MACHINE HEAD's Phil Demmel was one of the musicians who performed at the "Randy Rhoads Remembered: A Celebration Of A Legend" event, which took place on Saturday, January 25 at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California. "In The Vault With Shanda Golden" (web site) spoke with Demmel after the performance about his participation in the event. You can now watch the chat, as well as footage of his performance, below.Said Demmel: "Watching Randy at 10 a.m. in the Oakland Coliseum was my first concert experience and it was life changing. It made me want to not only play guitar, but to perform with passion and emotion."He added: "[I was] beyond honored to be part of this celebration of a true legend and an immense inspiration." Brian Tichy and Joe Sutton, the creators of "Bonzo Bash" (the celebration show for LED ZEPPELIN's John Bonham), in conjunction with Randy Rhoads' brother Kelle Rhoads; the Rhoads family; "Bonzo Bash" guitarist/former student of Randy's, Brent Woods; as well as one of Rhoads' dearest friends, rock bass legend Rudy Sarzo, came together to put on the ultimate tribute celebration in honor of one of the the most influential and brightest stars the world of rock guitar has ever seen; Randy Rhoads, the legendary guitarist who revived Ozzy Osbourne's career with two iconic records. Sadly, Randy's future was cut short on March 19, 1982 when he died in a plane crash. He was only 25 years old. His songwriting, solos, technique and tone on the albums "Blizzard Of Ozz" and "Diary Of A Madman" permanently placed him at the top of rock's most influential guitarists polls. The idea to give Randy a night of honor came together within the hundreds of hours of "Bonzo Bash" preparation and phone conversations between Brian Tichy and Joe Sutton. The two would often talk about other musicians that had made a huge impact on them growing up. The name that would come up and excite them the most was always Randy Rhoads. Sometime in 2013, Tichy threw this idea at Brent Woods, a student of Rhoads' from the pre-Ozzy era, when Randy was not only the most popular local guitarist at the time, but an extremely popular teacher at Musonia, his mother Delores Rhoads' (Dee) music school. Brent has stayed very close with the Rhoads family as well as producing Kelle's classical music. Brent ran this idea by Kelle Rhoads, who had already been to a "Bonzo Bash". Kelle expressed interest in this and soon after, Woods and Tichy met with Kelle at Musonia. After a tour of the school and hours of hanging, Kelle gave the show his blessing and preparation began. Tichy contacted legendary bassist Rudy Sarzo; his friend and bandmate from the recent Geoff Tate QUEENSRCHE tour they did together. Sarzo, bassist for QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE and WHITESNAKE, also gave his blessing and agreed to play bass alongside Tichy, making up the night's rhythm section! "Randy Rhoads Remembered" included an array of the world's best guitarists as well as special guests all coming together to honor the man that we all wish was still here writing and performing. Every song from "Blizzard Of Ozz" and "Diary Of A Madman" was performed; each song by a different guitarist. Some guitarists tie into Randy's history, others are icons that were themselves hugely influenced by Randy Rhoads.
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