jail incident, the Rockpalast show, Gates of Babylon and much, much more. Did you know David played on the "On Stage" album?

Here are some excerpts of this superb interview:

Jeff Cramer: What was the audition like for Ritchie?

David Stone: Oh, it was nuts. I am in a great sexy Hollywood hotel. I am surrounded by rock stars. I had never been out of the Canadian music scene once up to this point in my life and you got a full production, full-blown rehearsal studio in the Columbia lot in East Hollywood. I go rehearse in the place that’s the size of four high school gymnasiums. I got Toto rehearsing besides me, Jackson Browne rehearsing besides me, Stevie Wonder comes in for a couple weeks to rehearse, Weather Report, it was just insane. And they’re not telling me anything. I walk in. It’s like a full-blown stage setup for a major band.

Jeff Cramer: Can you name some pranks Ritchie played on you?

David Stone: Well, we were in the Continental. We were playing next night. I went to see 10cc with Cozy that night. I get back to my room and the room and I can’t open the door. And this was 1977, where rooms were 600–800 a night and there were this real pristine furniture that night. I go to open the door and see this broken piece of furniture sticking out the door. So, I say, “OK, forget it, no point in trying to open the door.” I go downstairs to see the concierge, he gets me another room, he gets me a glass of water, make sure I am tucked in for the night and the bill next night was 30,000 for the stay.

Jeff Cramer: Let’s go to the Long Live Rock’n’Roll album. Now I understand the Long Live Rock’n’Roll album was half-completed when you arrived. What was completed there?

David Stone: No, that album was done by scratch. I had been in the band six months by then. The album before that, Rainbow on Stage, was a live album by Rainbow. What they had done, I don’t know if I got credit for it or not. I think in some prints, I don’t. That was when Tony Carey had left the band and the album was two-thirds done. What they had done was take more recordings with me in the band and used those as well. In Japan, January of 1978, I got a gold album for being on Rainbow on Stage. I’m there. Tony’s there. That’s a half-and-half album.


The full interview can be found on Jeff Cramer's Blogspot.